The birthday party goes on at CERN

Sorry, you missed this concert by the UN Symphony Orchestra on 19 September, but there is more music coming up. (Courtesy: CERN)

By Hamish Johnston

All this week the people at CERN and in its member states will be celebrating 60 years of particle physics at the world-famous lab in Geneva. There is something for everyone to enjoy and here are a few highlights that we have picked out

If rugby is your cup of tea, Geneva’s Wildcats women’s rugby club is hosting a “sevens” tournament on 27 September. Drawing players from CERN and the surrounding community, the team boasts players from 14 different countries. The game is in Meyrin, which is the town nearest to CERN’s main site.

For something completely different you could head across the Alps to Italy and enjoy the Sonata for the Higgs Particle, which will be performed on 26 September at the University of Turin. I can’t seem to find any information about the composer, but I’m sure it will be an interesting evening! More traditional musical fare will be on offer on 30 September at Victoria Hall in Geneva, where Beethoven’s Missa solemnis will be performed in honour of the anniversary.

The northern lights are of course a huge particle accelerator in the sky, so perhaps it is appropriate that a tour of northern Sweden is included in the festivities. The trip begins in Stockholm on 10 October and ends in Uppsala on the 18th just in time to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Swedish physicist Anders Ångström.

If I had my choice (and a week off), I think I would do the Swedish roadtrip!