CERN: Feature

CERN70: Cutting-edge computing

katebrad — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 07:59:43 +0000

CERN70: Cutting-edge computing

17 April 2024 · Voir en français

Part 7 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Paolo Zanella came to the CERN computing group in 1962, just a few years after the first computer had arrived

The Ferranti Mercury computer was CERN’s first computer. It was installed in Building 2 on 30 June 1958. (Image : CERN)

CERN’s first computer, a huge vacuum-tube Ferranti Mercury, was installed in 1958. It represented the first stage in the evolution of digital computing at CERN.

The next big step came in 1965, when the first supercomputer arrived: a CDC 6600 designed by computer pioneer Seymour Cray. This transistorised sub-microsecond machine was the first real “number cruncher”. CERN was among the first to adopt these new technologies, which required a great deal of effort to implement because of hardware instabilities.

In 1972, CERN installed the CDC 7600, then the most powerful machine on the market, five times faster than the 6600. Moving from hardware to software, CERN stepped up its efforts to adopt cutting-edge information technology (IT). These two CDC machines played a leading role in computing for high-energy physics. For many years, no other machine was as advanced and as fast as the CDC 7600, which was finally disconnected in 1984. In 12 years of service, it had processed a huge amount of work from thousands of users.

In parallel, from 1973 to 1980, CERN built highly advanced computer systems to control the accelerators. They made the Proton Synchrotron into a flexible workhorse, time-shared by its customers the Super Proton Synchrotron and later the Large Electron-Positron collider. Here CERN’s engineers implemented networks, distributed computer systems, human-computer interfaces with touchscreens, trackballs and more. The trend shifted to a decentralised system with many smaller computers, rather than one large central system that dominated computing.

The huge scientific experiments that started to appear in the 1980s, as well as those that now take data at the Large Hadron Collider, would not have been possible without a substantial human and material investment at CERN in the information processing and communication technologies. An extremely rewarding by-product has been the invention of the World Wide Web at CERN in the early 1990s, which has made a fundamental impact on science and society.

Recollections

When I came to CERN, my job was not only to find problems and solve them, but also to try and convince the physicists that computers were something useful.
Paolo Zanella

The tape units of CERN’s first supercomputer, a CDC 6600, which arrived in 1965. (Image: CERN)

Paolo Zanella came to the CERN computing group in 1962, just a few years after the first computer had arrived. He was later head of the Data Handling Division from 1976 to 1989, before becoming professor at the University of Geneva.

“When I came to CERN, my job was not only to find problems and solve them, but also to try and convince the physicists that computers were something useful. Only a few days after I arrived, Lew Kowarski, then leader of the Data Handling Division, sent me to see Carlo Rubbia, “a future Nobel Prize winner” in Kowarski’s own words, to persuade him to use the recently installed IBM 709. Rubbia’s welcome was that physicists did not need it and did not need me. But then he called me back and said that we should try this and try that – in the end, he was one of the first to adopt computer technology and used it widely and successfully in his experiments throughout his brilliant experimental work at CERN and elsewhere.

The March 1972 CERN Courier was a special issue on computers, beginning with the article “Computers: why?” (Image: CERN)

When I was appointed division leader in 1976, it was with an assignment to reverse trends. The division was in crisis. We had powerful but unreliable computers and some software disasters. The physicists were furious. But a few years later, they were pleased about the changes and the division had earned respect.

We provided excellent service and at the same time we did drive development in the field. However, the relationship with the researchers has never been easy. When we asked for money to develop networks in the 1970s they “could not see why two computers would be interested in talking to each other”, and later the cabling of buildings and the advent of workstations was strongly opposed. In the end, IT invaded the experimental floors, the engineers’ and administrators’ offices, and just at the end of my professional life at CERN, when the World Wide Web was invented, we were recognised as one of the best and most advanced IT environments in scientific research worldwide.

I learned a lot in my training at CERN – and not only technically. Here I got the courage to take on the impossible and to win. I lived during one of the most interesting half-centuries of particle physics. At CERN, I learned a few basic questions that work universally: What is it for? Why do we need it? Will it work? And if you make something useful that works, it will surely be praised and adopted.

In the 1960s, computing was there but nobody knew what to do with it. On the other side was science, and they had to come together step-by-step. Information technology is a universal machinery that can do a lot for science and for civilisation. IT and particle physics have followed very similar growth curves pushing and changing each other. I have been very lucky to live most of my life at the frontier between these two exciting disciplines.”

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary. More information about CERN’s computing history is available on the CERN IT department website.

