The world of particle physics is an exotic realm where the inner workings of the atom are considered. It seems a huge remove from our day to day lives, but its study seeks to answer fundamental questions to the meaning of life.
CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, is the world's largest centre dedicated to particle physics research.
Its accelerators or "atom smashers" have revealed the secrets hidden inside the atom, information which helps explain what happened moments after the universe was formed immediately following the Big Bang.
CERN's director general, Professor Luciano Maiani, visited Dublin a fortnight ago to meet Government officials about the Republic's possible involvement in the organisation, which is based on the French/Swiss border.
Ireland and Luxembourg are the only EU states that have not joined CERN and a committee set up by the Government is currently assessing whether we should become a member.
Prof Maiani also accepted an invitation from the Royal Irish Academy to give a talk on CERN and on discoveries in particle physics. CERN was established in 1954 and "since then the progress has been enormous", Prof Maiani said.
Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger postulated ideas about the Unified Field Theory, a concept that sought to encapsulate all aspects of physics from the formation of stars and galaxies to the forces that bind together the atom. They were working with very limited experimental information compared to today's scientists because of facilities such as CERN, Prof Maiani said.
Particle accelerators allow scientists to recreate in the laboratory the enormous energies that would be found in the heart of an area of star formation.
Experiments have shown over the years that the initial constituents of an atom, electrons, protons and neutrons are only the beginning of the story.
There are entire families of smaller particles including quarks, neutrinos and leptons which have been discovered using accelerators.
Activities at CERN do not only serve the demands of scientists, he said. The demand for experimental equipment has led for example to new medical diagnostic devices.
Too few people realised that the world wide web was actually developed at CERN as a way to get the results of experiments out quickly to scientists around the world, Prof Maiani said.
CERN is also now developing the next generation of the web, a service known as the GRID. The GRID will support much higher data transfer speeds and will open up opportunities for all types of new services, Prof Maiani said.
While CERN is primarily about research it also brings many benefits to society at large, he said. It serves as an educational facility, training the next generation of scientists.