Il 5 febbraio 1960 il CERN inaugurò alla presenza di ricercatori e politici il suo nuovo acceleratore di particelle. Il sincrotrone a protoni aveva però accelerato i suoi primi protoni il 24 novembre 1959 su di un percorso di 628 metri, diventando così, per un breve periodo, l'acceleratore ad aver prodotto il più grande quantitativo di energia al mondo.
Nel corso degli anni ha subito numeroso modifiche che l'hanno reso sempre più performante. L'intensità del suo fascio di protoni è stata moltiplicata per mille e nel 2009 si è aggiunto al sincrotrone a protoni e il super sincrotrone a protoni anche il nuovo grande collisore di adroni.
Al momento il laboratorio a cavallo della frontiera franco-elvetica gestisce un complesso di otto acceleratori e due deceleratori e impiega in modo permanente 2500 ricercatori e tecnici. Le collisioni delle particelle permettono ai fisici di sondare il mondo dell'infinitamente piccolo e di portare avanti la ricerca scientifica nel settore della fisica nucleare e delle particelle.
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