Read article 'The 1980s: spurring collaboration'
The 1980s were characterized by two outstanding achievements that were to influence the long-term future of CERN. First came the discovery of the W and Z particles, the carriers of the weak ...
Read article 'Greater than the sum of the parts'
CERN was founded in 1954 with the aim of bringing European countries together to collaborate in scientific research after the horrors of the Second World War. After the end of the war, however, Europe...
Read article 'A celebration of science for peace'
On 29 September 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research officially came into being, after the convention to establish the organization had been ratified by a sufficient number of the...
Read article 'The changing world of EPJC'
As the field of high-energy physics moves inexorably towards full open access, under the SCOAP3 agreement (CERN Courier November 2012 p6), it is worth noting a fact that is often overlooked by the sci...
Read article 'The incomprehensibility principle'
Educators and psychologists invented the term “attention span” to describe the length of time anyone can concentrate on a particular task before becoming distracted. It is a useful term bu...
Read article 'Charting the future of European particle physics'
The original CERN convention, which was drafted nearly 60 years ago, foresaw that the organization should have a role as co-ordinator for European particle physics, as well as operating internati...
Read article 'ESO and CERN – 50 years later'
1948: The 5 m Hale telescope is inaugurated in Palomar, California. 1954: At the instigation of Jan Oort and Walter Baade, a group of renowned European astronomers meets to discuss how, by poolin...
Read article 'An important day for science'
On 4 July 2012, particle physics was headline news around the world thanks to a scientific success story that began over 60 years ago. It was a great day for science and a great day for huma...
Read article 'From ionization of air to beyond the LHC'
In August, some 100 physicists will gather at Bad Saarow in Germany to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of cosmic rays by the Austrian scientist, Victor Hess. The meeting place is close t...
Read article 'It’s good to blog'
It all started a year ago over dinner with a good bottle of wine in front of us. Steve Gourlay of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Stuart Henderson of Fermilab and myself talked about the future...
