May 68 is an important date in the calendar of History. Seven weeks of civil unrest occurred throughout France. Also in the northwest of the country, in Normandie, one of the favorite places of impressionist painters such as Monet or Renoir, was filled at that time with demonstrations and strikes.

Both references have in common the birth of Vicent, a researcher who has been working at CERN for 27 years. In the Technology Department (TE), in the same group, and almost in the same corridor that, as he says, has many spider webs.

But they are made up of common experiences and teachings. “I like to learn from people and share knowledge with others. The fact that I can learn new and interesting things is what makes me wake up every day”, confesses Vincent.

He has a PhD in applied physics. His thesis was about photodesorption in the cryogenic environment, which at the time was linked to the study and design of the LHC. He got it at CERN together with the Université Paris Diderot, the French philosopher best known for being one of the authors of the Encyclopédie.

In Vincent’s encyclopédie the word beauty appears next to the quarks. Also to sunsets, like the ones he used to see on the Normandy horizon. And to see a painting, listen to music, eat deliciously or share something with others. “Beauty is all that gives us pleasure. It is a subjective and very vast concept”. That is why Vicent prefers to tackle it on the physics side.

As a veteran CERNie, he has had the great pleasure of being present at the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, which was somehow a dream come true. “To participate on a nano-scale to that endeavor was indeed an immense joy”, he says.

Then, what is left for the next dreams? The discovery of new particles, for example, the supersymmetric particles. Just because, for Vincent, it is a great pleasure to achieve a goal that has been shared with colleagues and in which you have invested a lot of time and effort.

And since what gives us pleasure is also beautiful, who does not want to live surrounded by beauty? Vincent cannot complain about anything. And he does not. He is very happy to be where he is and to do what he does. And, above all, with what he learns every day in his spiderweb-filled corridor.

Because in Vincent’s case, as Diderot said, “work has, among other advantages, that of shortening days and prolonging life”.