National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NIKHEF)

Nikhef is the National Institute for Subatomic Physics. Our research is aimed at particle and astroparticle physics. Each day, our researchers are committed to finding answers to very fundamental questions such as:

•     What happened directly after the Big Bang?
•     How do we find out more about the Higgs particle?
•     Where did anti-matter go?
•     What does dark matter consist of?
•     Where do cosmic rays originate from?
•     How do neutrinos behave?
•     What do gravitational waves tell us?
•     How can we very precisely detect invisible, tiny particles?
•     How do we process petabytes of data?
•     How do you calculate predictions?

Scientists and technicians work together on research into the smallest building blocks of matter and the forces that act between them. These minuscule particles are studied in collision processes using large particle accelerators, including those of CERN near Geneva, as well as in interactions of high-energy cosmic particles in the Earth's atmosphere or in seawater.