CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2002 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics is awarded to Dr. Alan Astbury, University of Victoria, for his leadership skills and his numerous contributions to the Canadian physics community.

Alan Astbury joined the University of Victoria's Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1983 as the R.M. Pearce Professor, a position created jointly with TRIUMF. Prior to that he was a Research Physicist at the Rutherford Laboratory and was participating at CERN in the search for the W and Z bosons, the carriers of the nuclear weak force, where he was the co-spokesman for the group of 150 researchers. The discovery eventually led to the granting of the Nobel Prize to the leader of the experiment and of the Rutherford Medal of the British Institute of Physics to Alan. After his arrival in Victoria he directed the efforts of the Victoria group to the SLD experiment at SLAC and the OPAL collaboration at CERN, at the same time strengthening the team with the appointment of some very promising young researchers and continuing to build the group into the dynamic entity that it is today.

Dr. Astbury was the Director of the Canadian Institute of Particle Physics during 1991-94, and was appointed Director of TRIUMF in 1994. The fact that the laboratory has remained one of the world's prime institutions for subatomic research and has maintained its outstanding reputation is due in large part to his leadership. His greatest success has been in the ability to maintain the stature of the laboratory while redefining the priorities of its research program, and this fact has been recognized by the recent international scientific review of TRIUMF. With the development of ISAC, the world's best exotic beams accelerator, the laboratory is a leader in the experimental study of nuclear astrophysics. Furthermore, and what is of critical importance, he has restructured TRIUMF to serve as the Canadian platform for particle and accelerator physics participation in international facilities, thus providing access for Canadian researchers to those facilities and ensuring Canada's participation on the world stage.

Dr. Astbury was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1989 and of the British Royal Society in 1993. In 2001 he received the Chair's Award for Career Achievement by the Science Council of British Columbia. He has served on a large number of national and international committees and scientific advisory bodies. He has developed an excellent international profile that has served our scientific community well. The recognition that the CAP Medal of Achievement will bring to him is indeed very well deserved.

The CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics was introduced in 1956 and is awarded annually. Dr. Astbury will receive the 2002 Prize during the CAP's awards banquet to be held at the Quebec Convention Centre on June 4th, 2002.

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics.

For more information, please contact:

Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: (613) 562-5614
Fax: (613) 562-5615
E-mail: cap@physics.uottawa.ca