Editorial — Improving the image of physics
Ask any child to draw a picture of a scientist and you will receive, from that proud, smiling child, a picture of an elderly male with mad hair and a white lab coat. You, too, will smile, as you will be mildly amused by how even the youngest child absorbs our society’s stereotypes so readily. You may then become slightly annoyed by the stereotypical image, but may reassure yourself that this young person will soon learn how much more diverse scientists are in the real world.
But how to excuse Google the same mistake? A search will provide a collection of images which are at least as…
2014 Awards of EPS Accelerator Group
The EPS-Accelerators Group prizes is pleased to announce the laureates of the Rolf Wideröe Prize, the Gersch Budker Prize and the Frank Sacherer Prize. These prizes are awarded every three years for exceptional work in the accelerator field.
The Rolf Wideröe Prize for “outstanding work in the accelerator field without age limit” will be awarded to Professor Mikael Eriksson, Machine Director of the Max-IV Laboratory, Lund, Sweden, for outstanding leadership in the design, construction and commissioning of the MAXlab Synchrotron Radiation Facilities. His intense activities in different worldwide machines and in education have had an extremely important impact on numerous existing synchrotron…
International Year of Light News
IYL2015 mobilisation begins worldwide
The start of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies [IYL2015] may still be nine months away, but there has been tremendous enthusiasm from scientists and non-scientists alike, and planning meetings…
The International Year of Light has begun for St. Petersburg
Meetings are currently taking place all over the world in order to brainstorm ideas and plan the activities for the International Year of Light 2015, and St. Petersburg is no exception. It could hardly be otherwise: this is…
France supports the European XFEL
With a contribution of 36 million euro toward the facility’s construction, France has officially joined the European XFEL as a shareholder country. France joins the 12 countries that have signed the European XFEL convention.
The European XFEL, currently under construction in the Hamburg area, will be an international research facility of superlatives: 27.000 X-ray flashes per second and a brilliance that is a billion times higher than that of the best conventional X-ray sources will open up completely new opportunities for science. The facility starts user operation in 2017…
First proposal about WWW from 1989
Exactly 25 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal addressing the complex issue of information management at CERN. The project was based on linked information using hypertexts. Revolutionising the idea of archiving documents, it laid the foundation of the Internet.
In 1984, Tim Berners-Lee took up a fellowship at CERN, 8 years after his graduation from the Queen’s College at Oxford University, United Kingdom. His first job there was related with the distributed real-time systems for scientific data acquisition and system control. In this context T. Berners-Lee submitted the proposal that would provide…
VI EPS Forum Physics and Society
The VI EPS Forum Physics and Society will be held on 2-3 October 2014 in Belgrade, Serbia. The meeting, organised by the Forum on Physics and Society of the European Physical Society, will focus on the topic “Improving the Image of Physics”.
The meeting aims to share good practice and ideas that work in different countries to increase recruitment of physics students, to enhance the employability of physics students, to improve the image of physics amongst the public and…
Landau-Spitzer Award
The American Physical Society [APS] and the European Physical Society [EPS], through their respective Plasma Physics Divisions, are seeking nominations for the Landau Spitzer Award.
The Award is given to an individual or group of researchers, not exceeding three, who has/have made outstanding theoretical, experimental or technical contribution(s) in the area of fundamental plasma physics, fusion plasmas, astrophysical or space plasmas, low-temperature plasmas, or high energy density plasmas. The prize may be awarded to a team or collaboration of up to four persons if such a team consists of individuals from both Europe…
Gender Summit 4 – EU 2014
The Gender Summit 4 – EU 2014 [GS4-Europe] will take place from 30 June-1 July 2014 in Brussels, Belgium. This edition will focus the discussion on theme “From Ideas to Markets: Excellence in mainstreaming gender into research, innovation, and policy”.
The GS4 – Europe will, again, bring together experts from research, industry and policy to jointly establish practical and effective ways of improving quality and impact of research and innovation, and the gender issues relating to science knowledge making and application…
Positive conclusions for ERA
Since 2008, the European Research Area [ERA] has facilitated the circulation of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology in the European Union. In February 2014, the Council of the European Union [EU] reaffirmed its support to ERA as a key factor to create growth and jobs.
Over the years, ERA has been reinforced with focus on 5 priorities: more effective national research systems; optimal transnational co-operation and competition; an open labor market for researchers; gender equality and gender mainstreaming in research; and optimal circulation, access…
Featured in EPL
Most recent highlights from EPL:Propagating waves in bounded elastic media: Transition from standing waves to anguilliform kinematics
The quantum anomalous Hall effect in a topological insulator thin film — The role of magnetic disorder
Detangling flat bands into Fano lattices
Overarching framework for data-based modelling
Fusion yield rate recovery by escaping hot-spot fast ions in the neighboring fuel layer
Executive and Staff Activity for February 2014
The EPS works to support its members. Find below for the list of the activities of EPS Executive Committee and staff for February 2014:
- 3 February: J. Dudley, EPS President, attended multi-society International Year of Light Planning Meeting during Photonics West in San Francisco, USA
- 6 February: EPN Editors Meeting (X. de Araujo, J. Ekon, A. Henri, J. Hermanns, B. Huchet, D. Lee, C. Sebenne, V. R. Velasco) in Paris, France…
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…
