When it comes to training, hiring, and retaining women and members of ethnic minorities, particle physics lags far behind other fields of science. Staffers at three national labs Fermilab, SLAC, and Brookhavenare attacking the problem at every level.
Who is the grandfather of particle physics? Some might argue he is Otto Mencke, a German philosopher and scientist who received his doctorate from Leipzig University in 1688.
Gazing into space, scientists wonder why the universe is expanding ever faster. What mysterious force is at work? By recording the light from hundreds of millions of galaxies from a mountaintop in Chile, they hope to find out what's going on.
When an earthquake flattened buildings in a number of towns across central Italy, physicists turned their focus from research to rescue and rebuilding.
Reyna Pratt spends her days preparing high school students in Virginia for an increasingly competitive world. They learn biology, algebra, English composition, world history, and world cultures.
In his first few months on the job, CERN Director-General Rolf-Dieter Heuer opens new lines of communication, oversees repairs to the Large Hadron Collider, and promotes a worldwide strategy for particle physics based on a strong mix of global, regional, and national projects.