CERN Courier January/February 2018 Faces & Places A PPOINTMENTS A WARDS ECFA elects new chairperson WMAP scientists awarded 2018 O Devroede O Breakthrough Prize The team that mapped the temperature of the cosmic microwave background using NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has won the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in fundamental physics. The $3 million sum was awarded to Charles Bennett (Johns Hopkins University), Gary Hinshaw (University of British Columbia), Norman Jarosik (Princeton University), Lyman Page Jr. (Princeton University), David N Spergel (Princeton University) and the WMAP Science Team on 3 December. NASA launched WMAP in 2001 to Newly elected ECFA chair Jorgen D’Hondt is also a member of the CMS Collaboration. measure tiny temperature fluctuations across the sky imprinted by processes in At a plenary meeting of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. D’Hondt, the very early universe. Its many precise Committee for Future Accelerators who works on the CMS experiment, is measurements have helped establish the (ECFA) held at CERN on 16–17 November, co-director of the Interuniversity Institute standard model of cosmology. Jorgen D’Hondt of the Vrije Universiteit for High Energies in Brussels, with research Now in their sixth year, the Breakthrough Brussel in Belgium was elected ECFA activities including top-quark physics and prizes honour top achievements in the chairperson, with a three-year-long dark matter. His team is also involved in the fields of physics, life sciences and mandate running from 2018 to 2020. upgrade of the CMS silicon tracker and in mathematics. They were founded by ECFA carries out long-range planning the development of heavy-flavour tagging Sergey Brin, Yuri and Julia Milner, for European high-energy accelerators, algorithms. He takes over from previous Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, large-scale facilities and equipment, and ECFA chairperson Halina Abramowicz of Anne Wojcicki, and Pony Ma, with seven plays an important role in building the Tel Aviv University in Israel, who is now $3 million prizes awarded this year at a physics community in preparation for secretary of the European Strategy Group televised ceremony in Silicon Valley. the upcoming update of the European (CERN Courier November p37). In addition, three New Horizons in Physics Prizes of $100,000 were awarded to promising junior researchers Change of director at MSU who have already produced important work: Christopher Hirata of Ohio State US accelerator school University, Andrea Young of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Douglas Steven Lund of Michigan State University Stanford of the Institute for Advanced in the US has been named the new director Study and Stanford University. of the US Particle Accelerator School (USPAS), succeeding William Barletta of Fermilab who has led the school since 2006. Lund, whose focus is theoretical accelerator physics, took up the role on 1 December with a four-year renewable term. Considered the premier training programme in accelerator science and engineering in the US, USPAS Steven Lund takes the helm at USPAS. offers a continually updated curriculum of courses ranging from the fundamentals of of Energy, has many parallels with its accelerator science to advanced physics and European cousin the CERN Accelerator engineering concepts. The school, which is School, and is intended to train, develop and WMAP’s results have helped transform a collaboration of 10 institutions hosted at educate people on the many uses of particle cosmology into a precision science. Fermilab on behalf of the US Department accelerators in particle physics and beyond. (Image: NASA) 39 CCJanFeb18_Faces&Places.indd 39 03/01/2018 13:40 CERNCOURIER www. V OLUME 5 8 N UMBER 1 J AARYN U /F EBRUARY 2 0 1 8 CERN Courier January/February 2018 CERN Courier January/February 2018 Faces & Places Faces & Places A WARDS A NNIVERSARY Weizmann Institute honours Jenni Schukraft receives 25 years of the LHC experimental programme Niels Bohr Institute’s On 15 December a special scientific Honorary Medal symposium at CERN celebrated the 25th anniversary of the LHC experimental O Joensen/NielsO Bohr Institute programme. During the event, speakers J Ordan/CERN reflected on the LHC’s history, the physics landscape into which the LHC experiments Weizmann Institute ScienceWeizmann of were born, and the challenging path that led to the very successful LHC programme today. In early March 1992 a meeting took place in the town of Evian on Lake Geneva titled “Towards the LHC Experimental Programme”. It would, quoting CERN Courier in May that year, “always be remembered as the stage where these ideas The symposium “25 years since Evian” attracted leading figures linked to the LHC programme. made their debut”. The road since then has been full of challenges, new ideas and heavy-ion experiments. The 12th EOI Lausanne in 1984 and was recommended innovative technologies. A great deal of concerned a heavy-ion programme within by CERN’s long-range planning committee motivation, determination and patience was the CMS experiment. ATLAS was formed three years later, leading to a succession of Peter Jenni before the ceremony at the Weizmann Institute of Science. finally rewarded with excellent performance from the merger of two proposals, ASCOT meetings and workshops and, finally, to the from the accelerators, detectors and and EAGLE, whereas CMS had evolved from CERN Council voting unanimously at its On 6 November the Weizmann Institute his advocacy of high-energy physics computing, and with major physics results a single proposal at Evian. ATLAS and CMS December 1991 meeting that the LHC was of Science in Israel awarded Peter Jenni research and education, and his instrumental such as the discovery of the Higgs boson. submitted their letters of intent on 1 October the “right machine for the advance of the of CERN and Albert Ludwigs University role in inducting Israel into CERN as its At the Evian event, a dozen teams 1992, with ALICE following in 1993 and subject and the future of CERN”. of Freiburg an honorary PhD. The award first non-European Member State. Jenni presented an expression of interest (EOI) to LHCb in 1995 – completing the set of large The December symposium concluded with recognizes Jenni’s landmark contributions was a founding spokesperson of ATLAS, carry out research at the LHC, including: four LHC experiments. a presentation of the latest results from the to experimental particle physics and his continuing to lead the experiment until 2009, for general-purpose experiments; three for Evian was a landmark, but it was also four large LHC experiments, which continue impressive achievements leading the and previously played a major role in the UA2 dedicated B-physics experiments; two for part of a longer process. The LHC had to subject the Standard Model of particle LHC’s ATLAS experiment. It also noted experiment at the Super Proton Synchrotron. neutrino experiments; and two for dedicated been formally launched at a workshop in physics to unprecedented levels of scrutiny. Jürgen Schukraft with his medal. E VENTS Dublin City University DCU Heavy-ion physicist Jürgen Schukraft Dark-matter and acclaim for Myers of CERN has been awarded the Niels Inauguration ceremony promotes Bohr Institute’s Honorary Medal for cosmic-ray Stephen Myers, former CERN director his long-standing work in the study of Hyper-Kamiokande project of accelerators and technology, has been heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies awarded an honorary doctorate by Dublin and for his role as leader of the ALICE celebrations City University in Ireland for his outstanding experiment at the LHC. Schukraft is one of On 1 October the University of Tokyo contributions to the physics community. the people behind the creation of ALICE inaugurated the Next-generation Neutrino Towards the end of 2017, two world-wide Myers trained as an electronical engineer at and was spokesperson of the collaboration Science Organization (NNSO) and cosmic celebrations reached out to new Queen’s University Belfast and spent most of for its first 20 years from 1990, overseeing appointed the 2015 Nobel Prize-winning audiences with tales about dark matter and his career at CERN, where he was responsible Myers spoke about the benefits of CERN groundbreaking results concerning the neutrino physicist Takaaki Kajita as its cosmic rays. On 31 October the historic hunt for the operation and exploitation of the CERN membership for Ireland. quark–gluon plasma. Over the years director. The NNSO’s main purpose for dark matter was celebrated with the first accelerator complex. He is currently executive Schukraft has been closely connected is to promote the construction of the ever “Dark Matter Day”. Many laboratories chairman of CERN spin-out company ADAM non-membership of CERN puts our country with the Niels Bohr Institute group in Hyper-Kamiokande project, a new neutrino and institutes organised dedicated events Advanced Oncotherapy. On acceptance of at an enormous technological disadvantage, ALICE and he is also a member of the facility in Japan, involving some 74 targeting new audiences, including CERN, his honorary degree on 3 November, Myers since we cannot profit from the technology Discovery Danish National Research institutions in 14 countries, and to work which opened its doors to the public and highlighted the importance of CERN and the transfer and training that comes from being a Foundation (DNRF) centre of excellence towards the development of state-of-the-art The ceremony was attended by about 100 invited experts to talk about the status of benefits of membership. “Ireland’s continued member state of CERN,” he said. advisory board. neutrino research techniques and detector people from MEXT, the University of Tokyo, dark-matter science. The following month, technologies. Hyper-Kamiokande will KEK, local government and community, the on 30 November, International Cosmic investigate CP violation in the neutrino Kamioka Mining and Smelting Company, Day took place for the sixth time, sector by observing oscillations in a neutrino/ and collaborating scientists.