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Dr. Gerald Oakham

Distinguished Research Professor
oakham at physics.carleton.ca

About Dr. Gerald Oakham

My main field of research is experimental particle physics. Most of my activities have focused on designing detectors for use in particle physics experiments. Two of these experiments, OPAL and ATLAS were located at CERN, Europe’s particle physics research laboratory. For these experiments, I worked on design and construction of a number of detector that were used to measure the properties of particle tracks and their energies. OPAL and ATLAS were general purpose detectors that were used to make many different measurements to constrain our theoretical understanding of the subatomic world. The key result of the ATLAS experiment was the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012.

I have also worked on applications of particle detectors for non-experimental purposes, such as sensors for use in mammography and a device to detect smuggled nuclear materials. The latter was of sufficient size to examine air cargo containers.

I have a strong interest in the science behind the predictions of our changing climate as described in the reports that have been produced by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These studies describe the range of temperature increases that are expected, the impact these will have on the physical world, on plants, animals and people and what must be done to limit temperature increases.  There is also a very good study by Canada’s Climate Research Division published in 2019 that explores what Climate Change will mean for Canada. 

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