Cooperation between India, CERN to continue

This is where in 1989, the World Wide Web was created, and the world became the library of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, C...

This is where in 1989, the World Wide Web was created, and the world became the library of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN. Today, this is where cutting-edge nuclear technology is created by an international commune of 70 scientists from over 80 countries, including 21 Indians.

President APJ Abdul Kalam was taken down the 110-meter shaft to where the 27 km tunnel for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is under construction, and set for completion in 2007.

At Kalam’s side stood Atomic Energy Commission Chairman, Anil Kakodkar, who flew in for the signing of the Statement of Intent for continuation of India’s cooperation with CERN. Kakodkar told The Indian Express, ‘‘This will give shape to a new protocol and take us to the next level of cooperation with CERN and the next generation of experiments.’’

Story continues below this ad

According to the statement, the Protocol will result in ‘‘further collaboration with CERN requiring the involvements of physicists, engineers and specialised technicians participating in research projects in the field of accelerator and information technology, and in related field of peaceful science and technological applications.’’ India is one of the six countries to be granted Observer Status by CERN, which was formalised first in 1991 and then extended till 2011.

The lone woman amongst the Indians at CERN, is 29-year-old Shradha Palod, an electronics engineer from the Department of Atomic Energy. Speaking to The Indian Express, she said: ‘‘Most of us Indians are working on the testing of superconductor magnets. Kalam’s visit is a boost.’’

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More