A Day at CERN. Gautier Depambour

      Writing a foreword is traditionally an opportunity to present ideas that are dear to you. When it comes to CERN, the word “dear” is weak. I joined it more than 30 years ago, and over the years since then, I have taken an intense, and perhaps even growing, pleasure in guiding people through this unique research centre. At first, the requests came only from private visitors, often colleagues from other laboratories, or relatives, curious or attracted by my already evident enthusiasm. I changed jobs about every 7 years, and so I got to know CERN better and better, as I experienced the events associated with it, and as I engaged in daily exchanges with the various participants in the project — technicians, physicists, engineers and others.

      I had the privilege and pleasure of showing CERN to many representatives of Member and Associate Member States, as well as to various personalities. Here I will mention only Al Gore and Kofi Annan. I think of Al Gore because of his commitment to climate change and his interest in understanding fundamental research and its applications in the broad field of energy.

      Kofi Annan was a great humanist and a tireless artisan for peace. He came to CERN and returned to it to praise science for peace and development. He was always interested in the latest technology transfers and in particular those that could help Africa’s development.

      Different cultures, different languages, and different professions make CERN a place of tolerance and peace; this point is underlined several times in this book, but how can I not highlight it, too?

      This Day at CERN is written like an adventure novel: it is one. For more than 60 years now, many books, brochures and other articles have been written to explain what is being done at CERN, but Gautier Depambour’s has many special features that make it attractive. It is written in a light, airy style. The sentences are well formed, and an underlying humour is always present. A few anecdotes, always of high quality, will make you smile. The text is that of an adventure, as I said, but a shared adventure. The greatest originality of this story is that it is addressed to you — yes, you — personally. You are present throughout the visit: you are invited in; you are given a badge; you are introduced to the people who will give you their vision of CERN; you are given an explanation of some points that you may find unclear.

      As an engineer, I have noted the author’s “physicist” vision. I think it is worth mentioning that among CERN’s 2500 international civil servants (permanent or not), the vast majority are technicians, engineers and applied physicists; less than a hundred are theoretical physicists! All their efforts are dedicated to the design, installation and proper functioning of large instruments and infrastructure for the world’s 13,000 physicist users.

      Lison Bernet’s illustrations bring another touch of freshness. All those who are asked to talk about CERN and what they do there are well known to me, and it is a pleasure to see them shown in such a personal way. The particularities of each offer many opportunities to add a touch of humour, as with, for example, the photo of John Ellis’ famous office.

      The whole is surprisingly precise and rigorous, showing a concern to comment on all kinds of details: technical installations of course, but also street names and cafeterias (in particular the one I call Babel-cafeteria for the number of languages spoken there), with the names of the dishes offered there... The tour includes the Innovation Globe, the reception hall and various other facilities. After reading this, will you really need to come to CERN? I will bet that you will have an even greater desire to go there, during the Open Days that we organize every 4 years, or during one of the visits organized every Saturday upon prior registration. And if, on the contrary, you already know CERN, you, like me, will enjoy seeing it from the angle chosen by Gautier Depambour, whom I congratulate on this impressive work.

       Frédérick Bordry

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