CERN

History and Organization of CERN - Convention establishing CERN ratified on 29 September 1954 by 12 countries in Western Europe - CERN originally represented the French words for 'Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire' (European Council for Nuclear Research) - Name changed to 'Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire' (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in 1954 - CERN's first president was Sir Benjamin Lockspeiser - Edoardo Amaldi was the general secretary of CERN at its early stages - Convention establishing CERN signed by 12 states: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and Yugoslavia - Founding members gradually ratified the convention - Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and Yugoslavia were the founding member states of CERN - CERN is based in Meyrin, Switzerland, on the France-Switzerland border - CERN comprises 23 member states - In 2019, CERN had 2,660 scientific, technical, and administrative staff members Scientific Achievements - Discovery of neutral currents in the Gargamelle bubble chamber in 1973 - Discovery of W and Z bosons in the UA1 and UA2 experiments in 1983 - Determination of the number of light neutrino families at the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) in 1989 - Creation of antihydrogen atoms in the PS210 experiment in 1995 - Discovery of direct CP violation in the NA48 experiment in 1999 Contributions to Computer Science - CERN pioneered the introduction of Internet technology in the 1980s - The World Wide Web project was initiated at CERN by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 - Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau were jointly honored for their contributions to the development of the World Wide Web in 1995 - The first website was activated in 1991 - CERN became a facility for the development of grid computing and hosts projects such as EGEE and LHC Computing Grid Miscellaneous Facts - CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world - CERN generated 49 petabytes of data in 2016 Accelerators at CERN Active Accelerators: - LINAC 3 linear accelerator generates low energy particles for injection into LEIR. - Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) accelerates ions from LINAC 3 before transferring them to the Proton Synchrotron (PS). - Linac4 linear accelerator accelerates negative hydrogen ions to an energy of 160 MeV. - Proton Synchrotron Booster increases the energy of particles generated by the proton linear accelerator. - 28 GeV Proton Synchrotron (PS) operates as a feeder to the more powerful SPS and CERN's experiments. Other Accelerators: - On-Line Isotope Mass Separator (ISOLDE) is used to study unstable nuclei. - Antiproton Decelerator (AD) reduces the velocity of antiprotons for antimatter research. - Extra Low Energy Antiproton ring (ELENA) decelerates antiprotons into low energies for antimatter experiments. - AWAKE experiment is a proof-of-principle plasma wakefield accelerator. - CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) is an accelerator research and development facility. Large Hadron Collider (LHC): - LHC is a large-scale, worldwide scientific cooperation project. - LHC tunnel is located 100 meters underground, mostly on the French side of the border. - Eight experiments (CMS, ATLAS, LHCb, MoEDAL, TOTEM, LHCf, FASER, and ALICE) study particle collisions at the LHC. - LHC generates vast quantities of data, which is streamed to laboratories worldwide for distributed processing. - LHC first circulated beams in September 2008 and achieved the collision of proton beams in March 2010. Achievements and Discoveries at LHC: - In July 2012, CERN scientists announced the discovery of a new sub-atomic particle, later confirmed to be the Higgs boson. - In March 2013, CERN concluded that the newly found particle was indeed a Higgs boson. - The LHC was deactivated for maintenance and upgrades in early 2013 and restarted in April 2015. - In 2016, the design collision rate at the LHC was exceeded for the first time. - The LHC is currently undergoing a two-year shutdown for further upgrades. Accelerators under Construction and Decommissioned: - High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project aims to upgrade the LHC's luminosity by 2026. - LINAC 2 linear accelerator injector has been decommissioned and replaced by LINAC4. - Decommissioned accelerators include LINAC 1, SC Synchro-Cyclotron, ISR, and SppS. Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP): - Operated from 1989-2000 - Largest machine of its kind - Housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel - Now houses the Large Hadron Collider - Consisted of the LEP Injector Linac (LIL) and the Electron Positron Accumulator (EPA) LEP Pre-Injector (LPI) accelerator complex: - Consisted of two accelerators: LEP Injector Linac (LIL) and Electron Positron Accumulator (EPA) - Purpose was to inject positron and electron beams into the CERN accelerator complex - Operational from 1987-2001 - Adapted for the CLIC Test Facility 3 (CTF3) after the shutdown of LEP - L