The European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) was founded in Geneva in 1954 as a way for European nations to pool their resources to research particle physics and combat what they saw as a “brain drain” to America of the best science minds. Their motto is Science for Peace and they have made significant contributions to our understanding of the sub-atomic world and spurred many new technologies – including being the birthplace of the World Wide Web! One of their most fascinating projects is the Large Hadron Collider. It is a 27km long underground tunnel that accelerates particles to near the speed of light in opposite directions then collides them together causing them to break apart into their sub-atomic components. These components are detected using various methods which has helped us understand what the invisible 96% of the universe is made of – and what keeps all the particles that make up matter together.
Geneva is the original home of the League of Nations, the precursor to the UN. The Palais des Nations was built in the 1930s to accommodate its administration and conferences. It is still in use today and is the second largest UN facility to the UN headquarters in NYC. We also visited the nearby Ariana museum which housed a collection of ceramics and glass. The museum and all the land on which the Palais des Nations was built upon was donated to the city of Geneva by a wealthy descendent of the Savoys in the 1800s.
The Geneva Botanical Gardens is a nice walk from the UN buildings. After exploring the park, we walked along the shore back towards downtown Geneva enjoying the lake views and lots of blooming flowers.
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