As many of you already know, we went to Switzerland last year. When we decided to go there I have only one place in mind that I have to go to. Any geeks like me would want to go to CERN.
“S” was in touch with my sister to plan our itinerary, during that process, I had to make sure that CERN was included. Wish granted. I wanted to go there during one their open day where the public are allowed to visit the underground facility to see the LHC up close.
Not many people may know that the world-wide web was actually invented in 1989 by CERN which stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (in English: European Organization for Nuclear Research). The world-wide web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
I am not a Physics or Astronomy type of person, but I do marvel at technology, those that are created for the sake of discovery. You can read more about what they do on their website http://home.cern/
As told by “S” on her earlier posts, we went to France for a couple of days and on the way back to my sister’s home, one of the pit stop is CERN. We started a bit late because of all the fun we had the night before. The hotel that we stayed in is the type of hotel where we had to do the cleaning, otherwise we get charged extra.
Here are some pictures along the way
We had a bit of delay finding the parking because the usual entrance was closed, we had to turn around and park on the opposite side
On the parking side we saw this amazing structure and steel sculpture:
The entrance to CERN is free, They have a gift shop with CERN branded merchandise, I was so excited and bought matching T-Shirts which turned out to be 2 small for me.
Here are some of their indoor exhibits, pardon the geekiness please.
My favorite one is the cross-section of a mock-up LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
This is how their control rooms look like, I wonder if they even have IT department considering that most geniuses in the world are in this place.
They also have some outdoor exhibit. Just the size and complexity of each item makes me wonder how much more complex the LHC is.
The next time I go back to CERN will be on an Open Day. I would really like to see the LHC. There are people who do not agree with what they do in CERN but for me, discovering the origin of the universe will give us glimpse of where we are heading.
And it all started with a Big Bang!
Meet the “A” in A, B & Me! I’m your tech-savvy guy, but I’m also a big fan of action-packed movies, binge-worthy TV shows, whipping up hearty dishes (and devouring them with gusto!), and going on thrilling adventures around the globe. Let’s dive into the tech world together, with a side of rugged excitement.
Wow, I’d really love to visit CERN!
It’s so cool. 🙂
Wow! Those are beautiful and interesting structures.
Yes they are very interesting. I just don’t know what they are… I imagine one of them is a kettle, the other one is a scientific tea holder or something. LOL
It is really interesting, one of the structure is a piston. The pressure generated when they used it was enough to make the water boil.
CERN always makes me think of the Dan Brown Robert Langdon series! I loved that book and the geek in me would want to see CERN too…
Yes! I was imagining myself going down the super secret levels of CERN! LOLS
Go there during open day this year it will be in 8 – 9 June.