Royal Society medal honour for Sir Tejinder Virdee’s Higgs Boson experiments
Royal Medals are awarded “for the most important contributions to the advancement of ‘Natural Knowledge’ in the physical and biological sciences respectively”.
Professor Sir Tejinder
Virdee studies the Higgs
Boson particles at the
Large Hadron Collidor
By Amit RoyOct 29, 2024
THE physicist, Professor Sir Tejinder Virdee, has been given the ‘Royal Medal’, an exceptionally high honour, by the Royal Society.
Virdee is known for formulating cutting-edge experiments at the Large Hadron Collidor (LHC) in Geneva, where he lives with his wife, Vatsala.
He comes frequently to London because he remains a professor of physics at Imperial College London.
Virdee, who was born into a Sikh family in Nyeri, Kenya, on October 13, 1952, came to Britain with his family at the age of 15. He studied at King’s Norton Boys’ Grammar School in Birmingham (where he was inspired by his physics master, Howard Stockley). After taking an undergraduate degree in physics at Queen Mary College London, Virdee did his PhD at Imperial College.
He was awarded the Royal Medal at a function in London last Thursday (17) at the Royal Society’s headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, which Virdee attended with his wife and their children, Jas and Natasha.
Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists, and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
Professor Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, a winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2009, was president of the society from 2015-2020, the first person of Indian origin to hold the post.
Royal Medals are awarded “for the most important contributions to the advancement of ‘Natural Knowledge’ in the physical and biological sciences respectively”. Also known as the Queen’s Medals, they are awarded annually by the sovereign on the recommendation of the council of the Society. The Royal Medals were founded by King George IV in 1825.
The citation said Virdee received the Royal Medal (Physical) “for extraordinary leadership and profound impact on all phases of the monumental CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider [LHC], including the crucial discovery of the Higgs Boson through its decays to two photons”.
Virdee with his wife Vatsala, son Jas and daughter Natasha at the award ceremony
Virdee responded: “It is an honour and privilege to receive the Royal Medal and be associated with an advance in science that is the discovery of the Higgs Boson by the ATLAS and CMS experiments.
“The medal not only celebrates fundamental science, but also recognises the audacious undertaking of the many scientists, engineers and technicians from around the world who, over many years, came together to build and operate the powerful experiment that is CMS.
“This award provides a further push to continue probing the secrets of nature. Furthermore, it will allow me to continue efforts in motivating secondary school students in sub-Saharan countries to pursue the study of fundamental physics.”
The Higgs Boson takes its name from the British theoretical physicist, Peter Higgs, and the Indian legend, Satyendra Nath Bose – the latter had collaborated with Albert Einstein.
At CERN in Geneva, where Virdee has a central role, some 2,500 scientists are working on the biggest collaborative experiment the world has ever seen. They connect with 10,000 other scientists from universities and institutions all over the world. Together they are seeking what Virdee calls “the holy grail of physics” – an equation that would take “the new physics” beyond Isaac Newton and Einstein and provide one equation that would govern all of physics.
“The standard model (of physics) that we know is incomplete,” Virdee has explained to Eastern Eye. “It works brilliantly for a visible matters like stars and how stars burn.”
But visible matter accounts for barely five per cent of the universe. “We know there is 25 per cent of ‘dark matter’ and about 75 per cent ‘dark energy’ – and we don’t have a clue what these are.”
Scientists also seek a fuller understanding of how the universe came into being nearly 14 billion years ago. The significance of the Higgs Boson particles is they are thought to have been present when the universe was born with a ‘Big Bang’.
“Understand the Higgs Boson and you understand more about how the universe works,” is the underlying philosophy.
The Higgs Boson has been artificially created by getting protons to collide with each other at very high speeds inside the LHC, located inside in a tunnel 27 km (17 miles) in circumference and as deep as 175m (574 ft) beneath the France-Switzerland border near Geneva.
