The central section of the UA1 experiment on display at the Microcosm museum

Microcosm is a museum of particle physics located at CERN in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, near the town of Meyrin. It is a very comprehensive museum, covering a broad range of particle physics topics, as well as the entire history of CERN. Exhibits include: The UA1 high energy physics experiment ran at CERN from 1981 until 1993 on the SPS collider. ... A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ... Particles erupt from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... Jump to: navigation, search CERN logo CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), the worlds largest particle physics laboratory, situated on the border between France and Switzerland, just west of Geneva. ... The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the name of the westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France and centered around the city of Geneva. ... This sign at the western edge of Meyrin features the coat of arms of the community. ...

• Explanations of the purpose of CERN and particle physics research in general
• A mock-up, hands-on version of Rutherford's Gold foil experiment
• A real-time cosmic ray detector
• A mock-up of the Large Hadron Collider tunnel
• Models and explanations of current and future CERN experiments
• Equipment from old experiments, including a large part of the UA1 detector, which ran at the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN from 1981 to 1984, and helped discover the W and Z bosons.

Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, known as the father of nuclear physics. ... Top: Expected results: alpha particles passing through the plum pudding model of the atom undisturbed. ... Cosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. ... In experimental particle physics, a particle detector is a device used to track and identify high-energy particles, such as produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator. ... CMS detector for LHC at CERN The Large Hadron Collider (short LHC) is a particle accelerator and collider located at CERN. It is currently under construction and scheduled to start operation in 2007. ... The UA1 high energy physics experiment ran at CERN from 1981 until 1993 on the SPS collider. ... The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is a particle accelerator at CERN. Originally specified as a 300 GeV machine, the SPS was actually built to be capable of 400GeV, an operating energy it achieved on the official commissioning date of 17 June 1976. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In physics, the W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak nuclear force. ...

Microcosm garden

The Microcosm garden features several large components of old CERN experiments. Jump to: navigation, search CERN logo CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), the worlds largest particle physics laboratory, situated on the border between France and Switzerland, just west of Geneva. ...

The entire garden

The Big European Bubble Chamber

An RF cavity from the Large Electron-Positron Collider The Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP - it was dubbed Lots of Extra Problems during the initialisation and calibration phases) is one of the largest particle accelerators finished so far. ...

Initial stages of an old particle accelerator In early particle accelerators a Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier was responsible for voltage multiplying. ...

External link

CERN Microcosm Webpage