On Thursday, February 16, TRIUMF dressed up, organized desks and workbenches, and stood to attention. His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, visited TRIUMF for several hours. After a light lunch with some of the lab's leading scientists, he took a tour of TRIUMF that included a trip to the jewel of the laboratory -- recently recognized as one of Canada's top 11 engineering accomplishments. It is the largest device of its kind in the world and was recently recognized as one of Canada's top 11 engineering milestones. This engine at the heart of TRIUMF powers the production of medical isotopes, treatment of eye cancer in partnership with BC Cancer Agency and UBC, qualification and testing of aerospace components, and fundamental research programs in materials science and particle and nuclear physics. The tour included a sneak preview of the forthcoming ARIEL laboratory that will house Canada's next flagship accelerator and use superconducting technology. His Excellency also visited the ISAC-I and ISAC-II experimental facilities and toured the ISAC-II accelerator vault.
Please see the Governor General's website for additional photos.
A generous thanks to everyone at TRIUMF for their hard work both seen and unseen to make the visit enjoyable and impeccable.
The visit was part of a larger itinerary for the Governor General that included participation in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting. The AAAS meeting is being held outside the U.S. for the first time in 30 years and will attract more than 8,000 scientists from around the world to Vancouver from February 16-20, 2012, with events ranging from technical symposia and public evening lectures to family science activities and career development workshops on almost every topic in science and medicine.
Learn more about Canada@AAAS at http://science.gc.ca and http://www.triumf.ca/aaas.
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| His Excellency talks with TRIUMF's Roman Ruegg about the electromagnetic acceleration of particles in a scale-model of the main TRIUMF cyclotron. (c) Ami Sanyal. http://amisanyal.com | His Excellency with TRIUMF director Nigel Lockyer. (c) Ami Sanyal. http://amisanyal.com |