Feature: Life at the LHC Reaches Fever Pitch
As the big collider ramps up, four physicists talk about working late, finding time to play, and staying connected to family and friends.
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Editorial:
Bring on the ProtonsRarely has there been so much media buzz for a science experiment that hasn't actually started. Interest in the LHC is at fever pitch.
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Commentary:
Monica DunfordBlogging is a heaven-sent forum for physicists. Yet for those of us who belong to large experimental collaborations, the freeform style of blogging conflicts with procedures set in place for the careful review and publication of scientific results.
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Departments:
Signal to BackgroundPing-pong champ gets a physics roast; diving blind through crusty pipes; cup biters of Fermilab; the strongwoman and the quark; cowed again; napkin contest; letters.
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Feature:
Mapping the Digital DividePhysicist Les Cottrell is the meteorologist of Internet weather. His project tests the strength of Internet connections around the world—and finds Africa lagging farther and farther behind.
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Feature:
JLab's New DirectorFor Hugh Montgomery, the leap from particle physics to nuclear physics is shorter than you might think.
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Gallery:
David KirkbyIt’s a snail shell! It's a Koosh ball! It’s physics! A physicist-photographer finds cosmic meaning in everyday things.
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Day in the Life:
the LHC ExpressWhen scientists transformed two train cars into a mockup of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, thousands of people came along for the ride.
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Essay:
William S. HigginsLike everyone in his profession, John W. Campbell, Jr., editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, kept a watchful eye on new developments in nuclear physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Any scientific news might provide an idea for a science fiction story. In 1941, antimatter caught his attention.
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Logbook:
Contraterrene Matter"Collision Orbit," published in July 1942, was among the first science fiction stories to explore contraterrene matter, today better known as antimatter.
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Explain it in 60 Seconds:
Neutrino MassesNeutrino masses are extremely difficult to measure. Physicists think the origins of neutrino masses are closely tied to subatomic processes that took place right after the big bang. Determining which neutrino types are heaviest and lightest— the neutrino mass ordering—is a first step toward revealing these processes.
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This issue features the work of physicist and photographer David Kirkby, whose photographs of ordinary objects aim to give people insights into physics. Here, a Koosh ball—a jiggly, squishy rubber toy—represents dark energy, the invisible force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe.
SLAC Bluebook
May 2007
A 1169-page treatise documents the development and design of the two-mile-long accelerator operated by Stanford University...
Quarks
Mar 2006
Quarks are fundamental building blocks of matter. They are most commonly found inside protons and neutrons...
