ELI-ALPS 2nd User Workshop

The 2nd User Workshop of the Extreme Light Infrastructure – Attosecond Light Pulse Source [ELI-ALPS] will be held in Szeged, Hungary, from 11-12 September 2014.
The ELI-ALPS based in Szeged, Hungary, is part of the ESFRI roadmap that will be the first international facility with the mission to make a wide range of ultrafast light sources accessible to international user groups. ELI-ALPS is expected to be partially available in 2016, while it will become fully operational for user-based research in 2018.
The 2nd User Workshop focuses on…

New DPG President Edward G. Krubasik

Prof. Edward G. Krubasik took over the role of President of the German Physical Society [DPG] in April 2014. He succeeds to Prof. Johanna Stachel.

E.G. Krubasik received his PhD in nuclear physics from the Karlruhe Institute of Technology and has worked in industry notably for McKinsey & Company, Inc. and Siemens AG . He is also distinguished by his long-standing work in associations and committees, for example, as president of the ZVEI or as chairman of the Growth and Innovation…

Research performance in the United Kingdom

Physics may be not the most important field of research in the United Kingdom [UK] but its impact is significant. This is the conclusion of a report entitled “The UK’s performance in physics research”.

In April 2014, the UK Institute of Physics [IOP] together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EPSRC], and the Science and Technology Facilities Council [STFC] published a report on performance in physics research in the United-Kingdom based on bibliometrics and case studies. Science Metrix, an independent research…

Coordinated Access to Light sources

The CALIPSO project, which runs from June 2012 to May 2015, will contribute to the effective exploitation of European synchrotrons and free electron lasers. CALIPSO (Coordinated Access to Light sources to Promote Standards and Optimisation) includes 20 partners forming one of the largest Research Networks in the world.

e-EPS interviewed M. Bertolo, CALIPSO project manager and his assistant C. Blasetti.

Which challenges are addressed by CALIPSO?

Nine scientific pioneers receive the 2014 Kavli Prizes

Nine pioneering scientists have been named this year’s recipients of the Kavli Prizes – prizes that recognize scientists for their seminal advances in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

The 2014 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics is shared between Alan H. Guth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Andrei D. Linde, Stanford University, USA, and Alexei A. Starobinsky, Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia. They receive the prize “for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation”. The theory of…

NANOMETA 2015

The 5th International Topical Meeting on Nanophotonics and Metamaterials [NANOMETA 2015] will take place from 5-8 January 2015 in Seefeld, Austria. It will be included as an activity in the International Year of Light endorsed by the United Nations. NANOMETA 2015 continues the series of meetings that began in 2007.

During the plenary and parallel sessions, attendees will be able to discuss the most recent results in the fields of metamaterials, nanophotonics, plasmonics, hybrid and quantum materials as well as localisation of light and…

CLEO®/Europe – EQEC 2015

The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics [CLEO®/Europe] and the European Quantum Electronics Conference [EQEC] 2015 will be held at the International Congress Centre in Munich, Germany, from 21-25 June 2015.

The CLEO®/Europe-EQEC conference series has a long tradition as a gathering of optics and photonics researchers and engineers in Europe. Held every two years, CLEO®/Europe-EQEC conference has become the benchmark …

Blackett Laboratory, place of dozen discoveries

The Blackett Laboratory, home of the Department of Physics of the Imperial College based in London, United-Kingdom, was designated as EPS Historic Site on 30 April 2014. The Imperial College physicist Professor Tom Kibble had the privilege to unveil the commemorative plaque in presence of a large audience and EPS President John Dudley. Prof. Antonino Zichichi, past EPS president and member of the Blackett Group was invited to give a talk at the ceremony.

Since its inauguration in 1961, the building has hosted numerous eminent physicists, including…

An unconventional 4-quark particle

On 9 April 2014, researchers at the LHCb experiment published a paper validating the existence of an exotic particle, which appears to be a tetraquark. The LHCb spokesperson Pierluigi Campana said: “We are very happy to have confirmed this particle, which is in fact a very strange object.”

Precisely 50 years ago, George Zweig and Murray Gell-Mann independently introduced the Quark Model, which is a fundamental cornerstone in particle physics. The model is a perfect tool to understand how matter interacts…

How physics impacts Italian economy

In 2013 the Italian Physical Society [SIF], in collaboration with some of the major Italian research institutions, Centro Fermi, CNR, INAF, INFN and INRIM, commissioned an independent and quantitative analysis concerning the impact of all the industry, commerce and business sectors based on physics and physics-derived technology on the Italian economy. The study, conducted by the Deloitte, a firm specialised in business and statistical analysis, covers a 4-year period, from 2008 to 2011.
The study takes into account all sectors of the economy where the use of physics…

One conference to bring them all

The community of experts in the fields of accelerator and large experimental physics control systems has grown effectively from the early 1930′s. Since 1989, the ICALEPCS biennial conference series highly contributes to support the community.

Since the first accelerators were built in the 1930′s, new discoveries and observations have been made in many fields of physics. These led to new questions and bigger and more efficient apparatus were needed. Since then…

Exhibition on Radu Balescu’s life

An exhibition on Radu Balescu’s life (1932-2006) was held from 6-20 May 2014 at the Library of Human Sciences of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Radu Balescu was the first laureate of the EPS Hannés Alfven Prize for his outstanding scientific work in the field of statistical physics of charged particles and of controlled fusion. This exhibition was first shown at the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Romania in September 2012.

Radu Balescu was born in 1932 in Bucharest, Romania, of a Belgian mother, and acquired Belgian nationality…