Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Wins First NSERC Polanyi Award (Forwarded)
- From: Andrew Yee <ayee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 17:58:05 GMT
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Ottawa, Canada
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Michael Dwyer
Media and Public Affairs Officer
NSERC Public Affairs
Tel.: 613-992-9001
November 15, 2006
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Wins First NSERC Polanyi Award
The winners of the inaugural $250,000 NSERC John C. Polanyi Award are the
scientists at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), who are being
honoured for their groundbreaking research on neutrinos, announced Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) President Suzanne
Fortier.
SNO operates a $100 million detector housed in the world's deepest
underground laboratory at Inco Ltd.'s Creighton nickel mine near Sudbury,
Ont. The heart of this detector is a 10-storey cavern excavated by Inco
miners. There you will find the world's largest acrylic vessel, holding
1,000 tonnes of heavy water on loan from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
(AECL) and worth an additional $330 million. In contrast to its massive
size, the detector is used to look for neutrinos, tiny subatomic particles
that make up all matter in the universe.
Neutrinos are extremely difficult to detect, because they can pass through
most forms of matter easily. In fact, billions of neutrinos pass through
people's bodies every second with no noticeable effect, and it would take
a block of lead one light-year thick (about 10,000,000,000,000 kilometres)
to stop even half of any neutrino stream.
The heavy water in the SNO detector allows the detection of these ghostly
particles on the rare occurrences where they crash directly into an
electron or a nucleus of an atom in a heavy water molecule. The collisions
emit small pulses of light, which are captured by 9,600 photomultiplier
tubes that surround the heavy water vessel. False signals from cosmic rays
and other radiation are kept to a minimum by the two kilometres of rock
above and an obsession for cleanliness at this unique underground
facility.
The SNO team gained international recognition by proving that neutrinos
released in the core of the sun change their "flavour" or type as they
travel to earth. About two-thirds of them change into two other types of
neutrinos, not visible to earlier detectors used at other laboratories.
Finding these "missing" neutrinos solved a 30-year-old scientific problem:
the discrepancy between the number of neutrinos observed and the previous
predictions of theoretical models for the sun. The SNO measurements also
proved that the most basic laws of physics are incomplete. SNO research
data also has led to a more complete description of nature at the
subatomic level.
The SNO team being honoured includes scientists from Queen's University,
Carleton University, Laurentian University, the University of British
Columbia, the University of Guelph, AECL, TRIUMF, and the National
Research Council. As well, SNO has a number of international partners. The
American partners include the University of Pennsylvania, Los Alamos
National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of
Washington, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Texas at
Austin and Louisiana State University. In Europe, SNO partners include
Oxford University, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the University of
Sussex, and Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de
Partículas in Lisbon.
"This award is a recognition of the excellent work by a great
international team of scientists and dedicated laboratory staff members,"
said SNO Director Art McDonald.
"NSERC has been the single largest funder of SNO since its inception and I
am very proud of the research accomplishments of the scientists who have
so ably taken advantage of this tremendous research tool," said Fortier.
"Given the wonderful example they offer as discoverers par excellence to
Canadians everywhere, this award, named for a Canadian Nobel prizewinner,
is well deserved."
About John C. Polanyi
John C. Polanyi made Canada proud when he won the 1986 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry. Thirty years before, Polanyi had begun his groundbreaking work
documenting the energy status and movements of molecules at the very
moment of chemical reaction. Through his molecular beam and infrared
chemiluminescence experiments, he clarified chemical dynamics right down
to the level of atoms and molecules. His discoveries dramatically advanced
the understanding of the physics of chemical reactions and led to the
development of powerful new lasers.
About NSERC
NSERC is a federal agency whose role is to make investments in people,
discovery and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians. The agency
supports some 22,000 university students and postdoctoral fellows in their
advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 10,000
university professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging
more than 800 Canadian companies to participate and invest in university
research projects.
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