Author: Mažena Mackoit-Sinkevičienė

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From 14th April to the end of May, the EPS Lithuanian Young Minds section, with the support of the Lithuanian Physical Society, organised a series of events dedicated to World Quantum Day.
 
The World Quantum Day (WQD) celebration in Lithuania is a part of the WQD movement, which aims to promote the public understanding of Quantum Science and Technology around the World. WQD is constituted by quantum scientists who act as contact points and country representatives for the World Quantum Day, and we are pleased to tell you that EPS Young Minds Action Committee member dr. M. Mackoit-Sinkevičienė, together with J. Sinkevičius, with the support of the Lithuanian Physical Society, were the main organisers of this large-scale event. 65 countries around the world, including Lithuania, celebrated World Quantum Day with various events.  On that occasion, a series of special events were planned in Lithuania - like educational lectures, special television and radio programs, visits to different Lithuanian cities, and even an exhibition of science and art on this topic, which is held at the Center for Physical Sciences and Technologies (FTMC).  
In February we officially announced the Quantum Art Competition to illustrate quantum effects and the most influential scientists in the history of quantum mechanics. The WQD art competition was opened to anyone who is not indifferent to science. Over 200 participants were divided into three age categories: children under 12; children aged 12-18 and adults.

We discussed the drawings together with the President of Lithuanian Physical Society and the Chair of the Quantum Art Contest prof. Gražina Tautvaišienė: “The contest committee had a really difficult task. Participants demonstrated great creativity and ingenuity, many with a subtle understanding of physics. The drawings of many participants deserved awards. I am glad that physics contributes to the development of the depth of thinking and inspires the creation of masterpieces of art. I wish everyone success and creativity in all areas of life."

FTMC director prof. Gintaras Valušis: “We are the first country in the world to organize such a large-scale event within the framework of World Quantum Day. Science and art have gone hand in hand since time immemorial. Today, guests from Palanga, Jonava, Jieznas, Kaunas, Raseiniai, Tauragė and other cities visit here, in a special place, in the sanctuary of science - FTMC. We received over 200 works, but we selected the 50 most impressive works for the exhibition. Glad we succeeded! Let it become a beautiful tradition. ” The authors of the best works were awarded valuable prizes including popular board games, drawing tablets, electronics training kits, etc. On May 20th, in the FTMC, the exhibition "Quantum Physics in Art" with the most impressive works of all Lithuania was opened.

On 14th April a national broadcast on YouTube i.e., a lecture with quizzes from Lithuanian physicists was shown. EPS YM created a special movie dedicated to WQD in Lithuania. We recorded greetings from Lithuanian physicists from different universities and centers: Lithuanian Physical Society, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, FTMC and Vilnius University (VU) Faculty of Physics. A special quiz questions were given to the participants for whom prizes were awarded. An introductory lecture on quantum physics was also given from the history of quantum information to examples of concrete quantum-related projects, the discussions explored the past, present and future of quantum science and technology.

The second major event took place on April 25th in the Theater Hall of VU. The interactive public lecture about the beginning of the big bang theory and quantum physics was given to the audience gathered for the event – VU students, Vilnius city gymnasium students and their teachers. Participants answered all the questions. The youngest participant of the festival, seven-year-old Ernestas Kavaliauskas, was the most active. In the second part of this event, "Alice in the Quantum Wonderland" - a fun interactive performance of the VU Drama Theater (directed by Felicija Feiferė), during which the audience not only learned the secret of science, but also saw the experiments and the discussion with dr. Mažena Mackoit-Sinkevičienė.
At the end of May EPS YM Vilnius travelled to Jonava, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Visaginas, etc. Young researchers presented their scientific achievements in a simple, interesting, and comprehensible way. In addition, they showed some educational experiments. Instead of one day, we celebrated in Lithuania for a whole month. We started with the virtual lecture on YouTube, after that we traveled to the VU Theater, later we visited Lithuanian schools and finished with a magnificent art exhibition “Quantum Physics in Art”. 4.14 - the number symbolizing Planck's constant is the beginning of everything in quantum physics, like alpha and omega, this is exactly the alpha for which Max Planck is the father of quantum physics.

More about WQD in Lithuania:

• TV episode „Schrodinger‘s cat“ http://bitly.ws/rT8q  (at the end of each episode EPS YM and Lithuanian Physical Society are mentioned).
• TV episode wave-particle duality   (at the end of each episode EPS YM and Lithuanian Physical Society are mentioned).
• Pages: http://bitly.ws/rT8I, http://bitly.ws/rT8M and http://bitly.ws/rT8F
• Contest episode (at the end of each episode EPS YM and Lithuanian Physical Society are mentioned).
• Lecture
  
• Art exhibition

Author: EDP Sciences

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It’s been a busy, but enjoyable month… Here are some of our spring highlights:

EPS Forum, Paris

It was our great pleasure to attend the EPS Forum and meet many of you in person. We particularly enjoyed the outstanding plenary talks with Barry Barish, John Michael Kosterlitz and Serge Haroche. Also the Hands-on Sessions which included a “Masterclass on scientific writing” with Anne Ruimy (Senior Publisher and EPL Executive Editor) and Gonzalo Muga (EPL Editor-in-Chief). Our thanks to everyone involved!

Find out more about Science Publishing Masterclasses here or the partner journal, Emergent Scientist, a hands-on open access journal for students.

FISA 2022 and EURADWASTE ’22, Lyon

Our journal, EPJ N Nuclear Sciences & Technologies, is delighted to be the publishing partner of the 10th Euratom Conference on Reactor Safety & 10th Euratom Conference on Radioactive Waste which took place recently. The event brought together around 500 participants from all over Europe and addressed two major aspects of nuclear energy at a time when energy security and sovereignty are hot topics. EPJ N is a member of the European Physical Journal (EPJ) series of peer-reviewed journals many of which are EPS Recognised Journals.

EPJ Web of Conferences – Applied Nuclear Physics Conference 2021, Prague

We are pleased to share the open access proceedings from the first Applied Nuclear Physics Conference (ANPC 2021) held in Prague last year. The European Physical Society (EPS) introduced the new Applied Nuclear Physics Conference “to contribute to the advancement of nuclear physics in Europe and neighbouring countries…”. Find out more here or browse the proceedings.

EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) – Kristel Crombé joins

The EPJ Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) has recently welcomed Prof. Dr. ir. Kristel Crombé as the new representative for the Belgian Physical Society. The SAC advises on editorial matters and is supported by the SAC secretary; currently our colleague, Solange Guéhot.

Books – celebrating 35 years of Savoirs Actuels

The Savoirs Actuels collection publishes reference works in French in the fields of physics, astrophysics, mathematics and chemistry. The most recent title is Symétries Continues by Franck Laloë. Coming soon is Théorie statistique des Champs – Vol 2 by François David which will be out on 16 June. The collection is overseen by Michèle Leduc and is co-published with CNRS Éditions. Find out more.

If you have a question or publishing project you would like to discuss, feel free to contact us. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at some other upcoming conferences such as the EAS in Valencia or Optique Nice in… Nice!

Best wishes

EDP Sciences

Author: Sofia Facal Belli

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The Oxford Dictionary describes soft skills as "Personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people". Although traditionally soft skills may have been thought to play a minor role (especially in the scientific world) they are core skills that are now thought to be crucial in the development and advancement in the scientific career and in life. "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives" famously said by writer Annie Dillard.

According to Dom Bernard (March 2019, http://www.virtualspeech.com) soft skills are those personal attributes that influence how well you can work and interact with others and are essential for your success, your company's success and indeed your personal success. And since for most of us, a significant part of our day is spent at work (90,000 hours), we can safely say that your job can a make a huge impact on your happiness and quality of life.

