NIKHEF

The NIKHEF ( Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica ) is the Dutch National Research Centre for Subatomic Physics in Amsterdam, located in the Science Park Amsterdam ( Watergraafsmeer). It is supported by the Dutch Stichting voor society Fundamenteel Onderzoek of matter (founded in 1946), the University of Amsterdam, the Free University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University and the University of Nijmegen. In 2009 there were about 120 physicists employed (half solid at about 100 permanent employees ).

The acronym actually stands NIKHEF for the old name of the Institute, National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics ( Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge energy Fysica ). The name was changed after the closure of the on-site electron accelerator; 1998, the experimental nuclear physics faded into the background (MEA AmPS ).

The NIKHEF is involved, for example, in experiments at the LHC at CERN ( and in the development of the LHC computer network ( LHC Computing Grid) for processing the data in petabytes of magnitude) but also in investigation of cosmic rays and astroparticle physics (such as the Antares neutrino telescope ). The computer at NIKHEF also be used for research in astrophysics and as for brain research and drug development. At NIKHEF is also one of the seven nodes of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange.