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Prof Eric Hessels receives President’s Research Excellence Award

Congratulations to Professor Eric Hessels in the Department of Physics & Astronomy for receiving the President’s Research Excellence Award 2020, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to atomic, molecular and optical physics.

Eric Hessels

Hessels, York Research Chair in Atomic Physics and a York University Distinguished Research Professor, has led numerous research projects that have far-reaching consequences for the understanding of the laws of physics. He is leading a collaboration whose goal it is to use ultra precise measurements of the electron to study one of the fundamental unresolved questions of physics.

In 2019, Hessels led a study published in the esteemed journal Science, which found a new measurement for the size of proton at just under one trillionth of a millimetre. The study confirmed the 2010 finding that the proton is smaller than previously believed.

The year before, Hessels led a team that achieved the most precise measurement of the fine structure of helium ever recorded. His researchers had been working on this for eight years. Hessels is now leading a collaboration (EDMcubed) that is attempting to measure the shape of the electron — or, more specifically, whether its charge is evenly distributed. This measurement will try to shed light on one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: why the universe is made entirely of matter (electrons,protons, etc.) and, unexpectedly, has no antimatter (anti-electrons, antiprotons, etc.).

See the full story in yFile.

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