Holiday cheer
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| Fermilab Director Pier Oddone |
The Fermilab spirit was very much in evidence last Friday. During the afternoon we had a symposium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first collisions at the Tevatron. It was an extraordinary experience to hear in one afternoon the rich history of the Tevatron and its many accomplishments. The Tevatron is the pioneering machine, the first large superconducting ring that broke new ground and set the stage for RHIC, HERA and the LHC. Its detectors, CDF and DZERO, are technological marvels and moved forward technologies like the use of silicon vertex detectors in hadronic collisions. The experimental collaborations made major discoveries and measurements of unprecedented precision. They produced hundreds of Ph.D. students and developed new analysis techniques. The remarkable thing about the Tevatron is that this rich history is not yet done as we are entering the new territory of electroweak symmetry breaking.
The symposium was followed by a delicious potluck dinner contributed by Fermilab families, providing evidence not only of great culinary talent, but manifesting the many nationalities present in our laboratory. The children’s Christmas carols that opened the potluck contributed to the great warmth of the evening.
Finally the evening was topped by the Fermilab Talent Show, featuring singing, magic and two skits, one produced by the theory group and one by our graduate students. Talent at Fermilab has extra dimensions and goes way beyond that which we display at work!
But what would the holidays be without the Grinch? As we celebrated achievements and talent with warmth inside, the Grinch was busy outside making trouble, not only freezing the weather but salaries as well, preventing Congress from passing a budget for the fiscal year that is already well underway and getting the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) stuck in a ditch.
As we conclude a great year of achievements, we must look at next year’s challenges with optimism. The Fermilab spunk so much in evidence last Friday will serve us well in the months ahead as together we confront whatever the Grinch has done.
Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
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Freezing drizzle
