A royal visit
On Wednesday, 21 May, CERN received His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians, for a full-day visit of the Laboratory.
From left to right: Tiziano Camporesi, CMS Spokesperson; François Englert, Nobel Prize in Physics 2013; Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General; His Majesty Philippe, King of the Belgians; Philippe Courard, Belgium's State Secretary for Scientific Policy and Walter Van Doninck, CERN Council Vice-President.
Director-General Rolf Heuer welcomed King Philippe to CERN at Point 5 (Cessy). This was to be no small visit, with His Majesty accompanied by a host of diplomats, prominent Belgian physicists - including François Englert - and even members of Belgium's press corps.
After quick introductions, the morning began with a tour of the CMS underground experimental area and the LHC tunnel at Point 5, guided by the CMS Collaboration Spokesperson, Tiziano Camporesi, and the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frédérick Bordry, among others. Before heading to the Meyrin site, King Philippe stopped by the LHC's superconducting magnet test hall (SM18).
Following a brief lunch at Restaurant 1, the visit continued with a trip to Building 170. There His Majesty was introduced to many non-LHC experiments carried out at CERN, including ISOLDE, MINIBALL and CRIS. Next was a tour of the LHC Data Centre, guided by the IT Department Head, Frédéric Hemmer. King Philippe and his delegation ended their visit at the Universe of Particles exhibition in the Globe.
