Swissnex, in collaboration with the Swiss diplomatic missions in India and CERN, presents The Peace Particle Series, exploring how international scientific collaboration can foster dialogue, trust and cooperation in an increasingly fragmented world.
At the heart of the series is The Peace Particle (2025), a documentary marking CERN’s 70-year legacy as a place where scientists from across the world come together to pursue fundamental research. Featuring Nobel laureates, rare archival footage and an inside look at the Large Hadron Collider, the film explores how science can transcend political boundaries and create spaces for dialogue and peace.
The Bengaluru screening takes place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium on 10 September, in partnership with the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) and Science Gallery Bengaluru. It will be followed by a panel discussion on the role of science diplomacy in addressing today’s global challenges, moderated by Jahnavi Phalkey.
Dr James Beacham
Physicist, CERN and Multimedia Artist
James Beacham is a physicist, science storyteller, television and documentary presenter, technologist, futurist and filmmaker. He has spent the majority of his research career searching for phenomena such as dark matter and quantum black holes at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and is also affiliated with institutions such as Duke University and the Max Planck Institute. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics as a core member of the ATLAS experiment, one of the two teams that discovered the Higgs boson particle.
In addition to his research, he speaks and performs around the world at the intersections of science, technology, politics, society and art; contributes to podcasts, radio shows, TV series and documentaries; and appears as a commentator in the popular press. Beacham is an experimental filmmaker and visual artist, exhibiting at venues internationally.
Alex Kiehl
Filmmaker, Director & Producer — The Peace Particle
Alex Kiehl is a documentary filmmaker whose work has received BAFTA, Grierson, RTS and Emmy nominations. With over 20 years of experience making high-end documentaries for Netflix, BBC, Disney, Discovery and ARTE, he specialises in combining cinematic scale with deeply human stories. His latest feature documentary, "The Peace Particle", explores CERN’s extraordinary history, groundbreaking discoveries and enduring ideal of international scientific collaboration. An Official Selection at CPH:DOX 2026, the film combines rare archive footage, special access to the Large Hadron Collider and interviews with leading scientists to explore CERN’s remarkable story, and the enduring question of whether science can help build peace across borders.