On 29 September 1954 the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)¹ was created when sufficient ratifications of the Convention establishing CERN* were obtained from Member States. CERN's goals were clearly set out in Article II of this Convention: "The Organization shall provide for collaboration among European States in nuclear research of a pure scientific and fundamental character, and in research essentially related thereto.

The CERN¹ Council, where the representatives of the 19 Member States of the Organization decide on scientific programmes and financial resources, held its 100th session on 24 June under the chairmanship of Professor Hubert Curien (France).

After a week of meetings which covered in detail the scientific potential, budgeting and world participation in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the President of Council, Prof. Curien, stated that

Since the mid-1980s the number of scientists from all over the world using CERN¹'s facilities has increased enormously. Currently more than 6,000 users, over half of the planet's high-energy physicists, carry out fundamental research at CERN. This user community is living proof that CERN welcomes inter- regional collaboration which benefits all and boosts the progress of science. The LHC, the only machine capable of addressing problems way beyond today's frontiers of high energy physics, offers an unique opportunity for extending world wide collaboration.

The Development of the Project

As early as 1977, during preparatory discussions for building CERN¹'s Large Electron Positron collider (LEP), it was clear that excavating the LEP tunnel would make more economic sense if it could be reused for a successor machine. Thus, while LEP was being designed and built in the early '80s, groups in CERN were busy looking at the longer term future.