by Anthony M Green (ed.), World Scientific. Hardback ISBN 981256022X, £54 ($88).
The aim of this book is to introduce lattice quantum chromodynamics to non-specialists, in particular undergraduates and graduates, theorists and experimentalists, who have a background in particle and nuclear physicists. In particular it chooses topics that generally have analogies with more conventional areas in these fields, such as the interquark potential and interactions between hadrons.
by Rabindra N Mohapatra and Palash B Pal, World Scientific. Hardback ISBN 9812380701, £76 ($103). Paperback ISBN 981238071X, £34 ($46).
The third edition of this well-known book provides an up-to-date discussion of the latest massive-neutrino results for the active researcher, and an introduction to various related theoretical and phenomenological issues for the non-expert. Elementary discussions on topics such as grand unification, left-right symmetry and supersymmetry are presented, and there is special emphasis on the implications of neutrino discoveries for the nature of new forces.
by Laurie M Brown (ed.), World Scientific. Hardback ISBN 9812563660, £17 ($28). Paperback ISBN 9812563806, £9 ($14).
The title pretty much sums up this interesting short book, the latest Feynman work to be published since his death in 1988. It reproduces, in modern typeset, Feynman’s PhD thesis entitled “The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics”. In it Feynman outlined his brilliant reformulation of quantum mechanics in terms of the path integrals that now bear his name, together with two supporting papers and a preface.
Historians and physicists alike will enjoy this easy-to-read little book (119 pages plus the preface). Supplementing the thesis itself, which is just 69 pages long (if only all theses said so much in so little space), are reprints of Feynman’s “Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics”, which was published in Reviews of Modern Physics in 1948 and Paul Dirac’s “The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics”. Dirac’s paper is a little harder to find since it’s from the Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion and dates back to 1933. These provide excellent supporting material and in many ways bracket the thesis. Dirac’s paper is not as widely read as it should be, and is of great importance as it provided much of the initial impetus for Feynman’s work, making quite explicit the role of exp(iLdt/ħ) as a transition amplitude between states separated by an infinitesimal time dt, and its connection to the classical principle of least action. Feynman’s article is certainly well known and is perhaps rather more formal than the thesis itself, and therein lies much of charm of this book.
Brown also provides a 16 page introduction that essentially walks the reader through reading the thesis, summarizing the content of each section and adding many interesting historical anecdotes and quotations.
The thesis itself is a masterpiece of clear exposition. While there is little in the thesis that is likely to surprise most physicists, it is written in Feynman’s uniquely chatty style, and reminiscent of the famous Feynman lectures. It is a delight to read and is likely to offer an insight, even to non-physicists, into both physics and the workings of Feynman’s mind. I would not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone – working physicists, historians, philosophers and even “curious fellows” who would like to “peek over the shoulder” of one of the 20th century’s great physicists at work.
by Ken McMullen (dir.), University of the Arts London and The Arts Council. DVD ISBN 072871096X, £14.99.
Where do art and physics meet, and what kind of interaction might they enjoy? In this hour-long film, CERN physicists Michael Doser (anti-hydrogen experimenter) and John March-Russell (theorist) talk to author and artist John Berger (best-known for his 1972 book Ways of Seeing) and Ken McMullen, artist and director of the film.
Their discussion is interspersed with sequences of sculptures, installations and other artworks inspired by particle physics – most from the Signatures of the Invisible exhibition of 2000-2001. I particularly liked Paola Pivi’s Prototype 3 installation of needles on wires performing a kind of synchronized dance and McMullen’s work, Lumen de Lumine, featuring two women (or perhaps one woman, mirrored) whirling balls of light round and round in unison. There are also brief close-ups of famous physics equations being written on a whiteboard, for instance Paul Dirac’s dynamics of spin 1/2 fermions (which led him to predict the existence of antimatter).
The core of the film is the frequently thought-provoking discussion between the scientists and artists. Subjects covered include the symmetry of physics equations versus the arrow of time; what Berger calls “the banal question” of how the huge costs of particle physics can be justified (to which Doser replies that, first, both art and science go beyond the everyday to give meaning to life and, second, pure research can give rise to wholly new types of technology, not just incremental improvements); the contrast between “risky” experiments that hope to gain fundamental insights and “safe” ones that accumulate data; classical versus probabilistic physics (“Where does necessity come into the quantum world?” Berger asks); the search for authenticity in art and for purity in science; and the mesmerizing quality that equations can hold for a physicist, even when they may be used to develop something like the H-bomb.
