Assistant professor Marvin Flores of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Science National Institute of Physics (UPD-CS NIP) is among the thousands of researchers from more than 70 countries worldwide honored with the prestigious 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
The recognition was given to the A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS (ATLAS) Collaboration at the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN)’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alongside its sister experiments A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE), Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), and Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb).
Flores is the team leader of the ATLAS group based in the Philippines, while the UPD-CS NIP has been at the forefront of ATLAS research since 2021.
The general-purpose particle detector ATLAS is one of the largest and most complex scientific instruments ever built, measuring over 40 meters in length and around 25 meters in height.
Designed to investigate the fundamental building blocks of matter and the forces governing our universe, its cutting-edge systems track particles produced in particle collisions at unprecedented energie and has enable discoveries like the Higgs boson and searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM).
“Our team’s work on BSM modeling and simulation exemplifies the innovation driving ATLAS forward,” Flores said.
“This recognition affirms the impact of our contributions and inspires us to continue exploring the universe’s most fundamental questions,” he added.
Meanwhile, the $3-million prize is allocated to ATLAS ($1 million), CMS ($1 million), ALICE ($500,000), and LHCb ($500,000), in recognition of 13,508 co-authors of publications based on LHC Run-2 data released between 2015 and July 2024.
Upon consultation with the leaders of the experiments, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation will donate all of the prize funds to the CERN & Society Foundation.
The collaborations will use the amount to offer grants for member-institute doctoral students to spend research time at CERN and gain “experience working at the forefront of science and new expertise to bring back to their home countries and regions.”