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Mainz scientists celebrate great success at the Breakthrough Prize 2025!
More than 50 researchers from the University of Mainz will receive the Breakthrough Prize 2025 for groundbreaking work at the LHC at CERN.
Mainz scientists celebrate great success at the Breakthrough Prize 2025!
On April 5, 2025, the prestigious “Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics” was awarded in Los Angeles, an award that recognizes outstanding achievements in particle physics. Over 50 researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are among the award winners. This comes from a report by University of Mainz out.
The ATLAS collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was one of the main recipients of the prize. Together with the ALICE, CMS and LHCb experiments, the award is given in recognition of their significant research results. This research includes crucial measurements of the Higgs boson and the study of matter-antimatter asymmetry.
JGU research projects
The Mainz group made a significant contribution to the construction, upgrade and operation of the ATLAS detector. These include developments such as high-speed electronics and detectors for muon detection. During the LHC's second operational period from 2015 to 2018, JGU made leading contributions to studies of the interactions of the Higgs boson.
The ATLAS collaboration is planning new developments for the coming third operating period of the LHC. This includes the construction of new trigger electronics and a high-granularity timing detector that is intended to increase collision rates tenfold. This new detector is expected to be operational in 2030.
International cooperation and outlook
The award-winning research projects, which include the ALICE experiment, are supported by thousands of researchers from over 70 countries. Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN, expressed great pride in the achievements of the LHC collaborations. The prize specifically relates to work collected during LHC Run-2 up to July 2024 and recognizes the discovery of new strongly interacting particles and the study of rare processes.
The $3 million prize money announced by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation will be donated to the CERN & Society Foundation. It will be used to finance scholarships for doctoral students from the member institutes of the collaborations. These scholarships aim to gain international experience and bring knowledge back to the countries of origin.
The LHC experiments, including ATLAS and CMS, have significantly expanded the boundaries of knowledge in fundamental physics. They are crucial for understanding the structure of the universe and could form the basis for future discoveries. From 2030, the LHC will become more powerful as part of the high-luminosity upgrade, which promises even deeper insights into the mysteries of the universe. This was also done by the CERN highlighted.
Other experiments such as ALICE, which studies the quark-gluon plasma, and LHCb, which explores differences between matter and antimatter, contribute to deep knowledge in particle physics and are large-scale projects that advance science. However, the future-oriented approach, such as the planned Future Circular Collider, requires a collective effort from all supporting countries to enable further research and expand knowledge about our universe.