Fellow Awarded Institute of Physics Medal and Prize

Catz Fellow, Professor Ian Shipsey, has been awarded the Institute of Physics 2019 Chadwick Medal and Prize. This award recognises distinguished research in particle physics. Ian receives it for his elucidation of the physics of heavy quarks, the development of the enabling instrumentation, and the leadership of scientific collaborations.

Ian is an experimental particle physicist. He works in large international collaborations seeking to understand how the universe was born, how it will evolve and how it will end. Ian studies heavy quarks and the Higgs boson, searches for dark matter and studies dark energy, and he develops cameras that enable these studies.

As Chair of APS-DFS (American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields), Ian coordinated the US Community Particle-Physicals strategic planning exercise ‘Snowmass-2013’. Ian now leads the Oxford ATLAS group, one of the founding members of the ATLAS Experiment, who contributed to the design, prototyping, construction and commissioning of the ATLAS detector which identified the Higgs boson for the first time. His research activity in the group spans the Higgs boson and the Silicon Tracker upgrade.

On receiving the Institute of Physics Chadwick Medal and Prize, Ian said, “In our field, where endeavour is collective, this award is made possible by the contributions of many who have worked so hard together over such a long time to achieve the scientific results recognised today. I would like to share this award with all who contributed”.