Where is cern located? Panorama of cern
Once upon a time, when the war had just ended, European physicists advocated the creation of a unified European laboratory for experimental research. The idea was not only to gather and unite the best minds of the continent, but also to divide the ever-increasing budgets between the participating countries. This is how the European Council for Nuclear Research came into being. Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) or abbreviated - CERN (CERN). They decided to build the laboratory near Geneva, especially since the residents of the Geneva canton were not against it. IN Lately Much has been said about CERN in connection with the construction of the insanely expensive and high-tech Hadron Collider. Many feared that during the operation of the accelerator a small black hole and will consume our part milky way, or that the result of one of the experiments will be the appearance of antimatter, which will immediately annihilate in powerful explosion. However, the collider has been operating successfully for many months and has almost achieved its goal - there is a high probability that scientists have detected the long-sought Higgs boson. Under what conditions do the best physicists in Europe work, what do they eat and how do they conduct free time? I will try to tell you about this, based on the walk I took in the company of cousin, V this moment working at CERN.
You can come from Geneva to CERN by tram - you need to get off at the final stop. The tram route has two branches. The main thing is not to make a mistake and choose the right one. A one-way ticket costs 3.5 Swiss francs (approximately 2.90 euros or 117 rubles). The name CERN has become so common and familiar that even at bus stops it is written in lowercase letters. I decided that from now on I will also write like this - “Cern”.
These trams run from Geneva. It is very inconvenient to travel to the city itself by car - there are paid parking lots, as well as traffic jams and traffic lights at every turn.
Cern is located on the border of Switzerland and France, near the Swiss town of Meyrin ( Meyrin). Some of the buildings are also located on the French side, near the town of Prévessant-Moen ( Prévessin-Moëns). Locals may well cross the border between the two countries several times a day - border guards appear rarely, if at all.
Nice landscapes around Cern.
The first thing you notice when you get off the tram is five multi-colored trash cans. separate collection waste (for paper, glass, aluminum, plastic and other waste). Although no, you still notice the Cern symbol first - Ball or globe (The Globe), made of wood.
At night the Ball is beautifully illuminated.
There is a free exhibition inside that tells about entertaining world elementary particles.
The entire space is filled with glowing balls - these are either tactile screens or egg-shaped chairs with built-in speakers. You can sit, relax and listen to a story about supersymmetry or string theory.
Across the road from Shar is the main site of the nuclear research center. Everything here is extremely open, and despite the fact that entry is usually allowed to badge holders, in fact anyone can come and walk around the territory, not only outside, but also inside the buildings. At the end of this post, I will give you some tips to help you organize your own tour of Cern.
Let's start our walk from the patio of the main dining room. IN summer time It must be very pleasant to have breakfast here with a view of the snow-capped peaks and breathe in the fresh alpine air.
I'll show you the dining room a little later, when we go to dinner with nuclear physicists, but for now I want to show examples of breakfasts at Cern. Coffee, yoghurt, bun - about 6.5 francs (5.4 euros or 218 rubles). Not cheap, like everywhere else in Switzerland. Although you need to understand that they also earn more here than in neighboring countries.
Coffee, yogurt, banana, cereal with milk - about 8 francs (6.6 euros or 268 rubles).
There are blue pipes everywhere, symbolizing particle accelerators.
Solar fountain. A large, rectangular photocell needs to be twisted, turning towards the sun. When the illumination reaches a certain threshold, a yellow ball in a transparent tube rises upward on a stream of water. In my case, the autumn sun was not enough.
Original lights and mountain range Yura ( Jura) in the background (hence the name Jurassic).
On Saturday morning there is practically no one in Cern, so walking around the territory is very convenient - no one bothers you, no one pays attention to the camera. True, the sensations are peculiar - as if I suddenly found myself in an extinct city, like Pripyat. Empty streets, empty buildings, as if they had survived a man-made disaster. The old blinds on the windows creak and click in the wind. In general, you understand - the walk turned out to be very atmospheric.
The cousin, naturally, had a Tsernov badge. At some point we passed by a large hangar, and at the entrance I noticed a panel for applying a badge. Just for fun, I decided to try to open the door, and we were all sure that nothing would work. But no, the door opened and I was able to do exclusive photo secret warehouse. Another manifestation of Cern's policy of openness and transparency? This, of course, is great, but what if intruders decide to get in here?
In fact, dangerous premises There’s plenty at Cern; it’s not for nothing that they do serious research here. Some employees constantly wear personal dosimeters, as they work in conditions of increased background radiation. There are also special stands where you can rent a dosimeter.
