July 03, 2012
Media tips & leads
Experts On Higgs Boson "God" Particle
On July 4, researchers, media and the public tuned in to news from CERN about a major new chapter in the global hunt for the Higgs boson particle. The UVic group has played a key role in the massive subterranean Large Hadron Collider experiment near Geneva since bringing Canadians into the ATLAS project in 1992, and UVic experts were available to comment on this latest news.
The UVic-ATLAS team—having benefited greatly from early work by UVic particle physicists Alan Astbury and Richard Keeler—now includes Justin Albert, Robert Kowalewski, Randall Sobie and Isabel Trigger as well as more than 25 students, associates, technicians, computer experts, engineers and scientists and is responsible for several crucial components of the detector as well as poring over the thousands of gigabytes of invaluable data. Visit UVic's community news source for more on this story.
UVic-produced video interview with Michel Lefebvre, founding spokesperson of ATLAS-Canada
Rob McPherson (UVic Physics & Astronomy/IPP scientist) is the ATLAS-Canada spokesperson and a UVic adjunct professor. Michel Lefebvre (UVic Physics & Astronomy) is the founding spokesperson of the ATLAS-Canada project. They are both available in early July to explain the science behind the giant experiment and its latest results. Dr. McPherson is available by cell at 604-723-2294, landline at 604-222-7654 or by email at either rmcphers@uvic.ca or rmcphers@triumf.ca. Dr. Lefebvre is available at 250-721-7706 or by email at lefebvre@uvic.ca.
Richard Keeler /Alan Astbury can comment from a historical perspective about the beginnings of UVic’s involvement and are available by email at rkeeler@uvic.ca or astbury@uvic.ca.
The CERN news conference took place at midnight PST and in Europe at 9 a.m. on July 4, 2012. It was webcast via http://cern.ch/webcast. The news was followed by media outlets around the world, and also on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/cern or by using hashtag #ICHEP2012.
TRIUMF, Canada’s laboratory for particle and nuclear physics founded by UVic, UBC and SFU, also held a “Higgs Open House” on July 4. More info on TRIUMF: http://www.triumf.ca/.
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Media Contacts:Tara Sharpe (UVic Communications) at 250-721-7636 or tksharpe@uvic.ca
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