...BRUSSELS
THE ATOMIUM
By Gerson, Belgium
The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, Belgium, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1958 and representing the conventional cell of an iron crystal (bcc phase) magnified 165 billion times.
The nine spheres that make up the monument are not a reference to
the nine Belgian provinces of the time (now ten with the division of Brabant).
They represent the nine constituent atoms of iron crystal. Originally,
the designer of the monument was conceived as a reference to science
theme of Expo ’58, and in particular science of the atom under development at this time, not as a reference unit 9 provinces of the kingdom that was just a coincidence.