Kenneth Long: pursuing cutting-edge research in France

American researcher Kenneth Long is joining the Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis (Lyon, France) to develop an ambitious project in particle physics.

Published on Fr
Légende: Kenneth Long joins the Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis

Transcription

What's critical to long-term fundamental science is stability. The situation in the US right now has brought in a huge amount of uncertainty. American scientist welcomed at the Institut de Physique des Deux Infinis in Lyon. I'm Kenneth Long. I’m a particle physicist working at the CNRS here in France, in Lyon. My research focuses on studying the properties of particles in particle collisions, especially at the largest accelerator in the world, at the Large Hadron Collider, at CERN, on the border of France and Switzerland. What I'm particularly interested in is studying the fundamental properties of these particles: their mass, how strong their interactions with the different forces are, and trying to make the most accurate measurements possible of these properties.

What do you like about European and French scientific systems? What's really nice is how much independence and trust is placed in individual researchers. Science has to be about taking risks. If you don't take a risk, you're never going to get reward. You start something, you have a goal for where it's going to end up, but you can almost never know exactly how it will work. And I think the stability of the system in Europe, the incentive to go for long-term collaborative projects, is really favourable for Big Science.

What does the Choose France for Science programme offer you? The Choose France for Science programme offers me the opportunity to really direct my own research programme, to build something that requires taking risks, looking for a long-term project, and execute scientific research at the most ambitious scale that I've ever done myself.

Why does science still need international collaborations? As science has grown over time, the projects that we envision have to get bigger and bigger. Everything small has been done. At that point, this gets bigger than any one country can do. I also think science itself is an opportunity to show that we can really live in a global world, that's about collaboration, not about nationalities. It’s about doing something that's bigger than us individually.

Ambitious Research Goals

Kenneth Long, a young American particle physicist, is pursuing his prestigious career in France, with the support of the Choose France for Science programme.

Formerly affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), he has joined the Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis (Institute of Physics of the Two Infinities - IP2I), a research unit jointly operated by the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research) and Claude Bernard University Lyon 1.

His research project focuses on the study of the fundamental properties of particles, the elementary constituents of matter. This field relies on experimental measurement techniques using tools such as particle colliders, including the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, hosted by CERN in Switzerland.

Kenneth Long is also working on the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning, enabling significant improvements in data analysis and processing.

Challenges of Stability and International Cooperation

Kenneth Long is convinced of the need for stable institutions and the importance of international collaborations. He believes that France offers an environment conducive to demanding research. This ecosystem is particularly favourable as it combines the dynamism of the scientific community with the quality of its research infrastructure.

By building his own team, Kenneth Long is committed to exploring new courses of research to push back the frontiers of particle physics. This collaborative work aims to enhance our understanding of the universe, with the hope of paving the way for a new era of exploration and discovery in particle physics.

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See also

Synchrotron : percer les mystères de l'invisible

Alka Patel, American researcher hosted at Aix-Marseille University

The Choose France for Science initiative