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.

Member States

The original CERN signatories were:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Belgium,
• Denmark,
• Germany (then Federal Republic of Germany),
• France,
• Greece,
• Italy,
• Norway,
• Sweden,
• Switzerland,
• The Netherlands,
• The United Kingdom,
• Yugoslavia.

Since then:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Austria joined in 1959
• Yugoslavia left in 1961, although in common with several other countries (and the European Union), it enjoys "observer status".
• Spain joined in 1961, left in 1969 and rejoined in 1983
• Portugal joined in 1985
• Finland and Poland joined in 1991
• Hungary joined in 1992
• Czech Republic and Slovakia joined in 1993
• Bulgaria joined in 1999

Bringing the current number of member countries to 20.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~