Sudbury exhibit of Nobel Prize winning research to open at London's Canada House

Steps from Trafalgar Square, an exhibition featuring the Nobel Prize winning research of Arthur McDonald and the famous Sudbury, Ont., Sudbury Neutrino Observatory will open on Canada Day.

The multimedia SNOLAB exhibit in London, England's Canada House will explain the basic science behind the neutrino, a sub-atomic particle produced by nuclear reactions, and the stories of the people behind the experiments.

McDonald was co-awarded theNobel Prize in Physics last year with Japan's Takaaki Kajita for discovering that neutrinos have mass.

"The intention is that this is a celebration," SNOLAB director Nigel Smith said.

"But also there is that aspect of trying to attract researchers[to Sudbury] to keep the research program fresh and bring new projects into SNOLAB."

The summer-long showcase starts just as hundreds of scientists come to London for an international neutrino physics conference.

There will be a special event next week for the researchers to learn about SNOLAB.

"The ability to show that Sudbury has a research ecosystem that can support Nobel Prize winning science is tremendous," Smith said.

"Because people are then connecting to the research that they're interested in doing, and seeing the sort of capabilities that we have to support their own research program."

'A great honour'

Sudbury's own Science North is producing the exhibit.

"It's a great honour," said science director Jennifer Pink.

"It's a beautiful-looking exhibition that really tells the story of SNO and SNOLAB, and uses really fabulous images from the construction of the laboratory at the very beginning, to the amazing original neutrino detector."

Woven throughout the display, Pink said there will be inspirational messages about young people pursuing scientific careers.

She said there will also be commentary about the importance of this kind of applied research and why it is vital to understanding the universe.

The display is designed for moving.

Pink said Science North does not know where the exhibit will go next, but she said it could travel to other research institutes, universities or back home to Sudbury.

Meanwhile, Smith said SNOLAB's next project is to look at the technical nature of the neutrino with a different type of physics called "neutrinoless double beta decay."

He said it will require large scale international collaborations estimated at a cost of up to $200 million dollars.