Light for Development
A central goal of the EPS International Year of Light project will be to promote optical technologies and optics education to improve the quality of life in the developing world – under the theme of ‘Light for Development’.
Light plays a central role in human activities in science, technology and culture. On a fundamental scientific level, light is necessary for the existence of life itself; whilst on a more technical level, light-based technologies will underpin the future development of human society…
Report from EPS HEP 2011
Impressive results, so early on, and so much more yet to come! This was the prevalent feeling among the 800+ attendees of the EPS-HEP bi-annual meeting, held at the end of July, in Grenoble.
The spectacular performance of the Large Hadron Collider, which within a year has delivered the integrated luminosity milestone of one inverse femtobarn, along with the very fast analysis of the data by the experiments, was a leading actor at the conference. In parallel, with the Tevatron approaching the finalization of its physics program…
2012 EPS Council meeting
The next EPS Council meeting will be held at CERN, on 30-31 March 2012. The event will be a return of sorts for the EPS – coming back to where the society was founded, 44 years earlier, by its first president, Gilberto Bernardini, the then Research Director of CERN.
The venue for the meeting will be the CERN Council Chamber, where the EPS Constitution was first signed, on the 26 September 1968, by eminent representatives from 20 different national societies, academies and groups; along with the initial sixty-two individual members…
HEPD elects new chair and secretary
The EPS High Energy Physics Division [HEPD] Board has elected Paris Sphicas, of the University of Athens, Greece, and CERN, Switzerland as the board’s next chair. Thomas Lohse, of Humbolt University, Berlin, is also being welcomed as the incoming secretary.
The HEPD would like to express its warmest thanks to the outgoing chair, Fabio Zwirner, for his hard work and dedication.
New Associate Members join European Physical Society
The EPS is proud to announce that the European Gravitational Observatory, the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and the Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche ‘E. Fermi’, have joined the European Physical Society as Associate Members.
The Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche ‘E. Fermi’ was created in honour of the achievements and vision of Enrico Fermi. It provides a centre for studies and research at the frontiers of science, along with providing scholarships for young scientists to undertake research in Italy…
Nominations open for Historic Sites initiative
The Historic Sites Initiative has been launched by the EPS to commemorate important places in the development and history of physics across Europe.
Sites with a national, or broader, significance to physics and its history may be considered for the distinction of becoming an EPS Historic Site. Commemorated locales will be recognised with a plaque, and an unveiling ceremony, organised between the EPS and the site nominators..
EPS and SIF launch school on energy
The first session of a new EPS-SIF joint International School on Energy will be held on 30 July – 4 August next year, at the Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy. The school, which was recently approved by the EPS Executive Committee and the Council of Presidency of the Società Italiana di Fisica (SIF), will promote European research and technology competence in the field of energy.
The directors of this year’s school will be Luisa Cifarelli, of the University of Bologna, Italy; Friedrich Wagner, of the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Germany; and Diederik Wiersma, of the European Laboratory for Non-linear…
Cosmic honour for former EPS president
Sir Arnold Wolfendale has been awarded the first IUPAP-TIFR Homi Bhabha Medal and Prize, for his work in the field of cosmic ray astrophysics. The prize will be presented at the 2011 International Cosmic Ray Conference in Beijing, China, in August this year.
The Homi Bhabha Medal and Prize – which consists of a certificate, medal, $5000 cheque and an invitation to give a public lecture at the TIFR in Mumbai – is awarded to active scientists who have made distinguished contributions to the fields of high-energy cosmic ray physics and astroparticle physics, across an extended academic career…
EPS proposes study into physics and the economy
The EPS is investigating the feasibility of launching a study into physics and the economy, on a European scale. Research will go ahead if it is deemed that such can be done in a timely and cost effective manner.
In 2007, the UK Institute of Physics (IoP) commissioned a similar study entitled ‘Physics and the UK Economy’ – which can be read on the IoP website. The report – which examined the role of physics-based sectors in generating employment – added value and support to other sectors of the economy.
Editorial
Dear Readers,
Good news for the EPS! This year the society has seen a sizeable increase in its membership, more so than in the past few years; with the numbers at 291, 220 and 407 new individual members (IMs) in 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. Note also that the 2011 additions have only been counted up to 24 June – thus, further recruitment in 2011 is, in principle, still possible. The total number of IMs today exceeds 3200…
EPS Energy Group October Meeting
The next EPS Energy Group meeting will be held on 6-7 October this year in Oslo. The exact venue is to be confirmed.
Four main items will be on the agenda: the general business of the Energy Group; information on the energy situation in Norway; a discussion of the national nuclear waste disposal issues, including concepts, technical matters, solutions, political situation and approval; and a study of the challenges and possibilities of an European Union-wide electricity grid, and the compatibility of national planning.
EPS responds to consultation on European research funding
The European Physical Society has submitted a response to the European Commission’s consultation on the Green Paper entitled ‘Towards a Common Strategic Framework for EU research and innovation funding’.
The Green Paper proposes major changes to EU research and innovation funding in order to make participation easier, to increase the scientific and economic impact and provide better value for money…
