Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, centre, president of the Academy of Science of Malaysia, came to CERN on 22 June to sign an "expression of interest" in the participation of scientists and students from universities and research institutes in Malaysia in the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC accelerator. Present at the signing were, from right to left: Emmanuel Tsesmelis, CERN contact person for Malaysia, Guido Tonelli, spokesperson of CMS, Albert de Roeck, deputy spokesperson CMS, and Sue Ann Koay, a Malaysian graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Image credit: Immanuel Gfall.
A small ceremony took place at CERN on 23 June to mark, in effect, the end of the original LHC main magnet group at CERN. It was organized by Lucio Rossi, second from left, who joined CERN in 2001 to become the leader of the construction team. He stepped down as leader of the Magnet Group on 1 July, handing over to Luca Bottura, and now leads the project for future high-luminosity at the LHC (HL-LHC). Those joining in the ceremony included, left to right: Frédérick Bordry, now head of CERN’s technology department; Romeo Perin, former head of the Magnet Group; Lyn Evans, former LHC project leader; and Jean-Pierre Koutchouk, now project co-ordinator of the FP7-EuCARD project.
Rolf Heuer, right, CERN’s director-general, was in the north of England on 19 July to receive an honorary degree from the University of Liverpool. Here is seen here together with the university’s vice-chancellor, Sir Howard Newby. The university has long-standing connections with particle physics and CERN in particular. The award was made during a week of ceremonies that saw the graduation of more than 4000 students.
Bruno Zumino, second from left, one of the fathers of supersymmetry, was at CERN on 7 July, to participate in the LAPP-Annecy/CERN celebration for the 80th birthday of Raymond Stora, held at LAPP. Zumino, a former senior staff member of CERN, wrote important papers on the theory of anomalies with Stora, a theoretical physicist at Annecy who is still a frequent visitor to CERN. Another participant was Mary K Gaillard, centre; both she and Zumino gave interesting talks at the special seminar held in Stora’s honour. Here they are seen with Sergio Ferrara, left, and on the right, John Ellis and Ignatios Antoniadis of the current Theoretical Group at CERN.
IOP medals for experimental and theoretical physics
Particle physics, cosmic radiation and quantum theory are among the areas of physics recognized by the 2011 awards of the UK’s Institute of Physics.
Terry Wyatt, University of Manchester, receives the Chadwick Medal and Prize, which is given specifically for distinguished research in particle physics. Wyatt, who is rewarded for "outstanding contributions to hadron-collider physics", has played a prominent role in the field for the past 25 years, starting with his work on proton–antiproton physics at CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron collider in the 1980s. Since then he has played a prominent role in the DØ collaboration at Fermilab’s Tevatron, becoming co-spokesperson (2004–2007), and has also been chair of CERN’s LHC Committee (2007–2010).
Of the gold medals awarded, the Faraday Medal for outstanding contributions to experimental physics goes to Alan Andrew Watson, University of Leeds, for his "leadership within the Pierre Auger Observatory, and the insights he has provided to the origin and nature of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays". The Dirac Medal for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics goes to Christopher Isham, Imperial College London, for his "major contributions to the search for a consistent quantum theory of gravity and to the foundations of quantum mechanics". Theory at Imperial College is also honoured with the Rayleigh Medal and Prize for distinguished research in theoretical, mathematical or computational physics. Arkady Tseytlin, receives this award for "his contributions to the understanding of string theory and of its relation to conventional quantum field theories, and in particular to non-abelian gauge theories that form the basis for our current theoretical description of elementary particle interactions".
Remaining with theory, the Maxwell Medal and Prize is an early-career award for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics. The 2011 recipient is Andrei Starinets, University of Oxford, for "his work on the transport properties of systems of strongly coupled quantum fields". His research has been at the forefront of major developments that make use of the gauge/gravity correspondence that arises in string theory. By contrast, the Isaac Newton Medal, an international prize for outstanding contributions to physics, regardless of subject area or nationality, this year honours a physicist with a long and highly successful career. Leo P Kadanoff, University of Chicago, receives this medal "for inventing conceptual tools that reveal the deep implications of scale invariance on the behaviour of phase transitions and dynamical systems".
In fields related to particle physics, the Payne-Gaposchkin Medal and Prize for distinguished research in plasma, solar or space physics is awarded to Yvonne Elsworth, University of Birmingham, for "the development of helioseismology into a unique quantitative tool probing the deep interior of the Sun, illuminating stellar structure and evolution and the solar neutrino problem". The Kelvin Medal and Prize for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics goes to nuclear physicist Jim Al-Khalili, University of Surrey.
The Queen honours services to science
Jenny Thomas, of University College London, is to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to science, announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for 2011. Her career has included participation in particle physics experiments at Fermilab, the Max-Planck Institute in Munich, and CERN. Currently focussing on the physics of neutrinos, she is the co-spokesperson for the MINOS experiment and is a member of the NEMO-III and SuperNEMO experiments.
Also honoured this year are Richard Davis, Professor of Astrophysics at Jodrell Bank, University of Manchester, who becomes an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Sheila Rowan, director of the Institute for Gravitational Research, and Robin Clegg, Head of Science in Society at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, both become members of the order of the British Empire (MBE).
Visits
Amr Ezzat Salama, right, minister for scientific research, science and technology of the Arab Republic of Egypt, right, came to CERN on 25 May. He visited the CMS control room on the Meyrin site with, from left, CMS spokesperson, Guido Tonelli, Alaa Awad, Fayum University, Hisham Badr, ambassador at the UN Geneva, and Maged Elsherbiny, president of the Scientific Research Academy.
Members of the Swiss Federal Council, including Micheline Calmy-Rey, president of the Swiss Federal Council, front row fourth from right, came to CERN on 7 July. The group visited the Universe of Particles exhibition in the Globe of Science and Innovation and toured the ATLAS visitor centre and control room. Here they are outside the Globe with senior members of CERN staff, including the director-general, Rolf Heuer.
A large delegation of representatives of Chinese Ministries and Officials from the People’s Republic of China were welcomed to CERN on 1 June. They split into two groups to visit the Universe of Particles exhibition in the Globe of Science and Innovation and the ATLAS visitor centre. One group is seen here, with Steve Goldfarb, ATLAS outreach co-coordinator (centre).
During a visit to CERN on 22 June, Naledi G Pandor, right, minister of science and technology for the Republic of South Africa, looked round the ATLAS visitor centre with Peter Jenni, former spokesperson for the ATLAS experiment. She also toured the LHC superconducting magnet test hall and the ALICE visitor centre.