Summary of ICTP Activities in Support of Science in Russia
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Stanislav Nikolaevich Rodionov (–)
SCIENCE & GLOBAL SECURITY ,VOL.,NO.,– http://dx.doi.org/./.. Memoriam: Stanislav Nikolaevich Rodionov (–) Oleg Prilutsky and Frank von Hippel Stanislav Rodionov was a member of the first post-World War II generation of Soviet physicists. He began his scientific career in 1953 in what is now known as the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” where he carried out an exper- iment in which, for the first time in the Soviet Union, he captured electrons from tritium decay in a magnetic mirror adiabatic trap. From 1958 to 1973, he worked in the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Siberian Division of USSR Academy of Sciences in Akademgorodok near Novosibirsk. Dur- ing the 1960s, while Rodionov was there, this institute, directed by Academician Budker, built one of the first electron-positron colliders in the world (VEPP-2). Rodionov played a very important scientific-organizational role as the Secretary of the institute’s Scientific Council—its “Round Table.” In 1974, Rodionov returned to Moscow to join the staff of the Soviet Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute (IKI) directed by Roald Sagdeev. There he partici- pated in the organization of international collaborations in space research programs, which was a pioneering contribution to opening up Soviet science to the world. Rodionov also supported Sagdeev in doing arms-control research under the aus- pices of the Committee of Soviet Scientists for Peace and Against the Nuclear Threat. This Committee was established during a 17–19 May 1983 All-Union conference of scientists within the Soviet Academy called in response to President Reagan’s 23 MarchspeechaskingAmericanscientiststojoininaStrategicDefenseInitiative to make nuclear-armed ballistic missiles “impotent and obsolete.” Evgeny Velikhov was the first chairman with Sagdeev, Sergei Kapitza and Andrei Kokoshin as his Vice Chairmen. -
Plasma Physics in the 20Th Century As Told by Players”
Eur. Phys. J. H 43, 337{353 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2018-90061-5 THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL H Editorial Editorial introduction to the special issue \Plasma physics in the 20th century as told by players" Patrick H. Diamond1,a , Uriel Frisch2, and Yves Pomeau3 1 University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0319, USA 2 Universit´eC^oted'Azur, OCA, Lab. Lagrange, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France 3 Ladhyx, Ecole´ Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France Received 31 October 2018 Published online 30 November 2018 c EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature, 2018 Our ancestors lived in a world where { as far as they were aware { electrons and ions lived happily bound together. But with suitable conditions, e.g. low density and/or high temperature, electrons and ions will unbind and we obtain a plasma, a state of matter of which we became increasingly aware in the 20th century, and which pervades our universe near and far. There are also many applications of plasma physics: chip etching, TV screens, torches, propulsion, fusion (through magnetic or inertial confinement), astrophysics and space physics, and laser physics, to cite just a few. At the crossroads of electrodynamics, continuum physics, kinetic theory and nonlinear physics, plasma physics enjoys an abundance of riches. Actually, so much that we can only cover a fraction of its history in this limited volume. The history of plasma physics presented here covers mostly the period from 1950 to 2000. The issue is focussed both on fundamentals and on applications in controlled fusion through magnetic confinement, which in turn raises a host of fundamental and interesting questions in various areas. -
Alwyn C. Scott
the frontiers collection the frontiers collection Series Editors: A.C. Elitzur M.P. Silverman J. Tuszynski R. Vaas H.D. Zeh The books in this collection are devoted to challenging and open problems at the forefront of modern science, including related philosophical debates. In contrast to typical research monographs, however, they strive to present their topics in a manner accessible also to scientifically literate non-specialists wishing to gain insight into the deeper implications and fascinating questions involved. Taken as a whole, the series reflects the need for a fundamental and interdisciplinary approach to modern science. Furthermore, it is intended to encourage active scientists in all areas to ponder over important and perhaps controversial issues beyond their own speciality. Extending from quantum physics and relativity to entropy, consciousness and complex systems – the Frontiers Collection will inspire readers to push back the frontiers of their own knowledge. Other Recent Titles The Thermodynamic Machinery of Life By M. Kurzynski The Emerging Physics of Consciousness Edited by J. A. Tuszynski Weak Links Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks By P. Csermely Quantum Mechanics at the Crossroads New Perspectives from History, Philosophy and Physics Edited by J. Evans, A.S. Thorndike Particle Metaphysics A Critical Account of Subatomic Reality By B. Falkenburg The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time By H.D. Zeh Asymmetry: The Foundation of Information By S.J. Muller Mindful Universe Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer By H. Stapp Decoherence and the Quantum-to-Classical Transition By M. Schlosshauer For a complete list of titles in The Frontiers Collection, see back of book Alwyn C. -
