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Illustration of a W boson among a pattern of masks

Explain it in 60 seconds: W boson

09/10/24

Josh Bendavid and Sarah Charley

Meet the short-lived particle that helps the sun shine.

08/01/07

Donors big dream

Drawn by the chance to help answer the most fundamental questions about the universe, philanthropists are starting to make significant investments in physics research.

08/01/07

Professor Prairie

Particles and prairie. For many people, these words are synonymous with Fermilab.

08/01/07

A lab away from home

It's a stretch: In search of new skills, particle physicists spend months or years at labs far from home, absorbing culture along with science.

07/01/07

First users’ meeting

In 1967, 400 enthusiastic scientists met at Argonne National Laboratory to discuss plans to build a new 200 GeV accelerator and a national laboratory to house it.

07/01/07

Particle event

Scientists call the particle collisions and interactions they study “particle events.”

07/01/07

When objects weighing thousands of pounds have to be moved, the call goes out to riggers— specialized teams that work with hoists and cranes. They’re required to wear proper safety gear; and at some point, the riggers at SLAC decided to make a statement with their helmets.

07/01/07

Secrets of a heavyweight

A dozen years after it first appeared on the world stage, the top quark is still one of the hottest topics in particle physics. Why is it so much heavier than any other particle? And what can it tell us about the origin of mass and other quantum mysteries?

07/01/07

Run, Rabbit, run

The problem: How to get short-lived radioactive drugs from the nuclear physics lab that makes them to a hospital 2.5 kilometers away, on the far side of a busy campus, in two minutes flat.

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