in full Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire formerly Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire.
International scientific organization established for collaborative research into subnuclear physics.
Headquartered in Geneva, CERN includes extensive facilities at sites on both sides of the Swiss-French border. The results of its experimental and theoretical work are made generally available. It was established in part in order to reclaim European physicists who had emigrated to the U.S. as a result of World War II. In 2000 it had 20 European member nations and several nations with observer status.