by Judy Jackson

Down below, in the accelerator tunnel, the Tevatron slowly cools down, coming back to life after a long shutdown.Up above, around the accelerator ring, the prairie slowly warms up, coming back to life after a long winter.

Magnet by magnet, cable by cable, the Tevatron approaches the new physics run.

Bud by bud, tadpole by tadpole, the Main Ring landscape approaches the spring.

It’s a slow process. Springtime in Illinois is not like springtime in England or Tuscany, or even like springtime in Washington. It isn’t early, or lavish or mild. It comes haltingly, grudgingly, one small step forward and two chilly steps back; until suddenly, one week in May, it arrives all at once, passes through like a Memorial Day parade on fast forward, and gives way instantly to summer. In April, in Illinois, if you want to find springtime, you have to go and look for it, as photographer Fred Ullrich did one recent morning in the Fermilab Main Ring.