2025 Emilio Segrè Lecture featuring Fabiola Gianotti
October 20, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Chevron Auditorium at International House
View photos from the event HERE
The Higgs boson and our life
CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics based in Geneva, is the world’s leading research center for high-energy particle physics. Over its 70-year history, the Organization has been adorned with groundbreaking discoveries — not least the Higgs boson in 2012 — which have significantly advanced humankind’s understanding of the fundamental constituents and laws of nature, as well as the structure and evolution of the Universe. This presentation highlights the importance of the Higgs boson discovery and its impact on our lives, CERN’s future plans, as well as the Organization’s mission in all its facets: scientific research, development of innovative technologies, education and training, and collaboration across borders. It also underscores the significant contributions of scientists from the United States to this remarkable scientific and human endeavor.
Fabiola Gianotti
Fabiola Gianotti is the Director-General of CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics, and the first woman to hold this role. She earned her Ph.D. in experimental particle physics from the University of Milan and has been a CERN research physicist since 1994. From 2009 to 2013, she was spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, during which the Higgs boson was discovered. Gianotti is a member of eight academies of science worldwide, holds fifteen honorary doctorates, and has received numerous international awards. She was appointed CERN Director-General in 2014 and reappointed in 2019 for a second term through 2025.