2026 Medal Winners | francais

The 2026 CAP-TRIUMF Vogt Medal for Contributions to Subatomic Physics

is awarded to

Viktor Zacek

"I feel truly honored to receive the 2026 CAP–TRIUMF Vogt Medal. Canada has an exceptionally strong subatomic and astroparticle physics community, which makes this recognition special. The search for dark matter is a collective endeavor, and I have been extraordinarily privileged to work with a highly talented team of colleagues, postdoctoral fellows, students and technical professionals at our collaborating institutions. I am very proud to share this recognition with all of them." winner quote

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and TRIUMF are pleased to announce that the 2026 CAP-TRIUMF Vogt Medal for Contributions to Subatomic Physics is awarded to Viktor Zacek, Université de Montréal, in recognition of his important contributions to the direct search for dark matter using bubble chamber techniques. Highlights include the development and refinement of these methods for dark matter investigation and leadership on the PICASSO and PICO experimental programs. announcement

Viktor Zacek has driven innovation in the search for particle dark matter in Canada. In 1994, when dark matter detectors were either in prototype or on the drawing board, Dr. Zacek recognized the immense problem of background rejection at low-energy in these experiments, and proposed the use of bubble chambers to avoid these backgrounds. Dr. Zacek then led the PICASSO collaboration and later the PICO collaboration to construct world leading searches for this elusive particle.
Today, Viktor Zacek continues to lead in the field, constructing a new experiment to verify the existence of a new particle with a 17 MeV mass, far less than the mass of a proton, which proponents claim has eluded identification to date. This Project X17 is nearing completion in Montréal with the efforts of Dr. Zacek and collaborators from across the world.
Particle astrophysics in Canada today is driven by our exceptional facilities at SNOLAB, the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute, and the community of researchers that they support. Viktor Zacek was one of the proposers for both SNOLAB and the McDonald Institute, a SNOLAB board member, and one of the first users at the new facility. Dr. Zacek helped shape SNOLAB’s success and instilled the collaborative spirit that defines Canadian research in particle astrophysics. nominator citation

medal description

ABOUT the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1300 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate, Institutional, and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP, through its charitable arm - the CAP Foundation, also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics. cap description

joint description

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For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: 343-361-3326
E-mail: execdir@cap.ca
www.cap.cacap contact and joint contact