Manuel Gnida

Brazilian physicist César Lattes, considered a national hero for his discoveries, paved the way for trailblazing research projects in particle astrophysics across Latin America and beyond.

When he was growing up, Jonathan LeyVa thought he’d follow his passion for race cars and pick a profession in automotive engineering. Instead he’s working on what will become one of the world’s most sensitive searches for dark matter, the invisible substance that accounts for more than 85% of the mass of the universe.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will manage unprecedented volumes of data produced each night. Scheduled to come online in the early 2020s, the LSST will use a 3.2-gigapixel camera to photograph a giant swath of the heavens. It’ll keep it up for 10 years, every night with a clear sky, creating the world’s largest astronomical stop-motion movie.

Dark matter vibes

SuperCDMS physicists are testing a way to amp up dark matter vibrations to help them search for lighter particles.