CERN

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated on the border between France and Switzerland, just west of Geneva. It is also known for being the birthplace of the World Wide Web. The convention establishing it was signed on September 29, 1954. From the original 12 signatories of the CERN convention, membership has grown to the present 20 Member States.

Footnote

• According to Lew Kowarski, a former director of CERN, when the name was changed, the acronym could have become the awkward OERN, Heisenberg said "But the acronym can still be CERN even if the name is ... ."

Compare ISO, the short name of the International Organization for Standardization, which is not an acronym of either the English or the French name of that organisation.

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