Earlier this month, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett visited the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire). Located in Geneva, Switzerland CERN operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, and is also the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

During their tour, Ulrich and Hammett spoke with CERN's Connie Potter about their interest in science; an excerpt has been transcribed below.

How they became interested in science as children:

Kirk: "I was an avid science student. At one point, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was in elementary school. I was into model rocketry — I built rockets. I always maintained my fascination with science and all sorts of science — all sorts of different types of science, from basic physics all the way to quantum physics."

Lars: "I grew up with a father who has been very interested in physics, very interested in philosophy, very interested in [the] universe and particles and everything. Most of my schooling came not only from the Danish public school system, but came from hanging out with my dad and staring up into space and the night sky and talking and listening and being around my father, who was very interested in everything about the universe and history and big bangs and black holes. I spent a lot of my youth listening."

Metallica's next show is April 28th in Krakow, Poland at Tauron Arena. To view their complete tour schedule, click here.

"Nothing else (anti)matters" - earlier this week, Kirk and Lars from @Metallica visited some emblematic places at #CERN: the @ATLASexperiment, the #antimatter factory and the CLOUD experiment. pic.twitter.com/XCEfXWMnmr

— CERN (@CERN) April 13, 2018