Virdee with the Royal Society president Sir Adrian Smith
It took 30 years of experiments to find the Higgs Boson, which was proposed by Peter Higgs and other physicists in the early 1960s.
Virdee was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012 and was given a knighthood in 2014. He is considered a founding father of the CMS collaboration at the LHC, and has played a major role in all phases of the experiment, from conception and design, through construction to the extraction of science that have already lasted over 30 years.
He was involved in almost all the major choices and decisions for the experiment, and pioneered some of the techniques used in its calorimeters crucial for the discovery of the Higgs Boson, announced by the CMS experiment in July 2012, along with the ATLAS experiment.
His current work involves studies of the newly found Higgs Boson, search for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics and the design of the upgrades of the CMS detector.
Virdee said he was excited by “the search for new physics”.
“There is much experimental evidence for the existence of physics beyond that encapsulated in the standard model of particle physics, a most successful theory of the visible matter in our universe.”
He elaborated: “The CMS experiment is entering the era of precision Higgs physics that will shed light on new physics.”
Virdee set out how “particle physics is the centuries-old effort to understand the most basic elements of nature and the laws that govern them. The Large Hadron Collider collides protons, reproducing some of the fundamental particle interactions that scientists believe were taking place a fraction of a billionth of a second after the Big Bang.”
Virdee explained how fundamental research can turn into applied science, benefiting mankind.
He told Eastern Eye: “Conducting scientific research, and making progress in fundamental science allows us to get a deeper understanding of how nature works. Over the centuries, this deeper understanding has very much altered the way we live – giving us a better life.
“Fundamental science has given us paradigm-shifting technologies, such as electricity, electronics, telecommunication, medical imaging and the world wide web (www), invented some 30 years ago at CERN, and now widely used by CMS to share data around the globe. And www use is ubiquitous in commerce, scholarship, and communication.
“The discovery of the electron, the first fundamental particle with mass, discovered in 1897, and the deep understanding of its behaviour, gave us the world of semiconductor electronics, which has led to many great benefits for humankind.”
India's prime minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese president Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China, August 31, 2025. India's Press Information Bureau/Handout via REUTERS
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi was committed to improving ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China's president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional security forum on Sunday (31).
Modi is in China for the first time in seven years to attend a two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, along with Russian president Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East in a show of Global South solidarity.
"We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities," Modi told Xi during the meeting, according to a video clip posted on the Indian leader's official X account.
The bilateral meeting took place five days after Washington imposed punishing 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods due to New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil. Analysts say Xi and Modi are looking to present a united front against Western pressure.
Modi said an atmosphere of "peace and stability" has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
He added that an agreement had been reached between both nations regarding border management, without giving details.
Both leaders had a breakthrough meeting in Russia last year after reaching a border patrol agreement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in recent weeks as New Delhi seeks to hedge against renewed tariff threats from Washington.
Direct flights between both nations, which have been suspended since 2020, are "being resumed", Modi added, without providing a timeframe.
China had agreed to lift export curbs on rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines this month during a key visit to India by China's foreign minister Wang Yi.
China opposes Washington's steep tariffs on India and will "firmly stand with India," Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said this month.
For decades, Washington painstakingly cultivated ties with New Delhi in the hope that it would act as a regional counterweight to Beijing.
In recent months, China has allowed Indian pilgrims to visit Buddhist sites in Tibet, and both countries have lifted reciprocal tourist visa restrictions.
"Both India and China are engaged in what is likely to be a lengthy and fraught process of defining a new equilibrium in the relationship," said Manoj Kewalramani, a Sino-Indian relations expert at the Takshashila Institution think tank in Bengaluru.
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Bashir retired from the force while under investigation but will still face misconduct proceedings. (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police)
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Wasim Bashir, 55, who worked as a detective constable in Bradford District, was found guilty of one count of misconduct in a public office for forming a sexual relationship with a female victim of crime. He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, 29 August.