It is believed that the first web server was launched at Cern by the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Tim came up with and implemented the basic principles of the World Wide Web: identifiers URI(in particular Internet addresses - URL), protocol HTTP and language HTML.
European organization Nuclear Research was founded in 1954 by a dozen countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Yugoslavia). Later Austria, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria joined. The troika Germany-France-Great Britain invests the most money in Cern.
Cern has its own fleet of cars with a blue logo.
In addition, employees can rent bicycles from any of the automated parking lots, like those seen in Paris, Strasbourg and many others. European cities. Some employees even try to storm local mountains on these city bikes.
Cern reminded me a lot of a university campus. Here too great amount various clubs and associations, from basketball and dance to yoga, yachting, croquet and scuba diving. The table tennis club is trying to attract people with the help of famous physicists - Heisenberg, Otto Frisch and Niels Bohr, who allegedly adored this sport.
In the classrooms, just like at my university, films are shown in the evenings, for example, “Phantom” by Roman Polanski.
Even sexual minorities created an association for themselves. In Russia this is impossible to imagine, but in Europe it has not shocked anyone for a long time.
Cern logo made from leaves Post-It. Typically, such “tasks” are given to interns who have nothing better to do.
Let's now take a look at the premises of the science center. We won’t linger for long at the main entrance, so as not to once again become an eyesore for the locals. Let's just pay attention to the unusual, holey ceiling.
Let's take a look into the main auditorium. It was here that a seminar was held in July of this year, at which physicists presented preliminary experimental results ATLAS And CMS. Scientists have discovered signs of a new particle with a mass of 125 GeV with a statistical significance of 5 sigma. Everything suggests that a completely new boson has been found, and the heaviest of all known so far. The existence of such a boson was predicted by the English scientist Peter Higgs already in 1964, and now everything is moving towards the fact that it was the Higgs boson that was detected in the Large Hadron Collider. People lined up early in the evening to try to get into the seminar the next morning. After five in the morning the hall was already full.
Clippings from various newspapers telling about the discovery of the “god particle”, which is responsible for the masses of all elementary particles of the Standard Model.
The Tsernovsky corridors do not shine with modern design solutions.
Wooden doors and fireproof cabinets with archives are at times very reminiscent of Soviet ones.
Secret building plan.
I suspected that Cern had its own terrible secrets! Turns out he's hiding in underground rooms ancient god Cthulhu, which was talked about a lot in RuNet at one time.
An example of a typical door to the office of one of the Cern employees. In this case, it's Sarah Pamlard, who works in the finance and purchasing department.
The huge number of Apple stickers suggests that there are many Apple fans in the science center.
A photo of the secret documents of Cernov programmers.
But what programmers consume is not beer, but cocoa Frey, tea Twinings, Tetley And Lipton.
The topic of drinks smoothly takes us to dining room No. 1 (sounds like in the USSR again). One of the most interesting moments excursions - see where and what leading European physicists eat.
The dining room provides self-service - you take a tray and serve yourself whatever your heart desires. Hot meals can be ordered to be served. At the end, you go through the cashier, pay, and then choose a table in one of the halls. At the end of the working day, you can indulge in a glass (or maybe a jug) of draft beer Cardinal or a glass of wine.
I photographed examples of dinner at Cern. Pancakes with mushrooms and ham, artichoke bottoms with peas, farm yogurt, fruit salad, glass of Cardinal. About 15 francs (12 euros, 500 rubles).
Pollock fillet, grilled tomato, French fries, tea. About 11 francs (9 euros, 370 rubles).
And again pollock fillet, risotto, tea. Every day there is a choice of three main courses (one vegetarian), a special course, grilled meat, pasta and pizza. Most choice at lunch.
At the end of the meal, the tray should be taken to a special conveyor. Plastic stoppers are sorted separately.
In the dining room there is a monitor on which basic data about the collider’s operation is broadcast. You can monitor his activity in real time, without stopping from work, even in the dining room.
In general, it is quite possible to live in Cern. There is a shop and ATMs here, and late at night You can always buy sausages, ham or rice quick cooking in one of the machines. Nearby there are vending machines selling essential items - toothpaste, cotton swabs, sanitary napkins, etc.
To summarize the tour, I can say that Cern reminded me of a large student campus where people live, work, eat and relax at the same time. I really liked the atmosphere of openness and friendliness, a little less - the dilapidation and “sovietness” of some of the interiors. However, we should not forget that the first buildings in Cern were built back in the fifties of the last century.
Finally worth mentioning The Large Hadron Collider(TANK). Each word in the title carries a specific meaning. “Large” indicates the size of the accelerator - 26 kilometers long, 8 kilometers in diameter. “Hadronic” indicates the type of accelerated particles - hadrons, that is, heavy particles consisting of quarks. “Collider” - because particle beams are accelerated in opposite directions and then collide. The LHC is located just outside Cern, on the border of Switzerland and France. My hotel was very close, so you could say I slept right above the collider. The sensations are unforgettable - or rather, they are not there at all.
As promised, I want to give some advice to those who want to visit Cern:
As I already wrote, everything here is very open, and getting into the territory is not at all difficult. However, it is better not to look like typical tourists, hide your camera when entering and confidently walk forward.
- Most the best option: Enlist the help of one of the Cern employees. He will guide you through the auxiliary entrance with the help of a badge, show you all the interesting things about the center (for example, the Cthulhu sign or the server room) and help you not get lost in the intricacies of the corridors.
- More than 800 Russians work at Cern, among whom there are many undergraduate and graduate students, so finding a tour guide should not be difficult. Famous blogger Ilya Varlamov, for example, used the services snoop58
.
- Saturday - the right time to visit Cern. On this day there is almost no one here, so you can calmly walk around and take pictures.
- If you come to Cern on a weekday, it is better to come in the morning. Employees arrive at work in a continuous stream, so no one checks for badges. You can safely enter through the main entrance.
- Be sure to go to the local canteen, because this is one of the most interesting moments. Admission is free; you can pay in francs or euros at the checkout. Take a tray, choose your food and sit at any table. You can communicate in English - this is the main language of Cern, since there are a lot of foreigners here.
- Avoid days when conferences, seminars and similar events are held at Cern. There will be more people, security will be stricter, and not everywhere you can go unhindered.
- The collider is currently still operating, so it will not be possible to visit it. But in 2013 it will be closed for repairs and modernization, so it is likely that excursions will begin to go there.
And most importantly: beware of Cthulhu and black holes.
Swiss sketches:
Part one. What is CERN and what is it eaten with?
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is an international organization engaged in research in the field of particle physics, founded in 1954, located in Switzerland. CERN built the first particle accelerator - the synchrocyclotron, the Large Electron-Positron Collider and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
Scientists at the center have made a number of major discoveries in the field of elementary particle physics: they discovered W- and Z-bosons, and for the first time obtained an antihydrogen atom. And in 2013, at CERN, as a result of a series of experiments at the LHC, the Higgs boson was discovered - an elementary particle due to which, according to the Standard Model, the entire mass of the Universe is actually created.
In addition to discoveries in the field of physics, CERN became famous for the fact that the World Wide Web hypertext project was proposed within its walls. English scientist Tim Berners-Lee and Belgian scientist Robert Caillot, working independently, proposed a project in 1989 to link documents through hypertext links to facilitate the exchange of information between groups of researchers conducting large experiments at the LEP collider.
Initially the project was used only on the CERN intranet. In 1991, Berners-Lee created the world's first web server, website and browser. However, the World Wide Web only becomes truly worldwide when the URI, HTTP, and HTML specifications have been written and published.
On April 30, 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free for all users.
CERN is part of the large Grid project EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) and develops its own Grid services. This is done by a special department associated with the collider - the LHC Computing Grid.
CERN is one of two Internet exchange points in Switzerland, CINP (CERN Internet Exchange Point).
CERN compiles and uses its own distribution operating system Linux - Scientific Linux.
2016
Russian scientists have begun designing the most massive part of the new CERN experiment
The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN, Geneva) is preparing a new experiment - SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles). The goal of the new experiment is to search for three possible fundamental particles - heavy neutral leptons (HNL), also called Majorana neutrinos. The introduction of these particles into the Standard Model of particle physics will describe the existence of dark matter, as well as the absence of antimatter in the Universe.
The task of NUST MISIS engineers is to create and calculate the optimal model of the decay volume chamber. In addition, they will need to work out several options for the design of the decomposition chamber, differing in both design and materials, and the amount of pressure inside the chamber.
According to the rector of NUST MISIS, Alevtina Chernikova, “an international team is working on a new experimental installation, including 41 scientific organization from 16 countries of the world. NUST MISIS joined the SHiP project in 2015 as an expert on superconducting magnets and various types alloys and steels used in the construction of the SHiP system, as well as one of the main participants in the design and implementation of the engineering part of the project.”
