CERN Alumni Weekly News | Fill out our survey, CERN Alumni India Group launch, CERN Festival Programme, Stellar event, CMS and ATLAS news
Every five years, the CERN Alumni Relations team runs a global survey to help shape the future of the network. In our 2020 edition, many of you highlighted the importance of staying connected with like-minded people with a shared CERN experience. The alumni.cern platform provides you with access to a dynamic community map where you can connect with over 11,000 members (https://alumni.cern/people), the possibility to send direct messages between members and more than 20 regional and thematic groups across the world (https://alumni.cern/topics) — making it easier than ever to find and engage with others in your area or field. Five years on, we are inviting you to have your say. The 2025 CERN Alumni Survey is open, and your insights will help guide the next chapter of the network. You should have received a personalised link in your inbox—please take a few minutes to share your thoughts and help us continue building a community that reflects your needs and interests. Thank you!
The CERN Alumni India Group has officially launched: https://alumni.cern/topics/51324/home. Its first event is coming soon, so keep an eye out for updates. If you’ve included your location in your profile, you’ll already be receiving region-specific updates like this one. Keeping your profile current ensures that you don’t miss local meetups or events near you—so be sure to check your details on the platform: https://alumni.cern/me/show
The CERN Festival Programme continues to bring science to unexpected places through interactive outreach at music festivals. With hands-on workshops and lively conversations in the CERN Science Pavilion, the programme helps spark curiosity and bring particle physics to new audiences. Learn more about how the initiative is inspiring festival-goers across Europe: https://alumni.cern/news/2722316.
Don’t miss the upcoming CERN public event "Stellar" on 20 July. Held on the 56th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon, Stellar will bring together astronauts, Nobel laureates, and leading researchers for an afternoon of talks, hands-on activities, and live music: https://alumni.cern/events/185486. As part of the Stellar event, the CERN Library will host a special Meet the Authors event featuring Patrizia Caraveo, Paolo Nespoli and Matthias Maurer: https://alumni.cern/networks/events/185235.
This week also marks a historic milestone: on 9 July 1925, Werner Heisenberg wrote to Wolfgang Pauli outlining ideas that would go on to revolutionise physics. His letter is widely considered the birth of quantum mechanics. A hundred years later, its legacy continues to shape science and technology: https://home.cern/news/news/physics/century-quantum-mechanics.
Finally, the CMS and ATLAS experiments at the LHC have observed a rare and fleeting feature in the behaviour of top quarks that suggests they may briefly form a bound state. This unexpected “romance” could lead to a deeper understanding of the heaviest known elementary particle: https://home.cern/news/press-release/physics/elusive-romance-top-quark-pairs-observed-lhc.