CERN

CERN is the European organisation for nuclear research, the largest particle physics centre in the world. It is located on either side of the Franco-Swiss border, near Geneva.

CERN is a laboratory in which scientists gather to explore the constituents of matter and the forces holding it together. CERN's role is above all to provide physicists with the tools they need: accelerators, to take particle up to a speed near the speed of light, and detectors to observe these particles.

Founded in 1954, the laboratory was one of the first European scale common enterprises and now has 20 member states.