Talk-for-Guides: The history of the CERN accelerator complex

Monday 7 Sept 2026, 17:30 → 18:45 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

Alejandra Lorenzo Gomez (CERN), Francois Briard (CERN), Gijs De Rijk, Niklas Herff (CERN)

In the era of the FCC as a potential next step in CERN's accelerator complex, it's a good time to look back and see how it all began at CERN.

Gijs de Rijk, retired accelerator physicist and CERN Guide, will take us through the different eras of CERN's accelerators in a lecture exploring both their history and the physics behind them. For several accelerators, we will discuss why there was built, how it evolved over time, and how it contributed to our understanding of the Standard Model.

Some basic knowledge/interest of accelerators and particle physics is recommended (e.g. what an eV is, which particles make up the Standard Model, and why higher energies are needed to produce heavier particles).

 

The talk will take ~45 min. with time for questions afterwards.

Presentation in English | A recording is planned (no live zoom event)

Please register through Indico if you want to participate.

 

Recording

17:30 → 18:15 The history of the CERN accelerator complex

Speaker: Gijs De Rijk

CERN-Acc-complex-for-guides-v1-10-09-26.pdf

CERN-Acc-complex-for-guides-v1-10-09-26.pptx

18:15 → 18:45 Q&A

There might be some more time for questions after 18:45.