CERN and the High Energy Physics community CERN and the High Energy Physics community CERN is an international organisation with 20 member states, whose business is scientific research into the fundamental laws of matter. CERN builds and operates facilities for particle physicists to do their experiments.
Science is a community effort, and depends on free access to information and exchange of ideas.
In this spirit, CERN is not an isolated laboratory, but rather a focus for a extensive community that now includes about 80 countries. Around 6500 scientists use the CERN facilities, and more than half the world's high energy physicists are now involved in its experiments. This number is increasing as CERN becomes more and more a world-wide laboratory. Although these scientists typically spend some time on the CERN site, they usually work at universities and national laboratories in their home countries. Pure science seemed a promising field for a joint venture, and so it has proved to be for over 40 years.