CERN said Wednesday that its council has appointed Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti for a second mandate as the Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN. The 59-year-old Rome native, who participated in the discovery of the Higgs boson, became the first woman to head the lab when she started her first term in 2016.

"It's a great honour and privilege, but also a huge responsibility," Gianotti told ANSA. "We will continue to plumb the secrets of Nature". Education, University and Research Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti said Gianotti's confirmation "shows us the way for the country's growth and competitiveness: more money for research and more attention for the knowledge economy".