Statuses and missions

 

Founded in 1971, the aim of the National institute of nuclear and particle physics (IN2P3) of the CNRS is to promote and unify research activities in the fields of nuclear physics, particle and astroparticle physics. It coordinates programmes within these fields on behalf of the CNRS and universities, in partnership with CEA.
The goal of this research is to explore the physics of elementary particles, their fundamental interactions and the manner in which they assemble into atomic nuclei, to study the properties of these nuclei and to explore the connections between the infinitely small and the infinitely large.

 

Whilst these main themes represent the core of the discipline, IN2P3 also has several additional vocations: enabling other scientific domains to benefit from its competencies and solving certain problems posed by society, and accompanying universities in contributing to youngsters’ training. Lastly, it has a duty to offer the world of business the benefit of its expertise by providing industry with the technological resources that it has successfully expanded within the framework of its research activities.