Admir Greljo, a young man from Trebinje, has found his way to the largest research laboratory in the world – CERN. Admir has been awarded a two-year contract in a position granted each year to two candidates from non-member states of CERN.
In a competition of several hundred applicants, he was the one who got the post, thus becoming the first and only representative of BiH at the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
After his doctoral studies in Ljubljana and two postdoctoral positions in Zurich and Mainz, 30-year-old Admir applied for the prestigious research position at CERN. Given the strong competition, he says he did not have high expectations, but among hundreds of applicants from various parts of the world he was the one chosen as CERN's new member.
"I have loved physics ever since the seventh grade of primary school. I always spend my time with physics: thinking, reading, calculating, talking. I went to physics competitions, everything somehow turned out really well, and I think this is a message that such things can happen, that they are not impossible. And I must say that I acquired my entire fundamental education in BiH", said Greljo.
He works in the Theoretical Physics Department of the world's largest laboratory for elementary particle physics, where the core activities are experimental measurements and collisions of high-energy particles. His focus, however, is on theoretical studies and the implications of the measurements. Every day at work, he tells us, is different and more interesting.
"The idea of how to measure, work on and test certain physical theories comes from us, as does understanding what the measurements mean. I discuss things with colleagues, we talk a lot about physics and current problems, and I also spend the day doing analytical and numerical calculations for these experiments and writing scientific papers, and from time to time we go to conferences where we present scientific results", he explained.
In addition to his work at CERN, he has for some time been a visiting lecturer at the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Science in Sarajevo, and he is also active through the Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology. The road to success, he says, was not easy, but his love of physics, constant learning and self-improvement are the reasons why Admir now finds himself among the world's elite physicists. Croatia and Serbia became associate members of CERN this year, but BiH remains a non-member, which, he says, makes the path to CERN even harder for BiH scientists.
"If we moved closer to CERN politically, it would be much easier for our scientists, not only physicists; CERN is a huge laboratory that employs all kinds of professionals from the natural and technical sciences", he told N1.
Physics is his calling, and he plans to continue his academic work after CERN; the next natural step in his career, he says, would be to found his own research group.
Source: N1
