University of Silesia in Katowice

CERN is a unique phenomenon. There are few similar phenomena in the ordinary world, which in my opinion, despite depending so much on it, increasingly despises science and fundamental research. In every interaction I have with this centre and its community, I have the pleasure of belonging; this experience always accompanies me. This is a place that lives for and because of an abstract idea – exploring the fundamental mechanisms of nature.

Of course, this place can be described by the momentousness of the discoveries associated with it, the calculations, its physical size, or finally its impact on the global contemporaneity. After all, it was here, among other things, that the existence of the “God particle” was confirmed. Here, thousands of scientists from dozens of countries around the globe analyze “gigabytes of terabytes” of data stored in a structure that is (without going into details) 27 kilometers long. Behind the gates of this centre, the question of utility of this project disappears, even if, for example, it was here that the WWW was “unintentionally” created. Nevertheless, it seems that the climate in there and what this place truly is like is the most difficult to capture, describe, and communicate.

Probably like many before me, in my first moments in this centre, despite the accurate map, I got lost in the town of streets named after famous physicists. Stunned by the scale, I stumbled across company bicycles on which perhaps one of the famous researchers had come to work or to the canteen.

Whenever I arrive there, I have the impression that I am going a bit to a huge dorm with all its positive aspects, a bit to a summer camp, and a bit to the republic of scientists dreamed of by Humboldt. At the same time, in a way that is not at all pompous or pretentious, I am accompanied by a scientific atmosphere of the highest order, alive with the history of discovery and innovation of thought. CERN is about ideas and the people who implement them. It is not difficult to come across a lecture by a Nobel Prize winner or a choir rehearsal there. Equally important is a scientific discussion over delicious french fries (although it should be mentioned that the kitchens serve a full range of meals from all over the world), a game of board games as well as tedious work in the excellently equipped library. You never know where an important thought will catch you, which encounter will result in a new idea worth exploring. It is both an enclave and a global place. The “archaic” place is detached from the corporate rite measured by short-sighted profits. It’s innovative and modern because it sets and co-creates the directions of development of general significance. Witnessing this stuns me a bit. Being one of the many components of this colorful, multicultural organization that stands above politics and partisanship, I am aware that the history of science will see CERN on par with the Library of Alexandria, spaceflight, and the discovery of penicillin.

Through my modest participation, together with Professor Janusz Gluza’s research group, developing both theory and software related to the planned future accelerator (FCC), I hope to be part of this story.