Helen Edwards, one of the most vital contributors to the success of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory over its five-decade history, died on June 21 at the age of 80.
Edwards was a giant in the field of accelerator science, best known for overseeing the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the Tevatron, which for 25 years was the most powerful particle collider in the world. The Tevatron turned on in 1983, when it began delivering particle beams for Fermilab’s fixed-target experiments. It recorded its first proton-antiproton collisions in 1985 and was used by scientists to find the top quark in 1995 and the tau neutrino in 2000, two of the three fundamental particles discovered at Fermilab.
“Her vision was superb. She was a great architect — the architect of the Tevatron as a system,” said John Peoples, Fermilab’s director from 1989 to 1999. “She was terrific for Fermilab, and terrific period.”
Her work on the Tevatron earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the Genius Grant, in 1988 and the National Medal of Technology in 1989. She also received the Department of Energy’s E.O. Lawrence Award and the Robert R. Wilson Prize of the American Physical Society.
Edwards began her tenure at Fermilab in 1970 under the laboratory’s original director, Robert Wilson. She had previously worked with Wilson as a research assistant at Cornell University and joined him at the nascent lab, eventually heading up the Accelerator Division.
To all who knew her, Edwards was a force of nature. Her colleagues note her forward-thinking vision, her unrelenting determination to get things done and her penchant for coloring outside the lines when it came to solving problems.
“Her continuous drive was something that amazed me,” said engineer Paul Czarapata, deputy head of the Fermilab Accelerator Division. “It seemed like nothing could slow her down.”
She was also known for her astonishing intellect, working out complex scientific problems by relying almost entirely on her own knowledge, without having to resort to outside references.
“I once asked her a question about a property of an accelerator component, and she disappeared from the office,” Czarapata said. “She came back with a handwritten derivation of the formula, complete with the answer.”
That deep understanding of physics and her keen intuition was evident to everyone who knew her.
“I was scientifically mesmerized by her,” said University of Maryland professor Timothy Koeth, who studied accelerator physics under Edwards’ supervision when he was earning his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. “She had this intuitive and innate grasp of the material, and she was always absolutely right – she was never wrong in the 20 years I knew her. She understood complex systems from every aspect – operational or technological.”
Edwards wasn’t known for conducting business from the sidelines. She got down in the dirt, actively and directly working on accelerator components, sometimes pulling all-nighters to make sure everything was fine-tuned.
“Helen was an incredibly gifted accelerator scientist with a fiery personality and a tendency to move forward very quickly,” said scientist Roger Dixon, who formerly headed the Fermilab Accelerator Division. “Those of us who fell into her wake benefited greatly from the experience.”
The widespread respect and reverence that Edwards commanded extended to those who worked with her.
“I had what I later termed the ‘Helen card’ on my side,” Koeth said. “I quickly found out that saying ‘This is for Helen’ made things happen. When I was Helen’s student, people said, ‘I’ll have whatever you need tomorrow morning.’ That happened over and over again. It was a living legacy of what she meant to the people of the laboratory.”
Edwards had a keen understanding of people and their strengths, with a knack for positioning them in roles where they would excel. She knew how to bring the right people together to carry out a project and how to encourage them to success.
“She was really a brilliant person,” said Fermilab scientist emeritus Paul Mantsch. His job in the early days building the Tevatron was related to 250 magnets that helped align the particle beam. It didn’t start out well.
“So we worked hard to get the magnets going,” Mantsch said. “She gave constant encouragement to think hard about the problem and solve it. And we did solve it. She was very appreciative of the work we’d done. I valued that kind of relationship with my co-workers, and with Helen in particular.”
She was just as encouraging as a mentor. Koeth compared Edwards to a mama bird encouraging her baby bird out of the nest.
“She made sure I met people, that I was pushed into the community. I didn’t realize what she was doing at the time. Anytime there was a tour at AZero, she had me give it. She was a very good instructor,” Koeth said. “Working in her lab led to adventures of high RF power, high voltage, high vacuum, electron beams, and opportunities for traveling the country and the world. It was a form of paradise.”
Edwards admired the world around her. She took photos of wildlife, natural scenery and even the rings of Saturn with a camera attached to her backyard telescope.
“She loved nature, she loved animals,” Koeth said. “She had a heart of gold.”
Her kind nature extended to her friends and colleagues.
“She sincerely cared about people,” Dixon said. “I am very fortunate to have had the Helen experience in my life.”
Fermilab shut down the Tevatron in 2011. As part of a labwide shutdown ceremony, Edwards, wearing a cowboy hat, pushed the buttons that finally turned off the particle beam. It was a fitting end for the trailblazing machine that she brought to life.
Edwards worked at Fermilab for 40 years, serving most recently as a guest scientist from 1992 to 2010. Through the last years of her life, she worked on the next generation of superconducting accelerators, helping to shape the future of particle physics. She focused much of her work on accelerating cavities, and the developments in that arena led to the establishment of a test bed at Fermilab for cutting-edge particle acceleration technology, called the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology Facility.
