Scientists from The University of Warwick are among thousands of researchers worldwide honoured with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

The 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, known popularly as the ‘Oscars® of science’, has been awarded to four experimental collaborations at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider - ATLAS, CMS, ALICE and LHCb.

The University of Warwick has played a key role in two of these projects, ATLAS and LHCb, which are among the largest and most complex scientific instruments ever built. They were designed to investigate the fundamental building blocks of matter and the forces governing our universe.

Warwick joined the LHCb collaboration in 2008 and the ATLAS collaboration in 2012 and subsequently has been at the forefront of research in both experiments.

Senior Warwick physicists have served in leadership roles such as Physics Coordinator in both collaborations, while students and postdoctoral research associates have carried out analyses, introduced innovative new methods, operated the detectors and improved understanding of the performance.

LHCb specialises in investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the "beauty quark" or "b quark". The Large Hadron Collider collides beams of protons that have been accelerated to extremely close to the speed of light; LHCb is a detector of 20 meters in length, looking at particles produced close to the beam direction. It has been offering insight on why we live in a universe that appears to be composed almost entirely of matter, but no antimatter.

Tim Gershon, Professor of Physics and Lead of Warwick’s LHCb group, said: “The award of the Breakthrough Prize is highly gratifying recognition of the huge scientific progress achieved by the LHC experiments. Generations of Warwick staff and students have made key contributions, gaining unique experience of working in a large international collaboration.

“We are looking forward to extending this opportunity to future generations, and to obtaining even deeper insights into fundamental particle interactions with the much larger data samples that will be collected with upgraded versions of the detectors.”

The second collaboration, ATLAS, has resulted in a general-purpose, almost hermetic, particle detector surrounding the proton-proton collision point. It allows us to study the fundamental constituents of matter to better understand the rules behind their interactions. It is the largest detector ever constructed, measuring over 40 metres in length and around 25 metres in height.

Bill Murray, Professor of Physics and Lead of Warwick’s ATLAS group said: "Our team's work on innovative AI to calibrate particle identification exemplifies the innovation driving ATLAS forward. This recognition affirms the impact of our studies in many diverse areas of the universe’s most fundamental questions. The LHC programme is just getting started."

Specific Warwick contributions to these two projects have included:

• Operation of LHCb’s vertex locator, crucial to isolate the small fraction of proton-proton collisions where particles containing b quarks are produced.
• Development and support of the ATLAS trigger system and the ATLAS inner silicon tracking detectors.
• Development of cutting-edge AI techniques to identify the decay products of b-quarks and polarised W bosons, key for studying processes such as di-Higgs production and polarised vector boson scattering, which test the Higgs mechanism.
• Use of new amplitude analysis methods to enable discoveries of new types of hadrons and improve sensitivity to matter-antimatter asymmetries.

Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN said: “I am extremely proud to see the extraordinary accomplishments of the LHC collaborations honoured with this prestigious Prize. It is a beautiful recognition of the collective efforts, dedication, competence and hard work of thousands of people from all over the world who contribute daily to pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.”

Warwick’s physicists are involved in preparing ATLAS and LHCb for their next chapter, leading the development and integration of the all-silicon ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk) and the Time Of internally Reflected CHerenkov detector (TORCH) for the High-Luminosity LHC, which will increase collision rates tenfold when it begins operation in 2030.

ENDS

University of Warwick press office contact:

Matt Higgs – Media & Communications Officer (Sciences)

Matt.Higgs@warwick.ac.uk | +44 (0) 7880175403

General and out of hours press office number +44 (0)7392 125605 (please call as emails are not checked out of office hours)

Notes to Editors

Image Captions & Credit:

Members of the University of Warwick LHCb Group at LHCb - Image Credit: Fernando Abudinen/University of Warwick LHCb Group

Associate Professor Karolos Potamianos in the clean room where all the components of the ATLAS ITk detector will be integrated before being lowered into the experimental cavern. The ITk envelope is shown with the carbon fibre supports for the two outermost layers of the ITk Strip detector, which will support the sensors and associated services. Warwick physicists will make key contributions to the production and integration of the ITk Strip detector - Image Credit: Karolos Potamianos/University of Warwick ATLAS Group

About The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics:

Known popularly as the “Oscars® of Science,” the Breakthrough Prize recognises the research achievements of the world’s top scientists, awarding approximately $15 million annually in prizes. Each prize is $3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. Laureates attend a gala award ceremony designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists. The Breakthrough Prizes were founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki and have been sponsored by foundations established by them. One Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is given each year.

About the ATLAS project:

ATLAS is one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It investigates a wide range of physics, from the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. Although it has the same scientific goals as the CMS experiment, it uses different technical solutions and a different magnet-system design. Beams of particles from the LHC collide at the centre of the ATLAS detector making collision debris in the form of new particles, which fly out from the collision point in all directions. Six different detecting subsystems arranged in layers around the collision point record the paths, momentum, and energy of the particles, allowing them to be individually identified. A huge magnet system bends the paths of charged particles so that their momenta can be measured.

About the LHCb project:

Instead of surrounding the entire collision point with an enclosed detector, as do ATLAS and CMS, the LHCb experiment uses a series of subdetectors to detect mainly forward particles – those thrown forwards by the collision in one direction. The first subdetector is mounted close to the collision point, with the others following one behind the other over a length of 20 metres. An abundance of different quark types are created by the LHC before they decay quickly into other forms. To catch the b quarks, LHCb has developed sophisticated movable tracking detectors close to the path of the beams circling in the LHC. The 5600-tonne LHCb detector is made up of a forward spectrometer and planar detectors. It is 21 metres long, 10 metres high and 13 metres wide, and sits 100 metres below ground near the town of Ferney-Voltaire, France.