January 31, 2026
Bosons, billionaires, and big feelings
CERN accepts $1B in private cash towards Future Circular Collider
Billionaire bucks for CERN’s mega collider spark memes, side‑eye, and a $1T shouting match
TLDR: CERN nabbed $1B in private donations toward a massive new collider, part of an $18B plan to probe the universe. The crowd split fast: some want even more funding, others fear billionaire influence, while jokers invoke black holes—plus a quick correction that Eric Schmidt didn’t found Google.
CERN just scored a $1B private cash boost for its next giant particle-smashing ring, the Future Circular Collider—basically a 56‑mile underground loop designed to make and study more Higgs particles and hunt for new physics. It’s the lab’s first time taking big private checks, with pledges from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Eric and Wendy Schmidt, John Elkann, and Xavier Niel. Total price tag? Around $18B, with European member countries expected to cover most of it if the project gets the green light.
But the comment section? Pure particle chaos. One camp is cheering and saying “make it $1T!”, arguing we blow more cash on wasteful computing and energy anyway. Another camp is side‑eyeing billionaire influence—“private donors sounds sketchy”—worrying about strings attached to a machine built to probe the universe. A third wave goes full existential comedy: “maybe this one finally makes a black hole,” complete with the classic “has the LHC destroyed the world yet?” link.
There’s spicy fact‑checking too: commenters quickly noted Eric Schmidt didn’t found Google, even if he’s writing a big check. Others ask the perennial question—beyond cool tech spinoffs, have CERN’s actual discoveries changed daily life? Meanwhile, fans drool over the timeline: possible construction in 2030, first runs in the 2040s, and an even bigger proton‑smashing upgrade by the 2070s. Science epics meet comment‑section theater—and everyone’s strapped in.
Key Points
- •CERN secured $1bn in private pledges for the Future Circular Collider, its first major philanthropic funding.
- •FCC plans envision a 90.7 km tunnel and a two-stage program: FCC-ee (electron–positron) followed by FCC-hh (hadron).
- •If approved by the CERN Council in 2028, FCC-ee construction could start in 2030 with operations in 2047 for ~15 years.
- •FCC-ee targets producing ~1 million Higgs bosons for precision studies; FCC-hh aims for ~85 TeV proton collisions to discover new particles.
- •The FCC-ee is estimated at ~$18bn, with at least two-thirds expected from CERN’s 24 member states and the remainder from other sources, including private donors.