Female physicist ready to take helm at nuclear center

Fabiola Gianotti, who this week takes the helm at CERN – home to world’s largest particle accelerator, is seen as a new breed of scientist. Initially trained in arts and literature, she came to physics relatively late. She enjoys cooking, jogging, music and keeping her eye on the news, and notes the importance of being “a citizen of the world.”

Gianotti “embodies for me what’s much more the millennium physicist,” said Dr. Monica Dunford, senior scientist at Germany’s University of Heidelberg, who spent six years at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. “Not so geeky, much more well-rounded, diverse, passionate.”

“Fabiola brings freshness to science: She’s incredibly energetic, incredibly passionate, has a lot of different talents. … She has a degree in piano in addition to physics,” Dunford said.

Gianotti, who succeeds Germany’s Rolf Heuer as director-general on Jan. 1, becoming the first woman to hold the post, insists she doesn’t want to be “front stage” at the multinational laboratory on the Swiss-French border: Her bigger focus is about helping produce science for science’s sake in the quest to explain the how the universe works.

The 55-year-old Italian stands out not just for her fashion sense in a sneakers-and-jeans culture of coffee-fueled collaboration, sleepless nights and absent-mindedness about proper eating. In an interview held in a CERN conference room because her office was a “mess” during her move, Gianotti mused about an innovative, democratic community where Nobel laureates lunch with 25-year-old Ph.D. students.

“CERN is a special place where we do fund research by bringing together experts from over the planet – great scientists – but also a huge amount of young people,” she said. It’s “a democratic environment in that there are no barriers.”

The center’s particle accelerator smashes together atoms and monitors the results to help understand the universe on the most infinitesimal scale. The Large Hadron Collider sends protons whizzing through a circular, 27-kilometer (17-mile) underground tunnel at nearly the speed of light. The $10-billion LHC, said to be the biggest machine ever built, is best known for its experiments that provided evidence in 2012 of the Higgs boson, a minute particle some have called the “God Particle” for its key position in the standard model of physics.

At that time, Gianotti headed Atlas, a team of 3,000 scientists and one of two independent teams that turned up the Higgs. That year, she was a runner-up to President Barack Obama as Time’s Person of the Year. But achieving an encore to the headline-grabbing event like the Higgs discovery will be no small feat.

The collider has just completed “Run II” – its second-ever cycle of operations – and will take a traditional winter break until resuming in March.

Created in 1954, CERN has become a think tank where gray matter meets matter, and most recently, is focusing on a quest to explain dark matter – the unexplained mass that makes up 25 percent of the universe but sits outside the standard model.

Run by scientists and all but unconstrained by economic demands, CERN has become a broad incubator of ideas. It was here that Britain’s Tim Berners-Lee came up with the World Wide Web as a tool for scientists to communicate globally through the Internet. Spinoff science and applications are constantly being churned out.

Gianotti, one of the world’s great physicists, also has skills in crisis management – such as during trouble with one of the proton beams in 2009 that caused disgruntlement from funding agencies, collaboration teams and equipment makers, Dr. Dunford said.

“She showed the whole of CERN that she could really handle that kind of pressure,” said Dunford. “It doesn’t really get worse than that.”

While Swiss and French police have stepped up border controls amid new counterterrorism measures that at times snarls traffic at CERN’s entrance, inside it remains a haven of collaboration above mundane matters, she said.

“It reinforces the importance of places like CERN to foster peace, collaboration and showing that people from all over the world can work together regardless of their ethnicity, religion, tradition, language, color of their skin, age, etc.” she said.

She had upbeat words for an accord reached this fall with America’s Fermilab, an upcoming decade-long CERN project to soup up the luminosity of Large Hadron Collider that will allow for creation of 15 million Higgs bosons a year, and China’s plans to build its own, much bigger collider.

“It’s a great thing because particle physics is becoming more and more global,” Gianotti said. “The outstanding questions in particle physics are so important, but also so complex, that just one instrument is not enough to address them all.”

Gianotti said she doesn’t feel she faced additional hurdles ascending the ranks at the world’s largest particle accelerator. But she acknowledges that that’s not the case for all women.

“In general I think the mentality is changing and people are more and more recognizing that what they are looking for is excellence in science, in managerial skill, etc.,” Gianotti said.

“I didn’t feel I was treated a different way because I was a woman,” she said, noting that one in five collaborators in the Atlas project were women. “But I also have to tell that some of my colleagues had a more difficult life. … Some others suffered a bit and had to face some hurdles and some difficulties.”

Gianotti acknowledges there could be surprises ahead, but hopes they are scientific, not managerial.

“I am very much honored by the role, not so much because I am a woman, but because I am a scientist, and having the honor and the privilege of leading perhaps the most important laboratory in the world in our field is a big challenge,” she said. “I will do my best.”

Fabiola Gianotti, who this week takes the helm at CERN - home to world's largest particle accelerator, is seen as . . .

