Nigel Lockyer

Nigel Lockyer is the current director of Fermilab since September 2013.

Lockyer served as director of TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, from May 2007-September 2013, and a Professor of Physics at the University of British Columbia.^[2] He was born in Scotland, raised in Canada, and attended graduate school in the United States.

In addition to having directed TRIUMF and Fermilab, Lockyer also contributes to Quantum Diaries,^[3] a collaborative blog following a number of particle physics labs and personnel.

Early life and career

Lockyer was born in Annan, Scotland to Mary and David Lockyer. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 from York University in Toronto, later receiving his PhD from Ohio State University in 1980. After receiving his PhD, Lockyer spent four years at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University as a postdoctoral research fellow.^[2] At SLAC he was a member of the Mark-II collaboration.

At the University of Pennsylvania since 1984, his research has focused on high-energy particle experiments with a keen interest in testing symmetries, and on the study of the heaviest quarks, with special emphasis on the bottom quark.^[4]

Research and other contributions

By training, Lockyer is a particle physicist. At the University of Pennsylvania his research explored the detailed behaviour of matter and energy at the smallest scales and the highest energies, using accelerators around the world to probe elementary particles known as quarks.

His research has been conducted with the CDF experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located near Chicago. In recent years, his research has included experimental searches for hypothesized “supersymmetric” particles, as well as accelerator research aimed at the International Linear Collider. He also has interests in medical applications of physics, in particular positron emission tomography and proton cancer therapy, both of which are important parts of TRIUMF's applied program.

For two years, Lockyer served as spokesperson for a 600-person international collaboration known as CDF based at Fermilab near Chicago. The project achieved world acclaim for studying the top quark, a counterpart to the bottom quark. While in Pennsylvania, he worked with the Penn Medical School on proton therapy for cancer as well as detectors for medical physics. He has also lectured on Benjamin Franklin.^[4]

Awards and honours

Lockyer has served on many Canadian scientific review committees, including chairing the Grant Selection Committee of NSERC in 2003 and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Review in 2006. In addition, he was a member of the NSERC Review Committees for the OPAL, BaBar and ATLAS experiments. Lockyer also served as an ex-officio member of the Advisory Committee on TRIUMF in 2003. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and is well known in the physics community for his work on the particle known as the bottom quark, for which he was awarded the American Physical Society's W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in 2006.^[2]

References

External links

• Vancouver Magazine article on Nigel Lockyer
• Vancouver Sun video interview with Nigel Lockyer
• Vancouver Sun article on Nigel Lockyer
• Ottawa Citizen article on Nigel Lockyer
• York University profile on Nigel Lockyer
• APS Prize profile on Nigel Lockyer