More than 20 prominent scientists, including four Nobel laureates, will participate in a symposium Thursday and Friday, May 14 and 15, in celebration of the 46th anniversary of MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science.
Morning and afternoon sessions of the symposium, "On the Matter of Particles," will be held both days in MIT's Kresge Auditorium. The Nobel Prize recipients scheduled to take part are MIT physicists Jerome I. Friedman, Henry Kendall and Samuel C.C. Ting and physicist Steven Weinberg of the University of Texas at Austin, who did his prize-winning work at MIT.
The symposium is free and open to the public, but it is necessary to register.
Professor Lee Grodzins is chairman for the anniversary celebration, which begins Wednesday evening, May 13, and concludes Saturday, May 16.
It was at the end of World War II, in 1946, that Professor Jerrold R. Zacharias and several of his colleagues from the Manhattan Project and the MIT Radiation Laboratory formed the Laboratory for Nuclear Science.
The purpose of the laboratory was to study the atomic nucleus-a new frontier of science that could be put to useful and peaceful ends. In its first year the laboratory was supported by the Office of Naval Research with a yearly operational budget of just under $1 million. Today the laboratory is supported by the US Department of Energy and has a budget of close to $30 million-making it the largest university-based program of its kind in the nation.
Woven throughout the history of modern physics are many renowned physicists whose work has been or is supported by the laboratory. A number will return to speak at the symposium.
Former and retired employees of the laboratory have been invited to attend the social events planned for the anniversary, especially a staff night Thursday evening, May 14, at the Johnson Athletics Center, where a "Whole Life Exhibit" will feature the outside interests of the laboratory's present and former employees.
In addition, an exhibit of the photography of Dr. Kendall-"Henry Kendall: Arctic and Expeditionary Photographs"-will be presented at the MIT Museum, with a reception planned for Wednesday evening, May 13.
On Saturday, May 16, there will be a tour of the Bates Linear Accelerator in Middleton, Mass.
For further information, contact Jean P. Flanagan at x8-5447 or Professor Grodzins at x3-4244.
A version of this article appeared in the May 6, 1992 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 36, Number 29).
