BU Physicists Celebrate 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
The 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics has been awarded to the scientists
of the Large Hadron Collider experiments — ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, and LHCb — recognizing their groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of fundamental particles and forces. The citation honors their achievements: “For detailed measurements of Higgs boson properties confirming the symmetry-breaking mechanism of mass generation, the discovery of new strongly interacting particles, the study of rare processes and
matter-antimatter asymmetry, and the exploration of nature at the shortest distances and most extreme conditions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider,” using data collected during LHC Run 2. The $3 million prize was shared among the collaborations and will be used to support doctoral students conducting research at CERN.
Boston University is proud to be home to lon
g-standing members of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The CMS group is represented by faculty members Zeynep Demiragli, Frank Golf, David Sperka, Indara Suarez, Larry Sulak, and James Rohlf and adjunct professors Tiziano Camporesi, and Chiara Mariotti. On the ATLAS side, BU contributions have been led by Professors Steve Ahlen (Emeritus) and John Butler, former Research
Professors James Shank and Saul Youssef and research scientist Dr Zhen Yan. These groups have played prominent roles in the discovery and precision study of the Higgs boson, and in ongoing searches for dark matter, supersymmetry, and other new phenomena.
The BU high-energy physics teams are also advancing the next generation of particle detectors, supported by the cutting-edge Electronics Design Facility (EDF), currently led by Dr. Alex Madorsky with senior engineer Dr. Jonathan Fulcher — both of whom were among the official recipients of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize. Several former EDF members — including former director Eric Hazen and engineers Shouziang Wu, Dr. Dan Gastler, and Andrew Peck — were also honored as part of the CMS collaboration. Ongoing development is further strengthened by current EDF engineers Lila Smith, Sebastian Moya, and Chris Lawlor, as well as the Scientific Instrumentation Facility (SIF), directed by Heitor Mourato with dedicated support from Glenn Thayer, Jose Velho, and Dan Nadeau.
From faculty and engineers to postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates — including many who participate through the BU Geneva Physics Program — the Breakthrough Prize is a reflection of the collaborative spirit and lasting impact of BU’s contributions to one of the greatest scientific endeavors of our time.
Watch the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, hosted by James Corden, and explore more about the event and its participants here.
