Estonia ratifies CERN accession to become 24th member in one of Europe’s key scientific bodies

HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s government has ratified the country’s full membership in the European Organization for Nuclear Research, a move that will give companies, scientists and teachers in the Baltic nation complete access to one of Europe’s main research and scientific organizations. The small Baltic country neighboring Russia to the east, Latvia to the south and Finland to the north will become the first former Soviet republic to gain membership in the organization — known by the French acronym CERN — which hosts the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Estonia’s membership will formally take effect after the country has presented its letter of accession to the director-general of the U.N. cultural and scientific agency, UNESCO.