The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics 2014
THE KAVLI PRIZE IN ASTROPHYSICS 2014 The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for 2014 to Alan H. Guth Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Andrei D. Linde Stanford University, CA, USA Alexei A. Starobinsky Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia “for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation” The theory of cosmic inflation, proposed astounding success, the Big Bang theory These two fundamental problems were and developed by Alan Guth, Andrei suffers from two major shortcomings: the elegantly solved in one fell swoop by Alan Linde and Alexei Starobinsky, has revo- “horizon” and the “flatness” problems. Guth in a paper entitled “Inflationary lutionized our thinking about the uni- Cosmic inflation solves them both. universe: A possible solution to the hori- verse. This theory extends our physical zon and flatness problems” published in description of the cosmos to the earliest As the universe expanded it cooled. Today 1981. Guth hypothesized that the uni- times, when the universe was only a tiny it is bathed in a sea of microwave radia- verse was initially trapped in a peculiar fraction of a second old. According to this tion, the heat left over from the Big Bang. state (the “false vacuum”) from which it theory, very soon after our universe came At first sight, the near uniformity of this decayed, in the process expanding expo- into existence it underwent a short-lived microwave background across the sky nentially and liberating the energy pres- phase of exponential expansion. During implies a disturbing contradiction: oppo- ent in our universe today. -
Brief Answers to the Big Questions
Copyright © 2018 by Spacetime Publications Limited Foreword copyright © 2018 by Eddie Redmayne Introduction copyright © 2018 by Kip Thorne Afterword copyright © 2018 by Lucy Hawking All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. BANTAM BOOKS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Published in the United Kingdom by John Murray (Publishers), a Hachette UK Company. Photograph of the adult Stephen Hawking © Andre Pattenden Hardback ISBN 9781984819192 Ebook ISBN 9781984819208 randomhousebooks.com Text design by Craig Burgess, adapted for ebook Cover design: Dan Rembert Cover image: © Shutterstock v5.3.2 ep Contents Cover Title Page Copyright A Note from the Publisher Foreword: Eddie Redmayne An Introduction: Kip Thorne Why We Must Ask the Big Questions Chapter 1: Is There a God? Chapter 2: How Did It All Begin? Chapter 3: Is There Other Intelligent Life in the Universe? Chapter 4: Can We Predict the Future? Chapter 5: What Is Inside a Black Hole? Chapter 6: Is Time Travel Possible? Chapter 7: Will We Survive on Earth? Chapter 8: Should We Colonise Space? Chapter 9: Will Artificial Intelligence Outsmart Us? Chapter 10: How Do We Shape the Future? Afterword: Lucy Hawking Acknowledgements By Stephen Hawking About the Author A Note from the Publisher Stephen Hawking was regularly asked for his thoughts on the “big questions” of the day by scientists, tech entrepreneurs, senior business figures, political leaders and the general public. Stephen maintained an enormous personal archive of his responses, which took the form of speeches, interviews and essays. -
Qnas with Alan Guth
QNAS QNAS QnAs with Alan Guth Paul Gabrielsen Science Writer The announcement in March 2014 that a few minutes of the history of the universe. telescope near the South Pole had detected Inflation comes before all that. possible evidence of gravitational waves PNAS: Whatwasyourreactiontothe brought renewed attention to inflationary results of the BICEP2 experiment, suggesting theory, which describes the earliest moments evidence of gravitational waves? of the universe. According to inflationary Guth: I was incredibly impressed that they theory, exotic matter present at the birth of had discovered what, at that time, appeared to the universe exerted repulsive gravitational be a completely unambiguous signal of gravi- effects, driving extremely rapid expansion of tational radiation coming from the early uni- the universe and leaving behind traces of verse, presumably from inflation. Since then gravitational waves in the cosmic background things have changed. The observations were radiation. National Academy of Sciences certainly a tour de force, but when other people member Alan Guth, a physicist at the Mas- looked more carefully at the ways the experi- sachusetts Institute of Technology, first out- ment could go wrong, the possibility that the lined inflationary theory in 1981 and has since signal could have been entirely due to dust been working out the details and implications couldnotberuledout.SorightnowIthink Alan Guth. Image courtesy of Jenny Guth. of the theory with his colleagues. The South it is waiting to be confirmed. I still hope that it Pole experiment, called BICEP2 (Background willturnouttobereal,butatthispointIthink ImagingofCosmicExtragalacticPolarization we don’tknowifitwasarealsignalofgravita- Henry Tye got himself interested in a class of 2), is undergoing further scrutiny to assess tional radiation from the early universe or not. -
(Extra)Terrestrial Intelligence Soviet Radio Astronomers, Scientific Internationalism and Outer Space Imaginary
Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Hugmynda- og vísindasaga Communication with (Extra)Terrestrial Intelligence Soviet Radio Astronomers, Scientific Internationalism and Outer Space Imaginary Ritgerð til MA-prófs í History of Ideas and Science Gabriela Radulescu Kt.: 240489-3769 Leiðbeinandi: Prof. Emeritus Einar H. Guðmundsson January 2020 Abstract In the early 1960s, the prospect of contacting extraterrestrial civilizations became a scientific concern for radio astronomers. The Soviet contributions in this field have been largely overlooked by historians so far. More particularly, little attention has been given to the international collaboration in which the Soviet Union was active in the 1960s and up until 1976 - and which came to be known as ‘Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence’ (CETI). This dissertation research investigates this episode of scientific internationalism in the history of the Cold War. The main question it seeks to answer is how were Soviet conceptualizations of extraterrestrial intelligence and of intelligent radio signals entangled with or informed by the ways in which scientists cooperated beyond state borders? In order to probe into this question, I have worked mostly with the following written sources: conference proceedings, scientific articles, as well as (auto)biographical accounts of the era together with some publications from the 1980s and 1990s. The record attests for a bottom-up process in which Soviet scientists were able to initiate surprising discussions considering the historical context of that time. By envisaging a communication with the Extraterrestrial Other, Soviet scientists facilitated a space for the political imagination to unfold. These findings reveal how the first real international scientific attempt to imagine the possibility of interacting with non-human intelligence beyond the limits of the Earth was articulated in the context of modern empirical science (radio astronomy). -
News from ICTP Autumn—Winter 2019 04 Features
14 8 News from ICTP Autumn—Winter 2019 04 Features 04 Farewell and Thank You 06 Leadership Inspired by Salam As Fernando Quevedo winds down his term as ICTP director, he shares the insights he has gained during his 10 years of leadership 12 Nurturing Latin American Science ICTP assists with region’s research roadmap 14 Dirac Winners 2019 15 Diploma Graduation Ceremony 2019 The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical 16 Research Highlights Physics (ICTP) is governed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Atomic Energy Agency 16 Greenhouse Warming Complicates (IAEA), and Italy. It is a UNESCO category 1 institute. El Niño Predictions News from ICTP is a bi-annual publication designed to keep scientists and staff informed on past 18 Open Access, Curated Data and future activities at ICTP and initiatives in their Provides New Resource at ICTP home countries. The text may be reproduced freely with due credit to the source. 19 Separating The Data From The Noise ICTP on the web: www.ictp.it Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram 20 News Briefs ICTP Public Information Office Strada Costiera, 11 22 In Memoriam I-34151 Trieste Italy [email protected] ISSN 2222-6923 Farewell and Russia, Cuba, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, as well as several regions of China, Thank You India, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, to mention some. Science is naturally an international endeavor and ICTP excels at implementing this in the most inclusive, As I approach the end of my tenure as ICTP director, I unique way. -
Spitzer S 100Th: Founding PPPL & Pioneering Work in Fusion Energy
(1) Spitzer’s 100th: Founding PPPL & Pioneering Work in Fusion Energy Greg Hammett (2) Some Stories From Working with Spitzer In the Early Years Russell Kulsrud Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Colloquium Dec. 4, 2013 These are shorter versions of talks we gave at the 100th Birthday Celebration for Lyman Spitzer, October 19-20, 2013, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, http://www.princeton.edu/astro/news-events/public-events/spitzer-100/ https://www.princeton.edu/research/news/features/a/?id=11377 Video of a longer talk by Kulsrud, “My Early Years Spent Working with Lyman Spitzer“: https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/id/1_1kil7s0p Thanks for slides: Dale Meade, Rob Goldston, Eleanor Starkman and PPPL photo archives, ... PPPL Historical Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tjv8lbx2844fxoa/FtubOdFWU2 June 19, 2014: added historical info. Jul 9, 2015: pointer to updated figure Lyman Spitzer Jr.’s 100th: Founding PPPL & Pioneering Work in Fusion Energy Outline: • Pictorial tour: from Spitzer’s early days, the Model-C stellarator (1960’s), to TFTR’s 10 megawatts of fusion & the Hubble Space Telescope (Dec. 9-10, 1993) • Russell Kulsrud: A few personal reflections on early days working with Lyman Spitzer. • The road ahead for fusion: – Interesting ideas being pursued in fusion, to improve confinement & reduce the cost of power plants I never officially met Prof. Spitzer, though I saw him at a few seminars. Heard many stories from Tom Stix, Russell Kulsrud, & others, learned from the insights in his book and his ideas in other books. 2 2 Lyman Spitzer, Jr. 1914-1997 Photo by Orren Jack Turner, from Biographical Memoirs V. -
