Wu contributed to the Higgs boson discovery announced at CERN in 2012.
On July 4, 2012, Sau Lan Wu’s team at CERN’s ATLAS experiment was pivotal in confirming the existence of the Higgs boson. This announcement marked a new era in particle physics by validating the last missing piece of the Standard Model, which explains how particles acquire mass. Wu's significant contributions focused on key analyses of particle decay channels (H→γγ and H→ZZ*→4ℓ) that provided crucial evidence for the Higgs. Her role underscores the impact of comprehensive, multinational collaborative research efforts required to achieve breakthroughs in understanding fundamental particles. The discovery has since spurred a wealth of new research directions aimed at exploring beyond the Standard Model.