Editorial — The Complexities of Inter-societal Cooperation
The planning for the International Year of Light 2015 has brought to the fore the complexities of inter-societal cooperation. Each learned society has a geographically defined membership base. For example, the European Physical Society attracts mainly physicists from Europe. And while the American Physical Society has many international members, the majority of members are based in the USA. Moreover, each learned society defines its membership by scientific discipline, which can be more or less broad. The Optical Society of America…
The study of Georgi Nadjakov declared an EPS Historic Site
On the eve of the 24 May 2014, which is the Bulgarian holiday of Culture and Literacy as well as the feast of Cyril and Methodius brothers, the patron saints of Europe, the European Physical Society [EPS] commemorated the distinguished Bulgarian physicist Georgi Nadjakov by declaring his study in Sofia, Bulgaria, an EPS Historic Site as part of the scientific and cultural heritage of the old continent.
The announcement was made during an official ceremony in the Nadjakov Institute of Solid State Physics [ISSP] at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences [BAS] by Prof. Luisa Cifarelli, Chair of EPS Historic Sites Committee, who…
EPS CMD Europhysics Prize honors oxide interfaces research
The Condensed Matter Division of the European Physical Society is proud to announce the award of the 2014 European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division Europhysics Prize to Harold Y. Hwang, Jochen Mannhart and Jean-Marc Triscone “for the discovery and investigation of electron liquids at oxide interfaces”.
An outstanding challenge in condensed matter science has been to develop alternatives to conventional semiconductors for the future generations of electronic devices. Of particular interest for such devices are interfaces of…
CERN: a jewel in science as part of our heritage
To celebrate CERN’s 60th anniversary, a special ceremony took place at the laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 June 2014. The occasion was the declaration as an EPS Historic Site of the first CERN accelerator, the 600 MeV SynchroCyclotron [SC], built in the 1950s when CERN was making its debut as an international particle physics laboratory in Europe.
The SC started up in 1957 and witnessed very important physics achievements over its 33 years of operation. It had a key role in the early stages of our understanding of weak interactions, in particular with…
International Year of Light News
Year of Light Volunteers needed!
IYL2015 partner CIE announces Global Open Lab Days Initiative
Extreme Light focus in Romania during 2015
Download EPS IYL2015 Poster
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…
The position of Switzerland in H2020 and ERASMUS +
The rectors of the League of European Research Universities [LERU], during a meeting in Helsinki from 16-17 May 2014, have reflected on the present relationship between Switzerland and the European Union [EU].
Although respecting the Swiss vote to limit the immigration and the consequent EU decision to exclude Switzerland from the Erasmus+ programme and downgrade Switzerland from associated to third country in Horizon 2020 calls, the rectors regret the negative impact this will have on the strong Swiss research, innovation and education community…
SESAME Council: New supports and opportunities
The 24th SESAME Council Meeting was held on 12-13 May 2014 in Italy. It was hosted by the Frascati National Laboratory [LNF] of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics [INFN].
The meeting was chaired by the Council’s President, Prof. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, and attended by representatives of the Members of SESAME, as well as representatives of the Observer States of SESAME, intergovernmental and international organizations, among which the European Physical Society [EPS], the Chair of SESAME’s Finance…
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…
First beam of antihydrogen atoms
ASACUSA at CERN, Antiproton Decelerator [AD], a Japanese-European collaboration working on antihydrogen production for the CPT symmetry test, has unambiguously detected an antihydrogen beam 2.7 meters downstream from the production region, for the first time. This is an important milestone towards high precision tests of the CPT symmetry via antihydrogen spectroscopy.
It is well-known that matter and antimatter are always created in equal amounts in laboratory experiments. It is …
