Signs of spring appear around CERN.

After an art and science workshop today at CERN, the photographer showed off his camera drone. He’s controlling it with his iPad. I think a bunch of us died and went to nerd heaven.

The weather has been crazy lately, vacillating between freezing and above-freezing; between blue skies, pouring rain, dark gray skies, and intense snowfall.

From left to right: myself, Aidan Randle-Conde, and Tingting Cao. Thanks to Sven Kreiss (NYU) for taking the photo of us on Aidan’s camera, and thanks to Aidan for having an awesome camera.

A different view of the ATLAS Experiment, taken more from the end of the tour walkway. You can see more components now on the end of the ATLAS detector, and the tour group on the left for scale.

Behold! The ATLAS Experiment! Many thanks to James Saxon (University of Pennsylvania) for arranging this tour for ATLAS physicists! Here, we see the endcap toroid magnet in the center of the photo, flanked on both sides by muon chambers. You can see the air toroids wrapped in orange tape on the left. The structure is 13-stories tall; you can see people on the floor at the bottom of the photo.

A heap of high-current, normal-conducting cables lies in a waste bin by the side of the road at CERN. 10 points to any former students of mine who can explain with mathematics why high-current cables must be so thick. There will be no hints.

We have (apparently) successfully generated a fully interactive whiteboard surface right on a wall, using only a can of speciality paint. As you can see, having such a surface IMMEDIATELY led to a discussion how how to make the Gamma Density more computer-friendly.

Seriously. MY SPOOL IS TOO BIG.

This view was my treat during one of my 5 mile runs through the CERN Meyrin site. It had been a gorgeous day, in the mid-50s F in temperature, with rain rolling in for the evening over the Jura Mountains.