From New Scientist, Dec. 11, 2019: Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper is quoted in this article on what scientists mean when they talk about the Big Bang. The best evidence for the big bang is all around us in the cosmic microwave background, the radiation released once the universe had cooled sufficiently for atoms to form, when it was about 380,000 years old. And that is the point: everywhere in today’s universe was where the big bang was.
In the news
From DOE, Dec. 11, 2019: Secretary Brouillette served in the U.S. Army and has three decades of experience in both the public and private sector, most recently as the deputy secretary of energy.
From DOE, Dec. 9, 2019: Fermilab scientist Josh Frieman writes about the search for the nature of dark energy at the national laboratories and how the Office of Science’s High Energy Physics program has been at the vanguard of a number of cosmic surveys.
From Forbes, Dec. 6, 2019: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln gives a primer on neutrinos, neutrino oscillation and how studying neutrinos can help scientists explain the observed dominance of matter in the universe. And they’re doing just that with two Fermilab experiments, NOvA and DUNE.
From Time, Dec. 6, 2019: Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper summarizes the current state of the search for dark matter. Scientists can say with great confidence that we understand how and why our universe evolved over the vast majority of its history. From this perspective, the universe looks more comprehensible than ever before. And yet, not all is understood.
From Forbes, Nov. 29, 2019: Books by Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper and Fermilab Office of Education and Public Outreach Head Becky Thompson are selected for this holiday gift guide.
From UC Riverside, Dec. 4, 2019: The University of California, Riverside is participating in the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which brings together more than 1,000 scientists from around the world to learn more about ghostly particles called neutrinos.
From Rapid City Journal, Nov. 28, 2019: The Ross and Yates Shafts were built in the 1930s and served as powerhouses for Homestake Mining Company for years. When asked what is most remarkable about these shafts, the experts unanimously agree — the engineering and craftsmanship that allow these shafts to be used to this day by Sanford Underground Research Facility.
From CERN, Dec. 3, 2019: Large-scale scientific facilities, such as those for conducting particle physics research, are financed by society. A team of economists recently performed a cost-benefit analysis of upgrading the Large Hadron Collider. They concluded that the socioeconomic and cultural benefits gained from the project — not including potential scientific discoveries — exceed the total pecuniary investment.
DOE has awarded a $1.9 million grant to Northern Illinois University and the Illinois Institute of Technology for the training of next-generation workers in accelerator science and technology. The program will cover student tuition costs for two years and fund paid research assistantships at Fermilab and Argonne. Physics professors Michael Syphers and Philippe Piot, both experts in particle accelerator research and technology, are leading the effort at NIU.