Simon Connell is Professor of Physics at the University of Johannesburg. He has research interests in Particle Physics, Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Energy, Materials Science, Quantum Physics, High-Performance Computing and Applied (innovation) Physics.
Prof Connell's rating by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) cites him as having “considerable international recognition”. He is a Past President of the South African Institute of Physics. Prof Connell is the Founding Member of the South African participation in High Energy Physics at the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, where, with his group, he participates in a Beyond Standard Model search as well as engineering and technical activities.
He has Published over 150 papers in International Journals and is also an ATLAS Author. Prof Connell has worked for many years at the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF). He is interested in technology for competitive industry and in innovation and has a project on the intelligent sensor-based sorting of diamond in kimberlite, which is now being commercialized. The current major activity in the service of the discipline is the development of the South African user base for Light Sources, (these are premier international multi-disciplinary research tools) and the implementation of the roadmap towards the African Light Source.
