Volume 28 of Zoomer Magazine has something special about it. Well, maybe two things special about. The October issue has a cover story on "Top 45 Over 45", the magazine's third annual list that celebrates those people who make a difference. In position #17 on the list are two Canadian particle physicists: TRIUMF director Nigel S. Lockyer and University of Victoria professor of physics Rob McPherson. Together, they share the recognition for leading "the God particle physicists" and ensuring that Canada could proudly celebrate its connection to the breakthrough discovery announced in July 2012: the sighting of a brand-new particle now thought to be the long-sought Higgs boson.
Lockyer and McPherson are both quick to acknowledge that they represent just two of the hundreds of Canadians who were involved in engaging Canada in the worldwide effort at CERN's Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS particle-physics detector.
Lockyer has spent decades seeking the Higgs using experiments in the U.S. and was instrumental in several key decisions that had Canada get involved in the overseas particle-physics quest. Since arriving to lead TRIUMF in 2007, he has been a passionate enthusiast for the Higgs-boson search and has helped shape TRIUMF and Canadian involvement. For his part, McPherson is leader of the ATLAS-Canada collaboration, the team of scientists and students busily extracting physics and musing about what new particle they have found. He also serves with the Institute of Particle Physics and has offices at TRIUMF.
The criteria for making the list? Well, first, being wiser than 45 years old, and then having made a difference in their chosen fields and passions while improving our lives and that of Canada in general. In a nomination and selection process that start early this year, Zoomer magazine editors combed the country for suggestions and news stories that pointed to influential and selfless persons who were passionately producing results after the fabled "over the hill" year of age 40.
Other champions on the list include cancer-care advocate Sherry Abbott, Paul Alofs as head of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, athlete Earl Fee, family physician Mike Evans, politician Preston Manning, actor Christopher Plummer, Mars physicist Ralf Gellert, and commanding officer of the RCMP Supt. Craig Gibson.
Congratulations to Nigel & Rob: the entire TRIUMF community salutes your success. May your next 45 years be even more rewarding!
--T.I. Meyer, TRIUMF's Head of Strategic Planning and Communication