Zeblon Vilakazi facts for kids

Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi (born 3 April 1969) is a very important person in South African education. He is currently the Vice-Chancellor of Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. He started this big job on 1 January 2021. Professor Vilakazi is a brilliant scientist who studies tiny particles, known as a nuclear physicist. Before becoming Vice-Chancellor, he was in charge of research and studies for advanced students. He can speak many languages, including French, German, Russian, Xhosa, Zulu, Siswati (his first language), Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English.

Early Life and Education

Zeblon Vilakazi was born in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni. He was the youngest of eight children in his family. His mother was a housewife, and his father ran a small shop in their community.

He was one of the first students from Africa to do his advanced research, called a PhD, at a famous science center. This center is the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. After his PhD, he continued his research at CERN with a special fellowship.

His Career Journey

After finishing his research at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, Professor Vilakazi came back to South Africa. He became a lecturer at the University of Cape Town. There, he helped start South Africa's first research group that studied high-energy physics. This group worked on a special project for the CERN-ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

In January 2014, he joined the University of the Witwatersrand as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor. In this role, he was in charge of research and studies for postgraduate students. He was then promoted to Vice-Principal in April 2020. He is also a respected member of the African Academy of Sciences. In May 2022, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), which is a very high honor for scientists.