On Thursday 26th April , at a gala ceremony at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Professor Art McDonald, from Queens University in Canada, was presented with the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics on behalf of SNO, with co-winner Yoji Totsuka from the University of Tokyo for “the discovery that neutrinos change flavour and have mass”. The Franklin Institute Awards Programme honours scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs who have made extraordinary scientific achievements, benefited humanity, advanced science, launched new fields of inquiry and increased the understanding of the universe.
Past winners of these medals – which date back to 1824 – include Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Orville Wright. More than 100 Franklin Institute Laureates have gone on to receive Nobel Prizes.
The international SNO project was based in Sudbury, Canada and conclusively proved in 2001 that the mysterious particles called “neutrinos,” produced in the reactions that power the sun, are able to transform from one variety to another – a property not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. This resolved a 30-year-old puzzle of seemingly ``missing neutrinos’’ and yielded results that could fundamentally impact our understanding of how the Universe evolved. The SNO experiment has involved over 150 scientists from Canada, the UK and the US. UK involvement has been led by the University of Oxford and also includes scientists from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Sussex University.
The Franklin Institute Awards are among the world's oldest and most prestigious comprehensive science awards, with laureates representing some of the most distinguished scientific achievements of the past 180 years. “SNO has been a superb collaboration to have been in and it is great that Art has received such an award,” says Nick Jelley, UK group leader. “It’s amazing to have been part of something that will go down in history as one of the great, classic experiments in science… so I suppose it was worth braving all those Canadian winters after all!” says Steve Biller, UK co-spokesman.
“I accept the Benjamin Franklin Medal on behalf of the entire SNO team”, said Professor McDonald. “This has been a tremendous collaborative effort over many years. Our success has arisen from the combined talents and hard work of many colleagues and from the tremendous support that we have received from our many international partners.”
http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/07/laureates/franklin_physics.html
Contacts:
Gill Ormrod – Science and Technology Facilities Council Press Office
Tel: 01793 442012
Pete Wilton – University of Oxford Press Office
Tel: 01865 283877
Jessica Marella – Franklin Institute Awards Press Office
Tel: 0 11 215 448 1175
UK
Science Contacts
Dr Nick Jelley – University of Oxford, UK Group leader for SNO
Tel: 01865 273380
Dr Steve Biller – University Of Oxford – UK co-spokesman for SNO
Tel: 01865 273386
