Protvino (Russian: Протвино) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about 100 kilometers (62 mi) south of Moscow and 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) west of Serpukhov, on the left bank of the Protva River.

[7] Construction of an urban-type settlement intended to house a large high energy physics research laboratory started in 1958, and the Rosatom Institute for High Energy Physics was opened here in 1965.

The institute is known for the 70 GeV proton accelerator which was the largest in the world at the time it was launched in 1967, and other physics research.

[citation needed] The UNK Collider was the last big planned particle accelerator.

[3] In the city the Protvino railroad station is located, although it is only used for cargo transport.