Fabiola Gianotti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fabiola Gianotti
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Gianotti in 2015
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| Born | 29 October 1960 Rome, Italy
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| Alma mater | University of Milan |
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| Fields | Particle physics |
Fabiola Gianotti (born 29 October 1960) is a famous Italian particle physicist. She studies tiny particles that make up everything around us. She is the current and first woman to be the Director-General at CERN. CERN is a huge science lab in Switzerland. It stands for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
Her first time as Director-General started in 2016 and lasted five years. In 2019, she was chosen to lead CERN for a second time. Her second term began in 2021 and will continue until 2025. This is the first time in CERN's history that someone has been chosen for a full second term.
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Early Life and Learning
Fabiola Gianotti was always curious about nature. Her mother, from Sicily, encouraged her to explore art. Her father, a well-known geologist, helped her love for learning and science grow.
Fabiola found her passion for scientific research after reading about Marie Curie. Before that, she studied music and philosophy. She earned her PhD in experimental particle physics from the University of Milan in 1989.
Her Amazing Career
Working at CERN
Since 1996, Gianotti has worked at CERN. She started as a fellow and became a full-time research physicist. In 2009, she became the leader and spokesperson for the ATLAS experiment. She also worked on other experiments at CERN. These included WA70, UA2, and ALEPH. She helped develop detectors, software, and analyze data. In 2016, she made history as the first female Director-General of CERN. She was later chosen for a second term, which ends in 2025.
She has been part of many important science groups around the world. These include groups in France, the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. She is also a member of the UN Secretary-General's science advisory board. In 2018, she became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in the UK.
Gianotti is also a member of the Italian Academy of Sciences. She is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Since 2013, she has been an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Fabiola Gianotti also appeared in the 2013 film Particle Fever. This movie was about the work at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Discovering the Higgs Boson
When Gianotti was the leader of the ATLAS experiment, her team helped find the Higgs boson. This was a huge discovery! On July 4, 2012, Gianotti announced that they had observed this particle. Before this, the Higgs boson was only a theory. It was a missing piece in the Standard Model of particle physics. Gianotti's deep understanding and strong leadership were key to this amazing discovery.
Her Scientific Papers
Gianotti has written or co-written over 500 scientific papers. These papers have been checked by other scientists. She has also given more than 30 talks at major international science conferences.
Some of her most famous papers include the one where CERN announced the Higgs boson discovery. She also wrote about searching for new particles and how to measure energy in particle physics.
Breaking Barriers for Women
Fabiola Gianotti has succeeded in a field mostly dominated by men. In Europe, there are two men for every one woman in science. Only 20% of the team on the ATLAS project were women. Gianotti was the first female Director-General of CERN. She also led two of CERN's biggest experiments in 2012.
She believes she never faced unfair treatment because she is a woman. She said, "I cannot say myself that I ever felt discriminated against... Perhaps I was but I didn't realize it." Gianotti is helping to open doors for other female scientists. She especially wants to give more support to women who have children.
Awards and Honors
Fabiola Gianotti has received many awards and honors:
- In 2011, The Guardian newspaper named her one of the 'Top 100 most inspirational women'.
- In 2012, Time magazine ranked her fifth for 'Personality of the Year'.
- In 2013, Forbes magazine listed her among the 'Top 100 most influential women'.
- She has received honorary doctorates from many universities. These include the University of Uppsala, EPFL, and McGill University.
- In December 2014, she received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. This was given by the Italian president.
- In September 2013, she won the Enrico Fermi Prize.
- In December 2012, she received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. This was for her leadership in finding the Higgs boson.
- In 2018, she was named one of the BBC's 100 Women.
- In February 2020, she received the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize.
- In September 2020, Pope Francis made her a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Her Life Outside Work
Gianotti is a trained ballerina and plays the piano. She has dedicated her life to physics. In an interview, she said that science and faith are different but can exist together. She believes you can be a physicist and have faith.
