In Memoriam: Jim Sanford

James Sanford

James Sanford, the first chair of the Fermilab users' organization and the laboratory's former associate director for program planning, died on Feb. 23.

Sanford came to the National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab's former name) from Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he had served since 1962. Robert Wilson appointed Sanford as the head of the Experimental Facilities Section in 1969.

Sanford received his bachelor's degree at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1955. He received his master's degree and doctorate in physics from Yale University in 1957 and 1961, respectively. He held memberships in the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi and other learned societies.

When Sanford spoke at the 2007 annual Users' meeting at Fermilab, he applauded the role users have played in Fermilab's development. He said the users' support in the early years and their continued support today "is an important element to this laboratory and to this country."

The 2007 meeting was the last time that Ned Goldwasser, Fermilab's founding deputy director, saw Sanford.

"He was a wonderful, wonderful person; a very hard worker," Goldwasser said. "He was my right-hand man in developing a research program for the laboratory and my most dependable advisor."

Goldwasser, who celebrated his 90th birthday at Fermilab in September 2009, said that Sanford will be sorely missed.

"He was much too young," Goldwasser said.

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

Light up the night

AD's Marty Murphy submitted this photo of the lightning storm that hit the Chicagoland area on Thursday, March 11. The image is a composite of four photos with 15 or 20 second exposure times.

EAP offers March Webinars

Fermilab's Employee Assistance Program offers a series of Webinars in March that focus on tools and strategies people can use as they implement their personal goals.

• Tuesday, March 16, from 11 a.m.-noon CST, "Transitions: Paths to Personal Growth"
• Wednesday, March 17, from 1-2 p.m. CST, "Transitions: Paths to Personal Growth"
• Thursday, March 25, from 1-2 p.m. CST, "How to Break a Bad Habit"

A seminar titled "Keep Learning, Keep Growing," took place from 1-2 p.m. CST on Thursday, March 11. All Webinars are archived so they can be viewed at a later date if the scheduled date/time is not convenient.

Anyone interested in virtually attending the live event can register through the Fermilab EAP Web site with the User ID "Fermilab" and the password "eap". The event is one of the regular one-hour Webinars offered by Fermilab's Employee Assistance Program.

Without science, our minds would be filled with potholes

From Beacon News, March 14, 2010

'Why is it so important to discover what happened in the beginning?"

The question came from a 12-year-old girl sitting in the front row. It was directed at two brothers, Mark and Paul Devlin, who were standing on Fermilab's auditorium stage. They were taking questions from the audience after a showing of a 90-minute documentary called "BLAST" late last month. "BLAST" details the trials and tribulations of a team of astrophysicists searching distant galaxies, seeking to catch glimpses into the formation of the universe.

Mark, one of the brothers, was the lead astrophysicist heading the team and the protagonist in the film. The other brother, Paul, a network TV sports director, filmed and produced the movie.

The astrophysicist stumbled with the girl's question. His answer was overly detailed and too closely tied to the science. But his brother, the film maker, nailed it. Echoing a quote by his brother from within the film, he said, "Human beings have always been curious creatures. It's in our nature to seek out what we are and where we came from."

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