It is notable that the artists are asking the questions, and the physicists are providing answers. The flow of influence seems to be one way. The profound, often counter-intuitive ideas that science in general, and physics in particular, throw up – quantum theory, antimatter, chaos theory, multiple dimensions – provide non-standard concepts and metaphors to inspire artistic work.
How art might inspire or influence physics is less obvious. In the film, Doser and March-Russell don’t ask Berger or McMullen about their techniques, purposes, or productions. But perhaps the art/science interaction is asymmetric. The general culture that art helps to shape is the pond in which the working physicist swims. And it’s not just pure science that takes time – sometimes more than a century, as Doser points out – to be absorbed into the general culture; the same is true of radically new art.
Interactions of art and physics such as this film can play an important part in making scientific ideas more widely assimilated. Much work and funding go into sometimes rather patronizing efforts to increase the “public understanding of science” – as if bombarding children (and adults) with enough gee-whizzery is bound, sooner or later, to make them interested. This film, like the Signatures of the Invisible exhibition, stands for a more sophisticated and long-term approach, in which science, via art in this case, feeds ideas and inspiration to the broader culture.
• The DVD includes a number of additional items: extracts from the discussion not included in the main feature; a 15 minute film about the manufacture in a CERN workshop of McMullen’s sculpture In Puris Naturalibus; and a reading and discussion of Simon Weil’s poem, “Chance”.
The impressive breadth and depth of European particle physics was on display in Orsay, France, at an open symposium organized by the CERN Council Strategy Group at the end of January. Established in 2005, the Strategy Group is charged with preparing a long-term vision for European particle physics for presentation to CERN Council at a special meeting to be held in Lisbon on 14 July this year. The Orsay symposium was designed to give a strong voice in the process to a broad spectrum of European particle physicists. Some 400 came together in Orsay, and were joined by representatives of the North American and Asian particle-physics communities and a remote audience of more than 70.
CERN Council’s decision to establish the Strategy Group recognizes the distinction between the Council and the laboratory that has become synonymous with the name CERN. CERN Council is an intergovernmental body, established in 1954 to “provide for collaboration among European states in nuclear research of a pure scientific and fundamental character”. As such, it is an appropriate choice as the strategic body for particle physics in Europe: an agreement in Council will show the determination of the 20 member states to work together to make the best use of the available resources in uncovering nature’s most fundamental secrets.
The task of the Strategy Group is far from simple: Europe’s particle-physics landscape is complex, with the CERN laboratory in Geneva, a range of national laboratories that carry out world-class research in their own right, and numerous university- and institute-based groups. “Our aim,” explained Torsten Åkesson, chair of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) and co-chair of the Strategy Group, “is to be all inclusive, to build on the diversity of European particle physics through a strategy that includes all elements.”
The composition of the group is a reflection of this philosophy, with one particle physicist nominated by each of CERN Council’s 20 delegations, together with the directors of the major particle-physics laboratories in CERN’s member states, and a number of particle physicists from CERN’s Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) and ECFA. Åkesson is joined by Ken Peach, chair of the SPC, as co-chair, and there is also a scientific secretary from CERN.
The approach that Åkesson and Peach adopted with the Orsay Symposium was to invite input from members of the European particle-physics community about their wishes and aspirations, while studying existing European and global infrastructure to see how Europe can best contribute to the future of particle physics on the worldwide scale. “If we are to propose a strategy for the future of particle physics in Europe,” explained Peach, “we can’t operate in a vacuum. We have to listen to what the community wants, particularly the younger members, since this will be their strategy.”
The Orsay symposium put the emphasis on discussion, with presentations kept short to allow more time for discussion. The result was a lively and all-encompassing debate. While the major infrastructures – notably the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its possible future upgrades, the International Linear Collider (ILC) and future neutrino facilities – dominated proceedings, smaller experiments such as neutrinoless double-beta decay and a possible renewed effort on muon g-2 also had their place. In all the discussions, a key message that emerged was that physics, not technology, should lead the way. Another recurring theme was the date 2010, by which time physics results from the LHC will be pointing the way to future research needs, a full technical design for the ILC will be ready, and the results of the Compact Linear Collider study, CLIC, will have shown whether the concept has a viable future.
