Nigel Smith is the Executive Director and CEO of TRIUMF, Canada's particle accelerator centre. He is an experimental astroparticle physicist, whose research focused on understanding the nature and origin of particles within our universe, especially the mysterious ‘dark matter’ that we observe through its gravitational effect.
He has undertaken research in extreme environments including the South Pole, 1100m underground in the Boulby potash mine in North Yorkshire, and 2070m underground in a nickel mine in Canada. To search for the dark matter in our galaxy, he led the development of world-leading detectors using liquid xenon as the target material. This technology initiated a new era in detector sensitivity, although the dark matter remains elusive.
As Executive Director of TRIUMF and previously SNOLAB, Canada’s deep underground facility, he has advanced large-scale research facilities which enable and support a broad range of world-class research across physical and life sciences.
He has been awarded a US Congressional medal for his Antarctic duty, where he was the first Briton to ‘winter-over’ at the South Pole itself, and is a CIFAR Fellow with the Earth 4D programme looking at deepening our understanding of deep subsurface processes.
Professional position
- Executive Director and CEO, TRIUMF