Paolo Zanella came to the CERN computing group in 1962, just a few years after the first computer had arrived

Get rid of your strains

katebrad — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:55:30 +0000

Release the pressure

Many of us would like to leave our stress behind, but we can find it difficult to let go. Perhaps we fear that by doing so, we won’t have the strength to deal with the demands of everyday life. This may well be the case when we are tired or suffering from too much stress.

Much like a pressure cooker, it can be unwise to “open the lid in one go” and relieve all the accumulated pressure without first preparing. But we can release pent-up pressure in stages, progressively. This can help to unburden us and give us more energy.

The body sends out warning signs when we have been under stress or when we hold on to an emotion at the expense of our health:

Shortness of breath or shallow breathing.
Clenched jaw.
Tight and dry throat.
Tension in the shoulders and neck.
Knot in the stomach or nervous tension in the solar plexus.

These warning signs can drain our energy and wear us out in the long term. Restoring our body’s equilibrium is an essential step in managing our stress. Three physical fundamentals are particularly efficient in helping to get rid of stress:

Breathing, especially exhaling
Body movements
Vocal exercises

In a few simple gestures, our stress can give way to calm. Freeing our mind and body gives us the inner strength that we need to face up to pressures, challenges or difficulties.

Take action

As part of the “Efficiency and caring at work” campaign, the Work Well Feel Well website now offers useful resources that can be downloaded, including exercises on breathing and on discovering safety valves to help release pressure.

In addition:

On 4 June, the CERN psychologists are hosting lunchtime sessions in English and French on useful techniques to manage stress in our daily lives.
CERN HR Learning and Development also provides training courses to help boost resilience and tackle stress:
- For supervisors: “Keeping Pressure Positive: A leadership perspective”
- For teams: “Building Team Resilience through positive Stress Management”
- For individuals: “Balancing Performance and Pressure”

This is part four of a 12-part Work Well Feel Well series, with articles published every two months.

Part four of the Work Well Feel Well series looks at ways to release tension

CERN70: Tracing particles

katebrad — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:51:12 +0000

CERN70: Tracing particles

26 March 2024 · Voir en français

Part 6 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Madeleine Znoy was one of the people responsible for “scanning” the films from the bubble chambers for interesting events

Bubble chamber photo from 1961 showing particle tracks.(Image: CERN)

In the 1960s and 1970s, two techniques for accurately recording the tracks of invisible particles dominated experimental high-energy physics, the bubble chamber and the spark chamber. The pictures produced – simple photographs – were then examined for interesting tracks by specially trained personnel, the “scanners”.

The bubble chamber programme at CERN started in 1959, when the 30-centimetre hydrogen bubble chamber recorded its first image. In parallel, a new, more ambitious project had begun: the construction of a two-metre chamber, which started operating in 1965. In 12 years of active life, this “big” bubble chamber produced more than 40 million photographs and used 20 000 km of film (enough to go half-way around the Earth!).

CERN also pioneered the use of bubble chambers for the study of neutrino interactions, and it was the great interest in this field that led to the construction of the Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC), with 20 cubic metres of liquid hydrogen, and Gargamelle, which contributed to the outstanding success story of the discovery of weak neutral currents at CERN.

The acquired expertise in engineering and cryogenics served the construction of large detectors for experiments at the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the collaborations established then were the starting point for the international cooperations that prevails today.

Recollections

It was true detective work. There was always something to learn. "Scanning" the trajectories of the elementary particles recorded in the images allowed us the opportunity to gain an insight into that type of physics research at our work station.
Madeleine Znoy

Madeleine Znoy was a “scanner” at CERN, a person responsible to examine bubble chamber films to identify interesting events. She went on to work for the OPAL experiment at LEP, and then for the electronics coordination team of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.

Madeleine Znoy at a scanning table in 1976 with a projection of a Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC) picture. (Image: CERN)

“Our work as “scanners” consisted of identifying the trajectories of the particles in the images taken inside the bubble chambers. The scanning was carried out on the basis of criteria laid down by the physicists. Initially, the work was done manually, using a pencil and a sheet of paper to note down the coordinates of where the interactions had taken place as one would on a map (e.g. A-3, B-4) and a description of the interactions (the number of tracks, disintegration, ionisation, energy, etc.). Later, the measuring equipment evolved and was linked up to a computer. The data were recorded and immediately transmitted to be processed by a reconstruction programme which would send back a message requesting a further set of measurements, corrections to be made or indicating that it had all the information it required.