The Strategy Group next meets at DESY’s Zeuthen laboratory in May to distil all the information gathered in Orsay into a brief draft strategy document. This will be presented to CERN Council in July, where approval will depend on a unanimous vote.
• Further details of the CERN Council Strategy Group can be found at: www.cern.ch/council-strategygroup, where input to this important process for the future of European particle physics is invited until 15 March.
On 25 January Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan, visited CERN with five government ministers, Parvez Butt, president of Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), and an eminent former president of the Commission, Ishfaq Ahmad, who pioneered co-operation with CERN. The visit included a tour of CMS, to which Pakistan is making a substantial contribution, and an opportunity for Musharraf to address CERN’s Pakistani scientists.
During the visit, Butt and CERN’s director-general, Robert Aymar, signed an addendum to the 2003 Protocol Agreement covering the supply of additional equipment for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). They also signed a letter of intent aimed at strengthening scientific and technical co-operation between CERN and Pakistan. The document envisages an extension of the existing partnership not only in new accelerators, detectors and information technologies, but also in educating and training scientists and technical experts.
In 1994 CERN and Pakistan signed their first formal collaboration agreement, and in 1997 a protocol was signed for the supply of eight huge steel feet for the CMS magnet yoke. This was supplemented in 2000 by a memorandum of understanding for the production of 288 muon chambers and electronic components for the experiment. Three years later, the co-operation gained new impetus with a new protocol of understanding with CERN.
There are currently 75 Pakistani physicists and engineers taking part in three major CERN projects: CMS, ATLAS and the development of the Computing Grid for the LHC (LCG).
The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) was established through a convention signed in Moscow on 26 March 1956 by representatives from 11 founder states. Their aim was to unite their scientific and material potential in order to study the fundamental properties of matter. Nearly a year later, on 1 February 1957 the institute was registered with the United Nations.
JINR is situated in Dubna, 120 km north-east of Moscow on the Volga River. It is known today around the world as a centre where fundamental research, both theoretical and experimental, is successfully integrated with new technology, the latest techniques and university education.
The main fields of JINR’s research are theoretical and experimental studies in elementary-particle physics, nuclear physics, and condensed-matter physics. The research programme is aimed at obtaining highly significant scientific results. In nuclear physics alone, around half the 80 or so discoveries in the former USSR were made at JINR. The decision of the General Assembly of the International Committee of Pure and Applied Chemistry to award the name Dubnium to element 105 of the periodic table stands in recognition of the achievements of the institute’s researchers and their contribution to modern physics and chemistry.
At present JINR has 18 member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Republic of South Africa also participate in JINR’s activities through bilateral agreements signed at governmental level.
JINR is a genuinely international institution. Its supreme governing body is the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of all 18 member states. The research policy is determined by the Scientific Council, which consists of eminent scientists from the member states, as well as well known researchers from France, Germany, Italy, the US and CERN.
Since its beginnings, JINR has instigated a wide range of research, and scientific personnel of the highest qualification have been trained for the institute’s member states. Among them are presidents of national academies of sciences, along with leaders of large nuclear centres and universities in many of the member states.
Before JINR’s foundation, the Institute of Nuclear Problems (INP) of the USSR Academy of Sciences had been set up in the late 1940s in the town that was to grow into modern Dubna. The INP had launched a broad research programme on fundamental and applied studies of the properties of nuclear matter using what was at the time the largest charged-particle accelerator – the synchrocyclotron. At the same time, the Electrophysical Laboratory (EPhLAN) of the USSR Academy of Sciences was set up at the same place and it was here that research to develop a new accelerator – the 10 GeV Synchrophasotron (figure 2) – was conducted under the guidance of Vladimir Veksler. When this machine started up in 1957 it was the world’s highest-energy accelerator.
