The CERN Accelerator School (CAS) and the Cockcroft Institute, one of the UK's new centres for accelerator science, have jointly organized an intermediate-level course on general accelerator physics. This took place at the Cockcroft Institute in Cheshire on 16–28 September, taking advantage of both the excellent new facilities in the institute and the existing infrastructure of the adjacent Daresbury Laboratory.
The course followed established practice, with lectures on core topics in the mornings and specialized sessions in the afternoons. The latter provided "hands-on" education and experience in the three selected topics: RF Measurements Techniques, Beam Instrumentation and Diagnostics, and Optics Design and Correction. These were highly successful, with participants choosing one course and following the topic throughout the school. Guided studies, tutorials, seminars and a poster session completed the programme. The school also included an excursion to the city of York and a Welsh medieval-style dinner.
With 80 participants representing 26 nationalities, the school was a resounding success. Feedback from the participants was extremely positive, praising the expertise and enthusiasm of the lecturers, as well as the high standard of their lectures.
• The organizers from CAS and the Cockcroft Institute are grateful to the various British sponsors, from both industry and academia, for their financial support, without which the school would not viable.
Mexican fiesta honours Paić
Guy Paić celebrated his 70th birthday on 21 September with his home institute, the Institute for Nuclear Sciences (ICN) of the National University of Mexico (UNAM), at an academic gathering highlighting work relating to his research.
Paić obtained his PhD as a low-energy nuclear physicist in Croatia, where he continued his career as a user at many research centres while helping to establish nuclear science during numerous stints in Africa for the International Atomic Energy Agency. He came to CERN in 1986 for the first heavy-ion run of the NA35 experiment, and he has been active in CERN's ultra-relativistic heavy-ion programme ever since – from experiments at the SPS to the conception and development of the ALICE experiment at the LHC. He has a keen interest in the experimental and theoretical parts of the programme, and was prominent in the conception and R&D for the high-momentum particle identification detector for ALICE, as well as physics coordinator for many years.
Paić began another career five years ago, joining ICN, where he has driven the experimental heavy-ion programme in Mexico. He has contributed significantly to Mexican teams developing detectors for ALICE, and had an important influence on the academic growth of both students and peers involved in the effort. The detector laboratory, which he established at ICN, has become an essential centre coordinating the efforts of different groups in Mexico that are involved in the ALICE collaboration.
Paić's Mexican colleagues organized a fiesta for his birthday, with a one-day workshop for a small selection of scientists who had shared his rich academic life. Contributors included Paolo Giubellino, deputy spokesperson of ALICE, Jean-Pierre Revol, ALICE team leader at CERN, and long-term colleague Ivica Puljak from Croatia, as well as Paić's son and many Mexican colleagues. Jean-Pierre Revol, on behalf of the ALICE team at CERN, presented Paić with a sculpture of Sancho Panza, by Didier Anstett, artist and technician at CERN.
• A report by Alejandro Ayala on the "Guy fest" is available from ICN-UNAM.