The EDIT School Trains Future Experts in Detector Technologies
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Nos 09 & 10 – 2 & 9 March 2011 The EDIT school trains future experts in Greening the streets of CERN his week, CERN took delivery detector technologies Tof bi-fuel cars for the first time. Designed to run on petrol or natu- ral gas, these vehicles represent a cost effective way to reduce our emissions immediately. With widely distributed sites and considerable personal transport needs, this is an important step forward and another clear indication of CERN’s green credentials. (Continued on page 2) News The EDIT school trains future experts in detector technologies 1 A word from the DG 1 Rolf Heuer and Pier CERN’s newest building 3 Oddone visit Building LHC Report: Beams are back in the LHC 3 In this issue 154, which hosted some Roger Bailey takes over as head of CAS 4 of the EDIT School labora- The LHC babies 5 tory activities. A new video studio for CERN 6 The LHC at the AAAS 7 News from the Library 7 DESERTEC : energy for the planet 8 ike many other The Excellence in Detectors and Instrumentation Technologies Playing with particles 9 branches of sci- (EDIT) School has just taken place for the first time. The A Brief History of CERN 10 L ence, today’s enthusiastic feedback from the organizers and the participants TV programme presentations 11 par ticle physics relies on very com- shows how the School’s format is just the right formula for today’s plex instruments to young researchers specializing in experimental physics. To mark Official news 11 provide the perform- the importance of the event, Rolf Heuer dedicated the School to Take note 11 Technical training 13 ance that unresolved Georges Charpak. questions require. Language training 14 When we say ‘particle physics’ we actually or worked with a real detector. On the other Academic training 14 mean a whole lot of different specializations hand, he or she might be highly specialized Seminars 15 that young researchers choose to pursue in data analysis and interpretation,” says when they are at university. “In the present Ariella Cattai, a senior physicist in the ATLAS situation, it might very well happen that an Collaboration and Director of the EDIT experimental particle physicist at the end School. To fill this gap, the EDIT School aims Published by: of his/her studies has never actually seen to provide young researchers with a deeper The European Organization for Nuclear Research - CERN knowledge of the technologies used in the 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland - Tel. + 41 22 767 35 86 field of detectors and instrumentation. Printed by: CERN Printshop © 2010 CERN - ISSN: Printed version: 2077-950X Electronic version: 2077-9518 (Continued on page 2) The EDIT school trains future experts in detector technologies Continued from page 1) The School combines lectures with hands- “I was extremely impressed with the way on laboratory activities in six different the EDIT school was set up to offer one-on- (Continued from page 1) fields of detector and instrumentation one tuition in detector technologies,” said techniques. The subjects covered include Director-General Rolf Heuer, who opened Greening the streets of CERN calorimetry, electronics, gaseous detectors, the School and dedicated it to Georges CERN’s internal public transport detection of scintillation and Cherenkov Charpak. “This is particularly important service, if I can put it that way, consists light from crystals and fibres, photodetec- today, when the long time-scales of of some 500 bicycles, an on-site shut- tion, silicon strips and pixel detectors. “The experiments mean that young particle tle service that has transported over School’s rich programme was made possible physicists can go through all their graduate 40000 people in the last 12 months, by the dedication and professionalism of studies without direct hands-on detector and a sizeable fleet of light vehicles the School conveners and the combined experience. CERN has a long tradition of numbering 866 in total. efforts of all the 100 experts who tutored innovation in detector technologies, with the 90 students,” says Ariella Cattai. Tutors Georges Charpak being a clear leading light came from various Member State institutes, in the field. It was therefore a pleasure to As vehicle contracts come to an end, as well as Fermilab and, of course, CERN. dedicate this School to his memory.” And we are constantly on the lookout for Students came from 24 countries, underlin- he was echoed by Pier Oddone, Director of greener solutions to our transport ing the high level of interest in the School Fermilab, who said: “I am hugely impressed needs. Today, natural gas is the ideal among the physics community with EDIT. The quality of the tutors, the solution, being less polluting than state-of-the-art teaching set-ups and the either petrol or diesel. Although the EDIT 2011 took place over two weeks, from intensity of the workshops with one tutor vehicles cost slightly more than their 31 January to 10 February. Before leaving per student is astounding. I wanted to join petrol equivalents, the difference CERN, the participants conveyed their the School right there and then. It is a fan- is partially subsidised by the Swiss enthusiastic appreciation to the School tastic opportunity for young scientists and natural gas industry, and we consider organizers. “It was very rewarding for all of engineers, and the old ones could also learn the emissions reduction well worth us to receive such positive feedback,” says a thing or two.” the extra investment. Tomorrow’s Ariella Cattai. “One of the messages we technology may be hybrids or electric received reads as follows: What I learned at The School proved so popular among all vehicles, but that technology is not yet EDIT2011 will be very useful for the devel- the participants that the organizers are sufficiently cost-effective for us. opment of my career. And most of all it was planning a second one. Be ready to sign up! a very touching experience to experience the INTELLECTUAL HONESTY of teachers More photos at: When we take full delivery of 100 cars, and tutors.” it will be the largest natural gas fleet http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1326293 in French-speaking Switzerland. So important does the local energy util- CERN Bulletin ity, SIG, consider this development to be that they have arranged for natural gas to be available close to CERN at the BP station on the Route du Nant d’Avril. Each step that CERN takes for the environment makes a difference. Our new green buildings and now the fleet of bi-fuel cars are each important in their own right. Taken together, they add up to a long-term engagement by CERN to protect the environment. Rolf Heuer 2 – 2 & 9.3.2011 CERN’s newest building o n s t r u c t i o n With a growing number of users looking for offices, the shortage nance and provides a degree of retention work for the of space has become acute, particularly for physicists. Building when there is a heavy rainfall,” notes Michael new Building Poehler. C 42, inaugurated on Friday 11 February, offers almost 300 new 42 began in January 2009, thanks to sup- work-spaces and a particularly pleasant working environment. The new work-spaces in Building 42 have port from the Swiss already been made available to over 200 foundation FIPOI (Fondation des immeubles open and close automatically in response contented physicists, who will soon be pour les organisations internationales). to light conditions. The new building is also settling into their very comfortable new After two years of work, the building, an greener than the others. “The vegetation- surroundings. extension of Building 40, is ready to accom- covered green roof requires no mainte- Anaïs Vernède modate physicists from around the world who have come to work on the LHC. “We had more than 25 external contractors working on the construction site,” explains Michael Poehler, who headed the project in the GS Department. “Despite some techni- cal difficulties, we managed to finish the construction works on time.” Building 42 is built on the embankment south of Building 40. The two buildings are positioned back-to-back, for easy access to shared amenities such as the cafeteria and meeting rooms. The floor area is 3200 square metres, with 292 work-spaces grouped into three-desk offices. On the third floor, a large open-plan area provides approximately 30 work-spaces. In terms of building technology, Building 42 will be CERN’s first building with all electronically- controlled doors, which can only be opened with an access card. The window blinds Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, the Swiss State Secretary for Education and Research (left), Rolf Heuer , CERN Director-General (centre), and Mark Muller, President of the Government of the Republic and Canton of Geneva and Head of the Department of Construction and Information Technology (right) at the opening of Building 42 on 11 February, 2011. LHC Report: Beams are back in the LHC ollowing the The LHC has shaken itself awake after the winter break, and, instrumentation, feedback systems, etc. co o l - d ow n , as the snow melts on the lower slopes, the temperature in the Initial measurements show that the LHC the last few is in good shape and magnetically little F magnets has dropped to a chilly 1.9 K once more. weeks have seen changed from last year. an intense few tests of the magnets, power supplies and asso- the season. Of particular note here was the Low intensity beams were taken back ciated protection systems. These tests, remarkably seamless transition to POPS, the up to 3.5 TeV on Monday night and referred to as hardware commissioning, PS’s new main power supply system.