The child that was afraid to forget any of his 60 cousins’ names. The child that saw his grandmother, always saving money for her loved ones’ future. That child was the first one, in the lifetime of the family, to attend university. That child is now a mechanical engineer who works at CERN.

Grão a grão, João is fulfilling his life’s backpack. He is a 27-years-old curious guy, eager to learn as much as possible. He loves to travel and to cook, also Science and History, and all their possible combinations.

He is from Lisbon, onde o mar se acabou e a terra espera. João has always lived in the Portuguese capital, where he studied, both bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). He was a very active piece in the student community, participating in a lot of projects and, sometimes, coordinating and organizing them. A master behind the scenes.

Also in Lisbon, João met Kauanna, his girlfriend. They have been living in different countries since he started working at CERN, in October 2017, almost 3 years ago. With no doubt, this is one of the toughest parts of emigration.

That autumn, he moved to Pays de Gex, where he is very happy, working with a united team in Hi-Lumi, which, in his words, is a really fantastic project. As a mechanical engineer, in the not too distant future, he would like to be more connected to product design, closer to the industry.

In his daily adventures, João is surrounded by beauty. He finds it in the shape of fun and excitement. Also, in the variety of cultures and their common points, where we realise that we are not so different from each other.

The birth of the www at CERN or the recent rocket launched by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, are other examples. It is this type of humanity achievements that João finds beautiful because, to him, beauty is to see that people connected are able to achieve extraordinary objectives.

A goal for us? João does not hesitate: we should improve the life as we know it and leave a mark on humanity. Everything that makes us what we are is up to us. It is up to the environment that we create, the people we surround ourselves with and the ideals that we choose to follow and to pay attention to. Isso nos baste.

João will find his own meaning on life. He will continue to face challenges, increasingly complex. And he will success and overcome them because, as José Saramago would say, sempre chegamos ao sítio aonde nos esperam.