Berkeley Lab To Hold October 18 Open House
Contact: Lynn Yarris, lcyarris@lbl.govSeptember 29, 1997
BERKELEY, CA -- Where can you see the most powerful human-made magnet in the Galaxy? Or a photon-torpedo launcher as big as a barn, that can zap germs with laser-like beams of X-rays? How about a room full of computers that let you explore the heart of the cosmos?You don't have to take a time-trip to the spaceship Enterprise in the twenty-third century; all this and more will be on display right here on Earth this coming October 18. The public will be welcome to peer and sometimes poke at wonderful scientific gadgets, meet the people who use them to investigate nature, and learn about the latest scientific research at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Open House on Saturday, October 18, from 10 am to 4 pm.
During the Open House, the history-making Berkeley Lab will offer a program featuring hands-on exhibits -- including high-speed Internet surfing and the chance to control scientific instruments by computer -- along with tours of its major facilities. Complete details are available in the online program of the day's events and activities.
At Family Science Tents, kids 6 through 12 can learn the science of ice cream, wiggle like an electron, or hear from high-school students what it was like for them to work alongside researchers on real scientific investigations. All day long there'll be live music, food, and souvenirs available on the Lab's scenic grounds in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus.
In a special noontime ceremony, Glenn Seaborg, Berkeley Lab's Associate Director at Large and a 1951 Nobel Prize laureate, will be honored for his contributions to science, notably his discoveries and investigations of elements heavier than uranium. Recently element 106 on the periodic table was officially named seaborgium in his honor, the only element to be named after a living person.
Throughout the day award-winning scientists will talk about their research, with topics including the future of computing, new approaches to the possible treatment of breast cancer, using X-rays to photograph the invisible, one woman's experience in the world of high-energy physics, and the fate of the universe.
The Berkeley Lab, a multiprogram national research institute managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy, employs a staff of nearly 3,500 people and has an annual budget of over $340 million. The Lab is dedicated to performing nonclassified research in biological, physical, materials, chemical, energy, environmental, and earth sciences. It also operates national user facilities, including the Advanced Light Source (ALS), which produces the world's brightest x-rays for research; the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), which houses the country's most powerful microscopes; and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) which, with the Energy Sciences Network (ESNet) headquartered at the Lab, forms the most powerful combination of unclassified computing and networking resources in the United States.
Berkeley Lab is located in the East Bay Hills directly above the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. For Open House, the Lab will be running free shuttle bus service from the downtown Berkeley BART station every ten minutes. A wheelchair-accessible van will be on call all day. Due to extremely limited space, no parking will be permitted on the Lab site, but free parking will be available at four nearby university parking lots, which also will be served by frequent shuttle buses.
Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California.
