The European CERN Council unanimously decided to update the scientific strategy according to the recommendation of a committee headed by Prof. Halina Abramowitz from Tel Aviv University
At the end of two years of prolonged discussions by physicists in Europe and abroad, the Council of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) recently decided to update its strategy, according to the proposal of the European Committee for the Update of Strategic Planning on Particle Physics (EPPSU) - led by Prof. Halina Abramowitz from Tel Aviv University.
"My role as chairman of the committee was to coordinate the entire effort," says Prof. Halina Abramowitz, "At the beginning of the committee's work, we inquired what the scientific community of particle physicists in each country wanted, and then we conducted an international analysis of the quality of the proposals. After two years of discussions, the scientific community in Europe reached a consensus. And to my great joy, the CERN Council unanimously decided to update the strategy according to the committee's recommendation. These are weighty budgetary and political decisions, which are made once a decade, and not every day Israel finds itself at the head of the committee that outlines the policy."
The committee chaired by Prof. Abramowitz actually determined CERN's strategy for the fourth decade of the 21st century, after the completion of the research program for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest particle accelerator in the world. The committee decided that the main goal of particle science in Europe would be an electron accelerator that would be a "factory" for the Higgs boson particle, which was first discovered in the LHC particle accelerator. The proposed new circular accelerator, with a length of about 100 km, will shatter the energy records produced so far at the LHC, and its cost is estimated at about 25 billion dollars.
Advance particle physics to new insights
The Higgs boson particle was discovered at the LHC in July 2012, revolutionizing particle physics. Not only is the Higgs boson the last missing piece in the standard model of particles, but it has been shown to be completely different from any particle measured before it. Higgs boson research is still in its infancy, but the properties of the particle, such as its light weight, already raise profound questions that the standard model cannot explain. At the LHC, it is very difficult to measure the particle, which has been called the "divine particle", with great precision - and the hope is that the future electron accelerator, the construction of which was recommended by the committee headed by Prof. Abramowitz, will make it possible to take more precise measurements of the Higgs boson and advance particle physics to new insights about The basic structure of the universe.
"We are trying to understand how the universe was formed and what it is made of - this is basic science," explains Prof. Abramowitz. "But in order to understand this, we need technological developments, some of which subsequently permeate other areas as well. From projects similar to the LHC project, we received, for example, the PET CT medical imaging test, which is used in medical centers around the world, including in Israel, and significant developments have been developed in the field of cloud computing to deal with the duplicate data that is collected. In order to examine the feasibility of the new accelerator, CERN is currently developing the world's first magnets that will use high-temperature superconductors - a development that could revolutionize the field of transportation, with magnetic levitation trains. And these are just a few examples. There is no telling what doors will be opened for us with the new challenge that the committee set before CERN - both in basic science and in the cooperation with industry, which will be required to build the accelerator."
To achieve the ambitious ESPPU goals, particle physicists are called upon to carry out vigorous research and development (R&D) programs of advanced accelerator technologies, in particular concerning high-temperature and high-level superconducting magnets. In addition, the road map includes R&D for plasma acceleration programs, international research for the possibility of building an ion accelerator and R&D for the development of advanced detectors.
"Israel joined CERN as a full member in 2014, and is the first and only non-European country to join the council so far," says Prof. Abramowitz, who herself takes part in the "Atlas" experiment at the LHC accelerator. "This is our national laboratory. Faculty members from Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem, the Technion and the Weizmann Institute are senior partners in the management of experiments at the LHC. That is why the decisions made by the EPPSU committee are also important for science, but also for our scientific community, for technology, for our economy and for our society," Prof. Abramowitz concludes.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
7 תגובות
Shet - you are "from the light of the diaspora...". Hahahahaha
producing endless work for themselves and their welfare. There is no real need for it. And already Calvin said in his cloud speech, that physics is over. He was indeed wrong then. But today, if he said that, he would actually be right. What remains to be done is actually engineering that uses the accumulated knowledge. what do you think?
Is there a European/global collaborative center researching the physics of nuclear fusion? There is a race against the Chinese (who, according to the 'China 2049' plan, plan to take over the world economy) - who will succeed in producing energy from hydrogen (almost for free). Why not invest similar amounts in this (with all due respect to PET CT?
It doesn't seem to me that private people are interested in science and especially not business people. The physical research is basic research that can be useful maybe after 20 years of research. In basic research there are many expenses and when something is discovered that has a business implication then the university implements it as part of its business entrepreneurship.
A country that desires life is the one that needs to invest in basic research because the social, scientific and economic benefit in the long term is priceless.
Well Jewish?? Probably. And the one who understands will understand the mind and the Jewish mind. He has no substitute.
Very interesting, important, intriguing, the future of humanity.
I wonder how the world public would react if they were given the opportunity to invest in these technologies and sciences as they do in the stock market. I am not proposing total privatization of science, but it may well be that the public wants to be more involved in basic science projects, even though there is no direct yield from it that translates into capital - only for its future developments.