Quantum Diaries: a year in the life by Kurt Riesselmann For 33 particle physicists, the year 2005 was a “I went to Caltech as an undergrad [in biology and great experiment in science communication. chemistry]. It was just interesting to read one To support the World Year of Physics, these brave woman’s [Caolionn’s] journey through the field souls had agreed to share their thoughts and as there are so few women in physics.” their lives with the public, blogging on the Quantum Anandi Raman Creath, program manager, Diaries Web site. Some of them posted notes Redmond, WA, USA a couple of times per month, others wrote almost daily. Twelve months and 2400 postings later, “I enjoyed the inherent randomness: the ability the Quantum Diarists have delivered a vivid image to open a blog and go from reading about of their personalities, interests, cultures, and the latest measurements in the mass of the top achievements. quark to reading about car racing to reading The Diarists reflected on research activities about parties… It wasn’t all political, or physics, and combining life with work. They commented or whatnot.” on the position of women and families in phys- Gordon Stangler, student, University of Missouri, ics; science and politics; teaching and outreach St. Louis, USA activities; and how an individual physicist fits into the increasingly international scientific “[The Quantum Diarists] have the same thoughts endeavors. Most importantly, they provided the and hobbies as average people, but they are public and future scientists a glimpse of what all clever and diligent. I am a little surprised that it is like to be a scientist. so many lovely girls are engaged in physics Some blogs drew more than 1000 page views research. I thought the subject is more dull and per day, and over the course of the year readers difficult.” from around the world posted almost 5000 com- Celia, teacher at a medical university, China ments. As the year came to an end, symmetry asked some regular and not-so-regular readers “There were faces to go with the names. There to share their thoughts on the Quantum Diaries: were countries to go with the faces. It was a collaborative, international community. It was “ QD is like a reality show about the life of physi- a critical mass of bloggers, which showed cists. My favorite diarist is Sarah Phillips. that this was a worldwide effort.” She is the image of the young physicist, full of Linda Ware, Public Affairs manager, enthusiasm, energy, and life… I think the Jefferson Lab, USA collaborative work of particle physicists is an example of how to work in a global world.” “I like the idea of having access to the scientists’ Luis Gustavo Lira, social entrepreneur, Lima, Peru community in such an easy way and seeing their normal lives.” “As a physicist I can personally relate to many of Adel Hinda, engineer, Paris, the articles written. It’s nice to get some idea about how other people handle the same sort of The following pages provide a glimpse of the situations that I have found myself in this year, diversity of topics that the Quantum Diarists [and] how other physicists react to the things that wrote about, illustrated by some of the hundreds happen with their daily lives.” of photos they posted in 2005. The archive of Michael Bremner, postdoc, University of all posts and photos is at www.quantumdiaries.org. Innsbruck, Austria

16 and physicscareerinLondon…There isthis I hadthisincrediblebalancebetween mymusic Life beyondphysics 17th:January women inscience Ursula Bassler,IN sign ofitsevolution. development tomenandwomenisaclear able toprovideequalopportunitiesforindividual the longterm.The levelonwhich asociety is is theonlywayinwhich society willbenefiton this think I life. social and personal satisfying a and thepositionswewouldliketohave Women shouldnotgiveupaimingforthework Gender equality February 4th: astating tsunamiinSoutheastAsia possible naturaldisastersinthewake ofthedev John Ellis,CERN,Switzerland, reflectingon ing theimpactsofearthquakesandtsunamis. could providebetter toolsforwarningorreduc explosion or a gamma-ray burst. Perhaps physics supernova nearby a effects of the mitigate or strike asteroid an avert to tools the provide Perhaps onlyphysicsandastrophysicscould Saving theworld 27th:January phone player who excelsastheoreticalphysicistandsaxo Center/Pennsylvania StateUniversity, USA, Stephon Alexander,StanfordLinearAccelerator Lincoln center. at gig a or appointment faculty your for vote to day those same people may be on a committee what othersthink’–clearly. Butattheendof Youfield invariantstatement. canargue‘screw a is this that suspect I seriously–and taken be that onehasto‘choose’ oneovertheotherto unspoken feeling/pressure [in the United States] 2 P 3 , France, ontheroleof

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17 means timeawayfromtheother. Finding the deartous.However,are very timespentonone many ofushavefamilies,andourfamilies that colleagues my of blogs the from clear It’s Physics andfamilyarenotmutuallyexclusive. Time for Family February 10th: Makoto Fujiwara, TRIUMF, Canada job here. affected mydecisiontoaccept theoffer formy admit thatthisfact,atleastsubconsciously, hand, isaparadiseforJapanesefood…Imust good.Vancouver,nately notvery ontheother expensive andunfortu food inGenevawasvery the last five years mostly in Geneva. Japanese been livingoutsideJapanforover12years,and challenges, however, may bethefood.Ihave in language, culture, climate… One of the biggest Living abroad[is]sometimes tough.Differences Life withoutsushi February 28th: Canada David Waller, SudburyNeutrinoObservatory, leaveafterthebirthofeach child.parental [extended] that inCanada,parentscantake dad.Iamfortunate my jobtobeastay-at-home athreemonthleavefrom for me.Iwillbetaking months time,thescaleswilltiptowardsfamily right balancecansometimes bedifficult.Intwo

