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Institute of Physics awards Professor Virdee with highest honour

The Award is the Institute's highest honour for contribution to increasing equity in Physics and pioneering Large Hadron Collider(LHC) experiments

Professor Virdee / Imperial College of London
Indian-origin professor Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee of the Imperial College of London has been awarded honorary fellowship from the Institute of Physics for his outstanding contributions to physics. The award is the Institute’s highest honour, for contributions to increasing equity in physics and pioneering Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments. “I am humbled to be made an honorary fellow of the IOP. It has been a privilege to work on the discovery of the Higgs boson with so many brilliant scientists, engineers and technicians from all over the world,” said Professor Virdee, Department of Physics. “Having started my journey into science in Kenya when young, it gives me great pleasure to encourage the young to follow a similar path, especially in areas where opportunities and resources are very limited,” he added. Professor Virdee has been recognised with the IOP’s highest award for his “outstanding achievements in particle physics, particularly as a founder of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and his support for physics in Africa.” He is best known for his leadership of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. His role has covered conceptual design, intensive research and development, prototyping, construction, installation, commissioning, data-taking and physics exploitation, according to a release by the college. The CMS experiment played a crucial role in the discovery of the Higgs boson in July 2012, in the analysis of which Professor Virdee was deeply involved. The LHC is now undergoing major upgrades, and again he has come up with novel techniques for the future of the CMS experiment and beyond. He has” helped expand the CMS collaboration by bringing on-board new collaborators, soliciting funds and negotiating in-kind contributions, requiring frequent interaction with Institute leaders, heads of universities, heads of funding agencies and government ministers in many countries He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2014.

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