"Scanning" took place round the clock, as the quantities of film to get through were enormous. Female scanners examined the images between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and men, often students, would take over between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. The shifts only lasted four hours because the work put a lot of strain on the eyes. We worked in complete darkness, with three projectors to illuminate the films we had to examine. Each event was actually analysed by three cameras, from three different angles. We could scan hundreds of images in each shift. I even beat a record by evaluating 750 images in four hours! At first, the physicists thought it was impossible and that I must have missed some interesting events. In reality, everything was correct and they were very surprised!

It was true detective work. There was always something to learn. "Scanning" the trajectories of the elementary particles recorded in the images allowed us the opportunity to gain an insight into that type of physics research at our work station.

By virtue of always participating in the initial phases of the experiments, I would take part in the development and testing of new measurement systems. Once a system went into production, I would move on to the next experiment, working on another system with another team. I really enjoyed working with physicists and technicians as well as taking part in the collaboration with other laboratories. We were young and full of enthusiasm. We worked hard but we also knew how to have a good time. Those were good times …”

Watch a scanner in action in this extract from a documentary about the Gargamelle bubble chamber, which operated from 1970 to 1976. (Video: CERN)

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary.

Madeleine Znoy was one of the people responsible for “scanning” the films from the bubble chambers for interesting events

CERN70: The dark side of the muon

katebrad — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 08:34:10 +0000

CERN70: The dark side of the muon

14 March 2024 · Voir en français

Part 5 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Francis Farley, a British physicist, joined CERN in 1957.
This marked the start of a long and remarkable career in experiments to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon

Installation of the g-2 experiment’s muon storage ring at the end of the South hall, photographed in 1965. (Image: CERN)

In the 1950s, the muon was still a complete enigma. Physicists could not yet say with certainty whether it was simply a much heavier electron (with 200 times the mass) or whether it belonged to another species of particle. Acting on an idea of Leon Lederman, CERN launched the “g-2” experiment in 1959, aimed at measuring one of the properties of this strange electron – its magnetic moment.

The experiment's aim was to test quantum electrodynamics, a theory elaborated in the 1940s to describe the effect of the electromagnetic force on charged subatomic particles such as electrons or muons. Among other things, it predicts an anomalously high value for the muon’s magnetic moment "g", hence the name of the experiment.

A group of six physicists – Francis Farley, Georges Charpak, Théo Müller, Antonino Zichichi, Johannes Cornelius Sens and Richard Garwin – joined forces to try and measure this famous value on the Synchrocyclotron. In 1961, the team published the first direct measurement of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment to a precision of 2% with respect to the theoretical value. This precision was increased to 0.4% in 1962. The theory of quantum electrodynamics was validated; the muon behaved exactly like a heavy electron.

Francis Farley proposed a follow-up project at the Proton Synchrotron (PS), involving Simon Van der Meer and Emilio Picasso. Launched in 1966, the experiment produced results that were 25 times more accurate. A third experiment was launched in 1969. The final results confirmed the theory with a precision of 0.0007%!

Research into the muon's anomalous magnetic moment continued in the United States, first at Brookhaven National Laboratory and then at Fermilab, where an experiment is still under way, with increasingly precise results.

Recollections

The science I have experienced has been all about imagining and creating pioneering devices and observing entirely new phenomena, some of which have possibly never even been predicted by theory. That’s what invention is all about and it’s something quite extraordinary.
Francis Farley

Team members of the “g-2” experiment at the Synchrocyclotron (SC) in 1961. Francis Farley stands next to (left to right) Johannes Cornelius Sens, Georges Charpak, Théo Müller and Antonino Zichichi, sitting on the experiment's 6-metre-long magnet. (Image: CERN)

Francis Farley, a British physicist who joined CERN in 1957, put together the first “g-2” experiment on the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. In the course of his long and remarkable career, he conducted a number of experiments to measure this value with ever greater precision.

“One day I received a telegram from the magazine Scientific American asking me to send details of my experiment for an article about the Moon. As my experiment had nothing to do with the Moon, I didn’t reply. A few weeks later, however, they wrote to me again. It was then that I realised that there had been a typing mistake. They were actually asking me for information about the muon, not the Moon. At first, I had thought that there was no connection between the two, but I was wrong.

One of the great mysteries at the time of Isaac Newton was understanding how the Moon was affected by the Earth or, in other words, how gravity worked. It’s the same thing with electromagnetics. What happens between two charged particles that are attracted to each other or repel each other? This is what the theory of quantum electrodynamics explains. It holds that the electron is surrounded by a cloud of “virtual” photons that are emitted and reabsorbed. If another electron enters the cloud, photons are exchanged.

The storage ring of the third g-2 experiment at CERN, which gave its final results in 1979. (Image: CERN)

Gravitation is explained by a similar theory. Virtual gravitons are thought to be exchanged between the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. In quantum electrodynamics, the virtual photons alter the magnetic moment of the particle. If we can detect this variation, we have direct evidence that these virtual photons exist and this was the aim of our experiment.

The first article that we published, in 1961, took the world by storm, because it was the first time that the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon had been measured. As a result, the experiment served as a launching pad for group members to go on to do other things. I was the only one who stayed behind. I went on to work on the second experiment, where I met Emilio Picasso, with whom I got on tremendously well. We got a new team together and achieved much more precise measurements than with the first experiment. As our results did not tie in with theory, we started to think of ideas for a third experiment. We achieved such precision that we decided not to go any further.

The science I have experienced has been all about imagining and creating pioneering devices and observing entirely new phenomena, some of which have possibly never even been predicted by theory. That’s what invention is all about and it’s something quite extraordinary. CERN was marvellous for two reasons: it gave young people like me the opportunity to forge ahead in a new field and the chance to develop in an international environment.”

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary. Francis Farley passed away in 2018, aged 97. Read more about the history of g-2 in the CERN Courier.

Francis Farley, a British physicist, joined CERN in 1957. This marked the start of a long and remarkable career in experiments to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon

CERN70: The heart of CERN’s accelerator chain

katebrad — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 16:48:39 +0000

CERN70: The heart of CERN’s accelerator chain

29 February 2024 · Voir en français

Part 4 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Günther Plass joined the Magnets group at the Proton Synchrotron (PS) in 1956.
Three years later, the machine went into service and became the most powerful accelerator in the world

Aerial view of the CERN site and the PS ring in April 1959 (Image: CERN)

In 1957, CERN staff moved into the new buildings on the Meyrin site in Geneva, and the rooms were rapidly filled with equipment for the Proton Synchrotron (PS).

By the end of July 1959, assembly of the PS – the accelerator is more than 600 metres in circumference! - was completed and, on 16 September, the first beam was circulated. On 24 November 1959, the PS accelerated protons for the first time to its nominal energy of 24 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

The machine is based on a revolutionary new concept developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States, which makes it possible, for the same budget, to achieve a much higher particle energy than with a traditional synchrotron. In this way, the young Laboratory demonstrated its ability to translate a new concept into reality.

Even today, 65 years later, the PS is the heart of CERN's accelerator chain. And while the machine has of course undergone many phases of improvement, its fundamental structure has remained unchanged.

Recollections

Physicists from a dozen European countries would work together on the construction, and later the use, of this almost unbelievable machine, which would stretch technologies to their very limits.
Günther Plass

Completion of the first PS magnet unit was celebrated by photographing the entire Magnet group sitting on it. This first magnet unit was named Margherita, after group member Margherita Cavallaro, shown here holding a sign. Günther Plass is fourth from the left. (Image: CERN)

Günther Plass joined the Proton Synchrotron (PS) team in 1956 and worked for 25 years on PS-related assignments. In the 1980s, he became Deputy Project Leader of the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), before becoming CERN's Director of Accelerators.

“A dream began for me in autumn 1954 at the annual meeting of the German Physical Society. At that gathering, an enthusiastic Werner Heisenberg spoke of recent meetings preparing for CERN, a European Laboratory for Fundamental Physics just being launched in Geneva. A pioneering European enterprise, the new laboratory was to build a particle accelerator hundreds of metres in circumference, huge compared to the cyclotrons I had been reading about at the time. Physicists from a dozen European countries would work together on the construction, and later the use, of this almost unbelievable machine, which would stretch technologies to their very limits.

I certainly wasn’t the only one to be deeply impressed by this report. I even nurtured the hope that my moderate command of languages might one day help me to participate in that enterprise. Back in 1950, I had spent several weeks on a language course in Dijon, France, and in 1951 I spent another few weeks picking potatoes along with students from several countries near Hull in the United Kingdom.

