Editorial — Bringing Nobel Prize physics to high schools
Today much of the ethical and political decision-making involves some understanding of the nature of science, its strengths and limits. There is perhaps no better or more recent example of this need, than the debate that arose around the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the operation of LHC at CERN, which has sparked the imagination of authors of works of fiction, occasionally causing concern among the general public. To understand the role of science in deliberations about the projected outcomes of the experiments taking place in the LHC, their safety and value – given the immense investment in human and other resources involved – all students, including future scientists need…
NPL named birthplace of atomic timekeeping
The National Physical Laboratory [NPL] has been officially declared by the European Physical Society [EPS] Historic Site as the birthplace of atomic timekeeping. The announcement was made during a dedicated event at NPL in Teddington, United-Kingdom, on 31 January 2014 and a plaque commemorating the historic occasion was unveiled.
The EPS Historic Sites Award recognises places in Europe that have made an exceptional contribution to physics. The award recognises NPL as the place where the first practical atomic clock was built, a landmark which has changed global timekeeping and made modern communications and location services possible…
Jean-Michel Raimond wins EPS Edison-Volta Prize 2014
The European Physical Society [EPS] has the pleasure to announce that the 2014 EPS Edison-Volta Prize is awarded to Jean-Michel Raimond for “seminal contribution to physics (that) have paved the way for novel explorations of quantum mechanics and have opened new routes in quantum information processing”.
J.-M. Raimond’s PhD thesis was supervised by Serge Haroche at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, in the early 1980′s, and together S. Haroche, M. Brune and J.-M. Raimond have built an extremely successful research group since then. J.-M. Raimond has made seminal contributions to the development of cavity QED experiments, in particular…
IYL 2015 – Draw the magic of light
The International Year of Light 2015 [IYL 2015] will foster the creativity all over the world. The students from the media field of the University of Offenburg, Germany, did not wait until 2015 to bring their skills and innovative ideas to promote light. Under the guidance of their professor Dan Curticapean, they designed dozens of posters for IYL 2015.
From 2013 encouragements to participate and engage activities for the IYL 2015 are multiplying. The initiative from the University of Offenburg, lead by D. Curticapean is one of the first success stories of IYL 2015…
Executive Committee Meeting Summary
For its January meeting, the EPS Executive Committee met at The Institute of Physics [IOP] premises, Portland Place, London, on the same day as the IOP council. During a joint lunch, the EPS president gave a short overview of EPS’s activities to the Council and there were fruitful discussions between IOP Council and EPS Executive Committee members.
Traditionally, a large fraction of discussions in January is turned towards the preparation of agenda items for the EPS Council meeting in spring. The preliminary accounts 2013 are part of this, as well as on-going activities such as…
Learned societies worldwide to plan the future of particle physics
Three community driven initiatives in 2013 have provided an opportunity to high-energy particle “to build a compelling science case for major research facilities in Asia, Europe and the US. They identified ways to increase the scientific return on society’s investment and to spread the benefits of forefront physics research to developing countries.”
An article in the January/February 2014 CERN Courier describes how learned societies have provided valuable input into the planning process for future high-energy particle physics facilities…
In January 2013, a working group of the CERN Council met in Erice, Italy, to draft an updated strategy for medium…
FCC and more after LHC
Particle physics takes the long-term view. Originally conceived in the 1980s, the LHC took another 25 years to come into being. This accelerator, which is unlike any other, is just at the start of a longer programme, which is expected to run for another 20 years.
Even now, plans are being hatched for a large-scale upgrade to increase luminosity and thereby exploit the LHC to its full potential. The high luminosity LHC is CERN’s number-one priority and will increase the number of collisions accumulated in the experiments by a factor of 10 from 2024 onwards…
How to train doctoral researchers for a diverse job market
The League of European Research Universities [LERU] just published a paper sharing some successful experiences regarding doctoral education in Europe.
Doctoral education has changed significantly, not least to adapt to changing demands from a variety of employers. Universities have (re)developed structured programmes and are embedding in them a great choice of professional development training opportunities for doctoral researchers.
For example, under the heading formal research training, there are masterclasses…
Everybody wants to see the sky
A modern person is bonded tightly to the different types of screen, starting from a smartphone to a cinema screen. Especially, young people are affected in this way. Frequently, they search and watch the beauty of the Nature on the laptop while the amazing physical phenomena surround us everywhere. The simplest example is the stellar sky that attracts human sees around the Globe during the centuries. These thoughts and ideas have inspired the EPS Lviv Young Minds section members to let anyone and particularly young and kids get more comprehension about celestial objects by the practical experience in the Astronomical Observatory…
EPS-SIF International School on Energy
The EPS together with the Italian Physical Society [SIF] will organise the 2nd Course of the Joint EPS-SIF International School on Energy in Varenna, Italy, on the Lake Como from 17-23 July 2014. The title of this Course is: “Energy: Basic concepts and forefront ideas”.
The primary goal of the School will be to present all physics fields with relevance for the technologies of energy production, conversion, transmission and savings. Their potential will be presented but also the need for more research and development to fully unfold it will be indicated. For this purpose, basic lectures and topical seminars will be…
IUPAP Young Scientists Prize in Quantum Electronics
The award ceremony for the biennial Young Scientist Prizes in Quantum Electronics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics [IUPAP] was held on 5 December 2013 at the OPTIC 2013 conference in Chung-Li, Taiwan. This year, the Prize in Quantum Electronics (Applied Aspects) goes to Dr. Nickolas Vamivakas of the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. The Prize in Quantum Electronics (Fundamental Aspects) goes to Dr. Kin Fai Mak of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science Laboratory for Atomic and Solid State Physics. Dr. Vamivakas was cited for his seminal contributions to extending the domain of experimental quantum optics from atomic to solid-state systems…
7 research centres lead world-class physics research in Korea
Established in November 2011, the Institute for Basic Science [IBS] is moving forward to promote and secure creative knowledge for future generations through world-class research in fundamental sciences. Under the leadership of Professor Se-Jung Oh, the president of IBS, the institute is now composed of 20 research centres, the Rare Isotope Science Project which is constructing a heavy-ion accelerator called “RAON”, the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and a secretariat. In total, there are more than 900 researchers, students, and supporting staff, with an annual budget of 250 million USD. A brief introduction of the IBS research centres which are dedicated to research…
