Switzerland is the land of Big Ideas, where even the streets have Nobel prizes. At the European particle physics lab known as CERN, the roads through campus bear the names of Einstein, Curie, Bohr, and Heisenberg. Working amid those tributes to giants of the past century, physicists from around the world are trying to make history of their own and…

Described are efforts to organize the research efforts concerning global change. Objectives include the development of long-term monitoring programs, global process research campaigns, and predictive computer models. (CW)