On June 24th, 9:30-10:30 AM EST, Queen’s Professor Emeritus and 2015 Nobel Laureate Dr. Art McDonald will participate in a virtual TEDx event featuring two other Nobel Prize-winning physicists, Dr. Donna Strickland (University of Waterloo) and Dr. Gérard Mourou (École Polytechnique). The "Nobel Trio" event will examine the interplay of physics with universal questions and challenges surrounding global sustainability and the environment.

The event is part of an upcoming TEDxSaclay (France) conference themed "Terre, notre vaisseau" or "Earth, our ship," which is being organized in part by Queen’s Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Astroparticle Physics, Gilles Gerbier. Dr. Gerbier, a French citizen, hopes the event will strengthen international bonds between researchers and institutions through shared understandings of the global issues we can address together.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane will provide opening remarks for the Nobel Trio panel, along with Sylvie Retailleau, President of Université Paris-Saclay. Principal Deane will speak to the role universities play in steering and supporting Earth, through the social impact of research and education.

The Nobel Trio panel is co-sponsored by Queen’s Vice-Provost (International), the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astrophysics Research Institute, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy. Tickets for both the Nobel Trio event and the full TEDxSaclay conference are available for free to members of the Queen’s community. For more information on how to access tickets, please contact communications@mcdonaldinstitute.ca.