A first-person view of physics history

Accidental beauties

These exquisite test samples transcend their original purpose—ensuring all the metal parts of SLAC accelerators and detectors are flawless.

Periodic table

Look at the periodic table of elements, and you’d be hard pressed to find an element that is not used in physics. But what are the most important elements for building accelerators, detecting particles, and solving the mysteries of the universe?

Nope, no UFOs at Brookhaven Lab

The spotlight caught Todd Satogata. The camera zoomed in. “Did your particle beam shoot down a UFO?” the TV host asked. The accelerator physicist at RHIC, Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, smiled. Of course not.

Detectors shipped in cooking pots

Looking for an inexpensive and safe way to transport delicate particle detectors? Try pressure cookers and child safety seats.

The DUSEL cavern is getting restless

You can't feel it. Yet the moon's gravitational pull shifts the ground ever so slightly, creating “earth tides” that rhythmically raise and lower the ground.

It's cute! It's clean! It's a SLACmobile!

Plugged into a weatherproof outlet behind SLAC's Test Laboratory, what looks like an oversized green-and-silver go-cart waits with its load of tools and paint supplies.

Earth’s radiation belts