On 25 November 1959, in front of the CERN staff gathered in the Main Auditorium, John Adams, then Director of the PS division, held a bottle of vodka in his hands. The bottle had been given to him a few months earlier on a trip to Dubna, in the Soviet Union, where the world's most powerful accelerator, the Synchrophasotron, had just been commissioned. The bottle was only to be opened if Dubna's record energy of 10 GeV was exceeded. On 24 November, the PS circulated protons at more than twice that energy, 24 GeV. Before sending the empty bottle back to the Soviet Union, John Adams placed inside it a photograph of the 24 GeV pulse, as proof of the record. (Image: CERN)

About one and a half years after Heisenberg’s presentation, I learned that my current [magnet] specialisation was in demand for CERN’s project, so I rushed off my application and, much to my surprise, was offered a job. On 18 June 1956, I dutifully reported to the PS Division’s secretariat at the Institute of Physics. I was directed to join my future colleagues in the lecture hall, where a Symposium on Particle Accelerators and Pion Physics was under way. I thus began my career by listening to talks about pions, muons and strange particles — what a mysterious new world I had come into!”

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary. Günther Plass passed away in 2020, aged 90.

Günther Plass, former Director of Accelerators at CERN, joined the Magnets group at the Proton Synchrotron (PS) in 1956. Three years later, the machine went into service and became the most powerful accelerator in the world

Suffer or enjoy?

katebrad — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 07:03:41 +0000

Sphere of control

What we experience in life can be out of our control. What we can control, however, is how we react. This doesn’t mean staying positive in every situation and hence suppressing or ignoring how we really feel. All emotions are valid and deserve to be acknowledged and accepted. They provide useful signposts, such as anger indicating when a boundary has been crossed.

In challenging situations, it helps to understand what we can control or influence, and what we can’t. This sphere of control gives us the clarity to move forward, changing what we can and accepting what we can’t.

The sphere of control: change what you can, accept what you can’t

We can take back more control of a situation by reaffirming our boundaries and saying no. There are many examples of saying no respectfully to protect ourselves from becoming overloaded. Here are just a few:

Thank you for thinking of me, but I can’t.
Unfortunately, it’s a not a good time.
It isn’t possible with my current workload.
I have other priorities that are more important at the moment.
I’m not able to prioritise that right now.
I already have plans. Perhaps next time.

We experience a range of emotions each day. Taking a moment to observe our emotions and develop a plan or intention (see exercise below) that is respectful of our needs, can guide and help us to enjoy a balanced position to external pressures.

Take action

As part of the “Efficiency and caring at work” campaign, the Work Well Feel Well website now offers useful resources that can be downloaded, including an exercise on observing emotions, defining needs and developing a plan or intention.

In addition:

The recording of the recent Micro-talk #8 “Ego vs Innovation : le regard des neurosciences cognitives” (in French) reinforces how we can learn from our emotions and our errors.
The CERN Medical Service mental health support resources include a self-assessment and contact details of the CERN psychologists.
The CERN Ombud articles “feeling beyond help” and “put your own oxygen mask on first” are also relevant to this topic.

This is the third of a 12-part Work Well Feel Well series, with articles publishing every two months.

Part 3 of the Work Well Feel Well series looks at recognising and learning from emotions

CERN70: A first discovery

katebrad — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:35:34 +0000

CERN70: A first discovery

14 February 2024 · Voir en français

Part 3 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Giuseppe Fidecaro was among the small group of physicists who performed the first experiment at CERN to provide results in 1958 that would spread the Laboratory’s name around the world

The 600 MeV Synchrocyclotron (SC) was CERN’s first accelerator. It began operation in 1957 and ran for 33 years. The SC is now one of the visit points for CERN guided tours. (Image: CERN)

A few months after CERN’s first accelerator, the Synchrocyclotron (SC), was commissioned, a first experiment was launched. At the time, weak interactions were among the most hotly debated topics in high-energy physics. Scientists were puzzled, for example, about the decay of the particle known as the pion. The particle was known to decay into two other particles: a muon and a neutrino. According to theory, it should also sometimes decay into an electron and a neutrino, but this type of decay had never been observed before.

In August 1958, at CERN’s Synchrocyclotron, Tito Fazzini, Giuseppe Fidecaro, Alec Merrison, Helmut Paul and Alvin Tollestrup observed this decay for the first time, at a rate in line with predictions of the theory of the weak interaction.

It was CERN’s first major discovery.

Recollections

We decided to present what we already had – 40 events, from a total of 124 photographs, at a rate compatible with theory […] Next day the news had gone around the world.
Giuseppe Fidecaro

Giuseppe Fidecaro arrived in Geneva in 1956, after spending two years at Liverpool University's synchrocyclotron. He was one of the small group of physicists who performed the first experiment at CERN to provide results that would spread the Laboratory’s name around the world.

