In August 1959, when CERN was just five years old, and the Proton Synchrotron was preparing for beams, Director-General Cornelis Bakker founded a new periodical to inform staff what was going on. It was just eight pages long with a print run of 1000, but already a section called “Other people’s atoms” reported news from other labs.

The CERN Courier has since transformed into an international magazine of around 40 pages with a circulation of 22 000 print copies, covering the global high-energy physics scene. Its website, which receives about 30 000 monthly views, was relaunched this month and provides up-to-date news from the field.

To celebrate its diamond jubilee, a feature in the latest issue reveals several gems from past editions and shows the ever-present challenges of predicting the next discovery in fundamental research.

You can peruse the full archive of all CERN Courier issues via the CERN Document Server.