The purpose of the workshop is to explore the physics potential of an asymmetric high-luminosity electron-positron collider of energy between that of the phi and J/psi regions. A collaboration is forming to explore an addition to the PEP-II storage ring complex at SLAC to cover this kinematic region.
More information is available at http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~young/EPAC/Meeting/200011/index.html.This is the second workshop in a series, following the meeting held at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, Russia, on 1-5 March 1999. See http://www.inp.nsk.su/ events/confs/phipsi1999/index.html.
Neutrino 2002, the XXth International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, will be held in Munich, Germany, on 25-30 May 2002. The conference is organized jointly by the Max Planck Institut für Physik and the Technische Universität München. The programme will cover new results in the field of neutrino physics and related topics in astrophysics and cosmology. Among the subjects will be solar and atmospheric neutrinos, short- and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino factories, reactor/accelerator-based experiments, double-beta decay, neutrino mass direct searches, neutrino telescopes, neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter searches and ultra-high energy neutrinos. For further information see http://neutrino2002.ph.tum.de/.
Guest office head leaves DESY
Visitors to the DESY laboratory in Hamburg during the past 20 years have been able to rely on the help of Josephine Zilberkweit, DESY's "Mrs Guest Office", who has now left the laboratory. She managed the on-site guesthouses, helped visitors and their families to obtain visas and residence permits, arranged housing and schools for their children and ensured that medical insurance was available.
From June 1979, under her leadership, the Guest/International Office began to develop in order to serve DESY's growing visiting community. During the era of the PETRA collider, groups from the Soviet Union and China started to arrive at DESY for the first time to work alongside scientists from Europe, the US and later the German Democratic Republic and Poland. Subsequently, the advent of the HERA collider and the expansion of HASYLAB put new demands on the Guest Office, until by 1995 it had been restructured to act as the administrative centre for all foreign guests and was renamed the International Office.
However, helping foreigners was more than a matter of office work for Zilberkweit. With the support of the Association of the Friends and Sponsors of DESY, she organized all kinds of social events - barbecues, Christmas parties, Japanese children's days, Chinese spring festivals, carnival and Thanksgiving evenings, cricket games, visits to exhibitions, gym classes and a children's group.
"DESY has always considered it important that everything possible should be done to help foreign guests to feel part of the lab," said Zilberkweit. "Dealing with people from so many different cultures and traditions is always a challenge, but getting involved with the human side of physics has been immensely rewarding. I was lucky to be able to make friends with people from all over the world, and to share with them many important events in their lives. I even acted as a witness at two weddings!"
Despite leaving DESY, her commitment to helping foreigners continues. She is especially concerned about women accompanying their husbands. "Most of these women are highly qualified," she explained. "They have no possibility of pursuing their professions in Germany and creating a life for themselves, because they are unable to obtain work permits."
Zilberkweit is a member of a working group that includes representatives of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. "This group is examining the administrative problems encountered by foreign scientists coming to Germany. We hope to convince the authorities to make changes to the existing regulations for the benefit of all," said Zilberkweit.
With more than 3400 guest scientists from 35 nations visiting DESY each year, the role of the International Office continues to grow. Its future owes much to Zilberkweit's enthusiasm and commitment during the past 20 years.
Avakian celebrates his 70th birthday
On 28 March Robert Avakian, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and president of the Armenian Physical Society, marked his 70th birthday. He is well known for his experimental work in the fields of parity violation in beta decay (ITEP, Russia), the production of polarized gamma quanta beams (Yerevan, Kharkov, Serpukhov), positron radiation (SLAC), electron-photon interactions (CERN) and nucleon spin structure (DESY).
