August 2009 issue of symmetry now online

The August 2009 issue of symmetry magazine is now available.

In this issue, we are highlighting the work of Takuya Uruno, who created a physics Manga series for kids for the Japanese laboratory KEK. Manga, a Japanese cartoon art form, developed in the late 20th century. Uruno's series is featured in our magazine's gallery. He also drew us a gorgeous Manga cover.

The new issue also features:

• Youhei Morita on Manga as a learning tool.
• Fermilab's push to develop superconducting radio-frequency technology, considered crucial for the future of particle physics.
• How physicists at the LHC experiments are using the shutdown to their advantage.
• A choreographer translates conversations with CERN physicists into dance.
• Building better heart valves, the first in a new series on applications of accelerator technology.
• The director of Japan's Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe takes tea with the Emperor

As always, our departments: Signal to Background, highlights from symmetry breaking, a 60-second explanation of Cherenkov light, thoughts on physics, technology and culture from the editor-in-chief, and a logbook from the discovery of the weak neutral current.

Check out the latest issue

August EAP Webinar today

An hour-long Webinar, titled "Strategies for Building Self Esteem," will take place from 11 a.m. - noon CST today. Lynn Borteck, LCSW, will give the presentation. 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 monthly one hour Webinars offered by Fermilab's Employee Assistance Program.

In Memoriam: Ed Knapp

Edward Knapp. Image courtesy of NSF.

Ed Knapp, former URA president and NSF director, died on Aug. 17, 2009.

Knapp worked as a nuclear physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory from the late 1950s until 1982, when he became the seventh director of the National Science Foundation. During his time at Los Alamos, Knapp worked as division leader in the laboratory's Accelerator Technology Division.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Knapp as the assistant director for the National Science Foundation. Knapp quickly became director and served until 1984. In 1985, Knapp became head of the Universities Research Association (URA), Fermilab's managing organization at the time. He was URA head when the Superconducting Supercollider was under design at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He held the position until 1989. Knapp also served as president of the Santa Fe Institute from 1991-1995.

View his obituary.

Neutrinos on display

From Physorg.com, Aug. 19, 2009

While a particle physicist may tell you that neutrinos are fiendishly difficult to observe, the public visibility of neutrinos in Minnesota has changed dramatically with the approval of more than $40M of stimulus funding for the NOvA project.

The early-May groundbreaking for the NOvA Far Detector Laboratory construction project in Ash River, Minnesota was just the beginning. Construction work at the site is now well under way and northern Minnesota is abuzz with the excitement of being the center of neutrino physics in the Unites States, as well as being the site of the country's major deep underground science laboratory.

On Saturday, August 15th , Senator Al Franken and members of his staff visited the Soudan underground laboratory as the guest of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Fermilab and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Guided by physicists Ken Heller, Ron Poling and Angela Reisetter, Fermilab communications director Judy Jackson, and Soudan lab staff members Jim Beaty and Jerry Meier, the senator toured the MINOS and CDMS experimental halls and received an introduction to neutrinos and the more mysterious and yet-to-be-detected dark matter particles. While weather conditions precluded a planned tour of the the Ash River NOvA site, Senator Franken learned about the physics of NOvA, as well as the impact of the project on the northern part of our state.

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