-
foundations for European science
CERN was created as a solution to the degeneration of European science caused by the war. A few visionary scientists wanted to set up a European atmoic laboratory, and Geneva was chosen as the location. A handful of these pioneers are Niels Bohr, Raol Dautry, Pierre Auger and Lew Korwaski. The 12 founding member states were: Belgium, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia. -
the first accelerator begins operation
The first accelerator at the CERN was a 600 MeV Synchrocyclotron, it provided beams for the first experiments in particle and nuclear physics. This accelerator was remarkably long lived, being used for 33 years before it was shut down. -
the PS starts up
The Proton Synchroton became the worlds highest energy particle accelerator, accelerating protons with a beam energy of 28 GeV. It was used for particle physics experiments and still is used to this day although mostly to feed particles into faster accelerators. -
Georges Charpak revolutionises detection
Detection before Georges Charpaks contribution involed millions of photographs, but cameras only detected sparks. Georges Charpak use detection wires connected to amplifiers, these could detect at a much smaller effect. In comparison his method produced a counting rate a thousand times better than the previous method. -
the world's first proton-proton collider
Previously the accelerators were accelerationg particles into a target but this meant much of the energy that the beams carried were wasted on the targets recoil; proton-proton coliisions meant that no energy was wasted on recoil, thus making the machines more efficient. The ISR (Intersecting Storage Rings) was a 300-in-diametre machine that was essentially two interconnected rings in which the beams of protons were built up then made to collide. -
neutral currents discovered
Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg proposed a theory that intergrated elctromagnetism and the weak interation responsible for natural radioactivity, however it stated that such a thing as weak neutral current interations should exist yet they hadn;t been observed. After experiments at the CERN and careful investigation it was said that neutral currents had been discovered. -
the SPS is commissioned
The Super Proton Synchroton measured 7km in diametre and was the first accelerstor to cross the Franco-Swiss border. It was orignally a proton accelerator with a beam energy of 300 GeV, it now operates at above 450 GeV and has acccelerated a host of different particles. -
discovery of the W and Z particles
The SPS was converted into a proton-anitproton collider and the first experiments were searching for the W and Z bosons that are responsible for weak interactions between particles. When the particles were discovered it was considered such a success that Carlo Rubbia and Simon van de Meer recieved Nobel prizes for their involvement in the experiments. -
heavy-ion collisions begin
The SPS was used to collide nuclei with many neutrons and protons into each other to 'deconfine' the quarks. This was an attempt to recreate the seconds after the Big Bang where it is theorised that quarks and gluons were found in a 'particle soup' properly named as quark-gluon plasma. -
giant LEP takes its first step
The Large Electron-Positron collider was 27km in diametre and is still the biggest elecron-positron collider built to this date. It operated at 100 GeV producing 17million Z particles, the uncharged carriers of weak force, then once upgraded it produced W+ and W- particles, the charged carriers of weak force. These results produced a detailed view into the electroweak interaction. -
Tim Berners-Lee invents the Web
Tim Berners-Lee came up with an innovative idea on how to share information and data with other scientists, this was open to the public by 1994 and has since changed the way we live. -
precise results on matter–antimatter asymmetry
In the current world we see a huge inbalance or asymmetry in the distribution of matter and antimatter eventhough they were created in equal amounts at the Big Bang. In 1993 an experiment at CERN produced results that precisely described the underlining problem. However matter -antimtter asymmetry is still a matter of interest at the CERN now. -
first observation of antihydrogen
Walter Oerlert and his team created antihydrogen in a period of three weeks by colliding Xenon atoms and antiprotons. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, creating an antihydrogen atom could help explain the asymmetry of matter-antimatter distribution. -
the final curtain falls on the LEP
The LEP was scheduled to close in 1999 but it was extended as long as possible without interfering with the construction of the LHC. -
thousands of cold antihydrogen atoms
In experiments cold positrons and antiprotons kept in a trap and when the antihydrogen form the electrically neutral atoms escape the trap and are annihilated. The next step is to trap the cold atoms. -
the LHC starts up
The Large Hadron Collider hosted the first circulating beams in september. The experiments address issues such as what gives matter mass, what the invisible 96% of the Universe is made of, why nature prefers matter to antimatter and how matter evolved from the first instants of the Universe’s existence.
