Virtual Ask-a-Scientist program debuts Saturday, February 2, 2002

Roger Dixon, veteran Fermilab physicist and project manager for an experiment to find the dark matter in the universe, will offer new light on your physics questions when Fermilab's Virtual Ask-A-Scientist makes its debut on Saturday, February 2, at a computer screen near you.

Dixon, who also coordinates the Fermilab Saturday Morning Physics program for area high school students, will team with researcher Robin Erbacher to answer physics questions on-line from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at this Website: http://www.fnal.gov/.

"I am looking forward to the challenge of handling questions that could come from anywhere on the planet," said Dixon, also a participant in the walk-in Ask-A-Scientist sessions held at the Lederman Science Education Center. "I have always enjoyed talking about science, philosophy, or even ski racing with the public and I'm frequently surprised at the level of the questions I am asked," Dixon continued. "It will be a completely new experience for me to try and write answers to questions and have the first draft come out good enough." Joining the Virtual Ask-A-Scientist chat room is as simple as keying the URL, then following the directions to submit your question. Erbacher will serve as moderator of the session, and will join Dixon in responding to questions. Not all the questions may be answered during the on-line session. Additional questions and answers will be posted about two weeks later.

The chat room is an on-line version of Fermilab's ongoing Ask-A-Scientist program, where scientists meet with visitors and answer their physics questions on Saturday afternoons at the Lederman Science Education Center on the Fermilab site. The Ask-A-Scientist program was inaugurated in September, 2000 by Fermilab physicist Peter Garbincius, and the weekly sessions at the Lederman Center have resumed after a hiatus due to increased security measures. Those sessions have switched from Sunday to Saturday afternoons.

"We averaged more than 20 visitors each session," Garbincius said. "Even on Super Bowl Sunday last year, we didn't seem to have a significant drop in attendance."

The Virtual Ask-A-Scientist sessions will take the program into cyberspace over the World Wide Web, which was developed by particle physicists to enable them to exchange data and communicate their results. Each virtual session will take on the theme of the scientist's work-in Dixon's case, the search for dark matter in the universe. "I particularly am eager to see what people are thinking and wondering about my own research into the dark sector of the universe-dark matter and dark energy," he said. "I especially look forward to getting questions from young people who are just beginning to think about the universe. If my experience with Saturday Morning Physics is any indicator, I will come away from this experience with some new ideas and insights."

Curriculum Vitae, Roger L. Dixon

Contact Mieke van den Bergen at the Fermilab Office of Public Affairs for more information.
Email: bergen@fnal.gov
Phone: (630) 840 2326