Tuesday, Mar. 11
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY
4 p.m.
Budker Seminar - Snake Pit
Speaker: T. Koeth, Rutgers University
Titles: SC Cavity as a Diagnostic for a High-Brightness Electron Beam
Speaker: A. Paytyan, Yerevan University
Title: Control System for Superconducting RF Cavities
Wednesday, March 12
3 p.m.
Computing Techniques Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: W. Brown, Fermilab
Title: C++: New and Improved!
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: A. Litke, University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: What Does the Eye Tell the Brain? A Journey from High Energy Physics to Neural Systems
Click here for NALCAL, a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Tuesday, March 11
- Creamy turkey vegetable
- Chili dog
- *Salisbury steaks w/mushroom au jus
- Chicken cacciatore
- Italian panini w/provolone
- Assorted pizza slices
- Super burrito
*Smart cuisine
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
Wednesday, March 12
Dinner
- Moussaka
- Greek salad
- Baklava
Thursday, March 13
Dinner
- Closed
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
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Signs of spring
Spring begins March 20, but signs of the season are now visible.
Although a dusting of snow lingered in the fields yesterday and temperatures
haven't climbed much above freezing recently, signs of spring are plentiful. Geese have
begun pairing up to mate, you can hear birds twittering and trees are
starting to sprout buds. The season doesn't officially begin for nine more
days, but spring is well underway. What signs of spring have you noticed?
E-mail your spring observations and photos to today@fnal.gov.
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Physicist Earle Fowler dies
This photo of Fermilab physicist Bill Fowler and his brother Earle, ran in the May 27, 1971 issue of The Village Crier. At the time, Bill Fowler (left) was in charge of the NAL Bubble Chamber construction program, and his brother, Earle C. Fowler, was the newly-appointed chairman of the Physics Department at Purdue University and chairman of the NAL Users' Organization.
Earle Cambell Fowler, a prominent physics professor and brother of Fermilab physicist Bill Fowler died March 1. He was 86.
Earle Fowler worked as a physics professor at Yale, Purdue and Duke Universities before completing a career with the U.S. Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics. Earle Fowler served on the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel. He also chaired the NAL Users' Organization in 1971. Read more in the Chapel Hill obituary.
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Argonne Director Robert Rosner to speak on the future of science in Illinois
Argonne National Laboratory director and president of UChicago Argonne, LLC, Robert Rosner, will speak on how funding cutbacks will affect Illinois' science institutions at the Chicago Cultural Center on Wednesday, March 12, 2008. The presentation is the inaugural event of The Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST), a newly formed, independent, nonprofit organization committed to promoting science and technology in the greater Chicago area. Registration begins at 5 p.m., followed by the presentation and discussion at 5:30 p.m. More information
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Physicist wins by-election for US Congress
From Physics World,
March 10, 2008
The number of physicists in the US Congress has risen to three after G. William "Bill" Foster, a veteran of the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory, won a by-election in Illinois on Saturday. Foster, a Democrat who has never previously stood for political office, secures a seat in the House of Representatives previously occupied by Republican and former House speaker Dennis Hastert, who resigned after 20 years service. "Back in the laboratory, this is what we'd say was a pretty successful experiment," Foster said.
The two existing physicists in Congress are Republican Vernon Ehlers of Michigan, a nuclear physicist and one-time chair of Calvin College's physics department, and Democrat Rush Holt of New Jersey, formerly assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Foster, 52, earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1975. Four years later, as a Ph.D. student at Harvard University, he joined the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven (IMB) collaboration where he helped to design, build, and conduct research the IMB detector. Designed to spot proton decay, this instrument gained fame when it detected a burst of neutrinos emitted by the SN 1987A supernova.
Read more
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Hard work
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Pier Oddone |
There are some weeks when the Tevatron luminosity is far from breaking records, yet reaching even limited luminosity constitutes a remarkable achievement. This past week we collected only about half the luminosity we would normally expect, due to a series of problems with the lithium lens used in the antiproton source. In this type of lens, a huge current pulsed through a cylinder of lithium creates a very large-gradient solenoidal field that focuses secondary particles coming out of the target. Lithium lenses are technically challenging devices involving very high pulsed currents that generate large forces on lens components.
Failures are a fact of life in the tough environment where these lenses have to operate. When failures occur, it is a challenge to do the repair work safely in an area that has high levels of radiation. When a lens fails, experts cannot repair it in place and must replace it altogether with a spare. What made last week's lens failure unusual is that the spare lens developed a problem right away, and the experts had to change the lens a second time. Getting to a working lens took several days of almost round-the-clock work on the part of the Accelerator Division's Antiproton Source Department, the Mechanical Support Department, the Environment, Safety & Health Department and the Electronics and Electrical Support Department. For the first day, an unusually long store in the Tevatron masked the problem, but after that the pressure was fierce to restore collisions. The Tevatron is now back running on all cylinders and we have had several excellent stores. This is just one example of the fantastic coordination, safe practices and hard work of the team that makes it possible to solve very difficult problems. No wonder the Tevatron is such a successful machine.
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Have a safe day!
Computing Techniques Seminar
On March 12 at 3 p.m. in Curia II, Fermilab will offer C++: New and Improved!, a Computing Techniques Seminar that will present an overview of changes forthcoming in the next C++ standard.
Walter Brown, who participates on Fermilab's behalf in the international C++ standardization effort, is the presenter. He is a member of the Computing Division's LSC department.
FermiGrid classes available
FermiGrid 201:Scripting and Running Grid Jobs course serves as an introductory course for grid computing. For more information or to enroll
FermiGrid 202:Grid Storage Access course includes lab time. For more information or to enroll
Excel 2003 Intermediate
An intermediate class on Excel 2003 is offered. Learn how to create templates, sort and filter data, import and export data,
analyze data and work with Excel on the Web. Learn more and enroll
Discounted tickets available
Discounted tickets are available for the following events: Chicago Bulls at the United Center, March 22, $26 and March 25, $30; Doodlebops Live at the Rosemont Theater, March 8; and "When Irish Cows Are Smiling" dinner and show at the Milk Pail, March 14, $35. Stop by the Recreation Office, WH15, or call x2548 for more information.
Going to CERN?
Take your camera! Have your photos featured in the Fermilab Remote
Operations Center online gallery. Contact Elizabeth Clements
for details.
Scottish Country dance Tuesday
Scottish Country Dancing will meet Tuesday, March 11, at Kuhn Barn on the Fermilab site. Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m. and newcomers are always welcome. Most dances are fully taught and walked through, and you do not need to come with a partner. For more information, call (630) 840-8194 or (630) 584-0825 or folkdance@fnal.gov.
Brown Bag seminar cancelled
The Brown Bag Seminar on mold, radon and capsaicin scheduled for Wednesday, March 12,
has been cancelled.
Additional Activities
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