Comments on: Sunset on the Tevatron: Photos and memories from a Fermilab physicist

By: Robert Oliver

Robert Oliver — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:21:00 +0000

Yeah, I was going to mention the lack of coverage as well. I guess they feel like it has run its course. I visit there often, with my kids, and wander around Wilson Hall. We’ve had many impromptu tours of the building and grounds and have yet to be surprised by what I see. It is really too bad that the U.S. dropped the funding for a particle accelerator that would have drawfed the LHC; if it had been built….

By: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:57:00 +0000

Kirby and TamaraRose, thanks for your kind words. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Richard Kirk, Phil Foglio is quite familiar with Fermilab, and has occasionally drawn it in his comics. I’m trying to remember whether I’ve given a tour to Kaja Foglio.

John Morse, there is talk– no firm announcement so far– that Fermilab may open a detector hall and a portion of the Tevatron tunnel for public tours. Possibly, if you are near Chicago again, you might be able to see parts of the accelerators that you couldn’t have seen while the Tevatron was running.

Betatron, those were merely the last supply of antiprotons in the Americas. The good people of CERN still operate an antiproton source to support experiments there, such as traps that manufacture antihydrogen atoms by the thousands.

By: Renita Marjan

Renita Marjan — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:09:00 +0000

I worked for the Kane County Chronicle for a couple of years … even since then it’s gone dramatically downhill. They completely miss big local stories all the time.

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:39:00 +0000

high energy sandals. I just keep thinking about high energy sandal research.

By: betatron

betatron — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:54:00 +0000

fourth pic from the bottom “Tevatron Big Buttons” shows real Tev beam signals (the green things) and most of the world’s last supply of antiprotons (lower left, bottom trace) in the Recycler. The antiprotons were lost to an offsite electrical failure two days later. A scant few e10 are cowering in the Antiproton Source, where they will be set free (into the side of a magnet) at the end of this week. (edit to reflect the pbar survivors)

By: John Morse

John Morse — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Nice article Bill! Now I’m even more bummed that I missed the tour when I was fGOH at CapriCon. Some foolishness about my car being stolen…

By: TamaraRose

TamaraRose — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:22:00 +0000

I was in that group of Sci-Fi fans! Thank you, thank you, thank you. That field trip was the best part of the whole con for me.

By: Richard_Kirk

Richard_Kirk — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:08:00 +0000

And the castle in the Girl Genius ‘Cinderella’…
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081203

By: Winski

Winski — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:32:00 +0000

VERY cool place.. Used to be a customer of mine. Forever on the edge.

By: tvkirby

tvkirby — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Wow does this bring back memories.

In 1991 I led 3 busloads of science fiction fans that were attending the World Science Fiction Convention – Chicon V – to visit Fermilab.

It was a fascinating afternoon and Bill Higgins was one of the people that helped me get the whole thing organized.

By: ackpht

ackpht — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:12:00 +0000

Hah! I knew all that collider stuff was just a passing fad.

By: xzzy

xzzy — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:12:00 +0000

Pretty much. Some of the proposed projects are pretty impressive though:

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/science/experiments/works-in-progress/

By: bkad

bkad — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:58:00 +0000

I had a great opportunity to work at Fermilab for a summer in my undergraduate physics days. I was the smallest of small cogs, but it was exciting to be part of something big.

By: ackpht

ackpht — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:50:00 +0000

So, back to fixed-target mode?

By: Eric Bart

Eric Bart — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:52:00 +0000

Hopefully when you left you drove the less than a mile trip to Two Brothers Brewing and had an Atom Smasher beer in honor of the collider shutting down.

By: xzzy

xzzy — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:40:00 +0000

Fermilab has a number of neutrino related experiments underway. NOVA, NUMI, LBNE, MINOS, MiniBoone, and probably some more I’m forgetting about. MINOS in particular is uniquely suited towards helping with the recent “faster than light” news that went around a couple weeks ago, and will probably be helping answer that question.

There’s a lot of accelerator research going on too, looking for new ways to make stuff go really fast.

By: ackpht

ackpht — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:30:00 +0000

I’d like to see a description of which accelerators will continue to be operated and what types of experiments they will support.

By: Dodi

Dodi — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:24:00 +0000

Thank you for covering this. The Kane County Chronicle barely mentioned it online.

This shutdown makes me sad and nostalgic. I grew up 2 towns north of Fermi and remember how thrilling it was to find Fermi Lab in my Guinness World Records book after countless field trips there. We went to see the bison herd more often than the laboratory. Now I have several friends who work there. Hope they can continue there. There have already been layoffs.

By: Michael Baird

Michael Baird — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Excellent article. Sent it along to a lifelong friend who is working out at Fermi.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:51:00 +0000

Visited it once. There’s a herd of bison topside. Was not expecting to see them there.
http://ed.fnal.gov/trc_new/sciencelines_online/sp_smr98/bison.html

By: Tim Cameron

Tim Cameron — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Posts like this are what make me love the boings. Maggie was a brilliant addition to the site. Keep up the great work!

By: bbonyx

bbonyx — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Every time I see the Tevatron, I can only think of Atari Force headquarters Old schoolers, unite!