As we transition from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Project into the FRIB Laboratory, we invite you to join current FRIB Laboratory staff at a special program to honor our past and look to our future.
MSU’s legendary President John A. Hannah seized upon the idea that developing a program in nuclear physics would be a cornerstone of his strategy for growth and diversification of the university. In 1958, he invited Henry Blosser to come to MSU to build a cyclotron. Blosser—an ambitious visionary with determination, leadership skills, and theoretical and technical expertise—assembled a remarkable team, and together they succeeded in designing, building, and funding MSU’s first cyclotron, the K50, completed in 1965 and used for nuclear research with proton beams.
Fifty years since the first beam from the K50 cyclotron, we are poised for the next generation of nuclear physics at MSU, as we build the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, scheduled for completion in 2022.
Former NSCL Director Konrad Gelbke was a pivotal part of bringing FRIB to MSU, and we will honor his remarkable career on October 8 with a scientific symposium. Konrad stepped down in May 2015 after 23 years as director of NSCL. The speakers and session chairs at the symposium are Konrad Gelbke’s former graduate students and postdocs who moved on to diverse careers in academia, national laboratories, and industry. In addition, Konrad’s broader impact on nuclear physics will be highlighted by representatives from NSF and DOE.
Our event will take place at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, on the campus of Michigan State University, and the tentative program is:
| 8 to 9 a.m. | Registration, light refreshments | |
| 9 to 11 a.m. | Program, including a presentation of “Up from Nothing,” a book about the history of the Cyclotron Laboratory by Sam Austin, Laboratory Director Emeritus, and original compositions by MSU College of Music faculty member Mark Sullivan, and alumni Benjamin Fuhrman and Matthew Schoendorff | |
| 11 to 11:30 a.m. | Break | |
| 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Remarks | |
| 12 p.m. | Hosted lunch outside Wharton Center | |
| 12 to 2 p.m. | Tours of NSCL and the FRIB construction site | |
| 2 to 5:30 p.m. |
Scientific symposium honoring former NSCL Director Konrad Gelbke |
To RSVP, visit the "Registration form" page. Please RSVP by September 10, 2015. If you have questions, please email events@frib.msu.edu, or call Janell Kebler at 517-908-7726.
We look forward to celebrating with you!
Michigan State University is establishing FRIB as a scientific user facility for the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Operation of NSCL as a national user facility is supported by the Experimental Nuclear Physics Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation.