BICOM

Yesterday evening, the council of the Centre of European Nuclear Research (CERN) voted unanimously in favour of admitting Israel as a full member of the world’s largest centre for the study of atomic particles. Israel becomes the first non-European country to be granted such status by CERN.

CERN, which is considered the world’s pre-eminent nuclear research facility, is located in Switzerland and operates the Large Hadron Collider, which creates high-energy collisions of subatomic particles and was used to discover the Higgs-Boson particle last year. Israel has been involved in CERN since 1991 and has been an associate member since 2011. Around 40 Israeli scientists already spend significant time working at CERN’s facilities in Switzerland. In addition, Israeli 22 doctoral students and 22 post-doctoral students are active at the centre.

However, becoming a full member means not only will Israeli scientists take a more active role in CERN’s work, but that Israeli companies can compete for tenders in relation to the Collider and Israeli students can compete for relevant grants. Israel’s Science, Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Peri said, “This is a real scientific and diplomatic accomplishment that joins a series of similar achievements in recent years,” adding that it showed “scientific interests overcame political ones.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also commented, “This is a day of pride and satisfaction for Israeli science and we congratulate all the scientists involved in this achievement and whose abilities bring honour to the State of Israel.”

CERN Director General Rolf Heuer also welcomed Israel’s membership, saying “The Israeli scientific community has brought a great deal to CERN over the years… I am looking forward to welcoming Israel as our twenty first member state and to intensifying our collaboration.” A formal signing ceremony to mark Israel’s membership is expected to take place next month.