“My dear audience,” the first words spoken czech by Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in his lecture in the full-to-bursting Blue Lecture Hall, provoked a positive reaction. Opening the seminar on particle physics for secondary schools, Heuer emphasised that, even though a small country, the Czech Republic is a very important partner in the CERN project.

“CERN is a laboratory that belongs to its partners. It is your laboratory,” said Heuer. The Czech Republic has been one of the 21 member states of CERN since 1992. “Charles University is a good partner that provides many scientists for CERN,” noted the Director General and challenged young scientists to join them and make the most of the opportunities offered by CERN. Heuer emphasised that CERN provides much more than just research and education – it also offers the opportunity to work with people from a wide variety of countries and cultures.

In his talk, Heuer said that CERN has initiated a discussion on a new particle accelerator in a subterranean tunnel measuring 100 km in length. “While one hundred kilometres may seem a lot, it is only three times longer than the LHC accelerator – and that is only twice the total length of tunnels in CERN. I would be delighted if scientists from Charles University could contribute to the creation of a study that would show what is possible,” said in discussion with the Rector of Charles University, Tomáš Zima.

At the close of his discussion with the Rector, the Director General expressed his belief that it will be possible to expand the successful collaboration between CERN and the CU Faculty of Mathematics and Physics to include the field of information technology.