Skip to content
CIFAR header logo
fr
menu_mobile_logo_alt
  • Our Impact
    • Why CIFAR?
    • Impact Clusters
    • News
    • CIFAR Strategy
    • Nurturing a Resilient Earth
    • AI Impact
    • Donor Impact
    • CIFAR 40
  • Events
    • Public Events
    • Invitation-only Meetings
  • Programs
    • Research Programs
    • Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
    • Next Generation Initiatives
  • People
    • Fellows & Advisors
    • CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars
    • Canada CIFAR AI Chairs
    • AI Strategy Leadership
    • Solution Network Members
    • Leadership
    • Staff Directory
  • Support Us
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Awards
    • Partnerships
    • Publications & Reports
    • Careers
    • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
    • Statement on Institutional Neutrality
    • Research Security
  • fr
Award

CIFAR fellow shares 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

By: CIFAR
6 Oct, 2015
October 6, 2015
halftone background

CIFAR congratulates Arthur B. McDonald (Queen’s University), associate fellow in CIFAR’s Cosmology & Gravity program, for receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics. He received the award for his discovery that neutrinos change identities, a finding that showed these subatomic particles have mass. He shares the prize with Takaaki Kajita in Japan.

McDonald led a research group that included CIFAR Senior Fellow Mark Chen at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) that was studying neutrinos formed through nuclear reactions in the Sun. As these tiny particles travelled to Earth, two thirds of them seemed to be disappearing. McDonald’s group discovered that SNO was capturing the neutrinos, but they had changed identities from one to another of three different types. In order to make this change, the neutrinos must have mass. This finding challenged the Standard Model of particle physics, changing our understanding of one of the most abundant particles in the Universe.

“Art McDonald was instrumental in making the SNO experiment the success that it has been,” says Pekka Sinervo, CIFAR’s Senior Vice-President of Research and SNOLAB Board Chair. “He was an outstanding nuclear physicist before he started his work on SNO, and the SNO results have transformed our understanding of neutrinos.”

“We no longer believe that the three different kinds of neutrinos are massless. Because they transform from one type to the other, this means that they must be massive, and have other properties that we don’t know of.”

McDonald has been involved with CIFAR for 18 years, previously as the Cosmology & Gravity program’s advisory committee chair and as a member of the Research Council.

“Heartfelt congratulations to Arthur McDonald,” says Alan Bernstein, president and CEO of CIFAR. “Professor McDonald has been a part of the CIFAR research community for almost two decades, working to advance our fundamental understanding of the world. He is a mentor to many CIFAR fellows, extremely passionate about science, committed to the highest level of scientific excellence, and well deserving of this most prestigious award.”

J. Richard Bond, director of the CIFAR program in Cosmology & Gravity, says McDonald has kept CIFAR engaged with neutrino research, which is a key area of particle astrophysics that CIFAR could not ignore.

“I’m so happy for Art McDonald, a very good friend of CIFAR and a Canadian extraordinaire. He has been a key participant in our Cosmology & Gravity program. We thought CIFAR needed to be totally engaged with the quintessentially Canadian SNO experiment, and with Art’s commitment for almost two decades to the program, that has happened brilliantly,” Bond says.

NobelPrize.org interviewed McDonald about having received the award, asking him what has kept him fascinated with his line of research.

“You have the ability to observe particles that come directly from the core of the Sun, they’re telling you what’s happening there right now,” he says in the interview. “It’s a great experience to look at this data and realize that you are seeing things that are extremely fundamental in their nature.”

McDonald received his PhD in Physics at the California Institute of Technology in 1969 and conducted research at the Chalk River National Laboratories before becoming at professor at Princeton University and later Queen’s University, where he is now professor emeritus. He holds many other awards and appointments, including Officer of the Order of Canada and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

  • Follow Us

Related Articles

  • James Peebles Receives the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics
    October 10, 2019
  • Paul Romer the latest of CIFAR’s Nobel connections
    November 01, 2018
  • Former CIFAR fellow shares Nobel Prize in Economics
    October 30, 2018
  • Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute launches
    May 22, 2018

Support Us

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a globally influential research organization proudly based in Canada. We mobilize the world’s most brilliant people across disciplines and at all career stages to advance transformative knowledge and solve humanity’s biggest problems, together. We are supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Québec, as well as Canadian and international foundations, individuals, corporations and partner organizations.

Donate Now
CIFAR footer logo

MaRS Centre, West Tower
661 University Ave., Suite 505
Toronto, ON M5G 1M1 Canada

Contact Us
Media
Careers
Accessibility Policies
Supporters
Financial Reports
Subscribe

  • © Copyright 2025 CIFAR. All Rights Reserved.
  • Charitable Registration Number: 11921 9251 RR0001
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap

Subscribe

Stay up to date on news & ideas from CIFAR.

Fields marked with an * are required

Je préfère m’inscrire en français (cliquez ici).


Subscribe to our CIFAR newsletters: *

You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time. View our privacy policy.


As a subscriber you will also receive a digital copy of REACH, our annual magazine which highlights our researchers and their breakthroughs with long-form features, interviews and illustrations.


Please provide additional information if you would like to receive a print edition of REACH.


This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy.
Accept Learn more

Notifications