The decay chamber is a conical tube with internal and external linings. The design of the chamber shell consists of several hundred cells, each of which has 6 internal surfaces. NUST MISIS engineers carried out a consistent series of calculations and modeling of the structure and load conditions, based on the results of which a certain grade of steel and aluminum alloy was selected as a material, as well as the optimal dimensions and geometry of the design elements of the experimental installation.
“In the designed decay chamber, the main “events” of the experiment will take place, which will need to be tracked - the potential emergence of new particles. The chamber is a very massive object - 45 meters long and 10 meters high in its maximum cross-section, the director said working group NUST MISIS Sergey Albul. – The specifics of the SHiP experiment impose a number of criteria and restrictions. The main difficulty is that, along with ensuring sufficient strength, rigidity and vibration resistance of such a critical structure, it is necessary to minimize the amount of chamber material to reduce disturbances when registering emerging particles, taking into account, of course, the cost of the material.”
Ministry of Education and Science: Russia will not become an associated member of CERN until 2017
Russia will not be able to become an associate member of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) until 2017, since the terms of cooperation between the two parties need to be finalized, Sergei Salikhov, director of the Department of Science and Technology of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, told TASS in April 2016.
“Definitely not until the end of the year. I think that's the question next year“, he answered a question from journalists about the timing of Russia’s admission to associate members of CERN. “Currently, negotiations are underway with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with CERN regarding the conditions that our foreign policy department considers necessary, the changes that need to be made to this agreement.”
Thus, additional approval requires the amount of contributions that Russia will make to the CERN budget after becoming its associate member. At the same time, Salikhov noted that the country is already making a “significant contribution” to the experiments conducted by the center.
Department representative international relations CERN Rüdiger Voss explained to reporters that associate membership in the European Center for Nuclear Research entails certain privileges and responsibilities, which are mainly financial. At the same time, the country will take part in the management of the center and will be able to participate in tenders.
“We will be able to do business directly with Russian industry, especially in industries such as hi-tech and areas that we are particularly interested in, for example, the electrical industry, electronics, computers,” Voss emphasized.
Russia applied to become an associate member of CERN in December 2012, although the history of bilateral relations dates back to Soviet times. Today, Russia is a CERN observer country, which gives its representatives the right to attend meetings of the center.
CERN members are 21 states, whose contributions form the basis of the center's budget. Serbia, Türkiye and Pakistan are associate members and pay only a portion of the full fee.
Cyprus admitted to CERN
On April 1, the Republic of Cyprus became an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Associate membership at the preliminary stage allows the Republic of Cyprus to participate in meetings of the CERN Council, entitles Cypriot scientists to become CERN staff, and Cypriot industry to bid for CERN contracts, which opens up opportunities for industrial cooperation in area advanced technologies. CERN also notes that Cypriot scientists took part in experiments at the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP).
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a nuclear particle accelerator used to accelerate heavy ions and protons and study the products created when they collide. Today it is the world's largest pilot plant - it is installed on the border of France and Switzerland.
During its creation, and then in the experiments carried out, about ten thousand scientists and specialists from more than a hundred countries took part. The collider was created at the European Council for Nuclear Research, located near Geneva. CERN is the world's largest scientific center, founded in 1954 to study high energies. More than 20 states cooperate under its auspices.
The collider was called "large" because it really huge size. Its main ring is 26,659 meters long. The word “hadronic” corresponds to the processes that occur in it: this is the acceleration of hadrons - heavy particles that contain quarks. In translation, collider means “pusher,” which is confirmed by practice, since particle beams in the installation move in polar directions in a circle until they collide at certain points.
The Hadron Collider is a kind of ring-shaped tunnel, the length of which is over 26 kilometers. It is located at a depth of 50 to 175 meters. Its structure also includes smaller tunnels in which the initial acceleration of particles is carried out. The idea of creating an accelerator arose in 1984, but its assembly began much later, 17 years later. The device was first launched in 2008.
Any tourist can sign up for a free excursion to CERN. The guide will tell you about the history of the organization and the creation of the hadron collider. You can view the schedule and sign up for a visit on the official website: outreach.web.cern.ch/outreach/visites/index.html. Usually the tour, which is conducted in English or French, lasts three hours. However, you need to understand that those who want to get into unique object there are many, and the groups that are formed for the visit are very small. So you will have to wait a long time for your turn: usually visits are scheduled several weeks in advance.
