Israel Joins CERN as Full Member
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman watches the Israeli flag being raised at CERN for the first time. Photo: Laurent Egil

January 15, 2014

Israel is admitted as the 21st member state of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by the French acronym CERN. Israel is the first new member since 1999 and is the only full member outside Europe. The admission becomes official after UNESCO, under whose auspices CERN was created in 1954, is notified of Israel’s acceptance of the CERN Convention, which emphasizes fundamental scientific research and pledges to make all work public.

Israeli scientists began working with CERN in 1991, and Israel became CERN’s first associate member in 2011. CERN studies the fundamental structure of the universe. It operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world with the Large Hadron Collider, which Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Liberman tours after a flag-raising ceremony at the Geneva headquarters.

“In my visit in CERN today, I have witnessed the frontiers of science. I have realized the scope of collaboration between Israel and CERN. Israeli scientists and their CERN colleagues share a dedication to scientific excellence, technological development and education. Israel and CERN share ideals and goals and therefore have a wide prospect for cooperation,” Liberman says.

CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer says: “CERN and Israel have already a long history of mutual collaboration, and this day will undoubtedly be memorable, promising increasingly fruitful scientific cooperation between CERN and the Israeli physics community.”

Romania (2016) and Serbia (2019) have since brought CERN’s membership to 23 states.