Town of Carbonear to name walking trail after physicist Davis Earle

Andrew Robinson (andrew.robinson@thetelegram.com)
Published: Jun 14 at 1:45 p.m.

Davis, second from the right, works with the SNO crew. - Photo courtesy of SNOLAB

CARBONEAR, N.L. — The Town of Carbonear will name a new walking trail after a noteworthy scientist originally from the community.

Eric "Davis" Earle is a former Rhodes Scholar from Carbonear who is best known for his involvement with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). The observatory, also known as SNOLAB, was built underground in an active mine for scientists to study particles from the sun called neutrinos. Earle served as technical associate director during a lengthy construction phase.

Research subsequently conducted there helped answer the question of why neutrinos do not appear on the sun’s surface and established the existence of three kinds of neutrinos. This work contributed to a 2015 Nobel Prize in physics for SNOLAB director Art McDonald. Earle, who lived in Ontario, died on Christmas Eve in 2016, and at the time McDonald acknowledged his former colleague's death in a news release, stating he "contributed not only to our scientific success but also to our success as a collaboration."

Davis Earle, pictured here receiving an honorary doctor of science degree from Memorial University in 2004, will have a walking trail in Carbonear named in his honour. SALTWIRE FILE PHOTO

According to Coun. Ray Noel, chairman of the town's recreation, special events, culture and tourism committee, Earle's name was submitted to the town as a potential option for naming the trail. The committee agreed Earle was worthy of receiving recognition in this way.

"This is a former resident of the town of Carbonear who was a scholar in his field," Noel noted, adding there will be a storyboard set up at the trail to acknowledge Earle's accomplishments.

The trail is located west of the highway and south of the brook. It is approximately across the highway from Nell’s Walking Trail. It will follow the brook to a traditional swimming hole called Knox's Hole that is located west of Carbonear Collegiate. Over the winter, the town and the province came to an agreement to set up a pedestrian underpass to help link the Nell Finn Walking Trail to areas west of Route 70.

This article originally appeared here.