The SA-CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) is a national programme that was launched in December 2008 to advance the country’s physics capabilities.
It is funded by the Department of Science,Technology and Innovation SA and the NRF.
Over the years, the programme has brought many opportunities that allowed South African physicists to contribute to major global scientific advances, which includes the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle in July 2012.
Physicists from South Africa and other African countries were part of a global collaboration of more than 3 000 physicists from 183 institutions in 38 countries behind the Higgs-Boson discovery.
A partnership with CERN in Switzerland, provides an opportunity to South African physics researchers to conduct research at these premier research facilities. In return, South Africa gets to grow its physics research to become globally competitive and innovative, participates in global science, and attracts brightest young South Africans into science and technology, among a range of things.
SA-CERN is one of initiatives through which the NRF facilitates collaboration and access to global, cutting-edge research infrastructure for the benefit of the local physics discipline. The others are Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility based in France and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics based in Italy.
Picture: NRF