It is much easier to get to the exhibitions “The Universe of Particles” and “Microcosm”, which are constantly running on the territory of the center. Every half hour, a film is shown to tourists about the creation and operation of the hadron collider. It is better to check the exhibition opening hours on the official website - outreach.web.cern.ch/outreach/expos_cern/horaires.html
CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest laboratory for high energy physics. Also sometimes translated as European Nuclear Research Centre. The abbreviation CERN comes from the French. Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research). In Russian the abbreviation CERN is usually used.
General information
CERN is located on the border of Switzerland and France, near Geneva. The CERN site consists of two main sites and several smaller ones. The large complex of buildings includes offices, laboratories, production facilities, warehouses, conference rooms, living quarters, and canteens. The accelerator complex is located both on the surface (old accelerators Linac, PS) and underground on great depth up to 100 meters (more modern SPS, LHC). The main site is the area near the Swiss town of Meyrin, the so-called. site Meyrin. Another main site is the area near the French commune of Prévessin-Moins - site Prévessin. Smaller sites are scattered in the immediate vicinity along the underground ring built for the LEP accelerator. The agreement on the formation of CERN was signed in Paris on June 29 - July 1, 1953 by representatives of 12 European countries. The organization was formed on September 29, 1954. Currently, the number of member countries has increased to 20. In addition, some countries and international organizations have observer status. About 2,500 people permanently work at CERN, and about 8,000 more physicists and engineers from 580 universities and institutes from 85 countries participate in CERN’s international experiments and work there temporarily. Annual contributions from CERN member countries in 2008 amount to 1075.863 million Swiss francs (about 990 million US dollars). In 2013, CERN was awarded the Niels Bohr Gold Medal - an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - as an example international cooperation scientists from many countries around the world. “Although Russia is not a member of CERN,... Russia financed the construction of both the detectors, all four, and the accelerator itself. The share is approximately, if we talk about detectors, it is on average about 5%. If we talk about the accelerator, then about 3%. This is money that the Ministry of Education and Science and the Agency for Science and Innovation allocated specifically for these purposes to our institutes, and our institutes could purchase everything they needed with this money.” - said the coordinator of Russia’s participation in the CERN project, deputy director of the SINP MSU Viktor Savrin.
After success international organizations in resolving post-war problems, leading European physicists believed that similar organization is also necessary for physical experimental studies. These pioneers were Raoul Daughtry, Pierre Auger and Lev Kowarski in France, Edoardo Amaldi in Italy and Niels Bohr in Denmark. In addition to uniting European scientists, such an organization was designed to share the increasing cost...
The French name is Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire, from which its abbreviated designation was derived.
Subsequently, 12 countries signed the treaty establishing CERN, and Yugoslavia, which was initially a member of the organization, left this union in 1961. In January 2014, Israel became the last full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, becoming CERN's 21st member, the first new one since 1999, and the only one located outside the continent.
CERN is located in the vicinity of Geneva, on the border of Switzerland and France. Its territory consists of several sites, the two main ones are located near the Swiss town of Meyrin and near the French town of Prévesant-Moen. The infrastructure of the institution consists of laboratories, offices, technical and production premises, canteens, conference rooms, residential buildings, as well as an accelerator complex and cryogenic systems for cooling magnets.
The most important tool for studying charged particles is accelerators. Several of them were built at CERN. The CERN accelerator complex is a sequence of linear and ring installations for accelerating protons and heavy elementary particles-hadrons to speeds comparable to the speed of light. The last link in this chain is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which was first launched in 2008. With help powerful accelerator Nuclear physicists are trying to reproduce physical processes, occurring in the space environment.
CERN's main area of research is particle physics - the study of the basic components of matter and the forces acting between them. Along with fundamental tasks, CERN laboratories are conducting applied research V various fields sciences - medicine, pharmaceuticals, energy, in the field high technology and many others.
Behind last years In the laboratories of the scientific center, many high-profile discoveries were made, one of which was the discovery of a structureless particle - the Higgs boson. The CERN laboratories also developed the World Wide Web, i.e. WWW, as well as the HTTP protocol and the HTML language. New ones are constantly being released there. software, most of from which it is distributed among computer and Internet users.
The main achievement of CERN, as the leaders of the institution themselves believe, is colossal work to attract valuable scientific personnel, as well as the unification of almost all physicists different countries peace.
About 10 thousand people use CERN's high-tech experimental equipment researchers and engineers from 113 countries.
More than 2,400 people constantly work at CERN.
The European Nuclear Research Center is also known as a scientific training centre. On its basis, schools have been created in which students and young graduate students can improve their knowledge in the study of particle physics, accelerator physics and computer technology.
In 2013, the European Organization for Nuclear Research was awarded the Niels Bohr Gold Medal, an award from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources