Since 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers
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The UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has announced its withdrawal from the European XFEL project. Due to financial restrictions, the Council had to reprioritise its budget of ca. 2.7 billion Euro over the next five years. For more information, visit the
The recipient of the 4th Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, is Dr. Akiko Hokura (Tokyo Denki Univ., "Study on accumulation of heavy metals in phytoremediation plant by synchrotron radiation micro XRF imaging and XAFS analysis"). From this year, the Discussion Group of X-ray Analysis, the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry decided to establish the special award to recognize scientists who exhibit outstanding achievement and make a substantial contribution to the advancement of the X-ray analysis field. The recipient of the special award 2009 is Dr. Toshio Shiraiwa, who contributed greatly in the early days of X-ray absorption spectroscopy by means of his short-range order theory ("The theory of the fine structure of the X-ray absorption spectrum", J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 13, 847 (1958)) and also provided the basis of the fundamental parameter method in X-ray fluorescence by Fujino-Shiraiwa's formula ("Theoretical calculation of fluorescent X-ray intensities in fluorescent X-ray spectrochemical analysis", Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 5, 886 (1966)) The ceremony was held during the 45th Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, at Osaka City University, Osaka.
From right to left: A. Hokura, T. Shiraiwa, S. Ikeda, H. Wakita and H. Hayashi.
The discovery of X-rays was named the most important modern scientific achievement in a poll conducted for the Science Museum London, beating the Apollo spacecraft and DNA. Nearly 50,000 members of the public voted in the museum or online. The emblem of the
A recent edition of Nature News featured the international race to build X-ray free electron laser facilities. At the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS),
At Stanford's linac coherent light source (LCLS), a great deal of effort has been devoted since April this year to initial scientific tests of an X-ray laser. In September, scientists attempted to strip all ten electrons from an atom of neon. They were able to adjust the proportion of different neon species, from non-ionized Ne (no missing electrons) to Ne10+ (lacking all 10 electrons), by fine-tuning the powerful LCLS X-ray beam. For more information, visit the Web page, http://today.slac.stanford.edu/
Nearly $19 million in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is supporting the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) and ongoing efforts to plan and build a new linear accelerator, the Energy Recovery Linac (ERL). So far, Cornell has received more than 90 ARRA grants, totally about $76 million. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.news.cornell.edu/
Chandrayaan-1 was a lunar probe launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It was equipped with advanced X-ray spectrometers for investigation. After suffering from several technical problems including failure of the star sensors and insufficient thermal shielding, Chandrayaan stopped sending radio signals on August 29, 2009 shortly after which the ISRO officially declared the mission over. Chandrayaan operated for 312 days from October 2008. For more information, visit the Web page,http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 58th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2009 Barrett Award was presented to Robert Von Dreele, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL.
The 2009 Jenkins Award was presented to Tim Fawcett, International Centre for Diffraction Data, Newtown Square, PA.
There was no winner for the 2009 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
The 2009 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at Akihabara campus,
As reported here previously, in April this year, the first 1.5 Å wavelength laser light was generated at
Demand for learning analytical techniques for surfaces and interfaces appears to be on the increase. At Tsukuba in
The Advanced Photon Source (APS) and APS Users Organization has announced that the 2009 Arthur H. Compton Award has been presented jointly to Simon Mochrie, Mark Sutton, and Gerhard Grubel for their pioneering efforts in X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS), which exploits the coherent properties of synchrotron X-rays to study the slow dynamics of condensed matter at short length scales. For more information on their pioneering work, see the paper, "Observation of speckle by diffraction with coherent X-rays", M. Sutton, S. G. J. Mochrie, T. Greytak, S. E. Nagler, L. E. Berman, G. A. Held, and G. B. Stephenson, Nature 352, 608-610 (1991). Former recipients of this award are: Andrzej Joachimiak and Gerold Rosenbaum (2007); Gunter Schmahl and Janos Kirz (2005); Martin Blume, Doon Gibbs, Kazumichi Namikawa, Denis McWhan (2003); Wayne A. Hendrickson (2001); Sunil K. Sinha (2000); Donald H. Bilderback, Andreas K. Freund, Gordon S. Knapp, Dennis M. Mills (1998); Philip M. Platzman, Peter M. Eisenberger (1997); Nikolai Vinokurov, Klaus Halbach (1995).
At the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists have observed the first beam generated by the hard X-ray laser. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) now supplies 1.5 Å wavelength coherent hard X-ray ultra short pulses with 100 femtosecond duration. Unlike conventional lasers, which use mirrored cavities to amplify light, the LCLS is a free-electron laser, creating light using free-flying electrons in a vacuum. The LCLS uses the final third of SLAC's two-mile linear accelerator to drive electrons to high energy and through an array of undulator magnets that steer the electrons rapidly back and forth, generating a brilliant beam of coordinated X-rays. LCLS scientists used only 12 of an eventual 33 undulator magnets to generate the facility's first laser light. It is the first time that an X-ray laser has operated at such short wavelengths in the truly hard X-ray region, with such brightness and short pulses. The laser paves the way to a new way of looking at not only the structure of matter but also its dynamics. By using laser pulses of less than 100 femtosecond duration, the dynamics of chemical reactions can be caught in process, and even single molecules can be imaged. For further information, see the facility's Web page, http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2009/20090421.htm In Science Now Daily News, Adrian Cho wrote a comprehensive article, http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/421/2
In Issue 4, vol. 8 (2009) of Nature Materials, the Insight section features a compilation of articles on recent electron and X-ray microscopy. The aim is to illustrate what are the most outstanding capabilities of modern imaging techniques based on electrons and X-ray photons, which have been often treated separately. The 6 articles in the compilation are as follows: "Is science prepared for atomic-resolution electron microscopy?", Knut W. Urban (p.260-262); "Structure and bonding at the atomic scale by scanning transmission electron microscopy", David A. Muller (p.263-270); "Electron tomography and holography in materials science", Paul A. Midgley & Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski (p.271-280); "Near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure microscopy of organic and magnetic materials", Harald Ade & Herman Stoll (p.281-290); "Coherent X-ray diffraction imaging of strain at the nanoscale" Ian Robinson & Ross Harder (p.291-298); "X-ray imaging beyond the limits", Henry N. Chapman (p.299-301). Visit the Web page to download the full Insight as PDF file (4.77MB), http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v8/n4/pdf/nmat-insight-microscopy.pdf
Tomoya Arai, a renowned specialist in X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and an adviser to Rigaku Corporation, has died at the age of 77 in Osaka , Japan Tokyo Tokyo Metropolitan University Japan University of Tokyo
The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) has announced that Dr. Alfred Bader (Cofounder of Aldrich Chemical Company, former chairman of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation) has received the 2009 annual Pittcon Heritage Award. Jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and CHF, this award recognizes outstanding individuals whose entrepreneurial careers have shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of the modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies. Dr. Bader founded the Aldrich Chemical Company, a fine chemicals company that later would become the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, the 80th largest chemical company in the
At the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) in China
An international symposium on micro and trace X-ray analysis was held in
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that two
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted "Critical Decision 3" (CD-3) status to the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, approving the start of construction in fiscal year (FY) 2009 and scheduling completion in FY 2015. A total project cost for NSLS-II of $912 million has been approved. NSLS-II is expected to be the world's first storage-ring-based synchrotron light source that combines nanometer spatial resolution with high brightness, coherence, and beam stability, enabling nanometer-scale characterization of materials, with powerful applications in nanotechnology and biotechnology. For more information about the NSLS-II project, visit the website at http://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/
Eugene P. Bertin, author of the most famous XRF textbooks and a very popular instructor in XRF courses, has died at the age of 86, in his apartment in
A new website dedicated to job offers at synchrotron radiation sources has been started by a joint initiative of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and Institute of Physics (IOP). So far, job seekers have had to regularly scan the websites of many different facilities in the world. The objective of the new website is to cluster as many offers as possible into a single resource. It will also allow those interested to subscribe to weekly mailings of new positions. Visit the following site, http://www.synchrotronjobs.com/
Chandrayaan-1 is the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) mission to the moon, with the main scientific objectives of photo-selenological and chemical mapping of the lunar surface. It was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on October 22nd, 2008. The total mission is expected to last for two years. One of the most important activities is X-ray measurements by the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray spectrometer (C1XS). The primary goal of the C1XS instrument is to carry out high-quality X-ray spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, in order to constrain solutions to key questions on the origin and evolution of the Moon. C1XS will use X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (1.0-10 keV) to measure the elemental abundance, and map the distribution, of the three main rock-forming elements: Mg, Al and Si. To record the incident solar X-ray flux at the Moon, which is needed to derive absolute lunar elemental surface abundances, C1XS also includes an X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM), which is provided through collaboration between the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and University of Helsinki. With its wide field-of-view of ± 52 degrees, XSM provides observation of the solar X-ray spectrum from 1-20 keV with good energy resolution and fast spectral sampling at 16 s intervals. The total mass of C1XS and XSM is 5.2 kg. For more information about Chandrayaan-1, visit the Web page, http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/Home.htm Wikipedia gives further info as well, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
The joint recipients of the 3rd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, are: Dr. Shuji Maeo (Osaka Electro Communication Univ., "Development of multi excitation type X-ray tube") and Dr. Hajime Tanida (Japan Synchrotron Radiation Institute, SPring-8, "Instrumentation on total-reflection XAFS for liquid-liquid interface studies"). The ceremony was held during the 44th Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, at Japan Women's University, Tokyo.
The J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, Tokai , Japan
At Brookhaven , USA
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 57th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2008 Birks Award was presented to Professor Rene Van Grieken (the chief editor of X-Ray Spectrometry journal), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
The 2008 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award was presented to Mr. Sterling Cornaby, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for work entitled, "Bifocal miniature toroidal shaped X-ray mirrors
The 2008 McMurdie Award was presented to Dr. Jeffrey Dann, Osram Sylvania, Towanda, PA
The 2008 Birks Award was presented to Professor Rene Van Grieken (the chief editor of X-Ray Spectrometry journal), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
The 2008 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award was presented to Mr. Sterling Cornaby, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for work entitled, "Bifocal miniature toroidal shaped X-ray mirrors
The 2008 McMurdie Award was presented to Dr. Jeffrey Dann, Osram Sylvania, Towanda, PA
Proferssor Rene Van Grieken was awarded the Birks Award.
The world's first dedicated X-ray synchrotron radiation storage ring, the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS), Daresbury, Warrington, in the UK has closed down after 27 years of operation. Since 1980, it has played a key role in enabling and performing cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry and materials science and opened up many new areas of research in fields such as medicine, geological and environmental studies, structural genomics and archaeology. It has hosted over 11,000 users, leading to the publication of more than 5,000 research papers. The baton now passes on to the new Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, the UK's direct successor to the SRS. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/SRS.aspx Another interesting account by Professor Geaves is found in the following article, "Two million hours of science", G. N. Greaves et al., Nature Materials 7, 827 - 830 (2008).
Andrew Lang, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the
Vadim Ivanovitch Nefedov, a member of the
The Helmholtz Association and the Humboldt Foundation have announced the 2008 recipients of the Helmholtz Humboldt Research Award; Professors Roberto Bassi (Universita degli Studi di Verona, Italy) and Shigemasa Suga (Osaka University, Japan). The award amounts to 60,000 Euros, and an additional amount of 25,000 Euros is made available by the Helmholtz Association if the awardee accepts the invitation to undertake research in Germany. In the X-ray field, in addition to this year's award winner Professor Suga, Professors Charles S. Fadley and Ian Robinson were previous recipients of this award. For more information, visit the Web page,
http://www.helmholtz.de/en/research/research_awards/helmholtz_humboldt_research_award/
Advanced high-intensity laser systems can be used to drive electrons to velocities close to the speed of light. A fair degree of research is now being devoted to the generation of high-energy beams that are extremely brilliant, ultra-short pulses, and have excellent spatial quality as well. The following recently published review paper is useful for those wishing to ascertain the current status of research. "Principles and applications of compact laser-plasma accelerators", V. Malka et al., Nature Physics 4, 447-453 (2008).
There appears to be increasing demand for learning analytical techniques for surfaces and interfaces. In Japan, the 2nd tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held on March 26. Although a similar school was run only 4 months earlier, an additional 50 young participants came to Tsukuba for the course. In France, the 3rd school was held at Giens on May 4-8. The organizers were Professors A. Gibaud (Université du. Maine), R. Lazzari (Institut des NanoSciences de Paris) and J. Daillant (Institut Rayonnement Matière de Saclay). Of particular note is that SAXS, GI-SAXS and In-plane XRD have been newly included in the program, in addition to ordinary X-ray reflectivity. Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only) and http://www.univ-lemans.fr/~gibaud/ecoledegiens/ (in French only), respectively
The Japanese government has released the list of recipients of this year's spring decorations, comprising 3,973 Japanese and 51 foreign nationals, for their contributions to the nation and public in politics, business, culture and the arts. Readers of X-Ray Spectrometry would be interested to know that Sir Martin Wood, one of the founders of Oxford Instruments, received The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. An official explanation of Japanese decorations and medals can be found at http://www8.cao.go.jp/english/decoration/index.html Wikipedia carries a comprehensive introduction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Rising_Sun
Daniel S. Chemla, a world-leading physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA has died at the age of 67 at his home in Kensington. Dr. Chemla had been ill for four years after suffering a stroke. He had been director of the Materials Science Division, and also of the Advanced Light Source. He also held an appointment as a professor of physics at UC Berkeley. Dr. Chemla was French, born in 1940 in Tunisia, and was a graduate of France's prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications. He received his Ph.D. in non-linear optics from the University of Paris in 1972. Dr. Chemla came to the United States in 1981 to work at AT&T's famed Bell Laboratories. In 1991, he was recruited to Berkeley Lab by then director Charles Shank, to become the first director of a newly formed Materials Sciences Division. Dr. Chemla earned particular praise because of his great leadership and contribution in resolving the Advanced Light Source's budget crisis. His achievements with the lab's nanoscale work also led the Department of Energy to select the Berkeley Lab for the opening of the first of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers in the US. Dr. Chemla named it "The Molecular Foundry." Dr. Chemla's great talents were not limited to science. He was a master of Karate - he won the 5th degree black belt in karate, the highest rank awarded in Shotokan Karate of America. He translated Master Gichin Funakoshi's "Karate-do Kyohan", the widely accepted karate master text (Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 0-87011-190-6) into French. Dr. Chemla was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received the R.W. Wood prize of the Optical Society of America, and the Quantum Electronics Award of the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society, and a Humboldt Research Award. Dr. Chemla is survived by his wife Berit, two children, Yann, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Britt Chemla Jones, an Art History lecturer in Houston, Texas. His biography was released by Berkeley Lab.
http://www.lbl.gov/today/2008/Mar/21-Fri/chemla-jump.pdf
The San Francisco Chronicle (March 24, 2008) carries an obituary written by David Perlman.
http://www.lbl.gov/today/2008/Mar/21-Fri/chemla-jump.pdf
The San Francisco Chronicle (March 24, 2008) carries an obituary written by David Perlman.
Issue 6, vol. 23 (2008) of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy (JAAS) is devoted to the theme of synchrotron radiation. As guest editors, Professors A. von Bohlen and M. Tolan (Technische Universitat Dortmund, Germany) compiled 1 critical review and 7 regular papers. The title and the first authors are as follows: "Synchrotron radiation induced TXRF", C. Streli et al., 792, "Synchrotron radiation and cultural heritage: combined XANES/XRF study at Mn K-edge of blue, grey or black coloured palaeontological and archaeological bone material", I. Reiche et al., 799, "The barium giant dipole resonance in barite: a study of soft X-ray absorption edges using hard X-rays", C. Sternemann et al., 807, "Non-destructive, depth resolved investigation of corrosion layers of historical glass objects by 3D Micro X-ray fluorescence analysis", B. Kanngieser et al., 814, "Applications of synchrotron-based micro-imaging techniques to the chemical analysis of ancient paintings", M. Cotte et al., 820, "A combination of synchrotron and laboratory X-ray techniques for studying tissue-specific trace level metal distributions in Daphnia magna", B. De Samber et al., 829, "Sodium sulfate heptahydrate: a synchrotron energy-dispersive diffraction study of an elusive metastable hydrated salt", A. Hamilton et al., 840, "Reference-free X-ray spectrometry based on metrology using synchrotron radiation", B. Beckhoff, 845. In the editorial column, the editors point out some very interesting facts on the number of publications in the field of synchrotron radiation applications. They investigated the ISI Web of Science database and found that 1991 was a critical year. The relevant Figure shows a big jump in the number of publications, somewhat resembling an absorption edge. This jump no doubt correlates to the several year delayed big pulses, i.e., the advent of the 3rd generation sources, ESRF (1994), APS (1996) and SPring-8 (1997).
The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) announced that Dr. Leroy Hood (Co-director of the Nano Systems Biology Cancer Center (NSBCC) and President of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington) received the seventh annual Pittcon Heritage Award. Jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and CHF, this award recognizes outstanding individuals whose entrepreneurial careers have shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of the modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies. Dr. Hood pioneered the techniques that made the rapid pace of the Human Genome Project possible.
The international union of crystallography (IUCr) announced that Professor D. Sayre (Department of Physics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA) has been awarded the eighth Ewald Prize for the unique breadth of his contributions to crystallography, which range from seminal contributions to the solving of the phase problem to the complex physics of imaging generic objects by X-ray diffraction and microscopy, and for never losing touch with the physical reality of the processes involved. The presentation of the Ewald Prize will be made during the Osaka Congress Opening Ceremony in August 2008. Former recipients of the Ewald Prize are P. Coppens (USA, 2005), Michael M. Woolfson (UK, 2002), G. N. Ramachandran (India, 1999), M. G. Rossmann (USA, 1996), N. Kato (Japan, 1993), B.K. Vainshtein (Russia, 1990), J.M. Cowley (USA) and A.F. Moodie (Australia) in 1987.
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that three US scientists have been named as laureates of the 2008 (24th) Japan Prize. Dr. Vinton Gray Cerf, 64, Google Inc., and Dr. Robert Elliot Kahn, 69, Corporation for National Research Initiatives, have received the prize in this year's category of "Information Communication Theory and Technology". Dr. Victor A. McKusick, 86, the Johns Hopkins University, has been selected in another prize category of "Medical Genomics and Genetics." They will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Wednesday 23rd April, 2008. The prize categories for the 2009 (25th) Japan Prize will be "The transformation towards a sustainable society in harmony with nature" and the "Technological integration of medical science and engineering". For further information, contact Masaaki Ueda, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax: +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
The 1st tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held in Tsukuba, Japan, on November 29-30. The first and second days were for beginners and experts, respectively, but most of the total of 63 participants attended both of them. The textbook distributed at the school will be published in 2008. The 2nd course will take place in March 2008. Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only).
The Pittsburgh Conference has released the topics for the Conferee Networking Sessions (CNS) which will be offered at Pittcon 2008, March 2-7, 2008, in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The sessions were first introduced at Pittcon 2007, and the number has been increased to 27 for Pittcon 2008. Some of the topics included in the 2008 program are "Management and Certification of Reference Standards", "Analysis of Explosives and Energetics: From Forensic/Trace to Production Support", "Green Chemistry/Green Chemists in the Office, Lab and Schools: What Can I Do to Make our World "Greener"", " Information Management and Data Handling in the Laboratory", " Chemical Imaging: Instrumental and Analysis" etc. For further information, visit http://www.pittcon.org/
FLASH, which is the European free-electron laser (FEL) facility located in DESY's campus in Hamburg, recently achieved a world first by generating flashes of laser light at the wavelength of 6.5 nm, which is much shorter than the previous record of 13.5 nm that the same facility established one year ago. During the past several months, the linear accelerator (260 m) has been extended by a further 12 m by installing the 6th superconducting module. This has enabled the acceleration of the electron beam up to 1 GeV, the designed energy. The FLASH facility has been available for user experiments since August 2005. Until 2009, it will be the only facility in the world that can provide FEL in the soft X-ray region. The next user run will begin in mid-November this year and last 13 months. The international expert committee has already selected 32 projects. The present 6.5 nm soft X-ray laser will be used for the experiments. For further information, contact Petra Folkerts, Phone: +49 40-8998-4977, Fax: +49 40-8998-2020, presse@desy.de, http://www.xfel.eu
The Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has been declared fully operational. The CNM building opened for research in May 2006 and, since then, approximately 50 user projects have been able to take advantage of the facility. Very recently, the hard X-ray nanoprobe beamline was completed, and a Beowulf-class supercomputer array with 12 teraflop capacity installed. For further information, contact Steve McGregor, Phone: +1-630-252-5580, media@anl.gov, http://www.anl/gov/
The recipient of the 2nd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, is: Dr. Hiromi Eba (one of previous members of our lab, present affiliation, Musashi Tech. Institute, "Site occupancy determination and magnetic evaluation of MnZn-ferrites using MnKb X-ray fluorescence spectra"). The ceremony was held in Kyoto, during the international conference on X-ray optics and microscopy (ICXOM 2007) and the 43rd Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan.
Since 2005, the APEC "Technological Cooperative Framework of Nano Scale Measurement and Analytical Methods" has been aiming to share the most recent advances in nanometer analytical and measurement methods from representatives of government, the private sector, R&D organizations and academia. To this end, the 2007 APEC nanoscale measurement forum was organized by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan, and was held at Taipei, on September 5-7, 2007. The invited speakers were as follows; Peter Hatto (IonBond Ltd., Chairman of ISO/TC 229), Chanchana Thanachayanont (National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand), Wen-Li Wu (NIST, USA), Michael Garner (Intel, USA), Chih-Ming Ke (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Aleksandar Stefanovic (PANalytical, Singapore), Sang-Hee Suh (Center for Nanostructured Materials Technology, Korea), Kenji Sakurai (NIMS, Japan), Laura E. Depero (University of Brescia, Italy), Chun Zhang (Nano and Advanced Materials Institute, Hong Kong), Keiji Takahata (AIST, Japan), and Keh-Chyang Leou (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan). For further information, contact Wei-En Fu, Center for Measurement Standards, ITRI, Taiwan, Phone +886-3-573 2220, WeienFu@itri.org.tw, http://www.nml.org.tw/en/APECNanoForum/
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 56th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
1. The 2007 Barrett Award was presented to Sunil K. Sinha, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
2. The 2007 Jenkins Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
3. The 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
4. The 2007 Hanawalt Award was presented to Tamás Ungár, Eötvös University Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
5. There was no recipient for the 2007 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
1. The 2007 Barrett Award was presented to Sunil K. Sinha, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
2. The 2007 Jenkins Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
3. The 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
4. The 2007 Hanawalt Award was presented to Tamás Ungár, Eötvös University Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
5. There was no recipient for the 2007 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
The 2007 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at the Institute of Materials Research, Tohoku University, in Sendai, Japan, on July 22-24, 2007. The workshop was the latest in a series held since 2001; Tsukuba (December 2001), Niigata (September 2002), Nagoya (July 2003), Tsukuba (July 2004), Saitama (March 2005), Yokohama (July 2006), Kusatsu (August 2006) and Tokyo (December 2006). There are increasing demands for sophisticated metrology in order to observe multilayered materials with nano-structures (dots, wires, etc), which are finding applications in electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices. Unlike many other surface-sensitive methods, X-ray and neutron analysis is known for its ability to see even 'buried' function interfaces as well as the surface. It is highly reliable in practice, because the information, which ranges from the atomic to mesoscopic scale, is quantitative and reproducible. However, the method should be upgraded further to cope with more realistic problems in nano sciences and technologies. Current X-ray methods can give atomic-scale information for quite a large area on a scale of mm2-cm2. These methods can deliver good statistics for an average, but sometimes it is necessary to analyze a specific part in nano-scale rather than an average structure. In addition, there is a need to see unstable changing structures and related phenomena in order to understand more about the mechanism of the functioning of nano materials. Quick measurements are therefore important. Furthermore, in order to apply the method to a more realistic and complex system, we need some visual understanding to discuss the relationship among the different structures that are present in the same viewing. Therefore, 2D/3D real-space imaging is important. Interpretation of roughness is another significant subject, while combination with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS) will become much more widespread than before. The use of coherent beams and several other new approaches are also significant. Leading senior academics in this field were invited as commentators, Professors J. Harada (Nagoya University & Rigaku Corporation), S. Kikuta (The University of Tokyo & JASRI) and J. Mizuki (JAEA). The invited speakers from Tohoku University in Sendai, workshop site, Professors K. Takanashi, M. Kawasaki and M. Yanagihara, talked about the hot topic of spintronics, and/or control of 'buried' magnetic interfaces. It was stressed that the use of techniques sensitive to specific interfaces is crucial in analyzing many unsolved problems in this field. The workshop proceedings will be published electronically in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/1742-6596
The Department of Energy (DOE) in the US granted "Critical Decision 1" (CD-1) status to the National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II), which will be a new medium energy storage ring and will replace the existing NSLS which began operations in 1982. This decision assures the facility's location at Brookhaven National Lab. For more about the NSLS-II project, visit the Web page, http://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/
The National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, has announced that the first NIMS Award for recent breakthroughs in materials science and technology has been presented to Professor William H. Butler (Center for Materials for Information Technology, University of Alabama, USA) for the theoretical prediction of giant tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR). Professor Butler performed the first principle calculation on tunnel conductance through MgO(001) single crystal thin film, and theoretically predicted the giant TMR effect of the Fe(100)/MgO/Fe(100) junction for the first time. A giant TMR effect beyond ~500 % has now been realized, which is expected to make a substantial contribution to the development of novel spintronics devices and the creation of a new interdisciplinary field.
The Advanced Photon Source (APS) and APS Users Organization has announced that the 2007 Arthur H. Compton Award has been presented jointly to Andrzej Joachimiak and Gerold Rosenbaum of Argonne National Laboratory for pioneering advances and leadership that helped to establish the APS as a premier location worldwide for protein crystallography research. Former recipients of the award are: Gunter Schmahl and Janos Kirz (2005), Martin Blume, Doon Gibbs, Kazumichi Namikawa, Denis McWhan (2003); Wayne A. Hendrickson (2001); Sunil K. Sinha (2000); Donald H. Bilderback, Andreas K. Freund, Gordon S. Knapp, Dennis M. Mills (1998); Philip M. Platzman, Peter M. Eisenberger (1997); Nikolai Vinokurov, Klaus Halbach (1995). For more information, contact Eleanor Taylor, Phone, +1-630-252-5565, etaylor@anl.gov
Theodore H. Maiman, the American physicist who made the first working laser, died on March 5, 2007 at the age of 79 from systemic mastocytosis in Vancouver, Canada, where he lived with his wife. Maiman's laser, based on a synthetic ruby crystal grown by Dr. Ralph L. Hutcheson, was first operated on 16 May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. It is well-known that this breakthrough was based on the idea of employing artificial rubies as the active medium for the laser at a time when others were trying only various gases. Dr. Maiman would have been aware of errors in their calculations. Another key point is that he also used pulses of light to excite atoms in the ruby. This was the ground-breaking first step to the modern pulse laser. Although his paper on this wonderful discovery was unfortunately mistakenly rejected by Physical Review Letters, the shortened version was published in Nature ("Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby", T. H. Maiman, Nature, 187, 493 (1960)). Dr. Maiman received the Japan Prize in 1987. He is the author of a book entitled "The Laser Odyssey" (Laser Press, 2000). The New York Times (May 11, 2007) carries an obituary written by Douglas Martin.
The Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) has opened at Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States. The CFN is dedicated to the fabrication and study of nanoscale materials, with an emphasis on atomic-level tailoring to achieve desired properties and functions. The science at the CFN is organized around three scientific themes; (i) nanocatalysis, (ii) biological and soft nanomaterials, and (iii) electronic nanomaterials. The official opening ceremony will be held on May 21. For more information, visit http://www.bnl.gov/cfn/
Recently, at the new French synchrotron facility, SOLEIL, the first experimental results have been obtained in spite of the technically difficult situation that is still preventing the beamline from functioning under normal operating conditions. The absorption spectroscopic experiments were done on a kidney stone, which is an agglomerate of many different nanometer-scale crystalline materials. For more information on the recent status of SOLEIL, visit http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/
Albert V. Baez, the co-inventor of X-ray focusing optics, has died at the age of 94 in San Mateo County, Calif. Born in Puebla, Mexico, and raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Baez earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Drew University, a master's in math from Syracuse University and a Ph.D in physics from Stanford University. Dr. Baez was a physics professor at several universities, including the University of Redlands, Stanford, MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. In 1948, while he was still a graduate student at Stanford, Baez and his supervisor, physics professor Paul Kirkpatrick, developed a grazing-incidence X-ray mirror for focusing optics, which has since been used in X-ray microscopes and X-ray telescopes all over the world. Recent technological advancements have taken their innovation to the state-of-the-art level, and X-ray microscopes with Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirrors can now achieve a spatial resolution of less than 50 nm. Professor Baez switched from experimental physics during the cold war to a career in physics education. In 1951, he worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, moving with his family to Iraq, where he directed the UNESCO mission there and worked as a professor of physics at Baghdad University. Dr. Baez was the father of folk singers Joan Baez and Mimi Farina. The Los Angeles Times (March 23, 2007) carries an obituary written by Valerie J. Nelson. For details of the Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirror, see the paper, P. Kirkpatrick and A. Baez, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766 (1948).
The 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medals recipients have been announced as follows; Chemistry, Klaus Biemann (Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Earth and Environmental Science, Steven W. Squyres (Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University), Electrical Engineering, Robert H. Dennard (IBM Fellow, Silicon Technology Department, IBM Research Division), Life Science, Nancy S. Wexler (Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University), Materials Engineering, Merton C. Flemings (Director, Lemelson Program-MIT Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Physics, Yoji Totsuka (Former Director-General High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan), and Arthur McDonald (Director, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute, Queen's University, Canada). For more information on Benjamin Franklin Medals, visit http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/
Diamond Light Source, in the United Kingdom, has opened its doors for business and welcomed its very first scientific users - top academic teams from Durham, Oxford, Leicester and London, selected from a total of 127 proposals. These first research projects will be carried out in beamlines that are part of Phase I (the synchrotron machine itself and the first seven beamlines). For more information about Diamond Light Source, contact: Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke at Diamond: 01235 778130 / 07990 797916 / isabelle.boscaro-clarke@diamond.ac.uk, http://www.diamond.ac.uk
260 scientists from 22 countries gathered on January 24-25 at the DESY research center in Hamburg for the first European XFEL Users' Meeting, which brought together the future users of the European X-ray laser facility. The first users' meeting marks the beginning of a series of regular workshops and meetings between the scientists interested in the research opportunities at the XFEL and the planners of the facility. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Press officer XFEL project, FLASH, DESY, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that French, German and U.K. scientists have been named as laureates of the 2007 (23rd) Japan Prize. Prof. Albert Fert, 68, of France and Prof. Dr. Peter Grunberg, 67, of Germany, will receive the prize in this year's category of "Innovative Devices Inspired by Basic Research." They discovered the phenomenon of giant magneto-resistance (GMR) and contributed to the development of innovative spin-electronics devices. Dr. Peter Ashton, 72, of the U.K. has been selected in another prize category of "Science and Technology of Harmonious Co-Existence." They will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The prize categories for the 2008 (24th) Japan Prize will be "Information Communication Theory and Technology" and the"Medical Genomics and Genetics". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
In Japan, a new award has been established in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) in order to encourage promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields. The joint recipients of the 1st award are: Dr. Kazuhiko Nakano (Osaka Electro Communication Univ., "Development of confocal 3D micro XRF spectrometer-using polycapillary X-ray lenses") and Dr. Yohko Yano (Ritsumeikan Univ., "Application of X-ray multilayer optics for a surface-horizontal X-ray reflectometer"). The ceremony was held during the 42nd Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan at Meiji University, Kawasaki city.
The National Center for X-ray Tomography (NCXT) has officially been dedicated at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The main objects are biological/biomedical imaging and cell biology. Currently, soft X-ray tomography is being developed as a new tool for visualizing the internal architecture of whole, hydrated cells. This emerging technique has several distinct advantages over existing imaging methods, and is contributing new insights into our understanding of cells, and their behavior. A new soft X-ray microscope will be constructed at the Advanced Light Source, and will be open for use by the biomedical community in spring 2007. For more information, visit the website at http://ncxt.lbl.gov/
At the FLASH facility at DESY, Hamburg, the free-electron laser (FEL) generated laser light flashes at wavelengths between 13.5 and 13.8 nm with an average power of 10 mW and record energies of up to 170 µJ/pulse at repetition rates of 150 Hz. Since the pulses have a duration of only around 10 fsec, the peak power can reach 10 GW/pulse. These powers are larger than is currently available at even the biggest plasma X-ray laser facilities worldwide. The use of the fifth harmonic (2.7 nm) enables FLASH to reach deep into the water window, which is crucially important for the investigation of biological samples. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Press officer XFEL project, FLASH, DESY, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
HORIBA, Ltd. has announced the prizewinners of the 2006 Masao Horiba Awards; Dr. Yasuko Terada, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute for "Innovation and Application of X-ray Microbeam Fluorescence Analysis Using High-energy Radiation", Dr. Hisashi Hayashi, Japan Women's University for "Development of New X-ray Spectrometry Using Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering", and Professor Koen Janssens, University of Antwerp, Belgium for "X-ray Based Speciation of Major and Trace Constituents in Heterogeneous Materials of Environmental and Cultural Heritage Origin". In addition, Professor Masami Ando, Tokyo University of Science was selected as the winner of the Masao Horiba Special Award for "Development of a System for Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer". The awards ceremony and a discussion session between the prizewinners and academic and research experts will be held at the Shiran Kaikan, Kyoto University on Tuesday, October 17. For more information, visit http://www.jp.horiba.com/index_e.htm
At the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf (FZR) in Dresden, Germany, the second undulator of the free-electron laser facility has gone into operation, producing light up to the hard-to-access range of the deep far infrared. The Dresden FEL now covers the wavelength range, invisible to humans, from 3 to 150 micrometers. The asset of every free-electron laser is its tunability, i.e., the wavelength or the color of the light can be adjusted at will over a large range. Scientists at FZR have a particular interest in this far-infrared light, which is located between the ranges of microwaves and the infrared and is often called Terahertz (THz) radiation. At FZR, THz radiation is used in particular to study the dynamical behavior of electrons in semiconductor nanostructures. For more information, contact Annette Weissig, Phone +49-351-260-3688, a.weissig@fz-rossendorf.de, http://www.fz-rossendorf.de/
Neville Smith, scientific director for the Advanced Light Source of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a leading authority in the field of photoemission spectroscopy, died on August 18, 2006, at age 64, unexpectedly of cancer. A native of England with a PhD in physics from Cambridge University, he moved to the US in 1966. After post-doctoral research at Stanford University under photoemission spectroscopy pioneer William Spicer, he joined the staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and continued the study of the electronic structure of solids and surfaces for 25 years. In 1991, Dr Smith was awarded the prestigious Davisson-Germer Prize of the American Physical Society for his contributions to the development of momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In 1994, he was named as the first scientific program head of the Advanced Light Source (ALS). Under his leadership, the ALS scientific program thrived. "It is not the number of warm bodies on the floor but the quality of science produced that is the true measure of a user facility's success," Dr. Smith once said. During his tenure as scientific director, the number of scientific users of the ALS grew from a few hundred to several thousand. There will be no funeral, but a memorial service to celebrate Smith's life will be held in the fall.
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 55th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2006 Birks Award: Peter Wobrauschek, Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
The 2006 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award (two recipients): Hanfei Yan, Columbia University, New York, NY, and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL won the award for his work "Dynamical Artifacts in X-ray Diffraction from Single Crystals"; Wanchuck Woo, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN won the award for his work "In-Situ Time-Resolved Neutron Diffraction Measurement of Transient Material States during a Thermo-Mechanical Process Based on Quasi-Steady State Principle".
The 2006 Hanawalt Award: Peter Wallace, Dos Arroyos Enterprises, Oro Valley, AZ.
The 2006 Birks Award: Peter Wobrauschek, Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
The 2006 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award (two recipients): Hanfei Yan, Columbia University, New York, NY, and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL won the award for his work "Dynamical Artifacts in X-ray Diffraction from Single Crystals"; Wanchuck Woo, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN won the award for his work "In-Situ Time-Resolved Neutron Diffraction Measurement of Transient Material States during a Thermo-Mechanical Process Based on Quasi-Steady State Principle".
The 2006 Hanawalt Award: Peter Wallace, Dos Arroyos Enterprises, Oro Valley, AZ.
A workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held in Yokohama, Japan, on July 3-4. This was one in a series of workshops that have been organized annually since 2001. The precise and non-destructive analysis of nano-structures (dots, wires etc), which are most likely to be 'buried' under several capping layers, has become extremely important from the standpoint of fundamental understanding as well as its application to electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices. Unfortunately, most sophisticated surface-sensitive techniques are not helpful in such cases, but reflectometry and other related methods using X-rays and neutrons are very promising because they are able to explore atomic-scale structures along their depth. Besides the variety of applications, the workshop also featured intensive discussions of several advanced extensions and/or upgrades of the method. One of the most interesting directions is the combination of the method with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS). Professor Alain Gibaud (Université du Maine, France) was invited to give a lecture on this topic. Another invited speaker from outside Japan was Dr. Burkhard Beckhoff (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany). The workshop proceedings are available from Science Information and Library Service Division, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Phone: +81-29-864-5137, Fax: +81-29-864-4604, irdpub@mail.kek.jp. Another workshop contact, particularly with respect to future plans, is Kenji Sakurai, sakurai@yuhgiri.nims.go.jp.
Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) invited researchers from around the world to a series of workshops focused on cutting-edge sciences that will be built up by the proposed Energy Recovery Linac (ERL), which is a next-generation light source. The series of six two-day workshops was held at the Robert Purcell Community Center, Ithaca, NY, USA, between June 5 and June 24. The workshops covered high-pressure science, ultra-fast processes, materials science, studies of soft-matter, biology, and science with X-ray nanobeams. For more information on ERL, visit http://erl.chess.cornell.edu/
Located on the Plateau de Saclay, in the Essonne department, SOLEIL is the second 3rd-generation synchrotron to be built in France - the first one, the ESRF in Grenoble, was a European project. Very recently, SOLEIL accelerated and injected electrons for the first time in its storage ring. On May 14, the electrons turned at a speed close to that of light in the 354 m circumference storage ring. The first 2.75 GeV beam injection from the Booster started around noon on May 13. After 12 hours spent on measurements and adjustments, the electrons made a full turn, and the first photon beams were observed. For more information, visit http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/anglais/index.html
The VUV-FEL (free-electron laser) at DESY in Hamburg is the world's first and, until 2009, the only source of intense laser radiation in the ultraviolet and the soft X-ray range. Since the official start in August 2005, a total of 14 research groups working on cluster physics, solid-state physics, plasma research and biology have carried out the first experiments. The 300 m long facility generated laser flashes with a wavelength of 32 nm for the first time in January 2005, which is the shortest wavelength ever achieved with a free-electron laser. The light flashes are shorter than 50 femto seconds, and this allows scientists to trace various processes on extremely short time scales by taking time-resolved "snapshots" of the reaction process. For more information, visit http://www.xfel.net/en/index.html
Diamond Light Source Ltd, the UK's next-generation synchrotron facility, and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF)/Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on collaborative research. Diamond will start operations in January 2007, and SSRF plans to do so 2 years later. This collaboration is part of the UK-China Partners in Science series of activities in China, a joint initiative backed by both the UK and the Chinese governments to increase scientific collaboration between the two countries. For more information on UK-China Partners in Science, visit http://www.uk.cn/science
The Pittsburgh Conference announced that Pittcon 2007 will be moved from New Orleans to Chicago; the dates of the event are February 25 to March 1, 2007. At the same time, the Committee confirmed its commitment to return the Conference to New Orleans in 2008 as planned. With over 20,000 attendees and 1,100 exhibitors, Pittcon is the largest annual scientific meeting of its kind. More information about Pittcon can be found at www.pittcon.org.
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced the names of the two laureates for the 2006 (22nd) Japan Prize. They are U.K. scientist, Sir John Houghton CBE FRS, for "Pioneering research on atmospheric structure and composition based on his satellite observation technology and for promotion of international assessments of climate change" in the prize category of "Global Change" and Dr. Akira Endo of Japan for "The Discovery of the Statins" in the prize category of "The development of Novel Therapeutic Concepts and Technologies". The two scientists will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Thursday 20 April 2006, in the presence of the emperor and empress. The prize categories for the 2007 (23rd) Japan Prize will be "Innovative Devices Inspired by Basic Research" and the "Science and Technology of Harmonious Co-Existence". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
The X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), which will generate extremely brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties, opens up completely new possibilities for the vast field of structural research. Within the framework of the meeting of the XFEL Steering Committee in Berlin, two representatives of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Science and Technology signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the European X-ray laser project XFEL. Since the beginning of 2005, the ministries of science from 12 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) have already declared their intention to participate in the preparations for the construction and operation of the XFEL. This research facility, which will be unique in Europe, is due to commence operation in 2012. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) recently approved the launch of a new professional group for X-ray and neutron analysis on surfaces and 'buried' interfaces. This is significant in that the new group will bring together those who are currently working with X-ray and neutron reflectometry or those who are simply interested in these subjects. So far in Japan, there have been very few meetings to discuss scientific problems in this area despite growing demand. There also exists a strong demand to plan and build beamlines dedicated to reflectometry and related methods at synchrotron radiation (Photon Factory and SPring-8) and neutron facilities (J-PARC to be started in 2008). The group will discuss applications with respect to a variety of materials, i.e., semiconductors, metals, ceramics, polymers, magnetic materials, and multilayers. It is of key importance to extend the technique in order to devise solutions for difficult problems in realistic specimens --. in particular, analysis of specific small areas and/or unstable systems that need to be measured in a very short time. The JSAP has an English-language Web page: http://www.jsap.or.jp/english/index.html
xfel.net is a new web site, presenting the latest status of the European X-ray laser project XFEL, which is being prepared at DESY, Hamburg. Visit http://www.xfel.net
The first user operation of the VUV free-electron laser (FEL) at DESY, Hamburg in Germany is now under way. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder paid a visit to the facility to join the celebrations. The VUV-FEL employs the new technology developed at DESY from 1992 to 2004 by the international team as part of the TESLA Collaboration. Electrons are brought to high energies by a superconducting linear accelerator, and then race through an undulator, which is a periodic arrangement of magnets that forces the electrons to follow a slalom course and thereby radiate flashes of light. According to self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), the process finally generates intense flashes of short-wavelength laser light. Its peak brilliance surpasses that of the most modern synchrotron radiation sources by a factor of ten million. Its radiation is coherent, and its wavelength is tunable within a range of 6 to 30 nm. The very intense radiation pulses have an extremely short duration of 10~50 femto seconds. Five experimental stations have been constructed at the facility. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.desy.de
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 54th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2005 Barrett Award in X-ray Diffraction to D. Keith Bowen - Bede Scientific Instruments, Ltd., Durham, UK and Brian Tanner - University of Durham, Durham, UK
The 2005 Jenkins Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Advancement of the Use of X-rays for Materials Analysis to Victor E. Buhrke - Consultant, Portola Valley, CA
Australian Synchrotron and SPring-8 (Japan) have signed a new partnership agreement to share expertise and develop new technology. This agreement will allow scientists to move freely between both facilities and to work together to exchange ideas and develop new experimental technology, such as new detectors.
The Advanced Photon Source (APS) and APS Users Organization (APSUO) announced that the 2005 Arthur H. Compton Award was presented to Gunter Schmahl and Janos Kirz for pioneering and developing the field of X-ray microscopy using Fresnel zone plates. Because of their leadership over the last 30 years, X-ray microscopy has evolved into a powerful method for the study of nanoscale structures and phenomena in many areas of science. Former recipients of the award are: Martin Blume, Doon Gibbs, Namikawa Kazumichi, Denis McWhan (2003); Wayne A. Hendrickson (2001); Sunil K. Sinha (2000); Donald H. Bilderback, Andreas K. Freund, Gordon S. Knapp, Dennis M. Mills (1998); Philip M. Platzman, Peter M. Eisenberger (1997); Nikolai Vinokurov, Klaus Halbach (1995).
lightsources.org is a new web site, created through the collaboration of communicators at worldwide synchrotron radiation facilities. The site presents current light-source news from the world's press and photos and graphics from individual facilities, as well as a roundup of important facility-related news for users. Visit http://www.lightsources.org/
The international union of crystallography (IUCr) announced that Professor P. Coppens (Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA) has been awarded the seventh Ewald Prize for his contributions to developing the fields of electron density determination and the crystallography of molecular excited states, and for his contributions to the education and inspiration of young crystallographers as an enthusiastic teacher by participating in and organizing many courses and workshops. The Prize consists of a medal, a certificate, and an award of USD 30,000. The former recipients are Michael M. Woolfson (UK, 2002), G.N. Ramachandran (1999), M. G. Rossmann (USA, 1996), N. Kato (Japan, 1993), B.K. Vainshtein (Russia, 1990), J.M. Cowley (USA) and A.F. Moodie (Australia) in 1987.
Nine countries, namely France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they have agreed to jointly prepare the foundation of the European X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facility. XFEL opens up new possibilities in the vast field of structural research, by generating extremely brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties. More information on this European project is available at http://xfel.desy.de/content/e169/index_eng.html
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced the names of the three laureates for the 2005 (21st) Japan Prize. They are Dr. Makoto Nagao (President, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) for his "Pioneering Contributions to Natural Language Processing and Intelligent Image Processing" in the prize category of "Information and Media Technology" and Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi (Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology) and Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti (Distinguished Professor of The Burnham Institute, also Scientific Advisory Board Chairman of The Nanotech Company, LLC) for their "Fundamental Contribution in Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Adhesion" in the prize category of "Cell Biology". The three scientists will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of 50 million yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Wednesday 20, April 2005, in the presence of the emperor and empress. The prize categories for 2006 (22nd) Japan Prize will be "Global Change" and "The Development of Novel Therapeutic Concepts and Technologies". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact M. Ueda, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-3432-5951, Fax: +81-3-3432-5954, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
Dale E. Sayers, physics professor at North Carolina State University, died on November 25, 2004 at the age of 60 from complications following a heart attack while exercising at the gym. He was a world leader in X-ray absorption spectroscopy. He came to fame with the publication of the first EXAFS paper, in 1971. With it, he opened up a new field of research, which is now about to celebrate its twelfth bi-annual meeting in 2003 in Sweden. Professor Sayer's work using synchrotron radiation led him into a broad variety of research topics including investigations of amorphous materials, biophysical specimens, contaminated soils, nanoscale structures, and cancerous tissues. Professor Sayers was a recipient of the Bertram Eugene Warren Award (American Crystallographic Association); the Case Centennial Scholar Award (Case Western Reserve University); and the N.C. State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award. His family would appreciate contributions to the Dale E. Sayers Scholarship Fund, PAMS Foundation NCSU, c/o Anita Stallings, College of PAMS, 116 Cox Hall Campus Box 8201, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC 27695-8201.
A miniworkshop on Pixel Array Detector: Status and Applications was held at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan. The contributors were M.O.Lampert (Canberra-EURYSIS), H.Oyanagi (AIST), G.Foran (ASRP), S.Muto (NIFS), T.Satoh (JAERI), H.Takahashi (Univ of Tokyo), and M.Okubo (AIST). The requirements and solutions for pixel array detectors with high energy-resolution were discussed with particular emphasis on applications in X-ray spectrometry and plasma physics. The abstract booklet is available from Professor Hiroyuki Oyanagi, AIST, Phone: +81-29-8615072, Fax: +81-29-8615085, h.oyanagi@aist.go.jp
Martin J. Berger, former Chief of the Radiation Theory Section and Director of the Photon and Charged-Particle Data Center at NBS, died on November 6, 2004 at the age of 82, from the effects of a hematoma following a fall in which he struck his head. Dr. Berger was born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria. He earned a B.S. degree with a major in physics in 1943, received an M.S. and PhD, in physics in 1951, all at the University of Chicago. He started working at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington in 1952. His main area of interest was mathematical physics in relation to the penetration, diffusion and slowing of high-energy radiations through matter, and he rose to fame because of his theoretical works and Monte Carlo codes in the fields of electron and proton transport. He published more than 149 scientific papers, including the seminal 1963 monograph, "Monte Carlo Calculation of the Penetration and Diffusion of Fast Charged Particles". During his career at NBS, Berger received several awards for distinguished service, including the Silver and Gold Medals of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the 1990 Radiation Science and Technology Award from the American Nuclear Society. In August of 2003, he was awarded the L. H. Gray Medal by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, becoming only the eleventh recipient of this prestigious award. In October of that same year, Mr Berger was added to the NIST Gallery of Distinguished Scientists, Engineers and Administrators. The Washington Post (November 28, 2004) carries an obituary written by Joe Holley.
The Photon Factory in Tsukuba, Japan commenced operation in 1982 as a typical 2nd-generation synchrotron radiation facility. The 2.5 GeV storage ring is now being upgraded in order to maintain the competitiveness of its specifications in the field of X-ray sciences via the introduction of new mini-gap undulators. If such undulators are installed, it is possible to produce X-rays even at the 2.5 GeV ring (which does not have the same high energy as a 3rd-generation source), since the spectra of undulator radiation depend on the periodic length of the magnet array, as well as the accumulation energy of the storage ring. The plan is to create new straight sections (BL-1, 3, 15, 17, 4, 18), as well as to lengthen the existing straight sections (BL-2, 5, 13, 14, 16, 19, 28). The facility will cease operation at the end of February 2005 and restart in the fall of the same year.
Howard F. McMurdie, a chemist and well-known member of NBS, died of pneumonia on September 26, 2004 aged 99. Dr. McMurdie was born in Detroit, MI, in 1905 and graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He started work at NBS in April 1928. He became very famous as an editor of the series Phase Diagrams for Ceramists published by the American Ceramic Society. Dr. McMurdie was chief of the Crystallographic Section (formerly the Constitution and Microstructure Section) from 1944 until his official retirement at the end of 1965. Under his leadership, a project began that used X-ray diffraction on single crystals to determine their atomic structure. This led to a relationship with the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), which publishes the Powder Diffraction File, a compilation of diffraction patterns used for identification of crystalline solids. He was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 1957 for valuable contributions to the science of crystal chemistry and very valuable leadership in the development of a comprehensive program of work in this field. In 1999, he received the highest award in the field of X-ray diffraction analysis, the Charles S. Barrett Award of the Denver X-Ray Conference. In 2003, on the occasion of his second retirement, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the NIST Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. He was a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the Mineralogical Society of America and a member of the American Crystallographic Association and the Electron Microscope Society of America.
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