By the mid-1950s the world had come to realize that nuclear science could not be kept locked in secret laboratories and that only broad-based international co-operation could ensure progress in this fundamental realm of human knowledge and in the peaceful utilization of atomic energy. In 1954 CERN was established to unite the efforts of Western European countries in studying the fundamental properties of the microcosm. About the same time, under the stimulus of the government of the USSR, the countries then belonging to the socialist world took a decision to establish JINR, based on the INP and EPhLAN.
After the agreement for the foundation of JINR was signed, specialists from all the member states came to Dubna. As the town took on its international flavour, research began in many fields of nuclear physics of interest to the scientific centres of the member states. The first director of JINR was Dmitri Blokhintsev (figure 3), who had just successfully developed the world’s first atomic power station in Obninsk. Marian Danysz from Poland and Vaclav Votruba from Czechoslovakia became vice-directors, and together this first directorate led the institute through one of the most difficult and crucial periods in its life – the time of its establishment.
The history of JINR is associated with many outstanding scientists including Nikolai Bogoliubov, Igor Kurchatov, Igor Tamm, and Lajos Janossy. Many others were involved in developing the institute and its main scientific branches, such as Alexander Baldin, Vladimir Veksler, Moissey Markov, Bruno Pontecorvo and Georgi Flerov to name but a few.
Since JINR’s founding, nuclear research has been marked by important discoveries and crucial changes. In 1961 the JINR Prizes were established, and a group of physicists led by Veksler and Wang Ganchang from China were awarded the first such prize for their discovery of the antisigma-minus-hyperon. No-one doubted at the time that this particle was elementary, but a few years later, this hyperon, the proton, neutron, pion and other hadrons had lost their elementary quality. They turned out to be complex particles consisting of quarks and antiquarks, which have in turn gained the “right” to be called elementary. Physicists at Dubna have clarified to a great extent the concept of the quark structure of hadrons. Among their latest research are the ideas of colour quarks, the hadron quark model known as “the Dubna bag”, and so on.
In addition to this mainstream progress over the past 50 years, there has been another, quite opposite theme – research that was far ahead of its time. Fifty years ago, soon after JINR had been established, Bruno Pontecorvo suggested the existence of neutrino oscillations. It took scientists dozens of years to find experimental confirmation of such oscillations, which are now a central issue of the physics of weak interactions. At the 97th session of the JINR Scientific Council in January 2005 Art MacDonald, director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) received the Pontecorvo Prize for the discovery in SNO of evidence for solar neutrino oscillations.
JINR publications are distributed in more than 50 countries. About 600 preprints and communications a year are issued
The modern JINR comprises eight laboratories, each being comparable with a large institute in the scale and scope of investigations performed. It employs more than 6000 people, including more than 1000 scientists, including full members and corresponding members of national academies of sciences, more than 260 Doctors of Science and 630 Candidates of Science, and around 2000 engineers and technicians. The current director, as from 1 January 2006, is Alexei Sissakian, with Mikhail Itkis and Richard Lednick as vice-directors.
The institute possesses a remarkable choice of experimental facilities for physics: Russia’s only superconducting accelerator of nuclei and heavy ions, the Nuclotron (figure 4); the U-400 and U-400M cyclotrons with record beam parameters for experiments on the synthesis of heavy and exotic nuclei; the unique neutron pulsed reactor IBR-2; and the Synchrophasotron proton accelerator which is used for radiation therapy. JINR also has powerful and fast computing facilities, which are integrated into the worldwide computer network.
JINR has established excellent conditions for training talented young specialists. Its University Centre organizes research experience annually at the institute’s facilities for students from higher-education institutions in Russia and other countries. In 1994, on the initiative of the JINR directorate, and with the active support of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, the town of Dubna and the Moscow region administrations established the Dubna International University of Nature, Society and Man. There are dozens of JINR staff members – all renowned scientists – among the university staff. The university educational base is actively developed on the territory of JINR, so that Dubna has become a town of students as well as physicists.
Each year JINR submits more than 500 scientific papers and reports written by about 3000 authors to the editorial offices of many journals and organizing committees. JINR publications are distributed in more than 50 countries. About 600 preprints and communications a year are issued. JINR publishes the journals Physics of elementary particles and atomic nucleus, Physics of elementary particles and atomic nucleus letters, the annual report on JINR activities, the information bulletin JINR News, as well as proceedings of conferences, schools and meetings organized by the institute.
