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2016 CAP Medal and Award Winners

CRM view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics is awarded to

Freddy Cachazo, Perimeter Institute, in recognition of for introducing elegant new mathematical ideas and methods that have led to unexpected insights in the way scattering amplitudes are calculated in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Inspired in part by twistor-string theory, the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten (CSW) and Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten (BCFW) recursion relations revolutionized the field, making it possible to perform previously impossible calculations analytically in a few lines using explicit integral formulae. These results turned out to be in remarkable correspondence with structures explored concurrently by mathematicians for completely different purposes, establishing a suggestive link with the modern theory of integrable systems.


"I would like to thank the Canadian Association of Physicists and the Centre de recherches mathématiques for this remarkable honour. I would also like to thank my collaborators, both physicists and mathematicians, for years of exciting research adventures."

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INO view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP-INO Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Applied Photonics is awarded to

Richard Boudreault, Chairman Polar Knowledge Canada, in recognition of for his impressive career and intellectual property portfolio, as well as direct contribution to the establishment of several companies based on photonics technologies, namely Orbite Aluminae (production of high-purity Al-oxide and rare-earth with world’s first clean technology) and ART (development of two imaging systems based on the TPSF technology - molecular imaging based on time-resolved fluorescence for small animal imaging, and NIR TPSF spectroscopic system for early breast cancer detection).


"It is a great honor to receive the 2016 CAP-INO Medal in Applied Photonics, as a professional physicist in biophotonics and photonic materials science, but also as an entrepreneur of many corporations involved in industrial applications of physics. I am all the more delighted by this honor from the Canadian Association of Physicists as it underlines many years of work for solving technological problems and making significant commercial products for both the market and society."

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Brockhouse view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP/DCMMP Brockhouse Medal is awarded to

Carlos Silva, Université de Montréal, in recognition of for his original developments in transient optical spectroscopies which have brought deep insights into the understanding of electronic excitations in molecular semiconductors.


"It is a great honour to be recognized by the CAP Brockhouse Medal, and a great testament to the talented research team with whom I have the pleasure to work."

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Teaching view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics is awarded to

James Fraser, Queen's University, in recognition of for being a leader in adopting innovative teaching pedagogies, in developing new teaching methods, and in his scholarly approach to researching the effectiveness of his new methods. Recognized as a top, inspirational teacher by students and faculty alike, his contributions to excellence in undergraduate physics teaching span the range from engaging first-year students as apprentice scientists, to guiding upper year students in their transition to independent scientists, to actively facilitating faculty adoption of research-based instructional strategies, and to bridging the gap between practice and Physics Education Research.


"I am extremely honoured to receive this award from the Canadian Association of Physicists. I would like to thank my colleagues and graduate students for the many thoughtful discussions and in particular, I would like to thank my Queen's support staff, graduate student teaching team and the undergraduate students who have been willing to walk with me in this enterprise."

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Herzberg view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP Herzberg Medal is awarded to

Roger Melko, University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute, in recognition of for his contributions to theoretical condensed matter physics, particularly large scale computer simulations which elucidate timely issues in the physics of strongly correlated electronic systems.


"It is a tremendous honour to receive the CAP Herzberg medal, and a humbling experience to join past recipients whom I have long admired and respected. This award recognizes the talented work of my many collaborators and students. My deepest appreciation goes to CAP for the value this organization places on our Canadian physics community."

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Achievement view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics is awarded to

Gilles Fontaine, Université de Montréal, in recognition of for his pioneering, world-renowned work in theoretical and observational studies of white dwarf stars and the late stages of stellar evolution, including major contributions to the equation of state for white dwarfs and investigations of pulsating compact stars, as well as the discovery of a new class of subdwarf pulsators. His leadership has built what is arguably the preeminent group in the world in this field.


"I am deeply honored to have been selected the recipient of this prestigious national award. I feel privileged to live in a country where I could fulfill my teenage dreams of pursuing a research career in physics."

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Vogt view medal information back to top

The 2016 CAP-TRIUMF Vogt Medal for Contributions to Subatomic Physics is awarded to

Akira Konaka, TRIUMF, in recognition of for his outstanding contributions to the T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment, including his leadership in establishing the collaboration. His innovations to the experiment’s design and analysis methods were critical in the discovery of electron neutrino appearance from the muon neutrino beam, a discovery that led to the T2K project being recognized by the 2016 Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics. The committee also recognized ongoing innovations with new concepts proposed to improve the precision of the T2K experiment and, potentially, the Hyper-K experiment.


"I am honoured to share this award with my amazing T2K colleagues in Canada in developing the ground work towards discovering CP violation in neutrino oscillations. This award is particularly important and reminds me of Dr. Erich Vogt’s cheerful encouragements of my research."

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