The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : President's visit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 21, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

President's visit

With reference to the report "Kalam arrives in Geneva" (May 26), on the visit of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Switzerland, I would like to clarify some inaccuracies regarding CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Your article appears to link CERN to nuclear technology, a point that is thoroughly inaccurate.

CERN's field of study is fundamental science in particle physics. Although containing the word `nuclear' in its title, CERN does not deal with nuclear power for energy production, for other civilian uses, or for military purposes. Moreover, any research for military purposes in explicitly forbidden by the Organization's convention. All results of research performed at CERN are published openly, and are freely available to scientists the world over.

India was granted Observer Status to CERN Council in 2002, having been an active partner of the Organization for many years, and one of the first non-Member States to make significant contributions to our flagship project, the LHC. We believe that the closer ties between India and CERN will be mutually beneficial and I was particularly pleased by the President's visit.

CERN is the largest laboratory for particle physics in the world, using purpose-built experiments to look at the infinitesimally small in the quest to understand nature. The unprecedented requirements for its accelerators and detectors push technology to its limits, as well as creating important spin-off technologies in many fields. Examples include the World Wide Web and certain medical imaging techniques. The scientific ethos promoted by CERN and fundamental science also helps bring nations together through the collaboration of their brightest scientists sharing a common goal.

Robert Aymar,
Director-General, CERN,
Geneva

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

Accusations that are over the top

A new high in stock markets

Central Asia — a region destabilised

Tsunami leaves a world of ghosts'

Murmurs over Andhra Pradesh move on quotas

"Involve Kashmiris in the peace process"