Dr. Arthur B. McDonald (BSc’64, MSc’65, LLD’97) and Takaaki Kajita have been jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel prize in physics. Upon announcing the award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences claimed that the discoveries of the two scientists have changed the way we understand the complexities of matter, by demonstrating that neutrinos change identities and thus have mass.

Dr. McDonald graduated with a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in physics from Dalhousie and completed his doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology in 1969. He is now a professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Among Dr. McDonald’s many honours — which include a Killam Prize in the Natural Sciences, the Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, and the Order of Canada — is an honorary degree from Dalhousie, bestowed upon him in 1997 for his contributions to the field.

Kajita is a professor at the University of Tokyo.

According to Dr. McDonald, the discovery that neutrinos metamorphose and have mass will contribute to a more robust understanding of many basic theories of fundamental physics.

Congratulations to both on this momentous achievement.

Arthur McDonald of @queensu, @SNOLABscience shares Nobel Prize in physics with Takaaki Kajita http://t.co/Ojbnuxp1qz pic.twitter.com/CyftDsJznj

— CBC News (@CBCNews) October 6, 2015

‘They solved the neutrino puzzle.’ Read more on the discovery that earned Canadian Arthur McDonald the @NobelPrize: http://t.co/9SUoyRiv5s — Maclean’s Magazine (@MacleansMag) October 6, 2015

Nobel Prize in Physics won by Japan’s Takaaki Kajita & Canada’s Arthur McDonald for work on neutrinos http://t.co/8SVJ6jQViZ

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 6, 2015

Read more in “2015 Nobel prize in physics: Canadian Arthur B. McDonald shares win with Japan’s Takaaki Kajita” on cbcnews.ca.

Photo credit: the Canadian Press