CERN Courier: March 2000
News
Sciencewatch
Features
SESAME: a mini CERN for the Middle East
A new international centre for synchrotron radiation research could do for the science of the Middle East what CERN has done for science in Europe.
Weapons abandoned in favour of detectors
The Cold War once absorbed a tremendous amount of resources and talent on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Particle physics is now at the forefront of a major, international effort that is refocusing these resources in more profitable directions.
The Delphic Oracleand antimatter
This winter, CERN's LEP pit formed the backdrop for an unusual theatrical performance portraying Paul Dirac's mathematical discovery of antimatter symmetry.
Physics in space
Superconducting tunnel junctions have been developed as photon-counting spectroscopic detectors for ground- and space-based astrophysical research. Arrays of tantalum-based junctions have now reached a state of maturity such that serious space-based applications can be considered over a range of wavelengths.
Superconducting radiofrequency
Accelerators are increasingly turning to superconducting technology to transfer power to the particle beams. The biennial workshop is a shop window for progress.
What's new in particles and cosmology?
The 1999 DESY Theory Workshop concentrated on the growing symbiosis between particle physics (particularly neutrinos) and cosmology.
A brief history of the universe
During 1998-9,
Peter Kalmus of London's Queen Mary and Westfield College lectured on "Particles and the
universe" in 43 UK locations to 10 000 high-school students.
Regulars
The magician: Robert Rathbun Wilson 1914-2000
Physicist, accelerator builder, artist, laboratory pioneer, visionary: Bob Wilson was admired all over the world. Al Silverman pays tribute to his extraordinary achievements.