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April 8, 2020
With a large community of researchers, the scientific organization has set up an action group dedicated to the fight against the pandemic.
Fabiola Gianotti
"We want to deploy our resources and skills to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic," said Fabiola Gianotti.
Production of hydro-alcoholic gel, design and construction of sophisticated medical equipment ... CERN, which hosts the largest particle accelerator in the world, is also launching into the battle against the coronavirus.
This organization, which is also the place where the British Tim Berners-Lee conceptualized the World Wide Web more than 30 years ago, has tremendous scientific, physical and computer resources allowing him to contribute to the global fight against the coronavirus, against which there is no treatment, no vaccine.
In a press release, CERN said on Wednesday that it had set up an action group responsible for identifying and supporting the possible contributions of the 18,000 people making up its community of scientists around the world.
"Deploy our resources"
If CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) was originally a European organization, today it counts Israel among its members and the United States and Russia among its observer members.
CERN announce on Twitter
“CERN is a leading laboratory for particle physics and related technologies. It therefore has certain resources, such as very advanced facilities for the design and production of prototypes, and, of course, advanced technologies and considerable expertise both in the fields of science and engineering and in that of industrialization ”, underlined its general manager, Fabiola Gianotti.
"Now we want to deploy our resources and skills to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic," she said in the statement.
Gels, respirators and masks
Projects already launched include the production of one tonne of hydro-alcoholic gel for distribution to local rescue teams. CERN's capabilities in 3D printing and workshop work have been deployed to complement the production of protective equipment such as masks and Plexiglas barriers for law enforcement in the region.
Studies are underway to deploy the formidable computing capacity of the particle physics community to assist in the search for a vaccine, while the pandemic has killed more than 82,000 since its appearance in December in China.
CERN establishes task force to contribute to global fight against COVID-19
Video above: In particular, a novel streamlined ventilator, called HEV, is being prototyped at CERN. Led by a team of physicists and engineers from the LHCbExperiment collaboration at CERN, HEV is supported by several CERN services.
A prototype of a new respirator was developed at the end of March, scientists having had the idea of using the systems used to regulate the gas flows for the particle detectors. This respirator could be used for patients with mild forms, or in the healing phase, which would free up the most efficient machines for the most serious cases, according to CERN.
The organization intends to publish all of its innovations so that they are "freely reproduced as necessary".
CERN Courrier: https://cerncourier.com/a/particle-physicists-propose-stripped-down-ventilator-to-help-combat-covid-19/
For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: https://home.cern/
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