Fermilab Today

Everybody, especially families with small children, is welcome to come to the pasture where the young bison run around under the watchful eyes of "mom and dad bison."

Visitors can enter the Fermilab site through the Pine Street entrance in Batavia or the Batavia Road entrance in Warrenville. Admission is free, but you will need a valid photo ID to enter the site. Summer hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.

To learn more about Fermilab's bison, please visit our website on the bison herd.

Death

In memoriam: Vickie Frohne

Vickie Frohne

Fermilab user and former employee Vickie Frohne, 58, passed away on April 25.

Frohne worked as a beamline physicist in the Research Division in the 1980s before she left to obtain a Ph.D. in atomic physics from Kansas State University. More recently, she was a collaborator on the MINOS neutrino experiment. She also led an effort to restore a historic Cockcroft-Walton accelerator at her alma mater, Elmhurst College.

Frohne was an associate professor of physics at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Frohne's family will receive friends at Haverstock Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 602 Maple Avenue, La Porte, Indiana, today from 5-8 p.m. and Wednesday, April 29, from 10 a.m. until time of service at 11 a.m.

Read Frohne's obituary.

In the News

Focus: Cosmic rays as thunderstorm probes

From Physics, April 24, 2015

Atmospheric scientists still don't have a complete understanding of lightning, in part because it's difficult to measure electric fields in thunderstorms. Now a large, international collaboration of scientists has demonstrated a new way to take a snapshot of atmospheric electric fields. They used detectors designed for astronomy to measure radio waves produced during cosmic-ray showers that occurred in thunderstorms. The team deduced a two-layer structure of thunderstorm electric fields, an idea that has been proposed but never clearly observed.

Director's Corner

No column today

There is no Director's Corner for today's issue.

In Brief

Touring the LEED-certified IARC Office, Technical and Education Building

Rhonda Merchut, project manager for the IARC building, leads a tour on Earth Day highlighting the environmental attributes of the LEED gold-certified IARC OTE building. Photo: Katie Kosirog, ESH&Q

On Earth Day, April 22, IARC Office, Technical and Education Building Project Manager Rhonda Merchut led Fermilab employees on a building tour. The IARC building is LEED gold-certified, which means that every element of the project was carried out with the environment in mind.

Daylighting, auto-dimming lights and the roof garden helped earn the building LEED status. The use of regional and recycled materials were an important consideration in the project.

The IARC OTE Building roof garden is visible through the windows. Photo: Katie Kosirog, ESH&Q

Photos of the Day

Blackbird, fly

A red-winged blackbird flies by the pond near the Lederman Science Center. Photo: Jesus Orduna, Brown University

His landing is reflected in the pond. Photo: Jesus Orduna, Brown University

The playground pi poles at Lederman Science Center are visible behind him. Photo: Jesus Orduna, Brown University