For 50 years JINR has been a bridge between the West and the East promoting the development of broad international scientific and technical co-operation. It collaborates with nearly 700 research centres and universities in 60 countries. In Russia alone – the largest JINR partner – co-operation is conducted with 150 research centres, universities, industrial enterprises and companies from 40 Russian cities.
A clear example is JINR’s co-operation with CERN, which facilitates decisions about many theoretical and experimental efforts in high-energy physics. JINR is currently participating in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project, taking part in development and construction of parts of the ATLAS, CMS and ALICE detector systems and in the LHC itself. Thanks to its supercomputer centre, JINR is also participating in the development of the Russian regional centre for processing experimental data from the LHC, which is planned as part of the LHC Computing Grid project.
More than 200 scientific centres, universities and enterprises from 10 countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) participate in implementing JINR’s scientific programme. The institute may be regarded as a joint scientific centre for the CIS countries, functioning successfully on the international scale. The large and positive experience accumulated at JINR for mutually profitable scientific and technical co-operation on the international scale could provide a discussion topic for a meeting of CIS leaders in Dubna in the context of a summit of the CIS member states.
JINR also maintains mutually beneficial contacts with the IAEA, UNESCO, the European Physical Society and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. Each year more than 1000 scientists from JINR’s partner states visit Dubna, and the institute grants scholarships to physicists from developing countries. JINR’s own researchers are frequent participants at many national and international scientific conferences. In its turn, the institute annually holds up to 10 large conferences and more than 30 international workshops, as well as traditional schools for young scientists.
In the late 1990s, the concept of JINR as a large multidisciplinary international centre for fundamental research in nuclear physics and related fields of science and technology was adopted. The aim is to transfer the results of highly technological research at JINR to applications in industrial, medical and other technical areas, so as to provide additional sources of financing for fundamental research and the organization of new working places for specialists who are involved with these broader topics at the institute. There are also plans for assisting JINR member states to develop new facilities and scientific programmes, such as a cyclotron centre in Bratislava in the Slovak Republic and the DC-60 cyclotron in Astana in Kazakhstan.
JINR has thus entered the 21st century as a large multidisciplinary international scientific centre where fundamental research is conducted in fields related to the structure of matter. It is now integrated with the development and application of new science-intensive technology and the development of university education in related fields of science and it looks forward to its next half century.
Le Globe de la Science et de l’Innovation, grand bâtiment sphérique en bois érigé aux portes du site principal du CERN, à Meyrin en Suisse, est devenu un emblème pour le laboratoire. Il a ouvert ses portes l’an passé pour faire partager au grand public, à la population locale et aux partenaires du CERN, les travaux scientifiques du Laboratoire et les technologies qui y sont développées.
Avec 27 mètres de hauteur et 40 mètres de diamètre, le Globe est à peu près de la taille de la chapelle Sixtine à Rome. Repère visuel de jour comme de nuit, il se démarque dans le paysage des vignobles genevois. Symbole du développement durable par sa structure en bois, le Globe porte un message sur la science, la physique des particules, les technologies de pointe et leurs applications dans la vie quotidienne.
Le bois de l’enveloppe extérieure du Globe de la Science et de l’Innovation a d’abord été utilisé pour le Pavillon suisse à l’exposition universelle de Hanovre en 2000, conçu par l’architecte Peter Zumthor. Ces planches, symbolisant le développement durable, ont ensuite été transformées en secteurs sphériques à claire-voie pour composer l’enveloppe extérieure du bâtiment actuel, conçu par l’ingénieur Thomas Büchi (Charpente Concept) et l’architecte Hervé Dessimoz (Groupe H) pour l’exposition nationale suisse Expo.02.
Le bâtiment, alors nommé Palais de l’Equilibre, était dédié au développement durable. Durant les six mois de l’exposition, il a accueilli 1.9 millions de visiteurs. Après cette exposition, le Gouvernement suisse a réalisé un appel à propositions pour une réutilisation durable de l’édifice. Le CERN a proposé d’en faire un lieu de partage de la culture scientifique, technique et industrielle pour le grand public, ainsi qu’un espace d’échanges sur les technologies innovantes en partenariat avec des entreprises privées et des institutions publiques. La proposition a été retenue et le bâtiment a été offert en 2003 par la Confédération Suisse pour le 50e anniversaire du CERN célébré l’année suivante.
