India becomes Associate Member of CERN

India and European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have signed an agreement making India the Associate Member State of CERN. Resolution to this effect was adopted earlier on September 15, 2016. Presently, the CERN consists of 22 member states, 4 associate member states, 4 Observer states and 3 international organizations.

CERN is a research organization that operates world’s largest particle physics laboratory and is situated in the North West suburbs of Geneva on the Franco-Swiss Border. It was established in 1954 and its main function is to provide the infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research including particle accelerators.

Associate Member status of CERN will help Indian scientists to take part in the huge scientific and technological endeavour of CERN. It will enhance the participation of Indian scientists and engineers in various projects of CERN. The knowledge gathered by participating in such projects can be deployed in India’s domestic programmes. Also, It will provide opportunities for Indian industries to take part directly in the projects of CERN.

In recent years, Indian scientists have made significant contributions in all pioneering activities at CERN. Indian scientists were involved in the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as well as in the areas of design, development and supply of hardware accelerator components/systems among others. They have also played an important role in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments that have led to the discovery of the Higgs Boson.