Belgium & CERN

Flanders, Belgium and CERN

Symposium on November 30th at Palace of the Academies, Brussels

November 30th 2018
Palace of the Academies, Brussels

Symposium led by Walter Van Doninck – former Vice President of the CERN Council and Thinker-in-Residence at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB).​

CERN is a role model for international scientific research in Europe and beyond. This symposium offers both a general introduction to CERN as well as a Belgian and Flemish perspective. What is the legacy of CERN for mankind? What is its scientific and industrial return for Belgium? What discoveries and technological improvements await in the future? National and international scientists reflect during the symposium resulting from the KVAB Thinkers’ Programme “Flanders, Belgium and CERN” with Walter Van Doninck.

Thinker-in-Residence: Walter Van Doninck



Walter van Doninck is emeritus professor particle physics at the University of Brussels (VUB). He studied at RUCA (Antwerp) and VUB. In 1977 he obtained his PhD from VUB. Since 1992 he participated in the CMS experiment near the accelerator LHC at CERN. He was research director at the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) and vice-president of the Council of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN). In 2014 Van Doninck was elected as a foreign member of the KVAB.

PROGRAMME

10:00 Welcome
Joos Vandewalle, KVAB

10:15 Introducing CERN
Frédérick Bordry, CERN

10:50 Flanders & Belgium Highlights
Nuclear Physics
Gerda Neyens, KU Leuven
Particle Physics
Jorgen D’Hondt, VUB

11:40 Break

12:15 CERN in images
Film intermezzo

12:30 CERN Alumni Testimonials

12:45 What’s out there?
Gian Giudice, CERN

13:30 Lunch

14:30 CERN’s legacy to mankind
Siegfried Bethke, Max Planck Institute München

15:15 Accelerators in society
Wim Leemans, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA

16:00 Education, training, incubation
Ana Godinho, CERN

16:30 Break

17:00 Science for peace
Herwig Schopper, CERN

17:35 Wrap up
Walter Van Doninck, Thinker in Residence

18:00 Closing Reception