President Bush's 1990 Policy on the Commercial Space
Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 58 | Issue 4 Article 3 1993 President Bush's 1990 Policy on the Commercial Space Launch Industry: A Thorn in Economic and Political Reform in the Former Soviet Union: A Proposal for Change Jennifer A. Manner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Jennifer A. Manner, President Bush's 1990 Policy on the Commercial Space Launch Industry: A Thorn in Economic and Political Reform in the Former Soviet Union: A Proposal for Change, 58 J. Air L. & Com. 981 (1993) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol58/iss4/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. PRESIDENT BUSH'S 1990 POLICY ON THE COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH INDUSTRY: A THORN IN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REFORM IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION: A PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE JENNIFER A. MANNER* PREFACE** ALMOST TWO years ago, the Soviet Union, as the £I3world knew it, ceased to exist. It split into independ- ent sovereign states, with Russia taking the title of the continuing state of the Soviet Union. Presently, the exact role of Russia in the world is uncertain. However, two things are evident. First, it is likely, if unfortunate, that President Clinton will continue President Bush's policy, originally aimed at the Soviet Union essentially banning the use of Russian commercial space launch vehicles, launched from Russian sites, to carry U.S. -
Spitzer 100Th Hammett 2013.Key
Spitzer’s Pioneering Fusion Work and the Search for Improved Confinement Greg Hammett Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory 100th Birthday Celebration for Lyman Spitzer Peyton Hall, October 19-20, 2013 Thanks for slides: Dale Meade, Rob Goldston, Eleanor Starkman and PPPL photo archives, ... 1 (revised Oct. 22, 2013) Spitzer’s Pioneering Fusion Work and the Search for Improved Confinement Outline: • Pictorial tour from Spitzer’s early days to TFTR’s achievement of 10 MW of fusion power. • Key physics of magnetic confinement of particles • Physical picture of microinstabilities that drive small-scale turbulence in tokamaks • Interesting ideas being pursued to improve confinement & reduce the cost of fusion reactors • I never officially met Prof. Spitzer, though I saw him at a few colloquia. Heard many stories from Tom Stix, Russell Kulsrud, & others, learned from the insights in his book and his ideas in other books. 2 Photo by Orren Jack Turner, from Biographical Memoirs V. 90 (2009), National Academies Press, by Jeremiah P. Ostriker. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/spitzer-lyman.pdf 3 • 1960, director of PPPL (1951-1961, and simultaneously, chair of Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences, 1947-1979.) 4 Spitzer’s First Exploration of Fusion • 25 June, 1950, Korean war started. • Lyman Spitzer and John Wheeler think about starting a theoretical program at Princeton studying thermonuclear explosions. • March 24, 1951, President Peron of Argentina claimed his scientist, Ronald Richter, had produced controlled fusion energy in the lab. Quickly dismissed by many (later shown to be bogus), but got Spitzer thinking on the Aspen ski slopes. • Spitzer had been studying hot interstallar gas for several years and had recently heard a series of lectures by Hans Alfven on plasmas (according to John Johnson). -
Physics of Space Plasma Activity
This page intentionally left blank Physics of Space Plasma Activity Space plasma is so hot that the atoms break up into charged particles which then become trapped and stored in magnetic fields. When critical condi- tions are reached the magnetic field breaks up, releasing a large amount of energy and causing dramatic phenomena. A prominent example is the magnetospheric substorm occurring in the Earth’s magnetosphere. It in- volves plasma and magnetic field structures extending from 100 km to tens of Earth radii, and can be seen as strong intensifications of the northern and southern lights. The largest space plasma activity events observed in the Solar System occur on the Sun, when coronal mass ejections expel several billion tons of plasma mass into space. Physics of Space Plasma Activity provides a coherent and detailed treat- ment of the physical background of large plasma eruptions in space. It pro- vides the background necessary for dealing with space plasma activity, and allows the reader to reach a deeper understanding of this fascinating natural event. The book employs both fluid and kinetic models, and discusses the applications to magnetospheric and solar activity. This book will form an interesting reference for graduate students and academic researchers in the fields of astrophysics, space science and plasma physics. karl schindler is an Emeritus Professor with the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and a distinguished theorist in the field of space plasma physics. In 2001 he was granted the Orson Anderson Scholarship at Los Alamos National Laboratory by the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP).