Fabiola Gianotti selected as new head of CERN

The Italian particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti has been chosen to lead the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN.

Gianotti, coordinator of the ATLAS project that lead to the discovery of the most elementary particle in the universe, the Higgs boson in 2012, will take up the post in January 2016 with a mandate of five years.

That will be just short of thirty years since Gianotti joined CERN, with a doctorate from the University of Milan, in 1987. She will replace Rolf-Dieter Heuer, who steered the centre through the launch of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

“Fabiola Gianotti is an excellent choice to be my successor,” said Heuer. “It has been a pleasure to work with her for many years. I look forward to continuing to work with her through the transition year of 2015, and am confident that CERN will be in very good hands.”

Chosen from a shortlist of three candidates, Gianotti, 52, said she was honoured to be given the chance to take on the role.

“CERN is a centre of scientific excellence and a source of pride and inspiration for physicists from all over the world, a cradle for technology and innovation, and a shining concrete example of scientific cooperation and peace,” she said.

During the press conference to announce her appointment, there was a light-hearted question about Gianotti’s love of the Comic Sans font. “If it’s a requirement for the job to abandon it, [then I will],” she said.

What next from CERN?

Next year will see the LHC and other parts of the CERN complex re-activated after a 16-month programme of maintenance and upgrading.

Gianotti expects the Higgs boson will remain centre-stage during the next round of experiments in the LHC. There are still many mysteries to be solved, she said.

One question is why the Higgs boson weighs so little. “Like a new friend, getting to know him or her takes a while.” Measuring how it reacts with other particles will be important too, Gianotti added.

CERN, launched in 1954, has 21 member states and a broader constellation of partnerships with third countries and institutions.

Role models

Gianotti will be the 16th Director General of CERN, and the first woman to hold the post.

Agnieszka Zalewska, CERN’S President, said female role models are important in physics. “There was a certain Marie Skłodowska-Curie in Poland and for me she was a very important [figure]. Let us hope that women at this high position in CERN help young girls to think [more] about physics,” she said.  

Giannoti confirmed Skłodowska-Curie’s importance. “One of the things pushing me into physics was, when I was 17, reading her biography,” she said. “And I was impressed by the domestic approach to science. She would prepare soup in the kitchen and then rush to check on the radioactive sample. Science being so fully part of your life an impressive message,” Giannoti said.

Timeline:

•    Early 2015: Beams sent into the LHC
•    Spring 2015: Full physics programme to restart
•    January 2015: Gianotti formally takes over from Heuer