Arthur B. McDonald

Arthur B. McDonald

Arthur B. McDonald is a Canadian physicist and the Director of Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute. He also holds Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Early life

McDonald graduated with a B.Sc. in Physics in 1964 and M.Sc. in Physics in 1965 from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. He completed his Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology.

Academic career

McDonald worked as a research officer at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories northwest of Ottawa from 1970 to 1982. He became professor of physics at Princeton University from 1982 to 1989, leaving Princeton to join Queen’s University. He is currently holds a University Research Chair at Queen’s University.

Research

Physicists have been investigating whether neutrinos have mass or not. Since the late 1960s, experiments have hinted neutrino may have mass. Theoretical models of the Sun predict that neutrinos should be made in staggering numbers. Neutrino detectors on the Earth have repeatedly seen less than expected neutrinos. Because neutrinos come in three varieties (electron, muon, and tau neutrinos) and because solar neutrino detectors have been primarily sensitive only to electron neutrinos, the preferred explanation over the years is that those "missing" neutrinos had changed, or oscillated, into a flavor for which the detectors had little or no sensitivity. And if a neutrino oscillates, according to the laws of quantum mechanics, then it must have a mass.

In August 2001, a collaboration at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, a detector facility located 6,800 feet underground in a mine outside Sudbury, Ontario, which was led by Arthur B. McDonald, checked in with a direct observation suggesting that electron neutrinos from the Sun really were oscillating into muon and tau neutrinos. SNO published its report in the August 13, 2001, issue of "Physical Review Letters", and it is widely considered as a very important result. McDonald and Yoji Totsuka were awarded the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics "for discovering that the three known types of elementary particles called neutrinos change into one another when traveling over sufficiently long distances, and that neutrinos have mass".

References

* cite web |url=http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/people/mcdonald/McDonaldCV2007.pdf |title=CV of Arthur B. McDonald |accessdate=2007-11-02
*
*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Arthur B. McDonald — (* 29. August 1943 in Sydney, Nova Scotia) ist ein kanadischer Physiker und Direktor des Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute. Er hält auch den Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair für Teilchenastrophysik an der Queen’s University in Kingston,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur McDonald — Arthur Bruce McDonald (* 29. August 1943 in Sydney, Nova Scotia) ist ein kanadischer Physiker und Direktor des Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute. Er hält auch den Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair für Teilchenastrophysik an der Queen’s… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • McDonald — bezeichnet McDonald’s, eine Fastfoodkette McDonald (Schlepper), ehemaliges Traktorwerk in Australien McDonald heißen die Orte McDonald Chapel (Alabama) McDonald (Ohio) McDonald (Pennsylvania) McDonald Inseln (mit der Hauptinsel McDonald),… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur Hannett — Arthur Thomas Hannett (* 17. Februar 1884 in Lyons, Wayne County, New York; † 18. März 1966 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1925 bis 1927 der 7. Gouverneur von New Mexico. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur Thomas Hannett — (* 17. Februar 1884 in Lyons, Wayne County, New York; † 18. März 1966 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1925 bis 1927 der 7. Gouverneur von New Mexico. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur James Moore — (26 December 1888 ndash; 30 June 1974) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS), the Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1930.Birth and familyArthur was born 26 December 1888 in Waycross,… …   Wikipedia

  • Arthur Beare — is the name of a fictional character in the ABC Comedy sitcom Mother And Son.The character is portrayed by Australian comedian Garry McDonald. Arthur is a divorced single man who lives with his mother Maggie. He is revealed to be 35 years old in… …   Wikipedia

  • Arthur B. Williams — Arthur Bruce Williams (* 27. Januar 1872 in Ashland, Ohio; † 1. Mai 1925 in Baltimore, Maryland) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker. Zwischen 1923 und 1925 vertrat er den Bundesstaat …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur T. Hannett — Arthur Thomas Hannett (* 17. Februar 1884 in Lyons, Wayne County, New York; † 18. März 1966 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1925 bis 1927 der 7. Gouverneur von New Mexico. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre 2 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Arthur Seligman — (* 14. Juni 1873 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; † 25. September 1933 ebenda) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1931 bis 1933 der 9. Gouverneur von New Mexico. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre 2 Politischer Aufstieg …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”