IZEST conference report
Eminent physicists from around the world met in Glasgow at the International Zetawatt-Exawatt Science Technology conference [IZEST] hosted by the University of Strathclyde to explore new ways of investigating the fundamental structure of matter and vacuum through the use of the highest power lasers available, which is leading to a new paradigm in basic physics research.
The second IZEST Meeting was held in from 13 to 15 November 2012, to explore the possibility…
Papercore: Scholar Database based on the wiki Principle
The Papercore project is an open and free database for all scientists. Based on the wiki principle, Papercore allows scientists to write, store and edit summaries of scientific articles. Through this collective community process should make it possible to summarize large areas of knowledge efficiently.
Papercore was created by the research group “Computational Theoretical Physics” in collaboration with the Institute for Science Networking, both located at the University of Oldenburg, Germany…
The perfect Christmas tree
Nicole Wrightham and Alex Craig, students in mathematics at the University of Sheffield, have created a formula to calculate the number of balls to hang on a Christmas tree. The formula also determines the height of the angel, and the length of the garlands and even the number of lights.
Whether you decide to trust to your intuition, or let yourselves be guided by the formula, the EPS would like to wish all of its members, and all of the readers of e-EPS a wonderful holiday season.
IBA Europhysics Prize nominations open
The board of the EPS Nuclear Physics Division has announced calls for nominations are now open for the 2013 IBA-Europhysics prize, sponsored by IBA Group. The award will be made to one or several individuals for outstanding contributions to Applied Nuclear Science and Nuclear Methods and Nuclear Researches in Medicine.
The IBA prize was first awarded in 2004. Last year, Elisabetta Boaretto received the prize in recognition of her significant contribution to the development of precise quality controlled radiocarbon dating…
Laura Bassi: Emblem and primacy
A volume in honour of Laura Bassi was recently presented in Bologna, Italy, at the Accademia dell’Istituto delle Scienze, in the presence of the Undersecretary of State for Education, University and Research, Elena Ugolini.
Laura Bassi, in 1732, became the first female member of the influential Accademia in Bologna. She was the first woman in the world to be appointed to a university chair to teach “universal philosophy” (1732), and later “experimental physics” (1776). The Italian Physical Society and the Italian Society of the History of Science…
Stimulating Physics Network
The drastic shortage of specialist physics teachers in England ( ~ 40%) has been getting worse for most of the last 20 years, largely due to low levels of recruitment.
Happily, as a result of recent changes in policy following years of lobbying by the Institute of Physics, recruitment is now healthy. However, it is still the case that many children up to age 16 are taught physics by non-specialists, usually biologists, and will be for at least the next decade…
EPS-TIG workshop: Collaborations for technological developments
The EPS Technology and Innovation Group [TIG] held a three-day workshop, focusing on the ongoing and projected R&D and technological innovations in physics research and its spin-offs to society. This workshop is a result of the renewed commitment of the EPS to study the relationship between physics research and innovation and technology.
The EPS-TIG workshop was organised by the EPS TIG Chairman, Horst Wenninger and by Manjit Dosanjh, CERN’s Life Sciences Advisor in CERN’s Knowledge Transfer [KT] Group and member of the TIG…
Scientists express concern over L’Aquila verdict
On 6 April 2009 an earthquake of a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter Scale struck the region of L’Aquila, Italy, destroying the city center and killing 308 people and injuring 1 600. On 26 October 2012, an Italian court found six of Italy’s most respected seismologists and a seismic specialist from Italy’s civil protection guilty of manslaughter.
The verdict has raised grave concerns in the international scientific community agency. Both the European Geosciences Union and the American Geophysical Union have published articles on their respective web sites…
Submissions for the Spanish Royal Society Meeting
From 15-19 July 2013, most of the Spanish community of physicists will gather in Valencia, Spain, to attend the 34th Biannual Meeting of the Spanish Royal Society of Physics and the 23rd Iberian Meeting on Physics Education.
In addition to mini-symposia, plenary sessions and round tables will address some of the hottest issues in physics and technology, including the elusive Higgs boson, quantum computing, or the state of the art in renewable energies.
The abstract submission deadline is 4 February 2013…
IPAC’13
The 4th International Particle Accelerator Conference [IPAC’13] will take place in Shanghai, China, from 12 to 17 May 2013. The conference will bring together accelerator scientists and engineers from all over the world to discuss the latest developments in a field that underpins many areas of research, from high energy physics to structural biology. The three previous IPAC conferences have each attracted over 1000 participants. As a truly international conference series, the venue moves between Asia, Europe and North America on a three-year cycle. IPAC’12 was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA in May 2012; in 2014 the conference will return to Europe, when IPAC’14…
Summary of EPS ExCom Meeting, October 2012
At the end of October 2012, the European Physical Society’s Executive Committee met at the Ettore Majorana Scientific Centre in Erice, Italy, in parallel with the kick-off under the chairmanship of H. Wenninger. The common location allowed the ExCom to learn about ongoing work and future evolution of the TIG.
The very recent endorsement of the International Year of Light 2015 by UNESCO was, of course, one of the highlights of the agenda of the ExCom meeting…
CERN has launched SCOAP3
The Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics [SCOAP3] was officially at CERN on 1 October 2012.
This new publishing model, which grants free access to peer-reviewed articles in particle physics, redirects the funding traditionally spent by libraries for subscriptions to an internationally coordinated common fund.
Twelve publishers have been retained in the first call for tender…