Bashir retired from the force while under investigation but will still face misconduct proceedings.
The charge related to an incident of abuse of position for a sexual purpose, with Bashir engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman who had reported to West Yorkshire Police that she had been the victim of a sexual offence. He was involved in investigating her case.
The conviction followed an investigation by West Yorkshire Police’s Counter Corruption Unit under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. During the trial, the judge directed the jury to find Bashir not guilty of a second count of misconduct in a public office.
Detective Superintendent Natalie Dawson, Deputy Head of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, said: “For a police officer to pursue a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman who had come forward to report being victim of a sexual offence is nothing short of abhorrent.
“I want to reassure victims of crime and the wider public that this former officer is not representative of our organisation. One of the Force’s key purposes is to protect vulnerable people, and our officers and staff work tirelessly to protect people from harm and to safeguard victims.
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Protesters calling for the closure of The Bell Hotel, which was housing asylum seekers, gather outside the council offices in Epping on August 8, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
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Judges say human rights obligations outweigh local safety concerns.
At least 13 councils preparing legal action despite ruling.
Protests outside the Bell Hotel lead to arrests and police injuries.
MORE than a dozen councils are moving ahead with legal challenges against the use of hotels for asylum seekers despite the Home Office winning an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Judges ruled that meeting the human rights of asylum seekers by providing accommodation outweighed local safety concerns.
The injunction was secured by Epping Forest District Council after protests following the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by an Ethiopian asylum seeker.
The man has been charged and denies wrongdoing. A full hearing on the planning dispute over the Bell Hotel will take place in October.
At least 13 councils are preparing similar legal action, The Times reported, including Labour-run Wirral, Stevenage, Tamworth and Rushmoor. Epping Forest Council said it may appeal to the Supreme Court.
Asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government remained committed to ending hotel use by 2029 and argued the appeal was needed to move migrants “in a controlled and orderly way”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the government for prioritising “the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people” and urged councils to continue legal action.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the government had used the European Convention on Human Rights “against the people of Epping”.
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India and Canada have appointed new envoys in a step to restore diplomatic ties strained since 2023. (Representational image: iStock)
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India has named senior diplomat Dinesh K Patnaik as the next high commissioner to Ottawa, while Canada appointed Christopher Cooter as its new envoy to New Delhi.
The move comes more than two months after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.
Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently India’s ambassador to Spain.
“He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand announced that Cooter will be the next high commissioner to India, succeeding Cameron MacKay.
“The appointment of a new high commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India,” Anand said. “This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy.”
A Canadian statement described the appointments as an important step towards restoring diplomatic services for citizens and businesses in both countries.
Cooter, who has 35 years of diplomatic experience, most recently served as Canada’s charge d’affaires to Israel and has earlier been high commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar. He also worked as first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi from 1998 to 2000.
In June, Modi and Carney had agreed to take “constructive” steps to bring stability to bilateral ties, including the early return of envoys to both capitals.
Relations between the two countries had deteriorated sharply after then prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged in 2023 that India may have had a role in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Following this, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats in October last year, while expelling an equal number of Canadian diplomats after Ottawa linked them to the case.
Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April has since helped initiate a reset in relations.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Former fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne, who served in the cabinet of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is accused of illegally awarding a 2012 contract to a foreign firm, allegedly causing a loss to the state of $83,000 (£61,478).
Senaratne had repeatedly dodged questioning, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said.
High Court judge Lanka Jayaratne ordered him transferred to a lower court to face multiple cases.
Several politicians from the Rajapaksa administration, as well as family members, are either in jail or on bail pending corruption investigations.
Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last week on a charge of misusing $55,000 (£40,738) of government funds for a private stopover in Britain.
Wickremesinghe, 76, who was granted bail on Tuesday (26), insisted the stopover was part of his official duties.
Under Dissanayake, two former senior ministers have been jailed for up to 25 years for corruption.
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