CERN was today visiting the actors Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer as well as director Ron Howard, came to present exclusive selections from their new film, film adaptation of the bestseller "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown . The output of the international film from Sony Pictures is scheduled for 15 May 2009.

When Sony Pictures has shown in early 2007, the desire to turn a part of the film at CERN, the laboratory has quickly understood the desirability of such a project and agreed to take part in the adventure.

"The fact qu'Anges and Demons is a bestselling novel and now a Hollywood blockbuster, is an opportunity for us to show that the antimatter research is exciting," says Sergio Bertolucci, director of research at CERN. The science fiction as we move from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the difference being that the science must be rooted in reality. "

"Working with CERN has been a privilege," said Ron Howard. Scientists have greatly assisted us in explaining the science and permitting access to places outside of the ordinary. What they are doing here is just fantastic. "

With his research on antimatter, CERN aims to understand why Nature prefers matter to antimatter. At the big bang, which marked the birth of our universe there are about 13.7 billion years, matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts. As Dan Brown says in his novel precisely, when matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate and turn into energy. It is therefore one of the great mysteries of the universe: how to sufficient material has managed to survive to form the basic constituents of stars, planets and even humans.

Antimatter is also practical applications. The positron emission tomography is a medical imaging technique that uses antimatter to help physicians visualize the functioning of the human body. As for scanners, they owe much to the techniques developed for particle physics research. One day, antimatter could be used in the treatment of cancer. The first experiments at CERN have shown that the beams of particles of antimatter could be very effective in destroying cancer cells.