The volume, which covers the years 1949 to 1954, explores the scientific and cultural environment from which plans for CERN emerged, the founding of the laboratory, and the French, Italian, German and British decisions to join the organization. The authors will explore the first 12 years of CERN in the second volume.
A major strength of the book is its detailed attention to the sociological factors involved in science policy decision-making. Instead of providing a simplistic account of how CERN was proposed, the authors carefully trace the course of several independent initiatives, including the particularly influential proposals made by French science administrator Raoul Dautry and American physicist I.I. Rabi. They explain how multiple initiatives were fused without resolving differences between those, such as Dautry, who thought a particle physics program was too narrow, and others, including physicist Hendrick Kramers, who saw such a program as overly ambitious. The authors then ...
