Rate My Professor Dave Charlton

Since 2005, Charlton has been deeply involved in the ATLAS experiment at the CERN LHC. He led the construction of readout hybrid circuits for ATLAS particle tracking detectors in Birmingham and spearheaded the six-institute collaboration for the first-level calorimeter trigger system. His leadership roles in ATLAS include Deputy Physics Coordinator in 2007, Physics Coordinator in 2008, Deputy Spokesperson from 2009 to 2013—encompassing the 2012 Higgs boson discovery—and Spokesperson from early 2013 to early 2017, guiding nearly 3,000 researchers across 178 institutions in 38 countries. Charlton's research centres on experimental probes of electroweak symmetry breaking mechanisms, including Higgs boson properties, gauge-boson scattering, and precision electroweak measurements at the LHC, alongside developments in trigger systems. He has contributed to approximately 1100 publications with ATLAS, OPAL, and UA1. Among his honours are election as Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014, the Institute of Physics Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize in 2017, and Fellowship of the Institute of Physics in 2009. Charlton has served on key committees such as Chair of the STFC/PPARC Particle Physics Grants Panel (2004-2007) and delivered the 2016 EPS Distinguished Lecture. He currently teaches undergraduate particle physics modules and supervises PhD students on ATLAS-related projects.