As stated previously since the importance soft skills vs hard skills is often undervalued in the scientific career, there is far less training provided for them. Scientists from STEM fields have dedicated much effort, time and passion developing "hard skills" when, in fact, establishing relationships, creating trust, negotiating, public speaking, or scientific writing (and many more) are essential for a successful career.  The lack of soft skills can be a limiting factor for a person's full potential and can possibly be detrimental to your advancement in the scientific career as well.

Automation and AI will result in a greater proportion of jobs relying on soft skills. It is interesting to note that 94% of recruiters believe that people with strong soft skills will have a better chance of success that employees with years of hard skill experience. (ICIMS Insights 2017)

Do your soft skills need improvement?

We at Skills4Science specialize in helping the Scientific Community develop and/or enhance Soft Skills. At our workshops we have a diverse range of training topics to strengthen this very important skills, including and not limited to Problem Solving, Networking,  Public Speaking, Written Communication and Transformational Leadership.

We help research centers, universities, and start-ups in the field to design the best training plans for individuals, teams and institutions.

Please contact Sofi Facal Belli at skillsfourscience@gmail.com and visit our website for more information: www.skills4si.com. 

The President of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt succeeds Lutz Schröter, who takes over the vice presidency in rotation / Handover in turbulent times

Berlin, Bad Honnef, Germany, 1. April 2022 – On Friday, April 1, 2022, Joachim Ullrich will assume the presidency of the German Physical Society (DPG). He succeeds Lutz Schröter, who was president of the world's largest physics society with around 55,000 members from April 2020 to March 2022 and will now become DPG vice president by rotation. The previous vice president, Dieter Meschede of the University of Bonn, is also leaving office by rotation.

"We believe in the idea that science bridges cultures," says the new DPG president, underlining a central guiding principle of the DPG. "Genuine science only functions in the long term in freedom, in open discourse, free of fear in pluralistic discussion."

The war in Ukraine makes it abundantly clear how important it is for the DPG to devote all its energies to maintaining bridges for the free exchange of scientific knowledge and opinions across national borders and cultures. This includes, in particular, concrete measures initiated by his predecessor.

An important concern of the new DPG president is the promotion of young people. "Promoting young talent also includes mitigating the negative consequences of the Corona pandemic for young, school-age people, that includes teachers," Ullrich emphasizes. Only recently, the DPG, together with other mathematics and science societies, issued a position paper on continuing education and training for teachers, calling for participation in continuing education and training programs to be made much easier.

Joachim Ullrich is convinced that a good education in the natural sciences is the basis for social participation and a discourse based on facts. "We have to support society and politics in their decisions," says Ullrich, "and provide the scientific basis for this." This applies not least to the challenges in the areas of climate and energy supply.

Ullrich believes: "The DPG has to get involved, more than ever! We have to support society and politics in finding the right way without – and I think this is extremely important – becoming political ourselves!"

For this involvement, he says, further strengthening of DPG communications is necessary. This also includes communicating how science works; there are still major misunderstandings. In this communication, he also sees the DPG as having a responsibility to support scientists who express themselves scientifically on present topics, such as the pandemic or climate change, and to protect them from hostility.

Joachim Ullrich is convinced that the success of the DPG in all its activities is indistinguishably linked to a lively, creative and inspiring association culture: "Our members are the heart of our association, and enthusiastic members are also the best ambassadors, the best source of new members. I will therefore do everything I can to preserve, and even increase, the attractiveness of the DPG for our members, and – above all – to extend it to new groups."

About Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Joachim H. Ullrich

Joachim Ullrich was born in Edenkoben, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in 1956. He studied Geophysics and Physics at the University of Frankfurt, where, after receiving his diploma in 1983, he also received his doctorate and habilitated on recoil ion pulse spectroscopy in 1994. From 1989 to 1997 he worked as a scientific employee at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (Society for Heavy Ion Research, GSI) in Darmstadt, where he was active in the development of recoil ion spectroscopy. After a research stay at Kansas State University and a visiting professorship at the University of Missouri in 1995, he received an appointment to a chair in experimental physics at the University of Freiburg in 1997.

There he quickly brought his department to the international forefront. In 1999, Joachim Ullrich was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation.

With his appointment as director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, he established the department of "Experimental Multiparticle Quantum Dynamics" there from 2001. As managing director of the MPIK from 2002 to 2006, he played a major role in the institute's future-oriented scientific direction. In addition, he has been actively involved in teaching at Heidelberg University as a personal full professor since 2002.

Joachim Ullrich has made a special contribution to the use of free-electron lasers (FEL) – sources of X-rays of the highest intensity and quality. Since 2006, he has been head of the Max Planck Advanced Study Group at the "Hamburg Center for Free Electron Laser Science" (CFEL), which he helped to establish in 2008 as chairman of the CFEL Management Board. One of his internationally significant achievements is the development of the CAMP multifunctional measurement apparatus. This was used to perform ground-breaking experiments at the world's first X-ray FEL at Stanford to image increasingly complex systems ranging from molecules to clusters, biomolecules and biological samples such as viruses.

Joachim Ullrich has received numerous national and international awards for his scientific work. In 2006, for example, he received the Philipp Morris Research Prize together with Robert Moshammer, and in 2021 he received the Stern-Gerlach Medal, the highest award of the DPG for outstanding achievements in the field of experimental physics.

In 2012, Joachim Ullrich was appointed President of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). One year later, he was elected second deputy in the presidium of the German Institute for Standardization (Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V.) as well as a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). Within the framework of the Metre Convention, Joachim Ullrich became a member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), has been its vice president since 2015 and president of the Consultative Committee for Units (CCU) since the beginning of 2014.

The new DPG president Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Joachim Ullrich © PTB

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The German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V.; DPG), which was founded way back in 1845, is the oldest national and, with about 55,000 members, also the largest physical society in the world. As a non-profit-making organisation it pursues no economic interests. The DPG promotes the transfer of knowledge within the scientific community through conferences, events and publications, and aims to open a window to physics for the curious. Its special focuses are on encouraging junior scientists and promoting equal opportunities. The DPG’s head office is at Bad Honnef am Rhein. Its representative office in the capital is the Magnus-Haus Berlin. Website: www.dpg-physik.de

Author: GSI

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The construction for the FAIR Control Center (FCC) has begun. The start of work is an important step in the construction of the international accelerator center FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) and marks a decisive moment for one of the largest construction projects for research worldwide. On March 29, 2022, the symbolic laying of the foundation stone for the new building took place on the construction site directly at the western entrance to the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt. It was an honour for GSI/FAIR to receive the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the Hessian Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, Angela Dorn, the Hessian Minister of Finance, Michael Boddenberg, and Jochen Partsch, Lord Mayor of the Science City of Darmstadt, on this occasion. When completed, the FAIR Control Center will be a crucial hub of the entire infrastructure on the GSI/FAIR campus.

The FAIR accelerator facilities will provide particle beams of unprecedented intensity and precision, enabling scientist to perform unique experiments to gain new insights into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present. Therefore, an integrated state-of-the art control center is needed to control and monitor the extremely complex accelerator facility. The control tasks will be performed by a specialized accelerator operation team exploiting sophisticated software tools including AI based processes. The future Main Control Room (MCR) is significantly larger than the existing main control room at the GSI facility, which is suitable to serve the GSI facilities but could no longer meet additional space and technical requirements for FAIR. The FAIR facility is about four times as large as the existing GSI facility and will enable the realization of a significantly higher number of experiments. In addition, with FAIR the parallel operation of experiments increases.

