• Question: What is CERN? Sorry if that's a stupid question!

    Asked by to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      CERN is the European organisation that almost all particle physicists belong to to perform experiments. In French it stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nuclear, or in English its European Council for Nuclear Research. Most countries in Europe belong to CERN, and they put their money together to build things like the Large hadron Collider.

    • Photo: Deepak Kar

      Deepak Kar answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Alan said it all 😉

    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      There’s no such thing as a stupid question here! Alan’s answer is spot on. One more thing – “CERN” is also the place on the border between Switzerland and France where the Large Hadron Collider was built. This is what people mean when they say “at CERN”!

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      CERN is the European Council for Nuclear Research, which includes many facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva. Its an amazing place that I’d really recommend visiting if you ever have the chance!

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