We had gone to Switzerland to soak in the beauty of pristine nature. It had been a dream of sorts. While staying in Geneva we realised that apart from the well known international organisations like WHO, WTO, ILO, ITU etc, the great international scientific laboratory CERN was also situated within this city. The famous scientific organisation CERN is well known for its cutting edge research in the esoteric field of particle physics. In fact, most of the enhancement in the knowledge about the basic structure of matter comes from CERN and its experiments. The latest technology of the large particle collider called Large Hadron Collider and its search for the so-called ‘God particle’ had captured the popular imagination. Apart from its other achievements, it is pertinent to note that CERN is credited as the inventor of the internet as we know it.
CERN has a public face where anyone can visit their museum and basic display centre to get an idea about what it stands for. It actively encourages the general public to familiarise themselves with the cutting edge developments in theoretical physics. There is a well-maintained room explaining the cosmological concepts of the universe.
The core focus of particle physics these days is the particle accelerators which help in colliding particles at high energies, resulting in various decaying radiations which help in decoding the structure of matter at ever-increasing resolutions. There are old particle accelerators at display in the open area at CERN.