 | Friday, January 13, 2006 |
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Friday, January 13 3:30 p.m. Director's Coffee Break - 2nd Flr X-Over 4:00 p.m. Joint Experimental Theoretical Physics Seminar - 1 West Speaker: K. Burkett, Fermilab Title: Monojet Search and LED Interpretation from CDF 8:00 p.m. Fermilab International Film Society - Auditorium Tickets: Adults $5 Title: The Man Who Knew Too Much Monday, January 16 |
Rain/Snow 43º/25º
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Secon Level 3 |
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Friday, January 13
- Beef Pepper Pot |
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Wednesday, January 18
Thursday, January 19
Chez Leon Menu |
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| World-Class Physicist and MINOS Champion Dies at 45 | ||
Doug Michael, a neutrino physicist and MINOS co-spokesperson,
Michael grew up in Arizona and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in physics in 1982. It was there that he designed, built and operated a Nal (TI) and plastic scintillator experiment at SLAC's electron-positron collider along with classmate Jim Thomas. Such an undertaking was unheard of for undergraduates. By 1990, Michael had earned his doctorate at Harvard University (where he met his life partner of 23 years, Matthew McLaughlin), and joined the MACRO experiment at Caltech, where he contributed to the search for magnetic monopoles at an underground laboratory near Gran Sasso, Italy. During his time there, Michael became interested in an emerging neutrino mystery: anomalies in the ratio of electrons to muons that came from high energy neutrinos in cosmic rays. In 1994, he proposed a design to study a possible explanation for how neutrinos might change form, or "oscillate," as they move through space. Many ideas in Michael's proposal were used in the subsequent MINOS neutrino experiment at Fermilab, which now includes about 150 scientists from institutions around the world. Since then, Michael has worked on every aspect of MINOS. "Every project he worked on was incredibly successful," said MINOS colleague Regina Rameika of Fermilab. "Some people might have sat down after one success and said 'I'm done with my part, you deliver to me now.' Instead, Doug jumped back in and asked what the next big battle was." After Michael brought the detector's $22-million scintillation system beyond its design goals, he focused on the task of delivering more protons to MINOS. Stanley Wojcicki of Stanford, the MINOS co-spokesperson, remembers Michael as "a real problem solver and a born leader. Someone who could challenge, inspire and lead people towards a common goal."
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| Linear Collider School Now Accepting Applications | ||
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The International Accelerator School for Linear Colliders is now accepting applications. Jointly organized by the GDE, International Linear Collider Steering Committee and the ICFA Beam Dynamics Panel, the school will take place at Sokendai in Hayama, Japan from 19-27 May 2006. The deadline to apply is 15 February 2006.
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From World Science, January 10, 2006: Spinning black hole leaves “dent” in space and time Scientists say they have found a black hole that has chiseled a dent in the fabric of space and time, like a dimple in one’s favorite spot on the sofa. They say the finding may help scientists measure a black hole’s weight and how it spins—two long-sought measurements—based on the extent of this indentation.
Black hole regions are notoriously chaotic, generating light that has a range of different energies. Similarities in light seen nine years apart imply something very fundamental is producing the stable pattern, the researchers said.
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| World Year of Physics Program Exceeds Goal | ||
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Fermilab's World Year of Physics 2005 classroom outreach program surpassed its goal for 2005 by reaching 10,930 students in 84 schools throughout the region. "The goal was to have contact with 10,000 students in their schools," said Susan Dahl, Fermilab Education Specialist and one of the Fermilab Friends for Science Education (FFSE) board of director members involved in the project, which included grades two through 12. Roughly two dozen Fermilab employees-technicians and engineers as well as physicists-volunteered their time to give interactive presentations on topics such as electricity and magnetism, Einstein, space-time, and cosmic rays. Outreach efforts concentrated on schools in Kane and DuPage counties. This program was supported by an anonymous grant to Fermilab Friends for Science Education.
"You can't teach a lot of physics in one session, but the idea is to show that it's interesting, fun, and cool," said Michael Albrow, the FFSE board of directors member who spearheaded the effort. "The kids get to see that we may be scientists but we're not crazy, wild-haired, white-coated scientists. We're just normal people. And they can do science too if they want."
"Jerry Zimmerman has been doing the cryogenics show for a number of years," said Dahl. "This one has a long history and is quite well known. Some of the other presentations began with graduate students." Organizers intend to continue offering these free presentations as long as they have willing volunteers. "It would be so nice if every kid, by the time they've left school, had heard about Fermilab and had a chance to talk to a physicist," said Albrow.
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Update on Fermilab Today Survey Yesterday the University of Chicago Survey Lab sent out emails to all employees with the subject line "2006 Fermilab Today Opinion Survey," sent from a University of Chicago email account. We are happy to hear from the Survey Lab that we have a high initial participation rate in the survey. Because of the heavy traffic in the early hours of the survey, some employees may have experienced trouble in making a connection. Please try again at your earliest convenience by clicking on the link sent to you in Thursday's email. Thank you.
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