Pierre Darriulat (born 17 February 1938) is a French experimental particle physicist. As staff member at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

, he contributed in several prestigious experiments. He was the spokesperson of the UA2 collaboration from 1981 to 1986, during which time the UA2 collaboration, together with the UA1 collaboration, discovered the

W and Z bosons In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are , , an ...

in 1983.

Education

Darriulat studied at

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

. He served his military service in the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, and between 1962 and 1964 he spent two years at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

, United States, before receiving a PhD from the University of Orsay in 1965 on research done at Berkeley.

Career and research

Until the mid 1960s, Darriulat did his research on nuclear physics and took part in several experiments on scattering of deuterons and alpha particles. Darriulat was employed at

Saclay Nuclear Research Centre The CEA Paris-Saclay center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Following a reorganization in 2017, the center consists of multiple sites, including the CEA Saclay site (formerly a ...

, France. After a few years at CERN as visiting physicist and CERN fellow, Darriulat was offered a tenure position in 1971. For six years he was a member of the research group of

Carlo Rubbia Carlo Rubbia (born 31 March 1934) is an Italian particle physicist and inventor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 with Simon van der Meer for work leading to the discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN. Early life and educatio ...

, that made essential contributions to the physics of

CP violation In particle physics, CP violation is a violation of CP-symmetry (or charge conjugation parity symmetry): the combination of C-symmetry (charge conjugation symmetry) and P-symmetry ( parity symmetry). CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics s ...

in the neutral

kaon In particle physics, a kaon, also called a K meson and denoted , is any of a group of four mesons distinguished by a quantum number called strangeness. In the quark model they are understood to be bound states of a strange quark (or antiquark ...

sector. He then took part in experiments conducted at the

Intersecting Storage Rings The ISR (standing for "Intersecting Storage Rings") was a particle accelerator at CERN. It was the world's first hadron collider, and ran from 1971 to 1984, with a maximum center of mass energy of 62 GeV. From its initial startup, the collider ...

(ISR) — the world’s first

hadron collider A hadron collider is a very large particle accelerator built to test the predictions of various theories in particle physics, high-energy physics or nuclear physics by colliding hadrons. A hadron collider uses tunnels to accelerate, store, and coll ...

. Using his experience from the ISR, Darriulat and collaborators proposed the

UA2 experiment The Underground Area 2 (UA2) experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider (SpS) — a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) — at CERN. The experiment ran from 1981 until 1990, and its main objec ...

in 1978 at the commissioned Proton-Antiproton Collider — a modification of the

Super Proton Synchrotron The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is a particle accelerator of the synchrotron type at CERN. It is housed in a circular tunnel, in circumference, straddling the border of France and Switzerland near Geneva, Switzerland. History The SPS was d ...

. Darriulat acted as the spokesperson for the experiment from 1981 to 1986. In 1983 the UA2 collaboration, together with the UA1 collaboration, discovered the

W and Z boson In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are , , and ...

, an important milestone in modern particle physics, as it confirmed the

electroweak theory In particle physics, the electroweak interaction or electroweak force is the unified description of two of the fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism (electromagnetic interaction) and the weak interaction. Although these two forc ...

. The discovery led to the 1984

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

being awarded to

and

Simon van der Meer Simon van der Meer (24 November 19254 March 2011) was a Dutch particle accelerator physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 with Carlo Rubbia for contributions to the CERN project which led to the discovery of the W and Z parti ...

for their decisive contributions to the design and construction of the proton-antiproton collider. Prior to the discovery the UA2 collaboration made the first observation of emission of

quarks A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

and

gluons A gluon ( ) is a type of massless elementary particle that mediates the strong interaction between quarks, acting as the exchange particle for the interaction. Gluons are massless vector bosons, thereby having a spin of 1. Through the s ...

in the form of hadronic jet – an important experimental support of the theory of

quantum chromodynamics In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the study of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type of ...

. From 1987 to 1994 Darriulat held the position as Research Director at CERN, during which time the

Large Electron–Positron Collider The Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) was one of the largest particle accelerators ever constructed. It was built at CERN, a multi-national centre for research in nuclear and particle physics near Geneva, Switzerland. LEP collided electr ...

(LEP) began its operation. Subsequent, Darriulat turned to

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state p ...

, conducting research in the field of

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...

on the property of

niobium Niobium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral hardness, Mohs h ...

films. In 2000, Darriulat launched a research group in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, in which he is still active. The group does research in the field of

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

. They first did research on extreme energy

cosmic ray Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...

s in collaboration with the

Pierre Auger Observatory The Pierre Auger Observatory is an international cosmic ray observatory in Argentina designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: sub-atomic particles traveling nearly at the speed of light and each with energies beyond . In Earth's atmosphe ...

. Subsequently, the group turned to millimeter/submillimeter

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...

, studying

stellar physics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

and galaxies of the early Universe. The group is now the Department of AstroPhysics (DAP) of th
Vietnam National Space Center
all part of the larger

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST; ) is the largest and most prominent research institute in Vietnam. It was founded on 20 May 1975 as the Vietnam Academy of Science, then subsequently assumed its current name in 2008. Its infra ...

. In 2011 Darriulat gave a talk ''The ISR Legacy'' at the international symposium on subnuclear physics held in Vatican City.

Awards and honors

*1973 Joliot-Curie Award *1986 Member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

*1987 Grand Prix de l’Académie des Sciences: prix du Commissariat à l’énergie atomique *1985 Award from the

*1997 Nominated for the

French Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

*2008 André Lagarrigue Award *2014 Vietnamese Friendship Medal *2016 Phan Chau Trinh Prize for education and culture *Honorary degree from the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

Most notable publications

Darriulat, P. (2007). Réflexions sur la science contemporaine. Les Ulis: EDP Sciences Darriulat, P. and Chohan, V. (2017). The CERN Antiproton Programme: Imagination and Audacity Rewarded. In: Technology Meets Research. Hamburg: World Scientific, pp. 179-215Darriulat P. and Di Lella, L. (2015). Revealing Partons in Hadrons> From the ISR til the SPS Collider. In: 60 years of CERN experiments and discoveries. World Scientific, pp. 313-341UA2 Collaboration (1982), 'Observation of single isolated electrons of high transverse momentum in events with missing transverse energy at the CERN ppbar collider', Phys. Lett. B , vol. 122, no 5, pp. 476-485UA2 Collaboration (1983), ‘Evidence for Z0 ---> e+ e- at the CERN anti-p p Collider’, Phys. Lett. B, vol. 129, no. 1-2, pp. 130-140UA2 Collaboration, 1987, ‘Measurement of the Standard Model Parameters from a Study of W and Z Bosons’, Phys. Letter. B, vol. 186, pp. 440-451UA2 Collaboration, 1982, ‘Observation of Very Large Transverse Momentum Jets at the CERN anti-p p Collider’, Phys. Lett. B, vol. 118, pp. 203-210
*Darriulat, P. (2016), Looking at science and education in my second homeland, The Gioi, Viet Nam

References

External links

The W and Z particles: a personal recollection (2004)Scientific publications of Pierre Darriulat on INSPIRE-HEPCurrent institution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darriulat, Pierre 1938 births People associated with CERN Living people French experimental physicists French physicists Particle physicists Members of the French Academy of Sciences