Queen's physics professor emeritus Art McDonald delivers public lecture at Kingston City Hall.
Dr. Art McDonald's Nobel medal and diploma on display during his public lecture on December 7, 2016 at Kingston City Hall. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)
Mayor Bryan Paterson welcomes attendees and discusses the importance of the town-gown relationship for both Queen's and the City of Kingston. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)- Dr. Steven Liss (Vice-Principal, Research) introduces Dr. McDonald ahead of his public lecture on December 7, 2016. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)
- Memorial Hall was filled to capacity, as members of the Kingston and Queen's communities gathered to listen to Nobel Laureate Dr. Art McDonald. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)
- During the course of his hour-long lecture, Dr. McDonald discussed the research that took place at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, described on-going physics experiments at SNOLAB, and shared stories from the Nobel Ceremony in Stockholm. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)
- In recognition of his contributions to science and our understanding of the universe, Mayor Bryan Paterson presented Dr. McDonald with the Key to the City. (Photo Credit: Garrett Elliott)
Memorial Hall was filled to capacity on Wednesday, Dec. 7, as Queen's physics professor emeritus and Nobel laureate Art McDonald delivered a public lecture.
The lecture, titled, Neutrinos, Nobel and the Nature of the Universe, took attendees through the entire Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment - from early planning, to deep underground in a Sudbury Mine, to the stage in Stockholm as Dr. McDonald accepted the Nobel Prize. Dr. McDonald also discussed the significance of the SNO findings to the broader physics landscape, described the next generation of SNOLAB experiments, and shared a few personal anecdotes from along the way.
At the conclusion of the lecture, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson presented Dr. McDonald with the key to the city, in recognition of his contributions to science and our understanding of the universe.
The work conducted as part of the SNO collaboration and subsequently at SNOLAB has led to groundbreaking results cementing Canada’s, and Queen’s, reputation as a world leader in the field. Building on this history of success, Queen’s is home to Gilles Gerbier, the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Particle Astrophysics, and, earlier this year, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund provided Queen’s with a significant investment to support the creation of the Canadian Particle Astrophysics Research Centre (CPARC). The centre will help facilitate a number of leading-edge projects, including the next-generation SNO+ experiment, which will allow Queen’s and its partner institutions to continue the trajectory of research excellence inspired by Dr. McDonald and his colleagues.