Vreeswijks research focusses on quarks and leptons. A ‘top quark’ is a special quark in the sense that it can be created at very high energy in a particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (Geneva). It is an exceptionally heavy particle with measurable properties that provide insights into numerous fundamental interactions. This quantum world should provide answers to major questions such as: Where has the antimatter gone? What is dark matter? What is mass? How many dimensions are there?  

Together with a global team of scientists and engineers Vreeswijk will develop and construct a new detector component at Nikhef. This process will feature collaborations with Dutch companies while providing a state-of-the-art context for training young technicians and thinkers.

About Marcel Vreeswijk

After obtaining his doctorate in 1996, Vreeswijk became a CERN Fellow, analysing experimental measurement data at CERN. He also worked on the design, construction and testing of a detector for the Large Hadron Collider experiment. In 2001, Vreeswijk returned to the UvA where he continued this research. From 2012 to 2019, Vreeswijk was head of the department for the Bachelor's programme in Physics and Astronomy, where he lectured as well, and he is currently Director of Education at the College of Sciences.

Vreeswijk is also an advisory board member of the physics website natuurkunde.nl and the Dutch physics society, the Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging (NNV). He is the author or co-author of over 750 scientific publications, including in Science.