Valerie Gibson Explained

Valerie Gibson
Education:University of Sheffield, University of Oxford
Known For:LHCb experiment, CP violation
Workplaces:University of Cambridge, CERN
Fields:High Energy Physics
Website:https://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/directory/gibsonv
Footnotes:Occupation: Professor of High Energy Physics

Valerie Gibson, also known as Val Gibson, is an Emeritus Professor of Physics and former Head of the High Energy Physics group of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

Education

Gibson completed a bachelor's degree in Physics at the University of Sheffield in 1983.[1] She achieved a DPhil in experimental particle physics in 1986 from The Queen's College, Oxford.

Career

In 1987 she became a fellow in the Experimental Physics Division at CERN. She joined the Cavendish Laboratory in 1989 on a five-year SERC Advanced Fellowship.[2] In 1989 she also received a Stokes Senior Research Fellowship at Pembroke College. She was appointed as University Lecturer and Fellow of Trinity College in 1994. She was awarded a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Fellowship in 2007.[3] Gibson was appointed Professor in 2009, appointed Head of the High Energy Physics Group in the Cavendish Laboratory from 2013 until her retirement in 2023.[4]

She began work on the Muon Scattering Experiment at Paul Scherrer Institute. She has worked on the LHCb experiment since the first beam of particles were injected into the Large Hadron Collider in 2008.[5] Gibson has overall responsibility for data acquisition from the ring imaging Cherenkov detectors.[6] Gibson was the UK spokesperson for the LHCb experiment between 2004 and 2008.[7] Today she is chair of the LHCb Collaboration Board and lead of the University of Cambridge's LHCb team.[8] [9] Gibson was part of the discovery of CP violation in the Kaon system.[10]

Public engagement

Gibson is a keen science communicator, interested in taking science to a wider range of audiences. She regularly discusses particle physics discoveries in the media.[11] She developed the card game Hunt the Higgs and has acted as an adviser for exhibitions at the Science Museum.[12] [13] She is a patron of the Gravity Fields Festival.[14] Alongside her research group, Gibson exhibited at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.[15]

Gibson has spent her career championing women in science. She believes it is her duty "to encourage younger women in their careers and say ‘it is possible’".[16] She has been part of the University of Cambridge's Athena SWAN and Project Juno committees.[17] In 2014, the University of Cambridge were awarded the first gold Athena SWAN award.[18] [19] She won the WISE Campaign Leader Award in 2013.[20] She is chair of the Institute of Physics Juno panel.[21] In 2016 she launched a three-day residential program for young women interested in physics at the Cavendish Laboratory.[22] In 2016 she won a Royal Society Athena Prize for increasing gender diversity in mathematics, having been nominated by the Institute of Physics.[23] [24] [25] [26] She was a keynote speaker at the 2018 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.[27]

Gibson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to science, women in science and public engagement.

Notes and References

  1. News: Speakers. 2017-09-12. An Evening of Empowering Women. 2018-03-18. en-US.
  2. Web site: Meet the ambassadors: Professor Valerie Gibson What I see. whatiseeproject.com. en-GB. 2018-03-18.
  3. Web site: Valerie Gibson. royalsociety.org. en-gb. 2018-03-18.
  4. Web site: Professor Valerie Gibson — Department of Physics. kla29@cam.ac.uk. www.phy.cam.ac.uk. 23 July 2013 . en. 2018-03-18.
  5. Web site: 080910 LHC lights up future of particle physics. www.astronomynow.com. 2018-03-18.
  6. Web site: rae 2008 : submissions : ra5a. www.rae.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-18.
  7. Web site: Valerie Gibson. Science Museum Collection. 2018-03-18.
  8. Web site: Val Gibson - HEP Group, Cavendish Laboratory. www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-18.
  9. Web site: Organization. lhcb-conv.web.cern.ch. en. 2018-03-18.
  10. Web site: Professor Valerie Gibson,, from Atlantic Speaker Bureau. www.atlanticspeakerbureau.com. en. 2018-03-18.
  11. News: HIGGS BOSON: 'Truly a momentous occasion' says Grantham professor. 2018-03-18. en.
  12. Web site: 'Hunt the Higgs' card game. Science Museum Collection. 2018-03-18.
  13. Web site: Part II Nuclear Physics Home Page. www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk. 2018-03-18.
  14. News: Schools' invitation to join in Gravity Fields Festival. 2017-12-22. Grantham Matters. 2018-03-18. en-US.
  15. Web site: Antimatter matters at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition. Cambridge Network. en. 2018-03-18.
  16. News: Women in STEM - the shocking stats. admin. 2014-03-28. Virgin. 2018-03-18. en.
  17. Web site: Women in Science. University of Cambridge. 2018-03-18.
  18. Web site: Cavendish awarded Athena Swan Gold award — Department of Physics. rgo22@cam.ac.uk. www.phy.cam.ac.uk. May 2014 . en. 2018-03-18.
  19. Web site: Celebrating 40 Years of Women at Trinity - Cambridge in America. Peterman. Erin. www.cantab.org. en. 2018-03-18.
  20. Web site: Inspiration Valerie Gibson. WISE. www.wisecampaign.org.uk. en. 2018-03-18.
  21. Web site: Friday Physics Colloquia Series Presents: Professor Val Gibson, Cambridge, 'The Beauty of Flavour - Latest results from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider' University of Oxford Department of Physics. www2.physics.ox.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-18.
  22. Web site: Trinity College to establish annual women's STEMM event. firstwomen.co.uk. en-US. 2018-03-18.
  23. Web site: Two IOP members receive runners-up awards in first Royal Society Athena Prize. Physics. Institute of. www.iop.org. en-GB. 2018-03-18.
  24. Web site: Royal Society Athena Prize for increasing gender diversity in mathematics - Runner up Professor Valerie Gibson — Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. ac2076@cam.ac.uk. www.opda.cam.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-18.
  25. Web site: London Mathematical Society committee awarded Royal Society Athena Prize for increasing gender diversity in mathematics. royalsociety.org. en-gb. 2018-03-18.
  26. Web site: Prof Val Gibson to receive a Royal Society Athena Accolade — Department of Physics. 214b3378fafd402aa5c9ab982830cc07. www.phy.cam.ac.uk. 17 October 2016 . en. 2018-03-18.
  27. Web site: CUWiP 2018 Oxford, UK - speakers. www.physics.ox.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-18.