CERN

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research (originally called, in French, Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), the world's largest particle physics centre, situated on the border between France and Switzerland, just outside Geneva. It was founded in 1954. From the original 12 signatories of the CERN convention, membership has grown to the present 20 Member States.

CERN employs just under 3000 people full-time. Some 6500 scientists (representing 500 universities and over 80 nationalities), half of the world's particle physicists, spend some time at CERN doing their research.

The CERN accelerator complex has 10 linear and circular accelerators altogether, the largest being the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP), a circular accelerator of 9km diameter, and the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The next big machine, due to start operating in 2005, is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).