NSF hosts media briefing on "Angels & Demons" science

Particle physicists to brief media and public on real science at CERN; May 19, 1 p.m. EST

On May 15, 2009, Sony Pictures will release "Angels and Demons," and bring the world's largest particle physics laboratory to the silver screen.

Based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel, this major motion picture, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard, focuses on a plot to destroy the Vatican using a small amount of antimatter. That antimatter is made using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and is stolen from the European particle physics laboratory CERN. Parts of the movie were filmed at CERN.

Embracing this opportunity to discuss the real science of antimatter, the LHC and particle physics research, on May 19, 2009, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host a live media briefing spotlighting three world-renowed physicists.

The event will feature:

• Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general, CERN; former research director for particle and astroparticle physics, Germany's DESY Laboratory;
• Leon Lederman, Pritzker Professor of Science, Illinois Institute of Technology; resident scholar, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy; director emeritus, Fermilab; Nobel, Physics (1988); and author, "The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?"
• Boris Kayser, distinguished scientist, Fermilab; chair, American Physical Society's Division on Particle Physics; former program director, NSF Theoretical Physics.

Read more

In Memoriam: Danny Massengill

Danny Massengill

We are very sad to announce the death of Danny Massengill on Sunday, May 10. He was 52-years-old. Danny started his career at Fermilab nearly 30 years ago installing energy saver magnets on the Magnet Test Facility test stands located in the Industrial Building 1.

Danny was a very talented, versatile and dedicated employee who became a proficient operator of the IB1 helium refrigerator and a magnet measurer and mechanical technician. More recently, Danny made important contributions to the new IB1 Vertical Cavity Test Facility.

"Danny was not only the hardest, most dedicated worker I had the opportunity to work with during the last 30 years, he was also my best friend for the last 20 years," said George Kirschbaum, a long-time colleague and close friend. "When Dan passed, he left a very large hole in all our hearts and in IB1 Operations. We will truly miss our dear friend each and ever day for the rest of our lives."

A memorial service will take place on Friday, May 15, at 5 p.m. at the Beidelman-Kunsch Funeral Home, 24021 Royal Worlington Drive in Naperville, off of Route 59. A memorial visitation will follow after the service until 9 p.m. at the funeral home. Call (630) 922-9630 or visit www.beidelmankunschfh.com for more information.

-- Ruben Carcagno

Buffalo burger BBQ Friday on Users' Center patio

Southern Foodservice Management, Fermilab's foodservice company will host a Buffalo Burger BBQ on Friday, May 15. From 4-6 p.m. employees, users and their families can stop by the Users' Center Patio for a half-pound buffalo burger for $6, a half-pound hamburger for $5 or a quarter-pound beef hot dog for $3. Chips are included. None of Fermilab's bison were harmed to make this event possible.

"Fringe" season finale flirts With theoretical physics

From Popular Mechanics May 13, 2009

Promotional poster courtesy of FOX.

During the course of its first season, "Fringe" has played with the idea of that there are actually two realities, one slightly different from the other. In the season finale, "There's More Than One of Everything," the show delved into the science behind this idea, fleshing out the alternate reality with FBI Agent Olivia Dunham and company trying to stop über-villain David Robert Jones from getting to the elusive Massive Dynamic CEO William Bell, who, according to spokeswoman Nina Sharp, is hiding out in this other reality. PM spoke to physicist Michio Kaku, author of Physics of the Impossible, to perform our final fact check of "Fringe," season one.

In the previous episode, "The Road Not Taken," Jones shot Sharp and removed an energy cell that Bell had hidden in her prosthetic arm. Jones was using this mysterious cell to pry open a portal to an alternate reality, slightly different from our own, where Bell was hiding out.

According to Kaku, there are numerous theories in physic that pertain to the existence of parallel universes-and "Fringe" is combining two of these theories. The first, called the "Many Worlds Theory," is widely accepted by theoretical physicists. "The universe splits every time a decision is made," Kaku explains. "One tiny quantum event could separate us from another reality." In "M-theory," on the other hand, our universe is an expanding membrane, sort of like a bubble-and there could be other bubbles out there. "These other universes, these bubbles, most of them are probably dead universes, so we don't have to worry about them," Kaku says.

Read more