Two University of Alberta physicists have been named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.
Professor James Pinfold and emeritus professor Ray Egerton were elected by their peers in recognition of their scientific acheivements.
Pinfold is an internationally renowned particle physicist who was a leader in the discovery of the first hard evidence for Electroweak Unification and a founder of the ATLAS-LHC Experiment that has potentially discovered the Higgs boson. In the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model he was spokesman for an international collider experiment MODAL, co-spokesman for the SLIM astroparticle experiment, and now leads the newest LHC experiment, MoEDAL.
Egerton's pioneering work in Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy has opened the field of quantitative electron microscopy and chemical analysis to probe the structure and chemistry of materials. His studies on electron inelastic scattering, quantitative analysis of spectra, electron-beam irradiation damage and spectrometers have contributed to the successful development of this technique widely used today. He is also the author of the classical reference book on this technique.
Election to the academies of the Royal Society of Canada is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and Sciences.
Yolande Grisé, President of the RSC said, "The success enjoyed by each one contributes to showing the importance of knowledge in the development of Canadian society, and it promotes the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of the population and outreach of Canada in the world. The promotion of knowledge is central to the purpose of the Royal Society of Canada. Giving well deserved recognition to the most prominent intellectuals, scientists and artists is an expression of continued commitment to the ideals embodied by the RSC."
Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada. Its mission is to recognize scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.
This year's new Fellows will be inducted to the academies of the RSC during the Induction and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, November 16, 2013 at the Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta.