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How is ATLAS organized?

These experiments are the opposite of a major company such as Bechtel that builds enormous projects. Bechtel is a top-down company that is very successful. ATLAS and CMS are absolutely bottoms-up organizations. The almost 2000 physicists in each experiment elect their leaders, and in fact call the top person the "spokesperson" rather than director or manager. They lead by listening and convincing the experiment's membership to follow their leadership. This works because everyone has a shared goal and an investment in the success of the experiment. This goal is understanding our universe.

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Copyright CERN 2008 -- ATLAS Experiment