CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) located in Geneva is one of the most prestigious science and research institutions in the world, and a symbol of European science. During the almost 70 years of its existence, several generations of excellent physicists from all around the world (including many Nobel Prize winners) conducted their scientific research there, focused on one objective – discovering the essence of the Universe.
Currently, 23 countries are involved in CERN’s activities, including Poland. The research includes mainly projects related to elementary particles and fundamental interactions. It is worth mentioning that the existence of the Higgs boson, called the “Holy Grail” of physicists, was confirmed at CERN on July 4, 2012. Detecting the so-called God particle by the LHC accelerator is considered to be the last great breakthrough in research on the Standard Model.
Our country became a CERN member on 1 July 1991. Therefore, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of cooperation between Polish science and the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Many scientific institutions have joined in on the organisation of the nationwide celebrations of the anniversary, including: Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, University of Warsaw, National Centre for Nuclear Research, AGH University of Science and Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and Jan Kochanowski University.
UŚ30CERN
From the very beginning, scientists from the University of Silesia in Katowice have been actively involved in the implementation of research projects and experiments of global importance. You can read about the cooperation of our University with CERN on a website specially designed for this occasion: pl30cern.us.edu.pl. Some of the materials available there include recollections of the staff, students, and doctoral students of the University of Silesia from their stay at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, published as part of a series entitled “CERN | My Story”.
We also encourage you to listen to three short lectures and read an interview prepared for this occasion by the leaders of teams participating in projects and research experiments at CERN: Prof. Jan Kisiel, Seweryn Kowalski, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor, Prof. Janusz Gluza, and Jerzy Jarosz, PhD, Associate Professor from the August Chełkowski Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia. Materials will be made available in the first half of July.
photo by Julien Marius Ordan | CERN-PHOTO-201707-179 | cds.cern.ch