CERN

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Founded in 1954 and situated astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, CERN was one of Europe's first joint scientific ventures and now has 25 member states. Physicists and engineers at CERN use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments — purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors — to study the fundamental constituents of matter. CERN's flagship instrument, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets first started in 2008. Beyond pure research, CERN's technologies and human expertise translate into positive impacts on society across medicine, computing, and materials science.