The Synchrocyclotron (SC) building with the Jura mountains in the background, photographed in December 1958. (Image: CERN)

“The basic idea of the experiment was that the beam of pions would be stopped in a scintillation counter. Our experimental set-up consisted of a telescope made of a sandwich of graphite plates and scintillation counters. The output signals were displayed on the screen of a high-speed oscilloscope and photographed on continuously moving film. We could recognise the decay of the pion from the recorded signal. With its twelve counters, it was a rather complex and sophisticated apparatus for its time!

In August 1958, we finally got beam to our apparatus. After some checks, we went on changing the thickness of the telescope. A thin telescope simply gave muon and neutrino decay signatures. When we inserted the last graphite plate, we weren't really prepared for what was going to happen. Tito Fazzini, Alec Merrison, Helmut Paul, Alvin Tollestrup and I observed what no one else in the world had seen before: the film essentially showed electron and neutrino decay signatures. We had pion-electron events! A few days later, Julius Ashkin joined our experiment.

On 1 September, the second United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy opened its doors in Geneva. Our results couldn’t be hidden from the large number of physicists, journalists etc. who had come from all over the world for the conference. Although the experiment was not yet complete, we decided to present what we already had – 40 events, from a total of 124 photographs, at a rate compatible with theory – at a special session of the conference on Thursday 4 September, only one month after we got the first beam. The next day, the news had gone around the world. For the first time the local newspaper Tribune de Genève announced “Discovery at CERN”. Our first paper was accepted for publication one week later, and the final paper appeared in July 1959.

Giuseppe and Maria Fidecaro, pioneers of CERN's experiments, became key figures in the Laboratory, continuing to work until very recently. Read the CERN Courier tribute to Maria, who passed away last September. (Image: CERN)

Our approach had been purely experimental, typical of a university lab. An old problem had suddenly turned hot and we looked at whether it could be solved with existing equipment. An experiment using a range telescope had failed to find the missing decay a few years earlier. We could repeat it – but with a minor modification: pions would stop in a scintillator, not within an inert target. A so-called travelling wave oscilloscope was already in our hands! Marc Fell and Max Renevey only had to build a few light-guides and mechanical supports. All this took place in an atmosphere full of enthusiasm.

CERN hosted the Rochester Conference [now ICHEP (International Conference on High Energy Physics)] in June 1958, less than two months after our work had begun. Our apparatus was set up in the “neutron hall” of the SC, and the conference participants were able to see it. To some of them, the telescope looked quite simplistic, compared to the enormous magnet used for the same purpose in Chicago the previous year, but without success.

There were additional firsts in this experiment. The programme written for CERN's brand-new Mercury computer, designed to determine the efficiency of our apparatus, was the first “Monte Carlo” programme – based on a randomised simulation – written for an experiment at CERN. Together with Yves Goldschmidt-Clermont and Norman Lipman, we were also able to measure the average lifetime of the pion with improved precision. To do this, we used the first instrument developed at CERN to evaluate photos, IEP, which, while we waited for the bubble chamber images, enabled us to evaluate the 10 000 events recorded with our apparatus”.

---

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary.

Giuseppe Fidecaro was among the small group of physicists who performed the first experiment at CERN to provide results in 1958 that would spread the Laboratory’s name around the world

CERN70: The Laboratory takes shape

katebrad — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 14:29:35 +0000

CERN70: The Laboratory takes shape

1 February 2024 · Voir en français

Part 2 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

Franco Bonaudi, one of the pioneers of CERN's accelerators, looks back at the Laboratory's early years, during which everything had yet to be invented

On 17 May 1954, the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics took place on the Meyrin site in Geneva, before the eyes of Geneva civil servants and CERN staff. (Image: CERN)

Geneva was chosen as the site of the CERN Laboratory at the third session of the Provisional Council in 1952. The city’s central position in Europe, its neutrality during the war and the fact that it was already home to international organisations played a decisive role.

Construction of the Laboratory began in 1954. While waiting for their premises, the first members of the CERN community moved into the Geneva Institute of Physics and worked from a building and barracks near the airport. The theory group had already been founded in 1952 at the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen alongside the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. It moved to Geneva in 1957.

Two accelerator projects were launched in parallel: an innovative accelerator of unprecedented power, the Proton Synchrotron (PS), and, pending its commissioning, a more conventional machine, the Synchrocyclotron (SC). The SC, built in just three years, went into service in 1957, enabling physicists to get CERN's first experiments up and running quickly.

