To celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, let us use a few quotes that still seem relevant. "Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." — Letter from a Birmingham Jail April 16, 1963 ​"The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism." — Speech to the SCLC Board, Chicago, IL March 30, 1967 ​"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." — "Beyond Vietnam" Address, Riverside Church, NY April 4, 1967 ​"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." — Letter from a Birmingham Jail April 16, 1963 ​"We are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor." — "Beyond Vietnam" Address, Riverside Church, NY April 4, 1967 ​"For many citizens of the world, their first association with America is a U.S. soldier or a U.S.-supplied weapon in the hands of their government or one of their adversaries." ​— The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967

#mlk

Student and mentor in front of poster

Mentor and student in front of poster

Group of seven in front of control room screen

Group of five in front of control room screen

Today, our summer students wrapped up their 10 weeks at @jeffersonlabva

Our crew was happy to have Veltman and Colin this summer! They did great work, and I look forward to seeing where they go next!

#physics
#science
#STEM
#AcceleratorPhysics
#AcceleratorScience
#accelerator
#particleaccelerator

Mary Gaillard, Who Broke a Ceiling in Subatomic Research, Dies at 86

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

There's a real loss.

#physics
#science
#STEM
#WomenInSTEM

Green praying mantis looking at the camera while standing on a brown leaf.

Green praying mantis looking at the camera while standing on a brown leaf.

Caught this little alien by my house. It was small, but full of attitude.

#mantis
#entomology
#insect
#Virginia

Trump Seeks to Cut Basic Scientific Research by Roughly One-Third, Report Shows An analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science shows the impact of the administration’s budget plan on the kind of studies that produce the most breakthroughs.

Trump Seeks to Cut Basic Scientific Research by Roughly One-Third, Report Shows - The New York Times share.google/Khnd98FTe9bJ...

BREAKING: Judge denies NSF's 15% indirect rate plan. Like the DOE and NIH attempts, it too has now been rejected by courts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

lacrosse eye goggles: an open metal cafe protecting the eye

Don't wear goggles to a protest unless they're rated shatter resistant. You're better off with NO eye protection than eyewear that will send shards of plastic into your eye.

If you can't find shatterproof goggles, get lacrosse goggles. Cheap and effective eye protection from larger munitions.

Scientists at Loughborough University create 'world's smallest violin' The violin is smaller than a human hair and has "laid the groundwork" for future research.

"If you have a complaint..., Loughborough University may not be the place to air it. Physicists at the university believe they have created the world's smallest violin using nanotechnology."
#Science #technology #music #instruments #neeto #weird #weirdnews #offbeat #UK
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Thank you very much!

Many thanks!

Color portrait of the author

Grey scale image of the author.

Here's to 43!

43 years old today

21 years working in #accelerator #physics

10 years married

8 years a father (5 for two kids)

Lived in 5 countries on 3 continents

Lots of ups and downs. Lots of wins and losses. Lots of happiness and pain.

No regrets.

Agreed. Poor snake indeed.

Log post describing incident, and photos of damaged electronics and the dead snake.

TW: snake, dead snake.

Today, we had an "unauthorized herpetological intrusion" in our #Accelerator tunnel.

A black racer took out 5 filament boards, dropping one of our cryomodules. It did not survive the exposure to high voltage.

Click photo for more images.

#physics

Thanks!

A series of plots showing complex optics parameters. The bottom plot shows a floor plan of the magnets.

For years, I've worked to design a set of Splitters for our proposed CEBAF energy upgrade, which uses FFA #accelerator concepts.

This is the 5th matching solution I've found for 6 electron beamlines of energies ~10-21 GeV. This matches the LINAC+Spreader optics into the FFA Arc.

#physics #science

U.S.-born man held for ICE under Florida's new anti-immigration law • Florida Phoenix Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was being held in the Leon County Jail Thursday, charged with illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien” — even as a supporter waved his...

US-BORN US CITIZEN BEING HELD FOR ICE IN FLORIDA

HIS FAMILY ALREADY PROVED CITIZENSHIP TO ICE DAYS AGO

floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u...

Left image, a gloved hand holds a vial containing two cylinders. These cylinders are low dose and high dose optichromic rods. On the top right one can see through the clear liquid. On the bottom right, that liquid turns purple after exposure to radiation.

Fun #physics factoid I recently learned:

When optichromic rods are exposed to radiation (gamma), they turn purple!

On the left, a vial with 2 low-dose + 2 high-dose rods. Top right, unexposed. Bottom right, exposed.

Used in our #accelerator #science grant studying permanent magnet degradation.

Snapshot of CEBAF History Influences Next Generation of Particle Accelerators (Jefferson Lab and Daily Press photos)

A bit of fun #accelerator #science #history about Jefferson Lab and our colleague, Nick!

www.jlab.org/news/stories...

#physics

Two tech notes written on completely different #accelerator #science topics in one week.

Sometimes, #physics is really fun!

Would be amazing if you made a powerful, privacy-focused browser!

Sic semper tyrannis!

윤석열 쓰레기예요. 이제 그는 권력에서 물러났습니다.

미국이 이것으로부터 배웠으면 좋겠어요!

#대한민국 #SouthKorea #impeached #SicSemperTyrannis

Well, here it is.
Trump and Musk are turning #NIH into a garbage rightwing thinktank, just as we said.

They’re forcing down junk science on us with your tax dollars. This is a deep shame for America and for scientists everywhere.

1/3

Thank you! I'll give this a look. Even if it's not right for this job (not sure yet), it's really interesting, and I'll probably use it for something! Very much appreciated!

Thank you! I've never heard of this, and will now look it up. Cheers!

Today at my job in #physics, I had to spend an inordinate amount of time researching which glue to use for repairing our very expensive Hall Probe head.

I mean hours.

I'm still not sure.

Thank you!

Portrait of the author, with text indicating his name and work title.

Very happy to announce that, as of March 1st, I have been promoted to Staff #Accelerator #Scientist III in the Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerators (CASA) Group at Jefferson Lab.

After ~21 years of accelerator #physics experience, this feels good.

#science #stem

I feel like you're meant to work in accelerator operations!

Text above a photo of an egret perched on a sign in the water. It is sunset, and a sliver of the moon can also be seen.

It was quite nice today to see my efforts to improve morale and overall well-being at Jefferson Lab make it into the weekly communications email!

We may focus on #science, but science is performed by people, and we all need a pick-me-up at times!

Do you know (or are you) a senior scientist in the USA who might like to move to Canada in the near future? The 2026 call for CERCs (Canada Excellence Research Chairs) was posted last month: 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭 🇨🇦