Cooperation between nations, universities and scientists is the driving force behind CERN’s research.
As of 2017, more than 17 500 people from around the world work together to push the limits of knowledge. CERN’s staff members, numbering around 2600, take part in the design, construction and operation of the research infrastructure. They also contribute to the preparation and operation of the experiments, as well as to the analysis of the data gathered for a vast community of users, comprising over 12 200 scientists of 110 nationalities, from institutes in more than 70 countries.
Paolo Zanella came to the CERN computing group in 1962, just three years after the first computer had arrived. He later was head of the Data Handling Division for 13 years, before becoming professor at the University of Geneva.