“It is you, and everyone who came before you, who have written CERN’s history, and it is you who are continuing to shape its future,” said CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti, to the CERN community on Tuesday, 17 September, as we came together to celebrate the Laboratory’s 70th birthday.
About 8000 people, including members of the personnel, contractors, students, visiting scientists, friends and family participated in the event on the CERN Meyrin site. The evening included music, speeches and a special birthday cake parade.
Hosts Paola Catapano and Stephan Petit welcomed the community (video 0:00:00 – 0:05:59) before being joined onstage by special guests (video 0:05:59 – 0:42:01), including children from CERN’s Jardin des Particules and crèche alumni; capacitive touchscreen pioneer, Bent Stumpe; Director for Research and Computing and former PhD student, Joachim Mnich; CERN alumni; Beamline for Schools students; a trailer by filmmaker Cedric Klapisch and more.
This video of French and English recollections “Le CERN pour moi – CERN for me” was just one of the videos made especially for the evening.
A musical journey through CERN’s history began with concerts by members of the CERN Music club (video 00:42:05 – 02:00:04) including the Oliver Street Band, the Canettes Blues Band – who made a memorable entrance by car, Miss Proper and The Moving Targets, and Diracula. Following them was a concert by Les Horribles Cernettes (pictured here) (video 02:00:04 – 02:51:00).
The speech by the CERN Director-General to the community (video 02:51:00 – 03:01:20) included these words:
The history of CERN is adorned with great discoveries, observations and measurements, made in a succession of extraordinary machines and countless technological breakthroughs. These successes are those of a community, the CERN community, which includes staff, users, fellows, students, graduates and everyone who works here in one way or another. This community, with its competence, expertise, creativity, passion and determination, is CERN’s strongest asset.
Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General
CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti joined the hosts, offering cake to attendees as CERN’s gigantic 70th birthday cake was paraded through the crowd (video 03:01:20 – 03:11:04), accompanied by a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday”. The cake’s composition was inspired by the Universe.
Exclusive musical performances included the Orchestre des Nations (video 03:11:04 – 03:30:47), who were joined by John Helliwell and Carl Verheyen (video 03:30:47 – 03:43:00). John Helliwell and the Carl Verheyen Band then performed together (video 03:43:00 – 04:58:51) until the Orchestre des Nations rejoined them for songs by Supertramp including “The Logical Song” and “Give a Little Bit” (video 04:58:51 – 05:16:26).
Beyond the main stage, activities included magic shows, dancing, games and CERN-themed temporary tattoos.
A dedicated exhibition of vintage photos was prepared for the event. Some of these images are also featured in the latest CERN Courier.
Almost 100 volunteers helped the event to run as smoothly as possible. Many thanks to them and to all the teams at CERN who were involved in making the event a success.
It was certainly a night to remember.
See more of the photo and video highlights (CERN login required).