Charlton was educated at the University of Oxford,[3] graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics in 1985. He went on to study for a PhD in Particle Physics at the University of Birmingham, which he was awarded in 1989[5][7] for work on the UA1 experiment, searching for the top quark.[1]
From 1989 to 2001, Charlton worked on the OPAL experiment of the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) at CERN, on data analysis, components of the trigger and data acquisition systems, and the identification of muons.[citation needed] His work helped to provide the first measurement there of the yield of Z decays, before measurement of the fraction decaying to bottom quarks.[14] Later he led the measurements which directly demonstrated the gauge structure of the electroweak sector of the Standard Model.
At the LHC, he led physics preparations in the year before first collisions, acted as ATLAS Deputy Spokesperson throughout the first three-year running period, and was the collaboration's Spokesperson from 2013–2017.[14] During the construction of the ATLAS experiment, he worked on hybrid readout circuits for the silicon strip sensors of the Semiconductor Tracker (SCT) detector and on the first-level calorimeter trigger system.
As a professor at the University of Birmingham, he conceived and led design group studies for Year 3 undergraduate students for several years, and also introduced and taught a Year 4 module named Current Topics in Particle Physics.[citation needed] His lecturing was in abeyance whilst he held the position of Spokesperson at ATLAS.[5]
^Newman, Paul; Hillier, Steve; Charlton, David (3 August 2012). The Search for the Higgs Boson (YouTube video). University of Birmingham. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
^ abcdAnon (2014). "Professor David Charlton FRS". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: