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 experimental particle physicist. She is the current Director-General at CERN, which is a big science lab in Switzerland. She is also the first woman to hold this important job!
Her first time as Director-General started on January 1, 2016. She was chosen again for a second term, which began on January 1, 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 and the world. Her mother, who was from Sicily, encouraged her to explore art. Her father, a well-known geologist, helped her love for learning and science grow.
Fabiola found her true passion for scientific research after reading a book about Marie Curie. Before that, she studied subjects like music and philosophy in high school. She earned her PhD in experimental particle physics from the University of Milan in 1989.
Her Career in Science
Working at CERN
Since 1996, Fabiola Gianotti has worked at CERN. She started as a fellow and then became a full-time research physicist. In 2009, she became a project leader and spokesperson for the ATLAS experiment.
She also worked on other experiments at CERN, like WA70, UA2, and ALEPH. In these roles, she helped develop special equipment and computer programs, and she analyzed data. In 2016, she made history by becoming the first female Director-General of CERN. She was reappointed for a second term, which will finish in 2025.
Fabiola has been part of many important international science groups. These include the Scientific Council of the CNRS in France and the Physics Advisory Committee of Fermilab in the US. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the UN Secretary-General. In 2018, she became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in the UK.
She is also a member of the Italian Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences. Since 2013, she has been an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Fabiola Gianotti also appeared in a 2013 movie called Particle Fever. This film was about the exciting work happening at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Discovering the Higgs Boson
When Fabiola Gianotti was the leader and spokesperson for the ATLAS experiment, her team made a huge discovery. The ATLAS experiment was one of two groups that found the Higgs boson.
On July 4, 2012, Fabiola announced this amazing discovery to the world. Before this, the Higgs boson was only a theory in physics. Fabiola's deep understanding of the ATLAS experiment and her strong leadership were key to finding this particle.
Her Scientific Writings
Fabiola Gianotti has written or co-written over 500 scientific papers. These papers have been published in important science journals. 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. Another important paper was about searching for "supersymmetry" at high-energy colliders.
Working in Science as a Woman
Fabiola Gianotti has succeeded in a field that has traditionally been mostly men. In Europe, there are about two men for every one woman in science. Only 20% of the team working on the ATLAS project were women.
Fabiola was the first female Director-General of CERN. She also led two of CERN's biggest experiments in 2012. She says she never felt treated unfairly because she is a woman. She believes she might have been, but she didn't notice it.
Fabiola is helping to break down barriers for young female scientists. She especially wants to give more support to women who want to have children while working in science. She feels she didn't get enough support herself, which led her to not have children, a choice she now regrets.
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 included her in their 'Top 100 most influential women'.
- She has received honorary doctorates from many universities, including the University of Uppsala and McGill University.
- In December 2014, she received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic from the Italian president.
- In September 2013, she won the Enrico Fermi Prize.
- In December 2012, she received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for her leadership in the Higgs boson discovery.
- In 2018, she was listed as one of the BBC's 100 Women.
- In February 2020, she was awarded the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize.
- In September 2020, Pope Francis named her a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
The Comic Sans Story
When CERN announced the Higgs boson discovery, some people talked about Fabiola's choice of the Comic Sans font in her presentation. A physicist even started an online petition to change the font's name! Fabiola had used Comic Sans before, but this time it caused a stir because the discovery was so important.
Her Personal Life
Fabiola Gianotti is a trained ballerina and plays the piano. She has never been married. A physicist named Rende Steerenberg once said that she "has dedicated her life to physics... sure, she has made sacrifices."
In an interview in 2010, Fabiola said that science and faith are different but can exist together. She believes they are "two different spheres." She said that "science and religion are separate disciplines, though not against each other. You can be a physicist and have faith or not. It is better for God and science to keep the right distance."
