Prof. S.J. de Jong (Sijbrand)

Prof. Sijbrand de Jong is an expert on elementary particle and astroparticle physics. He has conducted and conducts high-energy experiments at large accelerator laboratories such as CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, Fermilab near Chicago, USA, and cosmic ray experiments at the Pierre Auger Observatory near Malargüe in Argentina.
De Jong has focused in particular on the Higgs mechanism that gives mass to particles, and he has also joined the search for the Higgs boson, which plays a crucial role in understanding particle physics and was found at the LHC at CERN in 2012.
At this moment he is primarily interested in the origin, composition and physics of the highest energy particles in the universe. De Jong is also interested in the relationship between particle physics and cosmology.
De Jong was involved in the design of the new curricula for physics and nature, life and technology, in pre-university education.
He has served in many leadership positions, such as director of the school of physics and astronomy, the Research Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, the Radboud Pre-University College of Science, as a member of the FOM board, and as president of the CERN Council,