Bringing the Universe’s Biggest Mysteries to Your Classroom

What is our universe truly made of? Why is it that everything we can see—every star, planet, and person—makes up only 5% of reality? At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland, we are tackling these profound questions by recreating the conditions of the first moments after the Big Bang. This is the frontline of human knowledge, a global adventure story blending incredible technology with fundamental curiosity. As a theoretical physicist at SMU, I am passionate about bringing this exciting detective story directly to high school science students, offering them a behind-the-scenes look at how we explore the unknown. I am available to visit classrooms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area or to connect virtually with schools anywhere.

My presentation, “The Universe is 5% Complete: A Detective Story,” is a highly interactive and visual journey designed specifically for students. We move beyond the textbook to ask the big questions that drive science forward. Using hands-on analogies like the “Mystery Box,” we’ll explore how scientists can “see” the invisible and deduce the properties of new particles. We’ll also take a virtual trip to the French-Swiss border and use an interactive map to place the 17-mile LHC ring right over Dallas, giving students a visceral sense of the scale of modern scientific endeavors. The goal is to demystify fundamental physics, showcase science as a creative and collaborative human enterprise, and inspire students to see themselves as the next generation of detectives, explorers, and cartographers.

If you are a teacher interested in arranging a talk for your class, please feel free to contact me at tneumann@smu.edu. To continue the journey of discovery, I also encourage you and your students to explore the fantastic outreach resources offered by the global physics community.

• How Large is the LHC? – The interactive map tool we use to visualize the immense scale of particle accelerators.
• CERN Education – A wealth of videos, animations, and materials from the home of the LHC. Training for teachers and students.
• Fermilab Office of Education and Public Engagement – Superb resources from America’s premier particle physics laboratory near Chicago.
• Symmetry Magazine – A beautifully written magazine that tells the human stories behind particle physics research.
• U.S. Department of Energy STEM Resources – A portal to explore outreach and educational programs from all of America’s national laboratories.