hi and welcome to CERN based here in Geneva Switzerland
what is CERN well CERN basically is the European Council for Nuclear Research
and it is the largest physics research facility in the world but why does it
exist what is its origins and why is so
important in terms of our understanding of science in this video I'm going to
discuss those things and as well why CERN is important in terms of scientific
research so stay tuned
so what is soon now before I introduce CERN I want to lay the groundwork at the
end of the 19th century saw an experiment that had a monumental impact
on the way we view matter with the discovery of the electron by JJ Thompson
in 1897 our understanding of the atom changed from this indivisible sphere to
something that it was made of smaller components and as a result JJ Thompson
developed a model of the atom knows a bit like a cake with raisins embedded it
or often refer to as the plum pudding model with the positive dome with
electrons embedded in it. So when Ernest Rutherford devised an experiment to test
this model he did two things that had its culmination in the beginning of CERN
he started the concept of determining properties of something both by firing
particles at it. In his case he fired alpha particles at gold atoms and he
observed deflections coming off the gold atoms. Now as a result he determined that
the majority of the atom's mass resided in the nucleus and so he started the
notion of using particle accelerators to examine the structure of the atom's
nucleus. So over the next few decades we saw the advent of particle physics, that
is the study of the structure of the nucleus by using particle accelerators
to examine it. Now the faster you can accelerate your particles the more
energy the particles have and therefore the better they can probe the nucleus.
And so in the 1930s or the development of the cyclotron type accelerator
followed by the synchrotron type of accelerator in 1945. Now I intend to
produce videos on how they work for those who are interested in physics
behind them so yes stay tuned. Now this is where CERN comes in. After World War
2, with much of Europe of course in ruins
there was an increasing concern for the lack of scientific research in Europe
and the potential brain drain as many physicists left Europe and went to other
countries. So it was Louis de Broglie who suggested an establishment of a European
Center for Nuclear Research, And in 1953 under the auspices of UNESCO a meeting
was held in Paris were 11 nations signed into existence the conceil europeen
pour La Researche nucleaire, or CERN for short. And CERN was born. And what is it's
aim? Well the humble question what is the universe made up of?
It's Charter was to
build state-of-the-art particle accelerators to better understand the
nature of matter and the structure of the universe to perform world-class
research in particle physics and to provide a place where scientists from
all over Europe can collaborate
Critically it's Charter also mandates
that it remain unpolitical,
that it's work would be for peaceful purposes only
and that all of the results will be made available to the public, that is complete transparency.
So Geneva was chosen because of its central location and
Geneva already had a very well-established reputation as an international city.
So in 1954 in the fields around the village called Meyrin,
just outside the outskirts of Geneva, work was started.
Now over the decades CERN has grown building a succession of particle accelerators to
probe the structure of the nucleus, each one being more energetic than the
previous and in the process provided an increasing understanding of the
fundamental nature of matter. So first was the synchro cyclotron in 1957 and we
are at the first particle accelerator at CERN the syncro cyclotron
pretty exciting.
Then came the proto synchrotron in 1959
the super proton synchrotron in 1976 and the electron positron Collider and of course the LHC
the Large Hadron Collider which was instrumental in providing evidence for
the Higgs boson and validated what we call the standard model which explains
the fundamental components of matter
Now CERN encompasses a huge area
predominantly involving two main sites the Meyrin site and their Prevessin
site and of course the LHC and the four main detectors on their ring and
signifying its international focus, it straddles across the Swiss and French
border. And on these sites apart from the laboratories and offices you'll find
particle accelerators performing a whole range of experiments to look at
different aspects of an understanding of matter now CERN is much more than a
European organization these days what started with 12 member states from
Europe has grown to 23 member states, 7 associate member states which includes
India and Pakistan with many more countries of observer status and
cooperation agreements with CERN there are over 600 institutes and universities
that you use CERN's facilities one local example for me is for example the
University of Sydney's particle physics group who works with CERN's Atlas
detector analyzing the data that's collected there. CERN is truly an
international organization. Of the over 17,000 people who call CERN their work
place, over 12,000 are not only physicists but engineers mathematicians
computer scientists and many more plus of course the many support personnel
that are they representing over a hundred and ten nationalities
Although CERN's focus is gaining a better understanding of nature out of
CERN has come many applications that you and I having been impacted on.
The World Wide Web was it created there and so was the capacitive touch of the
electronic screens that your devices they utilize . So you can thank CERN for
the fact that you're watching this on your device.
PET scans and other medical technologies to diagnose and treat cancer is a direct application of the
technology that comes from soon.
And because CERN has to build many new
instruments from scratch purpose-built for its work the technologies they
produce end up being used in other diverse range of
industries such as Aeronautics , Manufacturing, Computing and Medicine
just to name a few. So what started as a place to do cutting-edge research in
Europe has become a global cooperation that not only has advanced the
understanding of matter but as directly and indirectly positively impacted every
person on this planet in some way or another.
So I hope that's helped you understand a little bit about why
CERN is important in today's economy and
society. In other videos I'll be discussing more the physics that occurs
here at CERN: the LHC, the various detectors and also the physics concepts that come
out of CERN, so so stay tuned for those videos. I'm Paul from Geneva, take care bye for now