The European Organization for Nuclear Studies opens a new center

2023-10-22 20:03:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The laboratory of the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, one of the largest atom splitting centers in the world, known as CERN, has opened a new research center. The new center, called the Science Gateway, hopes to make complex science concepts understandable and inspiring for everyone ages 5 and up, the Associated Press reports.

To better welcome tens of thousands of tourists a year, European Organization for Nuclear Research leaders say infrastructure improvements and the opening of a new center at the laboratory, located near the Franco-Swiss border, were necessary.

"With the "Science Gate" center, we want to expand the opportunities for scientific education that we offer to the public," explains director Fabiola Gianotti, who engaged the Italian architect Renzo Piano for the construction of the new center.

Entry to the new center will be free and one of its main aims is to "inspire young people to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics", Ms Gianotti says.

Until now, the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, was only able to meet 150,000 of the 300,000 requests for visits from tourists a year. The opening of the new center, "Science Gate" will make it possible to receive 500 thousand visitors a year, says Mrs. Gianotti.

In addition to Ms. Gianotti and Mr. Piano, the opening ceremony of the new center was attended by other dignitaries, including the famous Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado and John Elkann, the chairman of the car manufacturer, Stellantis, which financed almost half of the project.

Drawn to the project, architect Renzo Piano says he always first visits the sites before designing a new structure.

"So I came to CERN, I visited the labs, I talked to people and scientists, and I realized that they needed a real but metaphorical bridge that connects the world of a scientist with the outside world," Piano said.

Architect Piano says he was "moved" by the "incredible" work of scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Studies, who explore everything from the smallest atomic particles to the theory

"Big Bang", which helps to understand "that the Earth is a small spaceship, in which all the people are located," he said.

The CERN center, which has a giant particle accelerator located in a 27-kilometer-long underground loop around the city of Geneva, attracted the attention of the globe in 2012 after its scientists confirmed the existence of the Higgs particle, the so-called "God particle ".

The "Science Gate" center was designed in 2018 and its construction, which cost 110 million dollars, began a little more than two years ago.

CERN is preparing a multi-year multibillion-dollar project to build a "Circular Accelerator of the Future" with a tunnel about 100 kilometers long. Scientists hope that the work on the construction of the new platform will be completed in 2040.