Follow Us On Google News | Get Our Newsletter



Trending News on PVDN

  • sargassum-slams-cancun-playa-restaurantsSargassum Crisis in Cancún and Playa del Carmen Forces Restaurants and Beach Clubs to Cut Staff Businesses in Cancún and Playa del Carmen report steep losses due to sargassum, with restaurants losing diners and beach clubs sending staff on unpaid leave. Restaurants and beach clubs along the shores of Puerto Juárez in Cancún and Playa del Carmen are grappling with a sharp downturn in business due to a relentless invasion of…
  • cancun-beaches-50-tons-sargassum-cleanupCancún beach overwhelmed by over 50 tons of sargassum in 24 hours Over 50 tons of sargassum were removed from Cancún’s Chac Mool Beach in just 24 hours, as authorities ramp up cleaning efforts across three key public beaches. Cancún’s white-sand beaches are under pressure once again as an unusually large volume of sargassum has washed ashore in the last 24 hours, disrupting tourism and triggering a…
  • cancun-hotels-sargassum-cleanup-failuresCancún government demands answers from hotels on sargassum cleanup failures Mayor Ana Paty Peralta will meet with hotel leaders in Cancún to address failures in sargassum cleanup efforts, amid growing environmental and public health concerns. The municipal government of Benito Juárez is taking a firmer stance on the growing sargassum problem in Cancún, calling on the hotel industry to explain its inadequate handling of seaweed…
  • sargassum-free-beaches-quintana-roo-summer-2025Sargassum-Free Beaches in Quintana Roo for Summer 2025, including beaches in Cancún Travelers looking for sargassum-free beaches in Quintana Roo this summer can still find clear waters in Isla Mujeres and parts of Cancún, according to updated reports. As the summer travel season ramps up, much of the Caribbean coast is once again dealing with sargassum, the brown seaweed that washes ashore in thick mats and affects…
  • puerto-vallarta-flooding-landslide-hurricane-erickHeavy rains flood Puerto Vallarta streets and trigger landslide in tunnel Flooding from remnants of Hurricane Erick paralyzed key roads in Puerto Vallarta and caused a landslide in the Luis Donaldo Colosio tunnel, Civil Protection continues damage assessment. The city of Puerto Vallarta was overwhelmed Thursday night by heavy rainfall that caused major flooding, stranded vehicles, and triggered a landslide in the Luis Donaldo Colosio bypass…
  • Body with signs of crocodile attack found in Ameca River, a leg was found last monthBeaches Closed in Nuevo Vallarta and Lo de Marcos After Crocodile Sighting Authorities temporarily close beaches in Nuevo Vallarta and Lo de Marcos after a crocodile was spotted in shallow waters. Tourists are urged to follow lifeguard guidance. Beaches in Nuevo Vallarta and Lo de Marcos were temporarily closed to the public on Friday, June 20, after a crocodile was spotted swimming close to shore, prompting swift…
  • bus-crashes-canal-puerto-vallartaBus crashes into canal in Puerto Vallarta’s 5 de Diciembre neighborhood A public transport bus crashed into a drainage canal in Puerto Vallarta’s 5 de Diciembre area. Authorities responded quickly, and no serious injuries were reported. A public transport bus veered off the road and plunged into a stormwater canal early Thursday morning in Puerto Vallarta’s 5 de Diciembre neighborhood, sparking concern among locals but leaving…
  • heavy-rain-flooding-landslides-puerto-vallartaTrash-Choked Drains Make Puerto Vallarta Flooding Worse During Heavy Rain Overflowing storm drains clogged with garbage are fueling flooding in Puerto Vallarta, officials warn, as rains bring chaos to multiple neighborhoods. As heavy rain swept across Puerto Vallarta Thursday night and into Friday morning, flooding was widespread—but officials say much of the chaos was avoidable. The city’s stormwater drains, overwhelmed not just by rainfall but…
  • tropical-storm-erick-warnings-mexico-coastHurricane Erick will bring heavy rains to Puerto Vallarta Hurricane Erick Puerto Vallarta will bring heavy rains to Puerto Vallarta by Friday but poses no risk to the northern coast of Jalisco. Meteorologist Víctor Manuel Cornejo López, of the Civil Protection scientific committee for the Bay, reports that Hurricane Erick will deliver significant rainfall to Puerto Vallarta without threatening the region’s safety. According to…
  • Know your consumer rights in Mexico Is it legal for restaurants to include the tipPuerto Vallarta restaurants face 33 percent staff shortage Restaurants in Puerto Vallarta face a 33% staffing shortfall as they prepare for a busy summer holiday season, aiming to boost sales by up to 60% despite ongoing labor challenges. As Puerto Vallarta prepares to welcome a surge of summer tourists, the city’s restaurant sector is grappling with a serious staffing problem—operating with roughly one-third…
Scroll to Top