Recollections

We all started together in huts at Geneva airport in 1954 ... about 150 people of all nationalities. We quickly got used to working together and communicated with each other in bad English.
Franco Bonaudi

The Synchrocyclotron building in November 1955, during its construction. (Image: CERN)

Franco Bonaudi became involved in the great CERN adventure before the Organization was even founded. Given the responsibility of coordinating the first accelerator project, the Synchrocyclotron, he supervised the construction work. He went on to take part in the construction and operation of many accelerators at CERN and held the post of Director of Accelerators from 1976 to 1978.

“In 1951, I was at the Turin Polytechnic when Edoardo Amaldi, one of CERN’s founding fathers, contacted the teaching staff to find out whether they knew of any young scientists who would be interested in taking part in the construction of a particle physics laboratory. I went to Rome to meet Giuseppe Fidecaro, Amaldi’s right-hand man, and it was there that I learnt that the idea was to build a synchrocyclotron. I agreed to participate and left for Liverpool, where I took part in the design studies.

We worked in various European institutes for two years without even knowing where the machine was going to be built. We all started together in huts at Geneva airport in 1954. At that time, the Laboratory consisted of about 150 people of all nationalities. We quickly got used to working together and communicated with each other in bad English. We felt rather lonely, being new to the area, and so we became very close. I remember that the CERN phone directory contained everyone’s home number. Some real friendships were formed.

Transport of a Synchrocyclotron coil through the village of Meyrin in May 1956. (Image: CERN)

My colleague Joop Vermeulen and I were the first to move onto the site of the new Laboratory. We erected a hut with windows, right in the middle of the worksite, and stayed there for two years. The cyclotron was completed in only three years, which was fantastic. We had great enthusiasm and were often required to be inventive. I remember, for example, that we had no heating during our first winter at the SC. We managed to borrow some cast-iron resistors from the Geneva trams. Thanks to this improvised electric heating system, we were able to keep warm all winter. I could tell you dozens of stories like that …”

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary. Franco Bonaudi passed away in 2008 at the age of 80, read more about him in the CERN Courier.

Archive footage from Cine Journal Suisse showing the transportation of a Synchrocyclotron magnet coil on its way from Basel to CERN, passing through the narrow streets of Swiss villages Morat and Coppet. Transportation of the magnet coils took place in 1955 and 1956. (Video: CERN)

Franco Bonaudi, one of the pioneers of CERN's accelerators, looks back at the Laboratory's early years, during which everything had yet to be invented

CERN70: Foundations for European science

katebrad — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 07:38:22 +0000

CERN70: Foundations for European science

18 January 2024 · Voir en français

Part 1 of the CERN70 feature series. Find out more: cern70.cern

François de Rose, a French diplomat, was involved in the creation of CERN
In 2004, he still remembered the first discussions that ultimately led to the birth of the Organization

Many of CERN's founders gathered for the third session of the provisional CERN Council in Amsterdam on 4 October 1952. At this session, Geneva was chosen as the site for the Laboratory and it was decided to build a 25-30 GeV Proton Synchrotron. (Image: CERN)

In the aftermath of the Second World War, a handful of visionary scientists imagined how to revive science in Europe. By pooling the resources of several countries, they hoped to equip Europe with accelerators similar to those being built in the United States, and thus stem the brain drain. The idea of creating a European atomic physics laboratory took shape. After months of negotiations, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference in 1951 adopted the first resolution to create a European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The CERN Convention, drawn up in 1953, was gradually ratified by the 12 founding Member States: Belgium, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia.

On 29 September 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research officially came into being. The provisional Council was dissolved, but the acronym remained.

Recollections

CERN is one of the achievements with which I am the most proud to have been associated … it is such a noble cause.
François de Rose

François de Rose (left) with CERN Director-General John Adams at the inauguration of the PS in 1960. (Image: CERN)

François de Rose, a French diplomat, was involved in the creation of CERN from the very beginning. He went on to hold office as President of the CERN Council from 1958 to 1960, during which time he helped to prepare the Laboratory's extension into French territory. Interviewed in 2004, he had vivid memories of the initial discussions that led to the birth of the Organization.

"CERN is one of the achievements with which I am the most proud to have been associated … it is such a noble cause.

The first steps towards CERN’s creation were taken in the United States between 1947 and 1949. At that time I was the French representative to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Commission, which comprised both diplomats and scientists. It was there that I met Robert Oppenheimer, with whom I struck up a friendship. Like many American scientists, he had been very much influenced by European science, having worked in Niels Bohr’s group in particular. During one of our conversations he said more or less the following: “We have learnt all we know in Europe. But in the future, fundamental physics research is going to require substantial resources which will be beyond the means of individual European countries. You will need to pool your efforts to build these big machines that are going to be needed. It would be unhealthy if the Europeans were obliged to go the United States or the Soviet Union to conduct their fundamental research.” The idea fascinated me and I arranged for him to meet the French scientific advisers from my Commission, Pierre Auger, Francis Perrin, Lew Kowarski, and Bertrand Goldschmidt.

