tech
December 31, 2025
The man taking over the Large Hadron Collider
Next head of Cern backs massive replacement for world’s largest machine to investigate mysteries of the universe
TL;DR
- Mark Thomson, a professor from the University of Cambridge, is the new director general of Cern.
- Thomson's initial focus will be the upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the high-luminosity LHC.
- The LHC will be shut down for engineering work starting in June, with physics results expected to continue from collected data.
- The upgrade aims to significantly increase the number of collisions in the LHC to enable more precise measurements.
- Thomson will also oversee planning for the Future Circular Collider (FCC), a proposed machine over three times the size of the LHC.
- The FCC project faces challenges related to funding and debates about its scientific objectives.
- Cern's leadership in particle physics is at stake, with other countries developing their own advanced collider plans.
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