About 100 remarkable Bulgarian scientists contribute to the experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the youngest of them being 27 years old and half of them being under 40, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti said in Sofia on Thursday. Gianotti took part in an international interdisciplinary discussion dubbed Relogia Trialogues: Art + Science + Technology.
Gianotti said that CERN is the largest laboratory for the study of the elementary particles that make up matter and the universe. The organization is an extraordinary example of scientific cooperation: it works with 18,000 scientists or over 100 nationalities.
The CERN chief recalled that Bulgaria became a full member of the organization 20 years ago. Currently, CERN has 23 member states. Bulgarian scientists take part in many of its experiments. Bulgarian high-school students and teachers visit its labs under a special program.
There are programs at CERN which combine science, technology and art, Gianotti went on to say. One of the projects looks into how the universe emerged after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. To achieve their very ambitious scientific goals, the researchers use cryogenic and big-data technologies, Gianotti said.
Employing the Large Hadron Collider, physicists at CERN discovered evidence of the Higgs boson which had been predicted half a century earlier. It was the only missing piece in the Standard Model of particle physics.
The meeting at the NDK convention center was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Education and Science Minister Krassimir Vulchev. The 20th anniversary of Bulgaria’s full CERN membership will be highlighted in an exhibition.