CERN

CERN operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. It runs the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer particle accelerator. Scientists use it to study how matter and the universe work. CERN is an intergovernmental organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

CERN was founded in 1954, when twelve Western European countries signed its founding agreement. It is a public organization, funded by member countries based on their national income, and spends about 1.5 billion Swiss francs a year. About 2,704 people work there, and it hosts roughly 12,406 scientists from more than 80 countries. That funding model matters: no single country or company owns CERN, so its research stays open to scientists worldwide.¹