BATAVIA, Ill. – The Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will host the next Virtual Ask-a-Scientist on March 12, 2003 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Central Time. Physicists Ryan Patterson, of Fermilab’s MiniBooNE experiment, and Jennifer Raaf, also of Fermilab’s MiniBooNE experiment, will respond to questions live online.
Virtual Ask-a-Scientist is an online chat session with Fermilab scientists that gives participants the opportunity to ask questions about high-energy physics from: “What is a neutrino?” to “Can I build a particle detector at home?” Fermilab invites people of all ages and all science backgrounds to participate.
“I think it is important to communicate with the public as much as possible so that people can better understand the excitement and value of basic science research,” said Brenna Flaugher, of Fermilab’s CDF experiment, who participated in the most recent Virtual Ask-a-Scientist on December 12, 2002. “Virtual Ask-a-Scientist is a unique program because it provides an ideal environment for anyone, as well as people who are shy or intimidated by scientists, to have their questions answered.” Transcripts from this and other chat sessions are available online at: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/virtual/index.html
Interested participants may join the Virtual Ask-a-Scientist chatroom on the evening of March 12, 2003 by clicking a link on the Fermilab homepage (http://www.fnal.gov) and following the directions to log in and ask questions. Java enabled browsers are required. Internet Explorer version 4 or higher is recommended, but Netscape’s browsers may also be used. (Netscape is not recommended for Macintosh users.)
For more information about Virtual Ask-a-Scientist, please visit http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/virtual/.
Fermilab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, operated under contract by Universities Research Association, Inc.