1954: CERN was born

The Laboratory was the first scientific pan-European endeavour. Just a few years after the Second World War, twelve European countries joined forces and built what has become the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. In 2014, CERN will celebrate 60 years of cutting-edge science for peace.

It all started in 1949, when French Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Louis de Broglie called for the creation of a European laboratory. The idea was quickly adopted and, in 1953, twelve countries signed the Convention for the establishment…