In addition to the main control room, more than 200 new scientific office workplaces will be established in the building, as well as meeting rooms for experiment collaborations and a visitors' gallery. The five-story FAIR Control Center, partial with basement, has a total gross floor area of approximately 6000 square feet.

At the same time as the foundation stone is being laid, FAIR's scientific program is already in its first stage of implementation, the so-called "FAIR Phase 0". Here, the researchers are using the GSI accelerator facilities, which have been significantly improved for their later use as pre-accelerators for FAIR and will be further technically upgraded. Thanks to the detectors and instrumentation already developed by the large international FAIR collaborations and the improved particle accelerators, it is already possible to enter new physics territory.

During the foundation stone ceremony, high representatives from politics, both the federal government and the state, as well as from science and the building industry gave greetings and symbolically laid the foundation stone for the FCC. The Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, Professor Paolo Giubellino, emphasized the great potential FAIR offers for research worldwide: “FAIR will open up outstanding research for decades involving a world-wide scientific community. With the FAIR facility, researchers from all over the world will be able to investigate key questions about the structure of the universe by producing the fundamental processes in the laboratory, but also to advance applications in medicine, materials research, and IT, for example. FAIR is also an ideal education site for the next generations of scientists and engineers. The current research program FAIR-Phase-0 already offers excellent research programs; in the coming years, FAIR will progressively enter into operation opening unique opportunities for science and technology. "

Statements on the foundation stone ceremony

Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research, says: “The establishment of FAIR emphasizes Germany’s outstanding position in basic physical research. The construction of facilities like FAIR is an investment in the future of our country. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports FAIR in becoming a magnet for the world’s best scientists. Today’s laying of the foundation stone together with the federal state of Hesse is another important step in this direction.”

Angela Dorn, Hessian Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, says: “FAIR is a worldwide unique facility, which is also of outstanding importance for the Hessian research landscape. The particle accelerator will allow to study the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the present. It is about fundamental knowledge, about whatever holds the world together in its inmost folds, as well as about developing new applications for technology and medicine. The international collaboration of the global research community on this project is an important foundation for its success, but it also holds challenges in light of the current world situation. We welcome the FAIR Council's constructive engagement with them to realize this outstanding scientific facility."

Michael Boddenberg, Hessian Minister of Finance, says: “The laying of the foundation stone for the FAIR Control Center creates the basis for groundbreaking scientific findings. It forms the interface to the international FAIR project and will sustainably strengthen our science and business hub through cutting-edge research. Together with the Federal Government and in cooperation with its international partners, the Hessian State Government has always supported GSI's research operations and the construction of FAIR. I would like to thank all those involved in the project who have contributed to the fact that we can celebrate this important construction progress together today.

Jochen Partsch, Lord Mayor of the Science City of Darmstadt, says: “The pioneering FAIR Control Centre project confirms our location's qualities as an important reference point for top international research and will boost research and science to a new dimension. I am proud to witness that the City of Science Darmstadt is further opening the door to the universe and offering the unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research.”

Volker Pohlschmidt, Managing Director of Bauunternehmung Karl Gemünden GmbH & Co. KG, says: “As the executing shell construction company for the construction of the FAIR Control Center FCC, we would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in this seminal building. We consider ourselves very fortunate that the public sector trusts in our range of services. It represents an important contractor for us, especially in times of crisis.”

About FAIR

The international accelerator center FAIR, which is currently being built at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, will be one of the largest and most complex accelerator facilities in the world. The centerpiece is the ring accelerator SIS100 with a circumference of 1100 meters, which has already been completed in its structural shell. Connected to this is a complex system of storage rings and experimental stations. The existing GSI accelerators serve as pre-accelerators. Engineers and scientists work together in international collaborations to drive forward new technological developments in many areas, for example in information technology or superconductivity technology. In the future, about 3000 researchers from all over the world will be able to conduct cutting-edge research at FAIR. In outstanding experiments, they will gain fundamental new insights into the structure of matter and the development of the universe.