Reconstruit sur le site actuel en 2004, le Globe a été utilisé pour la première fois le 19 octobre 2004 à l’occasion des célébrations officielles du 50e anniversaire du CERN. Des travaux complémentaires de sécurité, d’isolation thermique et phonique ont complété l’édifice.
Après la période d’inauguration à la fin 2004, le Globe de la science et de l’innovation a été réellement ouvert au public le 16 septembre 2005, avec une exposition temporaire en hommage au prix Nobel de physique du CERN Georges Charpak. L’exposition “Einstein, 100 ans après”, inaugurée à l’occasion de la fête de la science 2005, y a ensuite été installée dans le cadre de l’Année mondiale de la physique. Le Globe fonctionne ainsi actuellement avec des activités temporaires qui associent des expositions, des présentations ou des événements. Tourné vers tous les publics visitant le CERN, le bâtiment devient un élément clé de la stratégie de communication du laboratoire.
Dans la perspective de 2007 et de la mise en service du Grand collisionneur de hadrons (LHC), l’accueil des 25,000 visiteurs annuels doit être repensé. Ils peuvent aujourd’hui accéder aux expériences souterraines du LHC qui leur montre le gigantisme des installations nécessaires pour traquer les particules invisibles. L’exposition Microcosm vient compléter l’information de ceux qui le souhaitent. A partir de 2007, les installations du LHC étant en service, il ne sera plus possible d’organiser ces visites souterraines. L’offre pour les visiteurs doit donc évoluer.
La richesse et la diversité des installations du CERN permettront d’organiser des itinéraires thématiques offrant aux visiteurs la possibilité de choisir en fonction de leurs centres d’intérêt: physique, technologie, machines, histoire…. En surface, des expositions sur site permettront de comprendre la physique en train de se faire en sous-sol et de découvrir les techniques associées. Mais les visiteurs qui souhaiteront en savoir plus, appréhender les enjeux, pénétrer dans le monde des particules devront avoir la possibilité d’explorer à leur rythme et plus en détail l’univers du CERN. Le Globe de la science et de l’innovation jouera alors un rôle important dans ce renouvellement de l’offre aux visiteurs.
Pour répondre à cette demande, le bâtiment nécessite des équipements complémentaires. Les différentes fonctions facilitant l’accueil du public ont été rassemblées dans un projet de structure périphérique sur 180 degrés, appelée bâtiment couronne. Le développement de ce bâtiment complémentaire, la transformation du bâtiment hébergeant l’exposition Microcosm, la redéfinition des visites, l’étude d’une future liaison entre les deux côtés de la route nécessitent d’importants moyens. En 2007, une exposition permanente sera inaugurée au rez-de-chaussée du Globe. La physique des particules y sera mise à la portée de tous. Et les technologies innovantes inventées au CERN y occuperont une place importante pour permettre aux visiteurs de comprendre comment le physique du 21e siècle s’inscrit dans leur vie quotidienne.
Le Globe accueille actuellement des expositions temporaires au niveau supérieur. C’est sur ce même étage très spectaculaire (une coupole de plus de 12 mètres de haut!) que peuvent être organisés des événements en collaboration avec les Etats membres de l’organisation, les collectivités locales, les industriels et le grand public.
Expositions temporaires, conférences, animations, rencontres, débats résonneront dans le Globe comme autant de démarches pour développer des liens entre science, industrie et société. Les enjeux sont multiples: augmenter le goût des jeunes pour les sciences, mieux éduquer les futurs scientifiques, informer et former les enseignants, permettre aux citoyens européens de participer à l’évolution des connaissances, comprendre les enjeux scientifiques de notre époque, favoriser les passerelles entre science et industrie, participer au rapprochement des pays, associer le plaisir de la découverte avec le partage des connaissances.
En mettant en place un tel lieu d’échange, le CERN a évidemment aiguisé l’intérêt de nombreux musées et centres de culture scientifique. Le laboratoire devient dans ce domaine un important partenaire jouant le rôle de centre de ressources à la disposition de tous.
