A worthy celebration

What a couple of weeks this has been, with events ranging from cinema through music to TEDxCERN and the culminating celebration on Monday, the day that CERN turned 60. It has been a remarkable 60 years for CERN and the countries that support it. I think it is fair to say that we marked the milestone with dignity, passing the message of science as a driving force for peace.

Now that the anniversary month is over, the first thing I would like to do is say thank you. Thank you to all the people in the CERN community who contributed, and are still contributing, to marking the anniversary with events at CERN and around our Member States. We formally kicked off the celebrations in July with an event at UNESCO in Paris. For those who missed it, you can still watch it here. And the celebrations reached a magnificent conclusion with a fitting ceremony here at CERN on Monday. There were speeches that touched our hearts and minds, and a fantastic performance from the European Union Youth Orchestra, specially enlarged for the occasion, under the baton of Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy. Many people told me after the event how much they appreciated the balance of formal and informal.

So, what remains now the party is over? The whole point of marking this anniversary was to highlight CERN’s contributions not only to science but also to peace. As I have travelled around the events in our Member States, I have been genuinely touched by the enthusiasm of the hundreds of people who have picked up that message and spread the word. It’s a message that is just as important now as it was 60 years ago. For while we in Western Europe may have enjoyed nearly seven decades of uninterrupted peace, much of the world is still torn by conflict and division. Places like CERN are islands of stability in a turbulent world. They are places where people from all nations and cultures come together and show the greatness we are capable of if we celebrate our common humanity, rather than focus on what makes us different. I can think of little more worthy of celebration.

Rolf Heuer