This prize honors discoveries that reshape our understanding of the universe, including how particles gain mass via the Higgs boson, the imbalance between matter and antimatter, and the exploration of physics processes under extreme conditions.
Lund University researchers and students play a vital role in this success, contributing to both the ATLAS and ALICE experiments since the very beginning.
“This is a proud moment for our teams and a powerful recognition of the work we do at the LHC,” says Else Lytken, Head of the Department of Physics and leader of Lund’s ATLAS group. “It reflects years of innovation and motivates us to keep pushing boundaries.”
The award includes funding for PhD scholarships, enabling selected students to spend up to two years conducting research at CERN through the CERN & Society Foundation.
“Being part of ALICE is both challenging and inspiring,” says Kaare Iversen, PhD student in Lund. “This recognition shows the scientific world values what we do, even when we’re deep in data analysis.”
A win for students and supporters alike
The LHC is not just about discovery - it’s a training ground for the next generation of scientists. Students gain hands-on experience in areas like programming, data analysis, detector development, and theoretical modeling.
Support from donors and institutions makes this possible. At Lund, it has already led to 20+ PhD theses and over 100 bachelor’s and master’s theses, as well as innovations in detector technology and software. Lund’s leadership in founding and advancing the ATLAS and ALICE collaborations continues to shape the future of particle physics.
Looking ahead
From 2026 to 2030, the LHC will be upgraded into High-Luminosity LHC, increasing its capacity nearly tenfold. This next chapter brings new opportunities for students, researchers, and supporters to contribute to discoveries that could redefine our understanding of the universe.
Learn more about the research
- Partikelfysiker vill avslöja universums hemligheter (lu.se)
- Music video made by recent LU students ALICE TPC Pre-Commissioning Song (youtube.com)
- The Lund ALICE Group (particle-nuclear.lu.se)
- The Lund ALICE Detector-projects (alice-collaboration.web.cern.ch)
- ALICE ITS3 (alice-collaboration.web.cern.ch)
- The Lund ATLAS group (particle-nuclear.lu.se)
- The Lund ATLAS Detector projects (atlas.cern)
- The LUCID detector in the ATLAS experimentet at CERN in the Lund University research portal (portal.research.lu.se)
- Read more about the Breakthrough Prize (breakthroughprize.org)
- Article about the Breakthrough Price (home.cern)