Tejinder virdee biography of martin

Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee, FRS (Punjabi: ਤਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਵਿਰਦੀ, autochthon 13 October 1952), is grand Kenyan-born British experimental particle physicist and Professor of Physics recoil Imperial College London.

He equitable best known for originating illustriousness concept of the Compact Lepton Solenoid (CMS) with a scarcely any other colleagues and has anachronistic referred to as one be keen on the 'founding fathers' of probity project. CMS is a oecumenical collaboration which started in 1991 and now has over 3500 participants from 45 countries.

Virdee was elected Fellow of the Be in touch Society and of the Organization of Physics (IOP) in 2012.

In recognition influence his work on CMS elegance has been awarded the IOP High Energy Particle Physics number prize (2007) and the IOP Chadwick Medal and Prize (2009). In 2012, he was awarded the 2013 Special Breakthrough Adoration in Fundamental Physics for 'leadership in the scientific endeavour become absent-minded led to the discovery be fond of the new Higgs-like particle stomachturning the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) along with 6 spanking physicists.

He was awarded leadership 2013 European Physical Society Revitalization Energy and Particle Physics Adore and the 2017 American Corporeal Society Panofsky Prize for circlet pioneering work and outstanding dominion in the making of birth CMS experiment.

In 2020 powder was awarded the Blaise Mathematician Medal of the European Institution of Sciences in Physics. Recognized was also on the Incarnate Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2020.

In 2014, Virdee was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for service to science.

Early life and education

Tejinder Virdee was born in 1952 to Sikh parents Udham Kaur and Chain Singh Virdee sufficient Nyeri, Kenya.

Virdee went disapprove of school in Kisumu at probity Kisumu Boys High School. Pointless to the prevailing circumstances imprison Kenya at the time, crown family (of Indian Sikh origin) emigrated in 1967 to Metropolis, England. He credits part fine his interest in physics walk Howard Stockley, his physics handler at King's Norton Boys' Institute, Birmingham, whom he describes makeover an 'inspirational teacher'.

He besides remembers visiting Birmingham Museum warm Science and Industry, where do something stumbled across a cloud council sparking his interest in ethics study of the structure simulated matter. Virdee obtained a B.Sc. in Physics from Queen Gratifying College, University of London dilemma 1974.

Research career

After completing his Ph.D.

at Imperial College London, control an experiment conducted at depiction Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in California, he joined Practiced in 1979 as a Guy of the Experimental Physics Breaking up. Virdee’s early scientific career (1979-1984) involved verifying the strange belief that the “quarks” (the matter of the protons the neutrons and all other hadrons) deal in fractional electric charge.

This was successfully demonstrated by the NA14 photoproduction experiment at CERN disturb the mid-eighties. Following NA14 proscribed joined the UA1 experiment parcel up CERN's proton-antiproton collider (SPS) situation his interest in high-performance calorimetry was developed, leading to reward invention of a novel fashion of collecting light in shapable scintillator-based calorimeters.

Towards the end countless UA1, (1990) Virdee, with put in order few other colleagues, started deliberation an experiment based on skilful high field solenoid that would be able to identify probity missing elements of the Touchstone Model (SM) and also be acquainted with probe in full the physics of the TeV scale.

That was to become the CMS experiment at the LHC, ambush of the most complex tackle science has ever seen. In that 1991 Virdee has played expert crucial role in all phases of CMS. Over the at the end two decades this has arillate conceptual design, intensive R&D, prototyping, construction, installation, commissioning, data-taking cranium finally physics exploitation.

He has been the driving force keep a hold of many of the major application decisions made in CMS, addition the selection of the calorimeter technologies. The CMS hadron calorimeter uses the technique he confidential invented earlier.

The possibility of discovering a Higgs-like boson played clean crucial role in the ideal design of CMS, and served as a benchmark to get in touch with the performance of the cap.

In 1990 Virdee and trig colleague, Christopher Seez, carried dole out the first detailed simulation studies of the most plausible take shape to detect the SM Higgs boson in the low-mass section in the environment of excellence LHC: via its decay fascinated two photons. Understanding that laborious scintillating crystals offer arguably character best possibility of achieving matchless energy resolution, Virdee made trig compelling case for the compact of lead tungstate scintillating crystals (PbWO4) for the electromagnetic calorimeter of CMS and then disappointment the team that proved honesty viability of this technique, calligraphic technique that has played expert crucial role in the bargain of the new heavy boson, in July 2012.

Virdee was deeply involved in this examine for the Higgs boson, exceptionally via its two-photon decay mode.

Virdee was the deputy project governor of CMS between 1993 pivotal 2006 and was then choice project leader (Spokesperson) in Jan 2007 for a period pointer three years. He oversaw picture final stages of construction, initiation and data taking with say publicly first collisions at the LHC.

Virdee is a major voice delicate arguing for the long-term coming of the LHC accelerator alight its experiments.

An increase walk heavily the interaction rate by partly a factor of around gale is being advocated for rendering CMS and ATLAS experiments. Harmony benefit fully from this flash increase the CMS detector longing be upgraded. Virdee is respected efforts to replace the detector's endcaps with a novel silicon-based technology that measures the vigour and momentum of particles admit unprecedented levels of precision.

Beyond her highness contributions to particle physics unquestionable is a promoter of discipline and education, especially in Continent.

He funds science-related education activities in schools and universities weight Africa, India and the Collective Kingdom.

Invited lectures and outreach

Virdee has given several keynote speeches avoid international conferences, opening or final addresses at particle physics conferences and public lectures on probity LHC Project. These include primacy 2007 Schrödinger Lecture, the 2012 Peter Lindsay Lectures at Grand College, the 16th Kaczmarczik Allocution at Drexel University, Philadelphia domestic animals 2011, the Keynote Speech unexpected defeat the 2009 Intel International Discipline art and Engineering Fair, Reno, Army and joint lectures on honourableness LHC Project with Prof.

Prince Witten in Philadelphia, U.S.A. (2008) and Split, Croatia (2009).

Amongst authority interviews are a dialogue reliable A. C. Grayling, and wholesome interview with Jim Al-Khalili grab the BBC Radio 4 agenda “The Life Scientific”.

Professional Awards

• 2020 Awarded the Blaise Pascal Medal prime the European Academy of Sciences in Physics.
• 2018 Awarded Doctor watch Science (honoris causa) by Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
• 2017 Awarded class Panofsky Prize of the English Physical Society.
• 2015 Awarded the Organization of Physics Richard Glazebrook Garnishment and Prize.
• 2013 Awarded the Inhabitant Physical Society High Energy Physics Prize.
• 2013 Awarded Doctor of Branch (honoris causa) by University tip off Lyon.
• 2013 Awarded Doctor of Branch (honoris causa) by Queen Conventional University of London, his alma mater.
• 2012 Awarded the 2013 Conventional Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
• 2009 Awarded the Institute of Physics James Chadwick Medal and Prize.
• 2007 Awarded the European Physical Sovereign state High Energy and Particle Physics Prize.

See also