Author: Maarten Koning

Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) is famous for his work on the origins and structure of the Universe, from the Big Bang to black holes. He reduced the Universe to a thumb. But when asked about the coming into being of this very beginning of the Universe, he replied, “Then I stop thinking”.

It is also the case in this contribution to the world’s most extensive research and experimental centre in physics, Meyrin (Canton of Geneva). This contribution provides rather practical than technical information and is based on information from CERN.

Switzerland is known for its excellent research institutes and universities, and CERN also thrives in this region!

CERN

The origins of CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) can be traced back to the 1940s. Several scientists in Europe and North America identified the need for Europe to have a world-class physics institute.  The first resolution concerning establishing a European Council for Nuclear Research was adopted in December 1951.

Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory in Meyrin, astride the Franco-Swiss border, was one of Europe’s first joint ventures. Today, it has 23 member states, numerous associate member states, and agreements for worldwide cooperation.

Cooperation between nations, universities, and scientists has been and remains the driving force behind CERN’s research. More than 17,500 people from around the world work together.

CERN’s staff, numbering around 2,500, participate in the design, construction, and operation of the research infrastructure. They also contribute to the preparation and operation of the experiments, as well as the data analysis gathered for a vast community of users, comprising over 12,200 scientists from 110 nationalities at institutes in more than 70 countries. CERN is the world’s largest institution in physics.

Research

CERN’s research has transformed our understanding of the Universe, yet many fundamental mysteries remain. Physicists and engineers use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter—fundamental particles.

The instruments used at CERN are purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before the beams collide with each other or stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Subatomic particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process provides us with clues about how particles interact and offers insights into the fundamental laws of nature.

Today, we know that all visible matter in the Universe comprises a minimal number of particles whose behaviour relies on distinct forces. CERN has played a vital role in reaching this understanding.

Throughout the 1960s, theories were advanced to explain two forces—the weak force and the electromagnetic force. In the 1980s, the discovery of the W and Z particles—carriers of the weak force—confirmed this theory. CERN researchers shared the 1984 Nobel Prize in physics for this discovery.

During the 1990s, CERN experiments, designed in light of this discovery, tested the so-called electroweak theory with extreme precision, thereby putting it on solid experimental ground. In 2010, the LHC (the Accelerator) began providing particle collisions in a new high-energy domain, reproducing the conditions a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.

Large Hadron Collider

The LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, is a tunnel that runs 27 kilometres deep into the earth in France and Switzerland. This tunnel is scheduled for replacement in 2040. The proposed new tunnel is the Future Circular Collider, which would be 91 kilometres long, located in France and Switzerland, and situated under the Lake of Geneva.    

The LHC led to the discovery of the Higgs boson, which has long been sought as the particle linked to the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles.

The Laboratory

Beyond CERN’s LHC, the Laboratory has a rich and diverse scientific programme. Experiments at other on-site and off-site accelerators and facilities are essential to the Laboratory’s activities. A strong theory programme that carries out research in theoretical particle physics supports all the experiments.

Although fundamental research is CERN’s primary mission, it also plays a vital role in developing technologies, bringing together nations, universities, scientists, and businesses, and training and educating experts.

Many engineers, technicians, and scientists develop novel technology and expertise that can be applied to fields beyond high-energy physics. CERN is an essential testbed for industries, including large companies, SMEs, and start-ups. It also engages with other stakeholders, such as policymakers, Member States, and Associate Member States.

Industry, applications, cooperation and inventions

The best-known CERN technology is the World Wide Web (WWW), invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. It allowed an ever-increasing number of CERN scientists to share information. Equally revolutionary is the Grid, which harnesses the power of computers worldwide. It has been developed at CERN to process the vast amounts of data collected by the LHC experiments.

The most astonishing discoveries and inventions are: the higgs-boson, the W boson, the Z-boson, the World Wide Web and the Antimatter

CERN’s basic tools – particle accelerators and detectors – also have applications in everyday life. Invented as tools for research, there are thousands of particle accelerators in operation in the world today, of which only a small percentage are used in basic research. The vast majority find applications ranging from medical diagnosis and therapy to computer chip manufacture.

CERN was the prototype for scientific collaboration in Europe, even in the Cold War, and has given rise to organisations with remits ranging from astronomy to biology. The latest organisation to follow in CERN’s footsteps is SESAME, a laboratory for the Middle East in Jordan. Israel and the Palestinian Authority are among the founding members of SESAME, so it is possible. Art and Science unite!

(Source and further information: CERN)

 

Martin Luther initiated the most significant separation of the Christian church since 1054 (the separation between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church) with his 95 theses in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.

This separation was not only religious and political but also geographically inspired. Western and Central Europe were on one side, and Eastern Europe (the Byzantine Empire) was on the other. Although the Orthodox had a common denominator, they quickly developed their regional identities.

Pope Leo IX (1002-1054) and Michael Kerularios (1000-1059), Patriarch of Constantinople (1000-1059). Greek manuscript. 15th century. State Library Palermo. Picture: Wikipedia

The Reformation and Anabaptism

Five centuries after several failed reform attempts, Roman Catholic Europe was ready for a separation from the Church. The reforms proposed by Luther were indeed the direct cause, but the discussions were centuries old. Erasmus was one of many critical theologians; Jan Hus had ended up at the stake a century earlier (1415).

Luther’s reform plans reached a broad audience thanks to the printing press, the Renaissance, humanism, and the prevalence of poverty in both cities and rural areas. Moreover, he wrote in German rather than Latin (although most of the population was still illiterate).

Luther’s ideas quickly reached the Swiss Confederation, primarily the major cities (Basel, Bern, Zurich, Schaffhausen). Zurich had a world premiere: in a short time, around 1525, two new world religions emerged: the Evangelical Reformed Church, founded by Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), and the Anabaptists. Luther and Zwingli differed on various religious dogmatic points, but they rejected and persecuted the Anabaptists.

Not only these areas of the old Swiss Confederation, but ten years later, the independent republic of Geneva and the principality of Neuchâtel were areas with a religious reform: Calvinism. Switzerland was the epicentre of humanism on one side and the dogmatic discussions of the new world religions on the other.

Collégiale in Neuchâtel met standbeeld Guillaume Farel (1489-1565)

Calvinism

Geneva remained the capital of Calvinism for centuries. For example, thousands of students from the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Germany, France and other countries visited the academy founded by Calvin. William of Orange is even honoured on the Wall of the Reformation in Geneva, just as the Dutch admiral and war hero Michiel de Ruyter has his plaque in the Grossmünster in Zurich (and his grave in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, as well as a national day dedicated to him in Hungary).

The Wall of Reformers in Geneva

Disputatio in Zurich

The reform in Zurich was the first in the Confederation, the Swiss way, after a ‘disputatio‘, a public discussion, and a vote in the government. However, this reform did not go far enough for some reformers. They based themselves on the rejection of the baptism of babies because faith is a confession, and a baby does not yet have that discernment.

They did not want a state church but rather religious communities that were privately organised. In other words, they did not recognise the ecclesiastical, thus state hierarchy. At that time, there was no separation between church and state.

Another disputatio occurred on January 17, 1525, between the Protestant Zwingli and the Anabaptist Konrad Grebel (1498-1526). Zwingli won the debate, but that did not prevent the baptism of the first adults on January 21, 1525, including Grebel and Felix Manz (1498-1527).

After that, the conflict escalated, especially because the Anabaptists did not recognize the state church (the new Protestant church; the Catholic church had been the state church for centuries) or the armed service for the government.

For the rulers, Anabaptism was synonymous with anarchy, non-payment of taxes, and refusal to serve in the army. Thus, they undermined the state’s authority (and the leaders’ privileges). They were persecuted (by Protestants and Catholics) and sometimes, like Felix Manz, put to death.

The disputatio of 17 January 1525. Secular lordsds (left), theologians (right), anabaptist delegation (bottom)anded the reformers (Zwingli). Collectie: Zentralbibliothek Zürich 

Global Anabaptism

Due to persecution in Zurich (and later in other cities), they sought refuge in the countryside, where the Anabaptists could count on considerable sympathy and support. After all, it was the time of the peasant uprisings. The religiously inspired Anabaptists and the politically motivated peasants had come together. An exhibition in the Dreiländermuseum in Lörrach examines this context in detail.

The Anabaptists of Zurich eventually fled abroad and to the United States, where they founded Amish and Mennonite communities. The Amish are named after the Swiss Jacob Ammann (1644-1712), and the Mennonites after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496-1561). Moreover, several other splits of the Anabaptists exist worldwide, a true world religion.

The exhibition ‘Verfolgt, Vertrieben, Vergessen—500 Jahre Täufertum im Kanton Zürich‘ at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich presents this little-known yet eventful history through documents from its archives and other institutions.

It takes place on the 500th anniversary of the first adult baptism, which occurred on January 21, 1525. On May 29, the world conference of the Mennonites and a service in the Grossmünster in Zurich will be held. The circle is complete, less than 100 meters from the place where Felix Manz was put to death by drowning in the Limmat in 1527.

(Source and additional information: Zentralbibliothek Zürich, M. Jost, Unpassend. Roman zu den Anfängen der Täuferbewegung, St. Gallenkappel, 2024; Mennonitica. Schweizerischer Verein für Täufer geschichte)