Catching Ghosts: a public lecture by Dr. Stan Yen

Last week, SNOLAB and TRIUMF in welcomed Dr. Stan Yen, Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and TRIUMF Research Scientist. He delivered a free public lecture, Catching Ghosts, in the Vale Cavern at Science North on neutrinos and how these tiny subatomic particles help us to understand the world around us.  

Dr. Yen has spent his career studying neutrinos – exceptionally abundant particles that come from the Sun, supernovae, and even from within the Earth! Despite billions of neutrinos raining down on us at all times, they’re referred to as ghostly because of how extremely difficult they are to detect.  
 

Super sensitive, ultra clean experiments, like the HALO supernova detector at SNOLAB, allow research scientists to detect neutrinos. Neutrinos allow us to gain a better understanding of processes occurring in the core of the Sun and distant stars! 

If you missed Dr. Yen’s talk in Sudbury, check out the recording of Catching Ghosts that he presented at Queen’s University earlier this year. It was recorded and posted by the McDonald Institute.