Gieljan de Vries

Gieljan de Vries

science writer

Interview met Sijbrand de Jong

Nikhef magazine DIMENSIES #1, 2019

'Mutual tolerance, that's CERN'

The Dutch institute for subatomic physics Nikhef doesn't do things by halves. A newsletter? Why not a magazine for a broad audience that appears twice a year? And that's how DIMENSIES was born.

For the first edition of DIMENSIES in 2019 I interview Sijbrand the Jong, professor of physics in Nijmegen and former chair of the CERN Council.

While his group members walk by a little impatiently - he is needed in packing equipment for the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina - we talk about how CERN came to be, about the search for new physics at CERN and with cosmic particle detectors on the Argentine pampa, and how to get the noses of 22 member states to turn in the same direction.