Pope Francis on Tuesday named CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Gianotti, who turns 60 on October 29, is an experimental particle physicist, and the first woman to be Director-General at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland.
She has headed CERN since 2016.
In July 2012 she presented the famed particle physic lab's discovery of the Higg's boson or 'God Particle'.
After getting a doctorate at Milan university in 1989, she began as a researcher at CERN in 1994.
Among other appointments, Gianotti is on the UN secretary-general's consultative committee.
She has received many honorary degrees and international prizes.
Gianotti, a Rome native, is a corresponding member of many academies and the author of a large number of scientific publications.
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