CERN is located on the border between France and Switzerland, just outside Geneva.

1. What is CERN? CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest particle physics center. Founded in 1954, the laboratory was one of Europe's first joint ventures, and has become a shining example of international collaboration. From the original 12 signatories of the CERN convention, membership has grown to the present 20 Member States. The United States is not one of these, however several sites, including the Ohio State University, participate in important research at CERN. The Laboratory provides state-of-the-art scientific facilities for researchers to use. These include accelerators which accelerate tiny particles to an infinitesimal fraction under the speed of light and detectors to make the particles visible. The Large Hadron Collider In December 1994 CERN's governing body officially approved the construction of CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - a technologically challenging particle accelerator using superconducting magnets, which will be installed in the existing LEP tunnel - to provide proton-proton collisions at energies 10 times greater than any previous machine. In keeping with CERN's cost-effective strategy of building on previous investments, it is designed to share the 27-kilometer LEP tunnel and be fed by existing particle sources and pre-accelerators. A challenging design, the LHC will use the most advanced superconducting magnet and accelerator technologies ever employed. Did You Know? • That antimatter is routinely produced at CERN (more than 10 million particles per second). • That the world's largest magnet, weighing more than the Eiffel tower, is at CERN. • That CERN's biggest accelerator is 27 kilometers around and 100 meters underground, and particles traveling near the speed of light lap it over 11000 times each second. • That many of CERN's detectors are the size of four-story houses. • That over 1800 physicists work on the biggest experiment being prepared for CERN's next accelerator. This experiment will generate data at a rate about equal to everyone on Earth simultaneously making 10 telephone calls each. Drawing of the 15 meter long LHC cryodipole that will transport the particle beam Computer graphic showing the connected dipoles in the LHC tunnel CERN is located on the border between France and Switzerland, just outside Geneva. Diagram showing the paths that different particles take around CERN's accelerators. Construction in the TI2 tunnel Civil engineering work for the LHC in the TI8 tunnel