Indian President visits CERN

On 1 October, her Excellency Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, picked CERN as the first stop on her official state visit to Switzerland. Accompanied by a host of Indian journalists, a security team, and a group of presidential delegates, the president left quite an impression when she visited CERN’s Point 2!

 

Upon arrival, Pratibha Patil was greeted by CERN Director General Rolf Heuer, as well as senior Indian scientists working at CERN, and various department directors. After a quick overview of the Organization, Rolf Heuer and the President addressed India’s future collaboration with CERN. India is currently an Observer State of the Organization, and is considering becoming an Associate Member State.

A short stop in LHC operations gave Steve Myers and the Accelerator team the opportunity to take the President on a tour through the LHC tunnel. From there, ALICE’s Tapan Nayak and Spokesperson Paolo Giubellino took Pratibha Patil to the experiment’s cavern. Then it was up to the ALICE control centre, where the President had the chance to video chat with physicists working in India.

Pratibha Patil ended her visit with CERN’s Indian community, who were given the opportunity to meet their President and pose for a quick “family photo”.

 

by Katarina Anthony