Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission - PAEC Partnership With CERN

PAEC Partnership With CERN

Pakistan has a long history of participating in an experiments and research undertaking with CERN, and has a long tradition of wonderful physicists who are working around the world. Since 1960s, Pakistan has been contributing and regularly participating in CERN's project, theoretical and nuclear experiments. A prime example would be Dr. Abdus Salam; dr. Salam was the first man to be accredited with all the collaboration with CERN which continues till the present when he convinced CERN to give Pakistan stacks of nuclear emulsion exposed for further study of pions, kaons and antiprotons in 1960s. Some theoretical physicists from Pakistan had the opportunity to work at CERN through short visits. During the 1980s, some of the experimental physicists from Pakistan, specialising in the technique of Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD), also benefited from CERN by exposing the stacks in the beam at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). In 2005, CERN awarded PAEC with " ATLAS Supplier Award' in 2005, in connection with manufacturing and fabrication of various equipment for CERN.

In 27 June 2011, PAEC and CERN reached an agreement for extending the technical cooperation with CERN's upcoming programmes. CERN's Director-General Rolf-Dieter Heuer personally paid a visit to Pakistan where he spoke for the need of importance of Science in Pakistan and importance of Germany's strategic alliance with Pakistan. The agreement was signed in order to extend the an earlier agreement, which came into operation in 2003 between CERN and Pakistan for the supply of manufactured equipment for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN along with placement of scientists and engineers from Pakistan to assist in the scientific programme of CERN.