Le 26 septembre 2005, le Globe a hébergé un événement de l’Institut international des ingénieurs en électrotechnique et électronique (IEEE). Cette manifestation “IEEE milestone event” a permis de rendre à la fois hommage au CERN pour ses inventions en matière de détecteurs et à l’un de ses brillants physiciens, le prix Nobel Georges Charpak. Ce type d’événement n’est possible qu’avec un réseau de partenaires en l’occurrence ici l’IEEE, la plus grande association au monde pour l’avancement des technologies. Nos remerciements vont à sont Président W Cleon Anderson et à l’ensemble des contributeurs pour leur aide, en particulier le principal partenaire Walter LeCroy.
Afin de développer autour du Globe un réseau pour soutenir son action, le CERN a souhaité créer des outils de dialogue.
Une lettre électronique destinée à toute personne membre du personnel CERN ou non. Le but de cette lettre baptisée Globe-info est de diffuser les informations relatives aux activités éducatives, culturelles, scientifiques, techniques et industrielles du CERN. Ces informations concernent le public le plus large. La lettre annonce les conférences, les expositions, les ateliers, les événements, les visites, les pièces de théâtre, les journées portes ouvertes, les nouveaux documents, les informations scientifiques, techniques ou industrielles.
Nous avons également proposé de créer “Les Amis de la Science et de l’Innovation”, un regroupement destiné aux personnes physiques souhaitant soutenir les buts du CERN au travers des actions grand public mises en place.
Enfin, un Club des partenaires du CERN pour la Science et l’Innovation a été mis en place. Ce club réunit à la fois des fondations, des collectivités, des partenaires industriels et des donateurs acquittant une contribution de membre. Pour être membre du Club, les sociétés doivent impérativement adhérer aux objectifs et valeurs du CERN. Le Club permet aux collectivités et aux industriels d’être partenaires des actions vers tous les publics, tels que expositions, conférences, spectacles. De nouveaux projets d’expositions, de bâtiments ou d’éléments scénographiques spectaculaires pourront être réalisés grâce aux aides fournies dans le cadre de ce Club privilégié. Par exemple, en complément du Globe, le bâtiment couronne pourrait permettre dans quelques années de mieux accueillir les visiteurs qui pour une heure ou une demi-journée auront la possibilité d’explorer, visiter, comprendre, échanger, discuter avec les scientifiques et guides du CERN.
Le Club des Partenaires du CERN pour la Science et l’Innovation a pour principal objectif de favoriser la diffusion, auprès des publics cibles, des informations sur la science, la technologie, les débouchés industriels et les grands sujets de débat et d’actualité. En tant qu’organisation internationale, le CERN est habilité à recevoir des dons. Un document est délivré afin que les contributeurs puissent faire valoir leur don auprès des services fiscaux.
Ouvert au public depuis peu, le Globe a déjà accueilli une exposition en hommage à Georges Charpak, une exposition sur “Einstein, 100 après”, la création en avant-première de l’opéra scientifique Kosmos, des événements, des conférences, des ateliers, des animations et même deux pièces de théâtre (“Signé Jules Verne” de la compagnie genevoise Mimescope et “Einstein au Pays des neutrinos” du physicien François Vannucci).
En février et mars 2006, le Globe propose l’exposition Einstein prolongée, un atelier de physique pour les tout-petits et une pièce de théâtre loufoque et poétique autour des mathématiques, “Mad Math”. Suivront une exposition artistique “Utopies Urbaines” organisé avec la commune de Meyrin et une exposition et des animations autour de l’astrophysique.
Par toutes ces actions, le Globe accompagne les quatre missions fondamentales du CERN:
Dans les années à venir, le CERN va se projeter dans un futur très stimulant en démarrant des machines innovantes, en produisant une nouvelle physique et en appuyant sa communication sur ce bâtiment emblématique: le Globe de la Science et de l’Innovation.
by E Walter Kellermann, Stamford House Publishing. Paperback ISBN 1904985092, £8.99.
The story of the flight of Jewish physicists from the Nazis and their allies in the 1930s is well known, told usually in the context of major players, such as Albert Einstein, or Enrico Fermi. So it is interesting to read of how the events of that time touched someone less well known, but who nevertheless went on to a full and rewarding career in physics. In 1937 Walter Kellermann fled to the UK, where he was to establish his career in physics, in particular in cosmic rays. This book is his story.
