CERN (acronym): Difference between revisions
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CERN is an acronym for '''Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire''', the French name for the '''European Council for Nuclear Research'''. While the organization's official name later changed to the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the original acronym was kept. | CERN is an acronym for '''Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire''', the French name for the '''European Council for Nuclear Research'''. While the organization's official name later changed to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire), the original acronym was kept. | ||
If one strictly acronymed “European Organization for Nuclear Research” in English, the initials would be “E-O-N-R” (or “OERN” if you used “Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire” as in French). That’s where “OERN” comes from as a ''possible'' acronym for the Organization. When the older “Council” was dissolved and the new “Organization” established, there was a remark that “OERN is difficult to pronounce in most languages. | |||
Most people felt it did not cause any particular legal or other complications to maintain the original acronym CERN. Though, [[Lew Kowarski]] considered the idea “so silly as to be intolerable”.<ref>https://cds.cern.ch/record/59712/files/Memo%202%20November%201954%20.pdf</ref> | |||
This name discussion had already been a topic for the Council in its second session held in Copenhagen 20 to 21 June 1952, where the Council decided henceforth to call itself the “European Council for Nuclear Research”. This was something of a misnomer. Organization would have been better than Council, but the acronym CERN, which was derived from the French initials of the Council's name, was obviously preferable to 'OERN'. On a lighter note, given the acronym [[Pierre Auger]] suggested a number of possibilities for the letter “C”, including ''cabale, casino, catholicite, cirque'' and ''concubinage''!<ref>https://cds.cern.ch/record/162210/files/CERN-CHS-14.pdf This document reference the so-called Mussard files that should be in the CERN archives. However, today (2025) these files cannot be found, nor in the archives of UNESCO. Hopefully the files are to re-surface.</ref> | |||
For more information, see the main article about [[CERN]]. | For more information, see the main article about [[CERN]]. | ||
=== References === | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
[[Category:CERN]] | [[Category:CERN]] | ||
[[Category:Abbreviations]] | [[Category:Abbreviations]] | ||
[[Category:Fun facts and anecdotes]] | |||
Latest revision as of 15:06, 8 December 2025
CERN is an acronym for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, the French name for the European Council for Nuclear Research. While the organization's official name later changed to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire), the original acronym was kept.
If one strictly acronymed “European Organization for Nuclear Research” in English, the initials would be “E-O-N-R” (or “OERN” if you used “Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire” as in French). That’s where “OERN” comes from as a possible acronym for the Organization. When the older “Council” was dissolved and the new “Organization” established, there was a remark that “OERN is difficult to pronounce in most languages.
Most people felt it did not cause any particular legal or other complications to maintain the original acronym CERN. Though, Lew Kowarski considered the idea “so silly as to be intolerable”.[1]
This name discussion had already been a topic for the Council in its second session held in Copenhagen 20 to 21 June 1952, where the Council decided henceforth to call itself the “European Council for Nuclear Research”. This was something of a misnomer. Organization would have been better than Council, but the acronym CERN, which was derived from the French initials of the Council's name, was obviously preferable to 'OERN'. On a lighter note, given the acronym Pierre Auger suggested a number of possibilities for the letter “C”, including cabale, casino, catholicite, cirque and concubinage![2]
For more information, see the main article about CERN.
References
- ↑ https://cds.cern.ch/record/59712/files/Memo%202%20November%201954%20.pdf
- ↑ https://cds.cern.ch/record/162210/files/CERN-CHS-14.pdf This document reference the so-called Mussard files that should be in the CERN archives. However, today (2025) these files cannot be found, nor in the archives of UNESCO. Hopefully the files are to re-surface.