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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
International Collaborations

Experiments at CERN honored with the “Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics”

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Particle accelerator "Large Hadron Collider (LHC)" © Samuel Joseph Hertzog​/​CERN
At the LHC particle accelerator, protons are accelerated to nearly the speed of light and brought to collision.
Scientists from across the globe work at the CERN research center in Switzerland, where the world's most powerful particle accelerator operates – the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The four major collaborations at the LHC have now been awarded the prestigious “Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics 2025.” Four research groups of the Department of Physics at TU Dortmund University are involved in two of these experiments. The award ceremony took place in early April in Los Angeles. The prize money of 3 million US dollars will fund scholarships for doctoral students from member institutions, enabling them to conduct research stays at CERN.

At CERN, international scientists collaborate to uncover previously unknown particles. They also examine the properties and interactions of already discovered elementary particles to address unresolved questions in physics. In an underground ring-shaped tunnel, approximately 27 kilometers in circumference, proton packets are accelerated to nearly the speed of light and intentionally brought to collision. This process generates countless elementary particles, which are measured with the highest precision by massive detectors to analyze their energies and decay processes. 

Researchers from TU Dortmund University are involved in experiments at two of these detectors: Professor Johannes Albrecht and Dr. Dominik Mitzel and their teams are part of the Large-Hadron-Collider-beauty experiment, or LHCb. Professor Kevin Kröninger and Dr. Chris Malena Delitzsch and their groups are working on the ATLAS experiment. This month, the “Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics 2025” was awarded to all four major experiments at CERN, which include LHCb and ATLAS, along with ALICE and CMS, involving over 10,000 researchers from more than 70 countries worldwide.

Outstanding Contributions to Particle Physics 

The prize honors outstanding contributions to particle physics made at the LHC over the past decade. As a universal detector, ATLAS investigates the full spectrum of physical questions enabled by the high-energy proton and ion beams of the LHC. In 2012, ATLAS scientists, together with CMS, announced the discovery of the Higgs boson and have since analyzed its properties. The LHCb collaboration focuses on topics such as the differences between matter and antimatter, the violation of fundamental symmetries, and the complex structure of hadrons composed of heavy and light quarks. 

Starting in 2030, the discovery potential of the LHC will be significantly enhanced through the next major upgrade of the accelerator. At TU Dortmund University, LHC-related work also serves as a foundation for further projects. For example, experiments provide crucial data for the planned excellence cluster “Color meets Flavor,” in which particle physicists from TU Dortmund University, in collaboration with partners, are participating in the Excellence Strategy. 

About the Prize 

The “Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics” was established in 2012 by technology investor Yuri Milner, who is also actively involved in science funding. Milner initiated the Breakthrough Prizes as prestigious awards in physics, life sciences, and mathematics.

To the press release of CERN

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