Read article 'The dark side of computing power'
On a recent visit to CERN, I had the chance to see how the high-energy physics (HEP) community was struggling with many of the same sorts of computing problems that we have to deal with at Google. So ...
Read article 'When physics needs the public'
Decision-making in high-energy elementary particle-physics research is usually highly technical, sometimes political, and often very passionate. And now, in the 21st century, scientists have come to r...
Read article 'Collaboration without borders'
One of the things we do well in particle physics is collaborate with each other and internationally to carry out our science. Of course, individual and small collaborations are a trademark of modern s...
Read article 'Join the open-access revolution'
There is a quiet revolution under way in academic publishing that will change how we publish and access scientific knowledge. “Open access”, made possible by new electronic tools, will giv...
Read article 'When research meets commerce'
A dynamic technology-transfer department is only one of many factors determining how often and how successfully start-up companies will be created. This belief is not based on any solid evidence, but ...
Read article 'In need of the human touch'
I have led software projects since 1987 and have never known one, including my own, that was not in a crisis. After thinking and reading about it and after much discussion I have become convinced that...
Read article 'A fundamental base for the future'
In 1905 a young man working in the Bern patent office produced three publications on light quanta, special relativity, and the sizes and movements of molecules. The young man was, of course, Albert Ei...
Read article 'The shock of the known'
Naturally, researchers take for granted that which is known, and instead focus on the unknown. Indeed, when I was at CERN working on the UA2 experiment, everyone was obsessed wih those areas of physic...
Read article 'Particle physics in 2054'
In a letter to the European Cultural Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, in December 1949, Louis de Broglie advocated “the creation of a laboratory or institution where it would be possible to ...
Read article 'ICTP: the next 40 years'
CERN is 50 years old this year, just as ICTP turns 40. Both are international institutions of advanced scientific research with similar aspirations and, understandably, their histories are intertwined...