After completing his schooling in Berlin, Kellermann left his native Germany in 1933, as the Nazis were making it impossible for Jews to enter university there. To continue his studies, he went to Austria – not the best choice – where he had relatives in Vienna. University regulations there were flexible and after only four semesters he was accepted as a physics-research student with Karl Przibram. Then with German occupation imminent and a DPhil to his credit, he fled to Britain in October 1937, and with some ingenuity secured work at Edinburgh University under Max Born. It was there that he made an important contribution to solid-state physics, calculating for the first time the phonon spectrum.
With the outbreak of war in 1939, Kellermann found himself interned, like many others, despite his refugee status, and was even sent to Canada on a dangerous voyage, during which the internees were kept in a barbed-wire enclosure. Fortunately, he was soon released, and joined the teaching staff at Southampton University.
After the war, Kellermann moved to join Patrick Blackett’s group at Manchester, to work on cosmic rays. This was to become his field for the rest of his academic life, in particular from 1949 onwards at Leeds University. At Leeds, he was one of the main instigators of the extensive air-shower detector array at Haverah Park, the forerunner of major modern projects such as the Pierre Auger Observatory. In the early 1970s his “15 minutes of fame” came when Kellermann’s group observed a bump in the hadron energy spectrum in cosmic rays, detected in an innovative hadron calorimeter. This could have been due to a new particle, which the researchers dubbed the Mandela. Sadly, the bump was eventually found to be due to a burned-out connection in the detector’s custom-built computer. Soon afterwards, Kellermann reached retirement age, but went on to a second career in science policy in Britain, the subject of the final chapter.
Kellermann’s account makes fascinating reading, describing the aspirations and frustrations of a physicist who was not centre stage, but moved among a cast of famous names. These included not only Born and Blackett, but also Klaus Fuchs, best known as a spy. The book also presents a revealing view of the British university system, with some alarming examples of racism, in particular in the 1930s and 1940s when departments were keen to keep down the number of refugees.
by Claus Grupen, Springer. Hardback ISBN 3540253122, €37.40, (£27, $59.95).
Claus Grupen provides a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the main ideas and terminology of the study of elementary particles originating from astrophysical objects. In fact, as is evident from the historical introduction, astroparticle physics reaches beyond elementary particles and includes gamma radiation, X-rays, gravitational waves, and extensions of the current Standard Model.
The style and presentation of the material make the book accessible to a broad audience with a basic knowledge of mathematics and physics. A good selection of simple exercises with solutions increases its pedagogical value and makes it suitable as a textbook for an undergraduate course. Non-specialists who want to follow the main issues of current research in the field or to have a general overview before more advanced readings can also benefit from Grupen’s book.
A distinguishing feature of the book is the use of relatively simple models directly tied, where possible, to experimental data; these illustrate physical mechanisms or problems without unnecessary details. The main physical motivations for a theory are introduced, its experimental consequences discussed together with the current status of the key parameters and the expected future developments. Both the pedagogical nature and the emphasis on the experimental basis of models are signalled by a chapter dedicated to particle and radiation detectors and, especially, by the many instructive figures and diagrams that illustrate data and their theoretical interpretations.
A good third of the book deals with cosmic rays, our main experimental window on the universe. Grupen presents the astronomy of neutrinos, gammas and X-rays, and discusses and reviews the basic mechanisms for particle acceleration and production, and important topics such as extended atmospheric showers initiated by the highest-energy cosmic rays or gamma-ray bursts. This part constitutes the foundation of astroparticle physics.
The next largest part of the book, about one quarter, is devoted to the thermal history of the early universe, including an extensive description of Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
Introductions to standard cosmology and to basic statistical mechanics are included. In addition there is a concise description of the important information carried by the cosmic microwave background radiation – in particular, the bearings of the latest measurements of the radiation’s angular anisotropy on key cosmological parameters, such as the total energy density, the baryon-to-photon ratio and the Hubble constant.
Before the stimulating overview of some of the open problems and perspectives of the field the author reserves two chapters for inflation and dark matter. These fundamental concepts in modern astrophysics not only answer specific experimental and theoretical questions (rotational curves of galaxies, monopoles, flatness, etc), but raise new ones and stimulate experimental tests.
