Norman McCubbin obituary
My brother Norman McCubbin, who has died aged 77, was a scientist who worked at the forefront of experimental particle physics. A leading light in experiments that took place on the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Switzerland, he spent the last five years of his working life as director…
Norman McCubbin, a renowned scientist in experimental particle physics, passed away at the age of 77. A key figure in Large Hadron Collider experiments at Cern, he held the position of director of the particle physics department at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire from 2012 until his retirement. Following retirement, he continued teaching undergraduate students at St Anne’s College, Oxford, until his death in 2022.
Born in Pinner, Middlesex, Norman was the first child of Hugh and Pat. The family later moved to Leicester, Kenya, and Lesotho, before settling in Taiwan. Norman attended Repton School in Derbyshire and later New College, Oxford, where he earned a first-class physics degree and a PhD. Between 1973 and 1979, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Lancaster and RAL, studying proton-proton collisions.
From 1979 to 1990, he worked at Cern as a senior scientific officer, focusing on heavy ion collisions.
In 1990, Norman led RAL's Zeus experiment in Hamburg, investigating the proton's structure, and from 1999 to 2003 served as the computing coordinator for the Atlas experiment at Cern's Large Hadron Collider. He later became the divisional head of RAL's particle physics department, continuing his Cern work until his appointment as the department's director in 2007.
As a stipendiary lecturer in physics at Oxford, Norman was a beloved tutor, specializing in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, relativity, and symmetries. He was also known for his dedication to answering questions, including those from his great-nephew Hugh in New Zealand about gravity, centrifugal force, and quantum entanglement.
Despite his busy professional life, Norman always prioritized family and friendship, cherishing their warmth, love, humor, and intelligence. He is survived by his brother Richard, two nieces, two nephews, three great-nephews, and a great-niece.
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