Idea for www proposed 30 years ago

The World Wide Web is so commonplace, that we almost forget that it was thought of and built at some point. Thirty years ago, in March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee at CERN wrote the proposal for a worldwide computer network. In 1992 Nikhef built the third website in the world.

Physics Data Processing

Advanced computing for physics and other sciences. Nikhef researchers are mainly developing increasingly better grid software, and transferring their grid knowledge, so that  scientists who are struggling with an ‘impossible’ data problem can profit from the grid.

Particle Physics

In particle physics, very large detectors are used to study elementary particles. Particles such as protons are accelerated in a particle accelerator, and made to collide with each other. The detectors record these collisions, which release a lot of energy to create new particles. Nikhef is active in Auger, KM3NeT, Advanced Virgo and XENON1T.

Detector R&D

Neutrino detector KM3NeT unfurls new detection unit at 2400m depth in the sea

A team of French technicians unfurled the first of four new detection units for neutrino detector KM3NeT on a sea ship in the Mediterranean sea nearby Toulon.

Astroparticle physics

Astroparticle physics combines physics and astronomy. In the cosmos, very strong magnetic fields create what can be considered a ‘natural’ particle accelerator. To perform astrophysics research, scientists ‘just’ need to build the right detectors.

Theory

Nikhef’s Theoretical Physics group performs theoretical research on a wide range of fundamental topics in high-energy physics, ranging from particle and astroparticle physics to cosmology, gravitational waves and string theory.