FACT #46

GENEVA: Switzerland has declared May 26 as the Science Day in honour of visiting President APJ Abdul Kalam.

This was announced by the Swiss government, following his arrival on Wednesday night on a four-day state visit, considering his vast expertise in science and technology.

Switzerland considers the President as the father of India''s missile programme.

Kalam is the first Indian head of state visiting Switzerland after a gap of more than 30 years. Former President V V Giri''s was the last high profile visit to the country.

President A P J Abdul Kalam was in France for 45 minutes. Kalam first visited the CERN''s facilities situated in Switzerland and then crossed the border post to see the laboratory in France, where Indian scientists are doing research in Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

He spent nearly 45 minutes interacting with them and senior scientists of CERN there before proceeding for witnessing the signing of an agreement between the Department of Atomic Energy and the CERN.

CERN officials said they had informed the French authorities in advance about the high-profile visit.

CERN, the world''s largest physics laboratory, is jointly owned by France and Switzerland.

Switzerland declares Science Day in honour of Kalam