Gavin Salam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gavin Salam
|
|
|---|---|
Gavin Salam at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2017
|
|
| Born |
Gavin Phillip Salam
1972/1973 (age 52–53) |
| Education | Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Awards | CNRS Silver Medal (2010) Dirac Medal (IOP) (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | Quarkonium scattering at high energies (1996) |
Gavin Phillip Salam is a top scientist who studies tiny particles. He is a theoretical particle physicist. He works at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. CERN is a huge science lab where scientists explore the universe's building blocks.
Gavin Salam's research looks into the "strong interaction." This is one of the basic forces in nature. It holds together quarks and gluons. These are super tiny particles that make up bigger particles like protons. His work helps us understand how these particles behave.
Contents
School and Learning
Gavin Salam went to school in London, at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle. After that, he studied at the University of Cambridge. He earned his first degree there in 1993.
Later, in 1996, he got his PhD in particle physics. His PhD project was about how certain particles called "quarkonium" scatter. This means how they bounce off each other.
What He Studies
Gavin Salam's research helps us understand how tiny particles interact. He studies a theory called Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This theory explains the strong interaction between quarks and gluons.
He has done important work on the Higgs boson. This particle helps explain why other particles have mass. He also studies "jets." Jets are cones of particles that come from high-energy collisions. These collisions happen in giant machines like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Salam even invented a way to find these jets at the LHC. This method is now used by many scientists.
Where He Has Worked
Before joining CERN, Gavin Salam worked at other famous places. He was at Princeton University in the United States. He also worked at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Milan, Italy.
In 2000, he joined the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, France. This is a big research organization.
Science on Screen
Gavin Salam has even appeared in a documentary! It was called Colliding Particles – Hunting the Higgs. In the film, he and other physicists searched for the Higgs Boson. This shows how important his work is in the world of science.
Awards and Honors
Gavin Salam has received several important awards for his work:
- In 2010, he was given the CNRS Silver Medal. This is a high honor from the French research center.
- In 2017, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very old and respected science academy in the UK.
- In 2023, he received the IOP Dirac Prize. This award is for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics.