She designed the key features of the Superconducting Super Collider, a planned but never completed 54-mile-around accelerator sited in Texas. Edwards also maintained a position at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), working on the design for the TESLA superconducting linear accelerator.
Edwards was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of the American Physical Society.
“It is impossible to overstate her role in making Fermilab what it is today,” said Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer.
No memorial service for Edwards is planned.
Cleo Garcia takes good care of the laboratory’s herd of bison.
How long have you worked at Fermilab?
A little over 14 years.
What brought you to Fermilab?
I used to work doing janitorial service, and I was looking for a better job. When I started working here, I helped the herdsman here at the time. I have a little background in cattle; I helped my uncle down in Mexico. So it’s almost the same. Then the herdsman left, and because I worked with him, they put me in charge of the animals. That was in 2010.
What’s a normal day like for you?
The first thing I do is come check on the animals, especially now in the calving season. Then I check fences or mow the grass or do some other Roads and Grounds chores. We try to let the bison roam freely by themselves within the pastures. It’s only in the winter when we supplement their diet with hay and grain. Otherwise we let them graze on their own.
What are the trickiest parts of the job?
There’s a day in the fall when we do vaccinations, and everybody helps out. We have to corral them, put them through a squeeze chute one by one, and tag the new ones or vaccinate the cows. You have to be really careful. The bison are really strong animals. We’re never inside the corrals ourselves, but when you’re moving the animals, they can react and charge you. We have a machine to move them around safely.
Have you ever been hurt?
No. It’s one of the jobs where you have to be very careful.
What do you like best about the job?
There’s always something new. I guess I’m not an office guy or a factory guy. I sometimes help with tours, and when you see the excitement of people looking at the calves, it makes you proud of what you’re doing. A lot of people from surrounding areas come just to see the bison.
What do your friends think when they find out what you do?
Sometimes they don’t even believe it. They don’t know there are bison here at Fermilab.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I like to camp with friends and family, and I support my children in sports activities. I enjoy spending my extra time working in my garden. I don’t think I could ever work inside. I like the outdoors.
Fermilab accelerator scientist Jinhao Ruan (center) shows Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer (left) the laser setup for the FAST photoinjector. Vladimir Shiltsev (right) is director of the Fermilab Accelerator Physics Center. Photo: Reidar Hahn
On May 16, Fermilab sent an electron beam with an energy of 50 million electronvolts, or MeV, through the photoinjector at the Fermilab Accelerator Science and Technology facility (FAST), achieving a major design goal for the accelerator – and marking the beginning of a new accelerator science program at the laboratory.
“This is a major milestone for our general accelerator R&D,” said Vladimir Shiltsev, head of the Fermilab Accelerator Physics Center. “The delivery of this beam marks the start of a new program here – new facility, new science capabilities.”
The delivery of 50-MeV beam is the first step in establishing an accelerator R&D facility that will serve as one of America’s leading test beds for cutting-edge, record-high-intensity particle beam research. Once complete, FAST will provide scientists and engineers from around the world with a place to study the science of high-intensity particle beams and superconducting radio-frequency acceleration, the technology on which nearly all future high-energy accelerators are based.
The photoinjector is just the first phase of a larger accelerator to be built at FAST, which is supported by the DOE Office of Science. It will include a superconducting linear accelerator and a particle storage ring called the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator, or IOTA, which will be built over the next two years.
Although the photoinjector is just the front section of what will become a higher-energy accelerator, it still provides enough beam to be useful for carrying out scientific research. In fact, the first accelerator physics researchers to sign up for time at the facility have now begun using the electron beam. The inaugural group, led by Northern Illinois University professors Philippe Piot and Swapan Chattopadhyay, has reserved two months of beam time as part of the Fermilab-NIU Research Cluster.
In the FAST control room and under the guidance of Fermilab scientist Elvin Harms (standing), Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer turns on the upgraded superconducting radio-frequency cavity, called CC1. Photo: Reidar Hahn
For FAST to produce the kinds of beams that are useful for accelerator R&D, its initial electron beam had to have an energy of 50 MeV. In 2015, Fermilab delivered a 20-MeV electron beam. Since then, scientists, engineers and technicians have upgraded the photoinjector to meet specifications, including installing a refurbished accelerating cavity that had been used elsewhere on the Fermilab site.
“It takes a significant effort to install all the complex components and subsystems that make up such an accelerator, and everything has to be done just right,” said Jerry Leibfritz, project engineer for FAST. “The fact that both 20-MeV and 50-MeV beams were achieved within a day or two of the start of commissioning is truly a testament to the excellent work and dedication of all those involved in this project.”
In the current setup, electron bunches generated by a laser are accelerated through two superconducting accelerating cavities (including the refurbished cavity), which bring the energy of electrons to 50 MeV.
As work on FAST progresses, the electron beam will continue through another eight superconducting radio-frequency cavities, accelerating to 300 MeV before entering the beamline for IOTA.
“FAST represents the beginning of a new era at Fermilab, in which the study and development of high-intensity particle beams become an important and productive part of the laboratory program,” said Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer.