Our History

The ATLAS Open Data project was initiated in 2011 as part of the Education and Outreach program.

Our first significant releases of proton-proton collision data were made available in in 2016 for 8 TeV collisions and later in 2020 for 13 TeV collisions.

In 2024, ATLAS began to release Open Data for the purpose of scientific research, with 13 TeV proton-proton collisions followed by the first release of Heavy Ion collision data.

Several new releases are underway, including an updated, four-times-larger release of Open Data for Education and Outreach and the first release of event generation output to support theoretical and phenomenological research.

Our Mission

The ATLAS experiment at CERN generates large, rich, and unique datasets from high-energy proton and heavy-ion collisions within its detector, using them to explore the fundamental properties of particles in the Universe. The ATLAS Collaboration is committed to the progressive release of its data for public use, aiming to support educational initiatives, foster citizen science, and enhance the potential for scientific research.