Particle physicists are almost like detectives without magnifying lenses and weird hats. Both rely on their deduction powers to find the culprit who left weird tracks. Which particle was it? Where did it come from? And, if no one really saw it, was it ever really there? On our Journey Through a Detector, we will explore the world of particle detectors by following particles through different detector layers and discovering how they help us see the invisible.
Come and marvel at simple and entertaining experiments, often bordering on the magical, which demonstrate different states of matter and magnetism in a fun way. Break a rubber tube with a hammer? Levitate a magnet? It's not magic, it's science!
We live in a Quantum World! Quantum physics explains why the sun shines. It allows us to make smartphones and to understand how plants grow. Yet, strange and wonderful quantum effects only occur at the tiny scales of particles… don’t they? In this interactive exhibition discover the world of particles as if you yourself were so tiny.
Take a journey back 13.8 billion years, to the very beginning of time. Discover how the Universe evolved to become what we see around us today. Try out the experiments to find out how scientists do their investigations. Are you ready to get transported through the different stages of the Universe? Design your own star and eject it out into space, play with the proton weighing scales and try your hand at trapping antimatter.
Scientists from all over the world join forces at CERN to answer profound questions about the Universe. Let them guide you through the laboratory!
An immersive scenography will transport you to the underground tunnels where the smallest building blocks of matter accelerate and collide. Discover machines of a remarkable scale and complexity.
Are you a group of high school or university students, scientists, experts or simply curious about CERN? Take the opportunity to visit the heart of CERN’s research and engineering facilities on a tailor-made guided tour. Let us know your areas of interest and we will do our best to create a customised tour of CERN for you!
Guided tours for groups of more than 12 people need to be booked up to nine months in advance. Please note that slots fill up within a few days. Find out how to book here.
If you visit on your own, with your family or friends our daily guided tours are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Connect to our exclusive web app when arriving at Science Gateway to check guided tour availabilites and to register.
Build your own LEGO robot, program your robot, and perform a series of measurements inside a closed off “danger zone” that is inaccessible to humans.
Robots are used in many different environments at CERN that are difficult to access or where there could be potential for danger for humans. CERN scientists have unique experience with designing, building and operating robots for different purposes.
Find out how magnets work, how they interact with other materials, and how we use magnets in experiments at CERN.
CERN uses thousands of magnets for particle physics experiments. For example, strong electromagnets are used to bend the paths of protons in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We can also find strong permanent magnets in particle physics research, for example, inside the AMS particle detector, which is attached to the International Space Station.
How can we make the invisible visible? Explore how balls interact with a hidden structure to come up with your best model of what the invisible structure is and learn more about the Nature of Science!
A lot of phenomena scientists at CERN investigate are invisible to our eyes! For example, particles cannot be seen with the naked eye, and properties such as their mass, energy and charge can only be determined indirectly. How do scientists design clever experiments to understand things that aren’t visible?