IIT Mandi Scientists Honors for their contributions in Unveiling Secrets of the Universe at CERN
Mandi; 22 July, 2025; Dr. Prabhakar Palni and Dr. Amal Sarkar from the School of Physical Sciences, IIT Mandi, along with their international team, have been named laureates of the prestigious Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize 2025 for their collective contributions. They are recognized for their significant contributions to the ATLAS, ALICE, and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which enhanced our understanding of fundamental particle physics during the second run of the experiments, which took place from 2015 to 2024.
The Breakthrough Prize honors the groundbreaking achievements of international scientists who have expanded humanity’s understanding of the universe. This year’s prize includes a $3 million award, which has been donated to the CERN & Society Foundation. The funds will be allocated to provide grants for doctoral and summer students, allowing them to gain valuable research experience at CERN. These opportunities are designed to empower young scientists by granting them direct access to state-of-the-art facilities and knowledge, which they can subsequently bring back to their home countries.
It is to be recalled that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator that pushes protons or ions to near the speed of light to explore the fundamental structure of the universe by smashing particles together at near-light speeds. Its main goal was to test the Standard Model of physics, leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. The LHC helps scientists study how particles gain mass, recreate conditions just after the Big Bang, and search for unknown particles like dark matter. It also drives technological innovation in superconducting magnets and computing. Located at CERN on the Franco-Swiss border, the LHC fosters global scientific collaboration, advancing our understanding of the universe’s deepest mysteries. They use detectors to analyse the myriad of particles produced by collisions in the accelerator. These experiments are executed by collaborations of scientists from institutes all over the world.
Noteworthy, the “Experimental Particle Physics Group” at IIT Mandi’s School of Physical Sciences was established by Dr. Amal Sarkar and Dr. Prabhakar Palni. In 2024, they formally joined the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) collaboration, one of the major experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN. The group’s active participation represents a significant milestone for Indian institutions in the field of global high-energy physics research.
Their active involvement in CERN’s large-scale experiments underscores IIT Mandi’s growing presence in global scientific collaborations and demonstrates the institute’s strong commitment to advancing cutting-edge research in fundamental physics. This achievement not only showcases IIT Mandi’s research capabilities but also emphasizes India’s contribution to the international high-energy physics community.
About IIT Mandi:
IIT Mandi is one of the top second-generation IITs located in Kamand Valley, Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is one of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and recognized as one of Institutes of National Importance. IIT Mandi’s permanent campus about 14 km (8.7 mi) from Mandi consists of the South and North campuses connected by a narrow neck. The South campus is on the left bank of the Uhl River below Kamand village. The North campus is along the Kataula Khad opposite Salgi village. A transit campus at Government Post graduate College, Mandi was handed over by the Himachal Pradesh Government on 16 November 2009. The Kamand campus ground-breaking ceremony, to mark the start of construction, was held on 13 April 2012. On 25 April 2015, IIT Mandi became the first of all the new IITs to completely shift B. Tech students to its permanent campus in Kamand. Since its inception the institute has been involved with more than 275 Research and Development (R&D) projects worth more than ₹120 crore. In the past 10 years, the institute has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with as many as 11 international and 12 national universities.
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