The Koffler particle accelerator of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, was built in 1976. The building became a symbol of the institute. In 2011, an astronomical observatory was opened on the top of the building.
The Koffler particle accelerator of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, was built in 1976. The building became a symbol of the institute. In 2011, an astronomical observatory was opened on the top of the building.
The accelerator building, designed by architect Moshe Harel in Formalist style, was completed in 1976. It has two towers, of 57 and 53 meters high, and an "egg-shaped structure", 22 by 14 meters in its widest points. It became a symbol of the Weizmann Institute of Science. [1] [2] It was designed to have "a close resemblance to the original van de Graaff accelerators". [3] It is named after Murray Koffler, who was the first Chair of Weizmann Canada. [4] Now it serves as a conference hall.
The original accelerator installed in 1977 was a 14UD pelletron tandem accelerator, built by National Electrostatics Corp. [5] [6] [7]
The Martin S. Kraar Observatory on top of the accelerator building was opened in 2011. [8] It is named after the philanthropist Martin S. Kraar. [9] The observatory is remotely-operated. [8] There are two telescopes there, the larger one is 41 cm, and the second one is 80 mm guide telescope, both connected to CCD cameras. [10]
A Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column, creating very high electric potentials. It produces very high voltage direct current (DC) electricity at low current levels. It was invented by American physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff in 1929. The potential difference achieved by modern Van de Graaff generators can be as much as 5 megavolts. A tabletop version can produce on the order of 100 kV and can store enough energy to produce visible electric sparks. Small Van de Graaff machines are produced for entertainment, and for physics education to teach electrostatics; larger ones are displayed in some science museums.
Rehovot is a city in the Central District of Israel, about 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv. In 2022 it had a population of 150,748.
In experimental and applied particle physics, nuclear physics, and nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify ionizing particles, such as those produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator. Detectors can measure the particle energy and other attributes such as momentum, spin, charge, particle type, in addition to merely registering the presence of the particle.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the application of physics toward solving problems of concern to humanity. It was established in 1922 and the first General Assembly was held in 1923 in Paris. The Union is domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland.
John Norris Bahcall was an American astrophysicist and the Richard Black Professor for Astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Study. He was known for a wide range of contributions to solar, galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, including the solar neutrino problem, the development of the Hubble Space Telescope and for his leadership and development of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is an Indian Research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has campus in Bangalore, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), and an affiliated campus in Serilingampally near Hyderabad. TIFR conducts research primarily in the natural sciences, the biological sciences and theoretical computer science.
The Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) was an array of particle detectors designed to study the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. It was deployed from 1987 to 1991 and decommissioned in 2004. It consisted of 111 scintillation detectors and 27 muon detectors spread over an area of 100 km2. It was operated by the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo at the Akeno Observatory.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.
The Research School of Physics (RSPhys) was established with the creation of the Australian National University (ANU) in 1947. Located at the ANU's main campus in Canberra, the school is one of the four founding research schools in the ANU's Institute of Advanced Studies.
The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory. The institute primarily conducts basic research in the natural sciences in the field of astronomy.
Jonathan Richard "John" Ellis is a British-Swiss theoretical physicist.
Murray Bernard Koffler was a Canadian pharmacist, businessman, and philanthropist. He was best known for founding the Canadian pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart, establishing the Koffler Centre of the Arts, co-founding the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, and as an initial investor, co-founder and partner in Four Seasons Hotels.
Raymond George Herb was an American professor of nuclear physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was known for building electrostatic accelerators. His work influenced the Manhattan Project, which built the first nuclear weapons. In 1960, the University of São Paulo awarded him an honorary doctorate. He won the Bonner Prize in 1968. He started a company called NEC that manufactures electrostatic accelerators. He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Karl Florian Goebel was a German astrophysicist attached to the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. He had also been a member of DESY, a German-based research center that develops and runs several particle accelerators and detectors, most notably the ZEUS project.
Walter Kutschera is an Austrian physicist.
Shyam Sunder Kapoor is an Indian nuclear physicist and a former director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Known for his research on fission and heavy-ion physics, Kapoor is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies – Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India – as well as the Institute of Physics. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to Physical Sciences in 1983.
Science tourism is a travel topic grouping scientific attractions. It covers interests in visiting and exploring scientific landmarks, including museums, laboratories, observatories and universities. It also includes visits to see events of scientific interest, such as solar eclipses.
Victor Malka is a French plasma physicist and a pioneer in laser plasma acceleration. In 2004, Malka demonstrated that high energy monoenergetic electron beams could be generated using the technique of laser wakefield acceleration, and subsequently used them to develop compact X-ray and gamma radiation sources with applications in medicine, security technology and phase-contrast imaging. For these contributions to the field, he was awarded the IEEE Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award in 2007, the Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics in 2017, and the Hannes Alfvén Prize in 2019.
Yale Wright Laboratory (Wright Lab) is a facility and research community at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Wright Lab enables researchers to develop, build and use research instrumentation for experiments in nuclear, particle and astrophysics across the globe that investigate the invisible universe. Before a transformation to its current purpose in 2017, Wright Lab was known as the Arthur W. Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory (WNSL). WNSL housed the first "Emperor" tandem Van de Graaff heavy ion accelerator and was founded by D. Allan Bromley, the "father of heavy-ion physics," in 1961 (see History, below, for more information).