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symmetry | volume 03 | issue 01 | february 06 April 9th: Physics fashion In Germany [people] picture physicists and engineers wearing checkered shirts. During the DZero-France meeting in Grenoble these last two days, this point came back to my mind and I thought to investigate this in some more March 16th: detail: is this cliché based on some truth? When kids ask questions Even in France? At the meeting we were…35 And sure enough, these students asked ques- physicists. Among those, 12 did wear shirts, and tions that I had never been asked before–one 7 checkered shirts, which makes 20% [of the student asked if there were any poetic folks who total]. Among all shirts, checkered shirts are the were physicists (to which the answer is most most popular ones (close to 60%). assuredly yes!) In two different classes I got Ursula Bassler, a German physicist at IN2P3, asked the question ‘Do you think doing physics France changes the way you look at the rest of your life?’ to which my first answer was that ‘No, the rest of my life probably changes the way I look April 18th: at physics…’ Now that I’ve thought about the An unexpected discovery question longer I can say it goes both ways–I I knew something that non-RHIC people didn’t, think that part of the way I explain things to my that we were going to finally “go public” with our kids comes from being a scientist. excitement about the physical picture emerging Debbie Harris, Fermi National Accelerator from interpretations of the RHIC data… Even 5 Laboratory, USA, visiting local high school classes years ago, who would have thought that collid- ing nuclei at ultra-high energies would make a fluid…rather than a gas of quarks and gluons. April 1st: Peter Steinberg, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Falling in love USA, on a discovery based on experiments at Yesterday was the third anniversary of my first the Relativistic Heavy Ion date with Anita. We met over the Internet. I had advertised myself as “Dancing Nuclear Physicist Seeking Smart, Self-Aware Woman.” Something clicked between us and before I knew, I was April 21st: Science and religion asking her to marry me on the web. By its very definition, science refuses to deal with Anuj Purwar, God. Science is a search for ‘natural laws.’ This Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA means that the universe operates without the need for a chariot to carry the sun across the heavens, etc. God, being supernatural, can’t really be defined by science. From this, people make the jump and say there is no God. But I don’t think that science, in its purest form, excludes God. Bryan Dahmes, SLAC, USA

18 of Washington association today saying that that saying today Washington of association University the at Alumni the from letter a got I But howmuch didtheylearn? April 22nd: Beijing, China Zhi-Zhong Xing,InstituteofHighEnergyPhysics, expected. is CERN and between China cooperation fruitful more and stronger A Beijing… to came General) Director- Prof.Aymar Robert CERN (the including physicists, CERN 10 About Physics. Workshop Energy High in Cooperation on TodayChina-CERN 2005 the of day first the is Fostering internationalrelations May 14th: Gordon Watts, UniversityofWashington, USA I learnedalot’? a goodteacher’ haveanyrelationshipto‘wow, ently Igotsome‘votes’... Butdoes‘gee,hewas best teacher oncampus.Ididn’twin,butappar the was who see to seniors graduating the among contest popularity a run recently they’d

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19 Nobel Prize winnersAlbertEinstein andFritz play Peter Steinberg,BNL,ontheaward-winning their lives. men made,anddidn’tmake,inthecourseof text oftheethical andmoraldecisionsboth these twoscientificmen,especiallyinthecon of lives the in religion of role the of discussion of massdestruction.There wasalsoalotof research, especiallythosetechnologies capable scientist fortechnologies derivedfrombasic The main focus wasontheresponsibilityof Science ethics May 15th: the USNationalScienceFoundation US Department of Energy’s Office of Science and with herconcernsaboutthefunding forthe USA, who had sent letters to three Congressmen Sarah Phillips,JeffersonNationalLaboratory, things heisdoingtosupportthem. letter, heagreedwithmyviewsandoutlinedthe in mymailbox! Itispretty cool,actually. Inthe GeorgeAllen a letter fromtheofficeofSenator response. However, thisweekendIdiscovered I wasnotexpecting toreceivea U.S. Senators. box thisweekend:aletter fromone ofmy Well, Ihadasurprisewaitingformeinmymail A letterfromSenatorAllen June 1st: week I” whyhestudiedphysics explaining duringthe“QuantumDiaries:Career Tommaso Dorigo,UniversityofPadova, Italy, continue inside. freeze inthewinter, therebyallowinglife to phenomena—like whyalakewon’tcompletely complexthat simplelawscouldexplain very think Icametolovephysicswhenunderstood I havealwaysbeengoodatmathematics… Hooked onscience May 22nd: Haber andtheirrolesinproducingtoolsforwar Einstein’s Gift,

whichhighlightsthelivesof

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symmetry | volume 03 | issue 01 | february 06 September 30th: The naked universe We are in a situation now that…95% of the universe is unknown to us. This reminds me of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, The Emperor’s New Clothes, where everybody admires the new suit of the emperor, which June 6th: according to the crooked tailors is only visible to Speaking to a laptop smart people. Until a little kid shouts: ‘But he I was called in to give a talk as an 11th hour [the emperor] has nothing on at all.’ replacement for someone who couldn’t make it. Jochen Weller, /Oxford University, My talk was scheduled for 3 p.m. in the after- explaining during “Quantum Diaries: Einstein noon, which translated into 1 a.m. in Chicago. So, week” that scientists discovered in the last 10 there I was, on a Sunday night giving a talk years that 95% of the universe is not made of Monday morning in Korea. Sounds so cool, but ordinary matter it required a lot of imagination. Instead of traveling to Korea I’m in my sterile office in Hyde Park. There I had a small image of the confer- September 13th: ence venue which showed my slides but not the Life is too short audience. So I gave a ridiculous talk to myself. There is no doubt that when you’re in physics It was like speaking to a…laptop. you spend much more than 40 hours a week Rob Gardner, Argonne National Laboratory, USA, doing something someone would call ‘work.’ But who participated in a workshop in Daegu, Korea, on the other hand, you don’t think of it as work via videoconference so much as doing something you want to do… A job should not be something you do so that you can pay the bills and then have fun on the August 23rd: weekends: life is too short to have a job you Divine intervention? don’t enjoy. I’d be the last guy to say that we shouldn’t Debbie Harris, Fermilab, giving advice during always be questioning our fundamental beliefs, “Quantum Diaries: Career week II” and challenging our current conceptions of the world… But it’s an enormous leap between an open-minded, critical scientific debate, and October 13th: boldly asserting “if we don’t understand it yet, it Benefits of curiosity might as well be divine intervention.” The entire point of a career in any research field Peter Steinberg, BNL, joining a discussion is to find out things we did not know and tell among Quantum Diarists on Intelligent Design it to others so it can be used effectively for the betterment of mankind… It is true that many of the investments in basic research in such areas as nuclear and are long- term, and that applications of the research can take a long time to show up in everyday life. However…I just recently went to a seminar by General Electric on advances being made in medical imaging using the advances we are currently making in detector designs in nuclear and particle physics. Sarah Phillips, JLab, responding to a question about governments funding “sheer curiosity”

20 scientist wouldhavearrivedatthesamecon- other some that is view of point personal My Was Einstein agenius? October 20th: The Netherlands Frank Linde, NIKHEF, Amsterdam, manner. effective an in databases massive correlate can you once feasible become studies exciting Many Humanities… and Sciences Social Sciences, Life to…the provides it opportunities the in lies facility computing GRID national Dutch a for justification real the think I Personally, Multidisciplinary research December 14th: that sheliked herquantummechanicsclass Caolionn O’Connell,SLAC/Caltech, confessing loved it. All ofitsoelegant,beautiful–Ihonestly it. problem set satisfiedabout andfeeling very my dormputtingthefinaltouches ona40-page ing upuntil4a.m.inthecommonkitchen of the problems.Ihavedistinctmemoriesofstay solving but therewassomething zen-likeabout half deadandaliveuntilyoulookatit) Not onlywasitalittletrippy(Imean,thecatis The zenofquantumphysics December 7th: E=mc Einstein neverhaddiscoveredtheequation question aboutwhatwouldhavehappenedif Sandra Leone, INFNPisa,Italy, answeringa absolutely originalnewidea. theory of relativity [was] a really revolutionary and was ‘intheair’…Oncontrary, hisgeneral soon.Theclusion very ofrelativity specialtheory 2

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21 a perfectcontinue placetovent.Iwillcertainly of themdown.Andsometimes itturnsouttobe get. The blogisaperfect placetowritesome 1000ideasadaythatwethinkofandfor about Itturnsoutweallhave topics towriteabout. orifIcouldcomeupwithenough write about, the writing.AndIreallyhadnoideawhatwould When Ihadnoideaifcouldmaintain Istarted Blogging away December 31st: David Waller, SNO we will have our second child before starts. 2006 aficionadosoutthere).Thestats oddsarethat confidencelevelforallyouphysics/ (at 90% has justannouncedthatshegoneintolabor This should bequiteanendtotheyear. Mywife Expecting achild December 30th: Gordon Watts, UniversityofWashington to blog. Photos: QuantumDiaries.org www.quantumdiaries.org The fulltextofallblogscanbefound at

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symmetry | volume 03 | issue 01 | february 06