CERN

Scientists work at a big lab.

It is near a big city. Many lands work together there. They use huge machines to learn. One machine is very big. It is a long tunnel underground.

This machine smashes tiny bits together. This helps them see how things work. The lab even helped make the World Wide Web.

This is a tool we use every day. The lab helps everyone learn more.

CERN is a large science lab.

It sits on the border of France and Switzerland. Many countries work together there. This group helps scientists study tiny particles.

One of their best tools is the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. The LHC is a giant machine. It lives in a tunnel 100 meters underground. The tunnel is 27 kilometers long.

Scientists use the LHC to smash tiny bits of matter together. This helps them see how the world works. They use big tools called detectors to watch these hits. One detector is called CMS. It is very large. Building it took a lot of hard work. In 1989, a man named Tim Berners-Lee worked at CERN. He invented the World Wide Web. This is the way most people use the internet today. CERN also has many accelerators. These machines give particles more power. They help prepare the particles for big tests. This lab helps us learn about the very small parts of our world.

CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.

It is an intergovernmental organization located in Meyrin. This area is a suburb of Geneva on the border of France and Switzerland.

Many different countries work together at this site. There are 24 member states in the group. Israel joined as a full member in 2013.

This lab helps scientists study the smallest parts of our universe. It provides the tools needed for high-energy physics research.

To study particles, scientists use a chain of machines called accelerators.

These machines work step by step to increase particle energy. First, a small machine like the LINAC 4 creates particles. These particles move to a booster to gain more power. Then, they enter larger circular machines like the Proton Synchrotron. Eventually, the particles reach the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. The LHC is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It uses a 27 kilometer tunnel located 100 meters underground.

The machines smash these high-energy beams together to see what happens.

CERN has a very interesting history. A group of 12 European governments first formed a council in 1952. This council worked at the University of Copenhagen. They were led by a scientist named Niels Bohr. The group later moved to its current site near Geneva. In 1954, the organization became the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The name was changed, but the short name CERN was kept. This was because the new abbreviation might have been awkward. Sir Benjamin Lockspeiser served as the very first president. Felix Bloch became the first Director-General in 1954.

Many big discoveries have happened at this lab. In 1983, scientists found W and Z bosons. These discoveries helped win the Nobel Prize in 1984. In 2012, researchers found a particle called the Higgs boson. This was a very important moment for science. CERN also changed how we use computers. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web here.

He wanted to make it easier for researchers to share information. The first website went live in 1991.

You can see the impact of CERN in your daily life. When you use the internet, you are using a tool born at this lab. The World Wide Web is now the main way people use the internet. CERN also helps build the systems that move data around the world. The lab uses a special grid of computers to process huge amounts of information. In 2016, the lab generated 49 petabytes of data. This is a massive amount of digital information. Even though the machines are underground, their work touches everyone on Earth.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

Located in Meyrin, a suburb of Geneva, it sits on the border between France and Switzerland. This intergovernmental organization serves 24 member states. Israel became a full member in 2013, making it the only member located outside of Europe.

As an official observer for the United Nations General Assembly, CERN plays a major role in global science. The laboratory provides the essential infrastructure and particle accelerators needed for high-energy physics research. This work is done through massive international collaborations involving researchers from over 80 different countries.

To study the smallest building blocks of nature, CERN uses a complex chain of machines. These machines are called particle accelerators. Each machine in the sequence increases the energy of particle beams. Some machines, known as decelerators, decrease the energy before the particles reach an experiment. The process often begins with linear accelerators like the LINAC 4. The LINAC 4 accelerates negative hydrogen ions to an energy of 160 MeV. These ions move to the Proton Synchrotron Booster. There, electrons are stripped away, leaving only the proton nucleus.

From the booster, particles move into larger circular accelerators. The 28 GeV Proton Synchrotron (PS) was built between 1954 and 1959. It still acts as a feeder for more powerful machines. One such machine is the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The SPS is a circular accelerator with a 2-kilometer diameter built in a tunnel. It was designed to deliver 300 GeV of energy and was later upgraded to 450 GeV. These machines work together to prepare the beams for the most powerful machine of all: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider.

The LHC is a massive engineering marvel located 100 meters underground. It uses a circular tunnel with a 27-kilometer circumference. This tunnel was previously used by the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP). Eight different experiments, such as ATLAS and CMS, are located along this tunnel. These experiments use different technologies to study particle collisions from various angles. Building these detectors required incredible effort. For example, a special crane from Belgium was used to lower CMS detector pieces. Each of these pieces weighed nearly several tons.

CERN has a fascinating history rooted in post-war cooperation. A provisional council was established in 1952 to build the laboratory. This council operated at the University of Copenhagen under Niels Bohr. In 1954, the convention was ratified by 12 Western European countries. These founding members included Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.

The acronym CERN originally stood for the French name of the council. Even when the official name changed in 1954, the abbreviation was kept. Sir Benjamin Lockspeiser served as the first president. Felix Bloch became the first Director-General in 1954.

Scientific discoveries at CERN have changed our understanding of the universe. In 1983, researchers discovered the W and Z bosons. This work led to a Nobel Prize in Physics for Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer in 1984. In 2012, CERN researchers discovered a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. This discovery followed the theoretical work of Peter Higgs and François Englert. Other major milestones include the 1973 discovery of neutral currents. In 2000, the Heavy Ion Programme discovered quark–gluon plasma, a new state of matter. Scientists have also successfully created and maintained antihydrogen atoms in recent years.

Beyond physics, CERN has fundamentally changed how humans use technology. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN. He created it to help researchers share information more easily using hypertext. His colleague Robert Cailliau also became involved in 1990. The first website became active in 1991. In 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free for everyone. This decision helped it become the dominant way we interact with the internet.

Today, CERN also leads in grid computing to manage its massive data needs. In 2016 alone, the laboratory generated 49 petabytes of data.