Editorial — Educating Upwards
I think that most of us would agree that physics research is poorly understood by politicians, and that we need to explain better what it is we do, and why. But while there may be consensus on the need for better communication, there is no universal agreement on how this should be achieved. And I have also heard frequently the same complaint that no matter how much effort we make, it seems to make no difference. There is little evidence that physics is actually appreciated at the political level.I believe that the reason for this is simple. Namely, that we are not talking to the right people in the right way…
AdA: the world’s first electron-positron collider
On Thursday 5 December 2013, the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics [INFN] Frascati National Laboratory [LNF] was honoured as an EPS Historic Site for the realization of the Storage Ring AdA, the first ever particle-antiparticle collider. The AdA was built at the LNF in 1961 by a small team of Italian physicists under the lead of the Austrian physicist Bruno Touschek.
AdA was designed to store beams of 250 MeV energy. By 1962 it had stored electrons, and it was soon transferred…
Niels Bohr Institute and the roots of modern physics
The European Physical Society [EPS] has declared the Niels Bohr Institute as an EPS Historic Site with great international importance for developments in physics and research on 3 December 2013. The Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, was established in 1921 for the physicist and Nobel laureate, Niels Bohr, who in 1913 created the ground-breaking atomic model that formed the basis for our understanding of how the world is constructed, and later as the basis for quantum mechanics, which has revolutionised technological development.Across the world, organisations declare UNESCO sites, buildings and monuments as the cultural or…
2nd EPS Emmy Noether Distinction 2013
The EPS Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics has been given by the EPS Executive Committee to Prof. Nynke Dekker of the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, and we offer our heartfelt congratulations.
A laudation has been prepared by Prof. van der Hagen, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Delft University of Technology, and can be read in the Europhysicsnews [EPN]. As a summary, N. Dekker’s scientific career started in Yale University where she attended physics and applied mathematics courses. She moved to Leiden University for…
EuCheMS subscribes the EPS statement on Open Access
The EPS statement– Managing the transition of Open Access Publication, released last month was the result of wide and lively discussions among various EPS partner societies, internal and external to the EPS.
Meanwhile, as a demonstration of the relevance of global Open Access, CERN has confirmed the start of the SCOAP3 initiative for high-energy particle physics on 1 January 2014.
Particularly relevant is then the endorsement and approval of the EPS Statement by the European Association for…
On the 2014 to-do list: join the EPS
Since 1968, the European Physical Society [EPS] has provided a forum for physicists from around Europe to meet and develop activities. Ranging from community building to promoting scientific excellence, from sponsoring the next generation of leaders in physics to policy input, the EPS welcomes all interested and motivated physicists to become members.
As an Individual Member, you have the following privileges…
Season’s greetings
I would like to take this opportunity of wishing all the readers of e-EPS a very happy holiday season, and extend my best wishes for the New Year 2014. I would also like to reflect a bit on 2013, and how the European Physical Society [EPS] has evolved over the past year.
It is no secret to scientists that the European Commission and the European Parliament have and will continue to shape science policy in Europe. This sets scientists a bit apart from other citizens in Europe, who see Europe as another bureaucratic layer. The EPS has fully embraced the challenge of constructively interacting with European policy makers, organising many point to point meetings with senior EC officials, and providing input into European science policy.
A new edition of the OECD STI Scoreboard
Published every two years since 1999, the OECD STI Scoreboard 2013 – Innovation for Growth analyses the major trends in knowledge and innovation in today’s global economy. Through statistical indicators it presents a policy-oriented review of science, technology, innovation and industrial performance in OECD and major non-OECD countries.
As stated in the Foreword of the document, “the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2013 draws on the latest internationally comparable data to uncover the strengths of OECD and other leading economies and…
EPS Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics
The EPS Europhysics Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter Physics is acknowledged internationally as one of the most prestigious awards for condensed matter physics.
Nominations are now being sought for the 2014 Award. Nominations can be submitted by any individual physicist following the nomination procedures and using the nomination form on the EPS website. The EPS Europhysics Prize recognises recent work by one or more individuals in the area of physics of condensed matter, which, in the opinion…
SESAME Council Meeting held in Jordan
The Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East [SESAME] is a 3rd-generation synchrotron light source under construction in Allan, Jordan. Like the European Organization for Nuclear Research [CERN], it was set up under the auspices of UNESCO and is now a completely independent intergovernmental organization. The accelerator system consists of a Microtron, a Booster which accelerates the beam up to 800 MeV, and the 2.5 GeV synchrotron ring. Four experimental beamlines are foreseen…
EPS Young Minds at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
The second Autumn Academy at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light took place from 30 September to 2 October 2013. The aim of this two-and-a-half day event was to introduce Bachelor and Master students to the fast moving field of optical sciences including topics such as quantum information processing, meta-materials, nano-optics, photonic crystal fibres, nonlinear optics, imaging and sensing. The response was excellent. From more than 70 applications, the EPS Young Minds section of Erlangen, Germany selected 26 students and invited them to Erlangen for a packed…
Mathematical beauty behind particle production and Stokes phenomena
At the James Scott Prize Lecture in 1939, P. A. M. Dirac emphasized the theory of functions of a complex variable as an interesting mathematical theory that fulfilled his criteria of beauty. He found this field to be of “exceptional beauty” and hence likely to lead to deep physical insight [1]. The lecture was delivered a decade after he discovered the Dirac equation, the positron was found, and the concept of the Dirac sea was well established.
Dirac theory predicts that an external electric field may tilt the Dirac sea such that an electron in a negative energy…
