Jennifer Anne Thomas facts for kids

Jennifer Anne Thomas is a British scientist who studies tiny particles. She is a professor at University College London. Dr. Thomas is known for her important work in building special tools called particle detectors. In 2018, she won the Michael Faraday medal and prize for her amazing research on how tiny particles called neutrinos change.

Her School Days

Jennifer Thomas went to the University of London and earned her first degree in 1981. She then continued her studies at the University of Oxford. In 1983, she earned her PhD in particle physics. Her research was about how heavy quarks, which are very small building blocks of matter, decay or break down.

Her Work and Discoveries

After finishing her studies, Dr. Thomas worked at several important science centers around the world. From 1983 to 1985, she was a researcher at Imperial College and DESY in Germany.

Working at CERN

From 1985 to 1988, she was a fellow at CERN, which is a huge science lab in Europe. There, she helped build and use a special detector called the Time Projection Chamber for an experiment called ALEPH. This detector helped scientists study particles.

Researching Neutrinos

In 1994, Dr. Thomas started working on an experiment called MINOS at the University of Oxford. She later brought this experiment to University College London in 1996. Since 2010, she has been a leader of the MINOS team. She helped expand the experiment to look for a special type of neutrino called "sterile neutrinos."

As of 2025, her main work is still focused on neutrinos. She is a co-leader for the MINOS/MINOS+ experiment. She also works on the NEMO-III and SuperNEMO experiments. In these projects, she studies how neutrinos might behave in unusual ways.

Most recently, Dr. Thomas is very involved in developing the CHIPS experiment. This project aims to create a flexible and affordable neutrino detector. It uses Cherenkov radiation, which is a special kind of light, to find neutrinos in flooded mines at Fermilab in the United States.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Dr. Thomas has received many awards for her important contributions to science.

• In 2011, she was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). This is a special honor from the British Queen.
• In 2017, she was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society.
• In 2018, she won the Michael Faraday medal and prize from the Institute of Physics. This award recognized her outstanding work in understanding neutrinos.