The Universe of Particles exhibition at CERN's Globe of Science and Innovation (Image: Michael Jungblut/CERN)
The Universe of Particles exhibition in CERN's Globe of Science and Innovation has won a certificate of excellence from the travel website TripAdvisor.
On TripAdvisor people can review hotels and exhibitions, give travel advice and suggestions, and vote for their favourite places to visit. The voting is entirely up to the website's users – the company does not intervene in the process.
Rolf Landua of CERN's Education and Outreach group was delighted to hear of the award, as it shows that the exhibition stands on its own merit. "We do not actively encourage people to write reviews for us, so this award really comes directly from happy exhibition visitors," he says.
CERN's Globe of Science and Innovation is an unmissable landmark, dominating the landscape just outside CERN's Meyrin campus in Switzerland. Universe of Particles was created by the design studio Atelier Bruckner and opened at the Globe in July 2010. Since then, more than 260,000 people have visited.
Through spherical display cases and interactive information screens, the exhibition presents an insight into the world of fundamental particles and the workings of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Audiochairs play recordings of interviews with top particle physicists, and important objects from the history of CERN and particle physics are on display, including a replica of Ernest Lawrence first cyclotron, cross sections of LHC magnets and the first World Wide Web server. At regular intervals and with impressive visual effects, an immersive projection on the exhibition walls explains the basics of the particle physics, from the creation of matter in the big bang to CERN research today.
Universe of Particles is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free