Slovenia officially becomes 25th member of CERN

SLOVENIA, June 23 - "Slovenia’s full membership in CERN is an exceptional recognition of our science and researchers. Furthermore, it reaffirms and strengthens Slovenia’s reputation as a nation building its future on knowledge and science. Indeed, apart from its beautiful natural landscapes, knowledge is the only true natural wealth of our country. For this reason, we have allocated record financial resources to science, research and innovation. To ensure that this continues, we have enshrined the obligation to increase these funds annually in the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act," was the comment of Igor Papič, Slovenia’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, on this outstanding achievement.

Slovenian scientists are well familiar with CERN. "Slovenia has a longstanding relationship with CERN, with continuous involvement of the Slovenian science community over many decades in the ATLAS experiment in particular," said Costas Fountas, President of the CERN Council, upon the announcement of Slovenia's full membership. And CERN values Slovenian knowledge. This March, Andrej Gorišek from the Jožef Stefan Institute assumed the position of head coordinator of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider – currently the leading CERN instrument.

Slovenia becomes co-owner of one of the most important scientific research infrastructures in the world

Despite many years of cooperation, however, full membership effective 21 June has brough a significant change – Slovenia became a co-owner of CERN's scientific research infrastructure, one of the most important scientific research infrastructures in the world. "I am delighted to welcome Slovenia to the group of CERN Member States. The country and its researchers will thus gain new opportunities in the fields of fundamental research, technology development, education and training," said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. New opportunities for cooperation with CERN will also open to the economy, which will have unlimited access to public tenders. Full membership also means opportunities for Slovenians to find employment at CERN. It is not only scientists who work there, as support services are also needed.

Slovenian flag to be flown on 3 July

As full membership is a great honour, CERN marks the entry of each new member with a ceremony in which the national flag is flown. It will be flown by CERN's guard of honour in the presence of Slovenian political leaders, CERN management and invited guests at a special ceremony in Geneva at CERN on Esplanade des Particules on 3 July, just before noon.

Among others, the ceremony will be attended by Slovenian Prime Minister, Robert Golob, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Igor Papič, State Secretary for Science and Innovation and member of the Council of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Jure Gašparič, and Ambassador to Geneva, Anita Pipan. Representatives of higher education and scientific research institutions, business and politics are also invited to attend the ceremony.

Fun fact: Slovenia was already a full member of CERN

Slovenia was, although indirectly, already a full member of CERN; in fact, it could be said that it was one of the founding members. Among the 12 countries that signed the founding act in 1953 (the organisation came into being the following year) was Yugoslavia, which withdrew from CERN in 1961. After 64 years, Slovenia is thus "returning" as a full member.

CERN's message: science for peace

The idea of establishing CERN was born after Second World War, when a group of scientists decided that Europe must return to the map of prestigious scientific research areas and that science must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. This dedication to science and pacifism is also evident in the relationships at CERN. During the Cold War, it was one of the few organisations where scientists from the West and the former Soviet Union worked together. Its work and message – "science for peace" – make CERN therefore extremely important not only for the scientific community, but for the whole world.