Do you know that the World Wide Web (WWW) information system used in daily life was invented by the world’s most famous research institute called European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN? This could make many people wonder why WWW was created by a physics laboratory rather than a computer organization or renowned company.

                     CERN is the largest particle physics laboratory on earth located at border between French Republic and Swiss Confederation.  The laboratory possesses scientific equipment for studying particle physics called a particle accelerator and has built the most advanced particle accelerator network ever.  The accelerators increase energy and speed of proton or lead particles to nearly speed of light before collision with each other.  New types of particles that are created after the collision as predicted by the particle physics theory will be studied by researchers.

                    Due to the large number and varieties of particles created, it is very challenging, difficult, and important for researchers to store them properly before starting to extract these data for investigation.

                    For effectiveness of data sharing among researchers, Mr. Tim Bernes-Lee launched in 1980 the project called ENQUIRE to develop a program which runs by using hypertext messages.  In 1990, he collaborated with Mr. Robert Cailliau in developing a data management system with higher quality under the project called “WorldWideWeb” (“W3” or “Web” in short).  The system is a data network linked by using hypertext and displayed on the program called browser. Many browsers are used at present such as Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.

                      The Web was launched for official use in 1991 and in 1993 CERN announced that everyone has free access to the Web.  The data network has been continually developed ever since and use of the Web by the public began in 1993-1994.

                     The Web development may not be considered among CERN’s main missions, but obstacles and challenges CERN researchers face in storing and sharing huge experiment data have led to the creation of related technology for application in our daily lives.

                     Synchrotron Light Research Institute (Public Organization) has so far collaborated with CERN in the development of an internal particle tracking system containing pixel sensors as one of the most important components.  The sensors generate electric signal when hit by high-energy particles. Not only is this type of sensor used in physics experiment, but also in taking X-ray tomography for medical purpose.

 

Article by:

Dr. Kritsada Kittimanapun, Accelerator Physicist, SLRI