Nikhef is the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics. The institute performs research into the elementary building blocks of our Universe, their mutual forces and the structure of space and time.

“Wonder is the seed of knowledge”
Nikhef looks for answers to the main physics questions of our time. From what fundamental building blocks has the world around us been built up? How did our Universe come to be? Do we understand the fundamental principles of everyday laws of nature? The people of Nikhef – theoretical and experimental scientists, engineers and instrument makers – are passionate about answering these and many other questions. Starting from a shared passion, they venture off the beaten track to realise scientific breakthroughs. They pass on their sense of wonder to new generations of researchers and to society.

Research at Nikhef is international.
Scientists from all over the world come to the Netherlands to work at Nikhef in national and international collaborations. Research deals on the one hand with elementary particles that collide with each other in controlled experiments at high energy and intensity, and on the other hand with observing particles that travel from the Universe towards Earth. Nikhef’s expertise in these areas is praised and utilised worldwide, for example by the international CERN collaboration, which uses particle accelerators to perform research into elementary particles.