A special session on ‘Sexual and Gender Diversity Issues in Physics’ will be held, as part of the March 2012 meeting of the American Physical Society, on the 28 February, in Boston. The event, which aims to draw attention to these issues, will feature talks and panel discussions on research outreach, and advocacy for greater inclusion and visibility of gender and sexual minorities in physics.
Planned talks include: “Shattering the Lavender Ceiling: Sexual Minorities in Physics”, “The State of Higher Education…
Dear Readers,
Communication is a vital cornerstone of any efficient organisation. The fact that the European Physical Society [EPS] has now – in addition to its traditional journal, Europhysics News [EPN] – a digital newsletter, e-EPS, is a sure sign that the EPS is both efficient and rooted in today’s digital world. In e-EPS, readers can find up-to-date news from the EPS and beyond, conference announcements and much more…
Featuring in the latest issue of EPN:
A new spin on Earth’s deep mantle
by J. Badro
Ratchets from the cold: Brownian motors with cold atoms in optical lattices
by F. Renzoni…
A new, safer method of operating lead-cooled nuclear reactors has been demonstrated at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. The operational model, Guinevere, uses a particle accelerator to control nuclear reactions.
As the new reactor design – referred to as an Accelerator Driven System [ADS] – requires an external neutron source to operate, an immediate shutdown can be brought about by simply turning off the particle accelerator. This makes Guinevere both much safer and easier to control…
A new initiative detailing the European education systems – Eurypedia – has been launched by the Eurydice Network. Eurypedia aims to present the most accurate picture of the 38 national and regional secondary and tertiary education systems across Europe.
Eurypedia, a wiki-based tool powered by MediaWiki, will be a regularly updated resource, maintained by education experts and the national ministries responsible for European education. It will cover all 27 European Union Member…
Nominations are now open for six positions on the board of the European Physical Society Plasma Physics Division. The duties of the Plasma Physics Division board members are “to promote excellent in research by rewarding researchers who have achieved outstanding scientific or technological results; to coordinate activities with other physical societies; to regularly attend board meetings; and to become individual members of the European Physical Society.”
These elections follow on from the appointment, last December, of Sylvie Jacquemot as the upcoming chair…