At the sixth session of CERN's provisional Council, held in Paris in summer 1953, the Convention establishing the Organization was signed. It was ratified in the following months by the 12 founding Member States. (Image: CERN)

In 1949, when we returned to Paris, I went on a tour of European capitals with Francis Perrin to see what sort of reception Oppenheimer’s idea would be given. We were confronted with a lack of interest: the scientists were afraid that a big research centre would swallow all the available funds and soak up the resources of their own laboratories. They were wrong, however, because as soon as CERN started to request resources there was an increase in the funding allocated to research. What’s more, the governments had no idea of what it was all about: when they heard the words ‘atomic research’, they immediately thought of the atom bomb and were afraid that it would not go down well with the Americans. Last but not least, the fact that Frédéric Joliot Curie, an eminent member of the Communist Party, was in charge of the French Atomic Energy Commission caused the other European scientists to have cold feet. We therefore failed in our mission. However, the idea was now on the table and Isidor Rabi’s speech at the Florence General Conference secured the breakthrough we needed.

CERN was created so that Europeans were not forced to go the United States. Today, Americans are coming to Europe to work on CERN’s machines, something which I don’t think Oppenheimer had anticipated. I find that an extraordinary turnaround.”

----

This interview is adapted from the 2004 book “Infinitely CERN”, published to celebrate CERN’s 50th anniversary. François de Rose passed away in 2014 at the age of 103, read more about him in the CERN Courier.

François de Rose, a French diplomat, was involved in the creation of CERN. In 2004, he still remembered the first discussions that ultimately led to the birth of the Organization

A break that revitalises you?

katebrad — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 12:57:09 +0000

Time to take a break

As one year ends and another begins, the two-week CERN closure can give us time to rest. Taking a break is necessary, not only at the end of the year, but within each working day. We can all make it a New Year’s resolution in 2024 to find time to take a break.

Why? Allowing ourselves to rest aids our physical and mental wellbeing. We return to a task with renewed energy and perspective, helping to increase our efficiency in the short and medium term.

Reclaim the lunch break! This official break restores vitality, improves wellbeing and reconnects us with those around us and with ourselves. (Image: Christoph Balle/CERN)

Our workdays have an official break of one hour for lunch. Let’s reclaim it. It is an official time where we can disconnect from work and reconnect with colleagues. The pause restores vitality and improves our wellbeing. We can also add micro-breaks into our days, helping to keep a healthy distance from ongoing tasks; for example taking our eyes away from the computer screen for a few minutes.

Some breaks are almost invisible: a long deep breath before continuing to work. Other breaks involve a pause in concentration, setting aside a complex task to work on a simpler one. A break doesn’t always mean doing nothing; it can also involve doing something else. In fact, some of us need to do something to clear our minds.

CERN70: Some of CERN’s first personnel take a break in 1958, with the Salève mountain in the background. (Image: CERN)

A break that revitalises you?

We’ve all taken breaks that didn’t help to recover our strength. Even worse, we may return to work more tired than before. The best way to see if the break has been beneficial is to see how we feel when we come back.

A real break replenishes our energy and increases our efficiency. This means quietening our minds, changing our ideas and stepping back from current activities. It’s all about responding to our own needs: recharging our batteries, exercising, eating and drinking properly. It’s also knowing how to recreate internal availability, often lost among unfinished tasks and the demanding rhythm of work.

Offering ourselves a beneficial break, be it official or regular micro-breaks, involves working out what we really need and allowing ourselves that time.

Take action

As part of the “Efficiency and caring at work” campaign, the Work Well Feel Well website now offers useful resources that can be downloaded, including self-reflection exercises and sleep advice.

The recordings of the recent talks by the CERN Medical Service and psychologists on the topics of “Flash disconnect” and “Cardiac coherence” provide practical advice and exercises to take a break during the working day.
The recording of the 2019 CERN talk “Sleep: The Wake Up Call” by Vicki Culpin highlights the importance of resting.
For those who prefer a break to be a chance to do something else, the Staff Association provides a list of wide-ranging clubs.

This is the second of a 12-part Work Well Feel Well series, with articles to be published every two months.

Part 2 of the Work Well Feel Well series looks at why taking a break is so important