Bio
Claes received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University (1991) and then worked at Fermi National Laboratory on the discovery of the top quark. He joined the University of Nebraska in 1996, and now searches for new, theoretically predicted particles at CERN (in Geneva, Switzerland) - where the 2012 announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson was made. A former high school physics and mathematics teacher he co-founded the Cosmic Ray Observation Project (CROP) to engage high school science teachers in the study of cosmic air showers and interest their students in science careers, particularly in physics. Claes explores physics topics inspired by iconic comic book characters, their superpowers, and significant events in their history, in a series of independent presentations to the public.