Public participation is a critical issue for planners of the proposed International Linear Collider. The recent Snowmass conference included a daylong session titled, "Workshop on Public Participation in the ILC," sponsored by the US Linear Collider Communication Committee.
Few facets of nature are more mysterious than the quantum world. Particles that appear and disappear from nothing, interactions governed by probability, and intrinsic uncertainties are enough to baffle even the most experienced scientist.
Burton Richter’s group double-checked what they thought was a minor statistical inconsistency in their data. Using the Stanford Positron Electron Accelerating Ring (SPEAR), they probed electron-positron collision energies around 3.1 GeV.
The SLAC archives, in the windowless basement of the Central Laboratory Annex, are no greenhouse. Yet for the past few years, a small tree has adorned the den of SLAC's archivist Jean Deken.
SPIRES is not only an archive for scientific papers; it also provides information on researchers. The HEPNames database contains the names and verified records of over 7000 high-energy physicists, from graduate student to professor emeritus.
Travel is an integral part of the life and work of particle physicists. Since the beginning of the year, some 30 physicists known as the Quantum Diarists have criss-crossed the world to meet collaborators at distant accelerators, attend conferences, teach a seminar, or interview for jobs.
Louis Barrett, physicist at Western Washington University, drives a lot. His daily commute to the university, located in Bellingham, Washington, is more than 80 miles.
