CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

Ottawa, March 10, 2003 - The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2003 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics is awarded to Arthur B. McDonald, Queens University, for his contributions to nuclear astrophysics and fundamental symmmetries in nature, including his leadership in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory which has established the existence of solar neutrino oscillations.

Dr. Art McDonald is the Director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) project, and holds a University Research Chair at Queen’s University. He is one of the world’s leaders in Neutrino Astrophysics. Art is a native of Sydney, Nova Scotia graduating from Dalhousie University with a B.Sc.and M.Sc. In 1969 he received his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology where he became very interested in nuclear astrophysics and fundamental symmetries in nature.

From 1969 to 1981 he worked at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories doing fundamental nuclear physics experiments using accelerators. Among these experiments were a study of the relativistic Doppler Effect by a novel technique using high energy gamma-rays, and the study of parity violation in the photodisintegration of the deuteron. In 1982 he became a Professor at Princeton . He and his students did fundamental measurements of reflection symmetry and developed new techniques including a new method for producing polarised Helium beams. These have had many practical applications in other fields.

He was a founding member of the SNO collaboration in 1984 and after his return to Canada in 1989, as a Professor at Queen’s University, became the Director of the SNO Institute. He has shown exceptional scientific and administrative skills in guiding the project to the success that is has today. The first published results have solved a 30-year old problem on neutrinos from the sun. They showed that neutrinos change their type in transit from the sun to earth. This requires changes in particle physics theory. The ongoing programme for SNO is addressing further fundamental questions in particle physics and astrophysics.

Art McDonald is currently a member of the Research Council of CIAR and Chair of its Advisory Board on Cosmology. In the US he is on the Advisory Committee for the National Underground Science Laboratory, and internationally is a member of the two IUPAP committees.

Art has received many awards for his outstanding work. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has three honorary degrees from Canadian Universities and this year received the Bonner prize from the American Physical Society. The award of the CAP Medal recognises the great contribution he has made to physics in Canada.

The CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics was introduced in 1956 and is awarded annually. Dr. Luke will receive the 2003 Prize during the CAP's awards banquet to be held at the University of Prince Edward Island on June 10th, 2003.

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