History of France

21st century

1. January 1, 2002★★★★★

   Euro banknotes and coins enter circulation

   Euro cash enters circulation in twelve European Union countries, replacing national currencies such as the franc, the Deutsche Mark and the lira.

   Economy· Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
2. July 4, 2012★★★★★

   Discovery of the Higgs boson announced

   CERN announces that the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider have observed a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.

   Science· Switzerland, France
3. December 25, 2021★★★★★

   Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope

   The James Webb Space Telescope, a NASA–ESA–CSA collaboration, is launched from French Guiana to observe the early universe in infrared.

   ScienceTechnology· United States, France