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Miriam Diamond of the department of physics at the University of Toronto is the winner of the 2020 Polanyi Prize in Physics for her new insights into dark matter and the nature of the universe.

The prestigious John Charles Polanyi prizes are awarded in honour of  John Polanyi, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Funded by the government of Ontario and administered by the Council of Ontario Universities, they recognize innovative researchers who are continuing postdoctoral work or have recently gained a faculty appointment. 

An assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Diamond seeks to unravel one of the biggest questions regarding the foundations of our universe: the quest to find dark matter particles in the laboratory. Success would revolutionize the very core of modern physics and bring a better understanding to the universe.

“The University of Toronto congratulates Assistant Professor Diamond on this important recognition of her work,” said University Professor Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation and strategic initiatives. “Dark matter makes up about a quarter of our universe and, throughout her early career, Miriam worked to develop innovative techniques to search for dark matter at the Large Hadron Collider and at the SLAC Linear Accelerator. She is now engaged in the experiment known as SuperCDMS (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) – a significant collaboration which holds the potential to make a historic breakthrough in this area of physics.”