CERN Stops Cooperation With Russia at the Request of Ukrainian Scientists

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) stopped its partnerships with Russian scientific institutions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the statement, it will not enter into new collaborations with Russian scientific institutions.

CERN, abbreviated by the European Center for Nuclear Research or French name Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, is the research organization that manages the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, located on the border of Switzerland and France.

The members of CERN condemned Moscow

“The 23 Member States of CERN condemn in the strongest terms the military occupation of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and regret the resulting loss of life and humanitarian impact,” the CERN council said in a statement.

“Deeply affected by the widespread and tragic consequences of the aggression, CERN Administration and staff, as well as the scientific community in the CERN Member States, are working to contribute to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and assist the Ukrainian community at CERN.”

Founded in 1954 with the participation of 12 countries, CERN has 23 full members and 7 associated member states. Ukraine is among these associated member states, while Russia is not an official member of the organization.

At CERN, as of 2017, more than 17,500 people from around the world are working together to push the boundaries of knowledge. CERN’s approximately 2,500 staff are involved in the design, construction and operation of its research infrastructure. A large community of more than 12,200 scientists from 110 nationalities from institutes in more than 70 countries contributes to the preparation and operation of the experiments as well as the analysis of the collected data.

Cern

Percentage of Russian scientists at CERN

According to Science, Russian scientists make up about 8% of CERN staff, that is, about 1,000 researchers. However, Ukrainian scientists demanded that CERN stop cooperating with Russian scientific institutions in response to the invasion of Russia.

“The situation will continue to be closely monitored and the Council is ready to take other appropriate measures at its future meetings,” the statement said. “The CERN Council also expresses its support to the many members of CERN’s Russian scientific community who reject this invasion”.

A Ukrainian scientist, who has not been named, told Science, “CERN, as a leading scientific laboratory, must immediately terminate all cooperation with Russian institutions, otherwise every crime and injustice committed by their government and armed forces will be seen as legitimate. The democratic society, the scientific society, this tyrant. We call on [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to stand with us against it”.

CERN has been on hiatus for more than 3 years due to Covid-19, but the Large Hadron Collider is expected to start new observations again this spring.