Ben Allanach is one of our favourite theoretical physicists. He is a professor at the University of Cambridge who has realised a life ambition by working at CERN for two years as a research fellow. His work focuses on providing tests of theories of fundamental particle physics and the early Universe and interpreting the data itself. He is particularly interested in something called supersymmetry, which predicts particles that could be dark matter and might be produced in the collisions at CERN.

Watch Ben explain it all in this TEDx lecture. You can also read Ben's Plus article Particle hunting at the LHC and learn more about supersymmetry on Plus.