THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160354
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
At the height of the Cold War, to invite Russians to freely roam the halls of a nuclear research lab would have seemed, at best, insane - if not treasonous.
In yet another sign that geopolitics isn't what it used to be, six Russian physicists spent Monday touring the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), a $551 million, 200-acre nuclear physics lab off Jefferson Avenue.
``I'm really rather amazed at this new laboratory,'' said Victor A. Matveev , director of the Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow. ``It's always pleasant to see a good job.''
The Russians will continue their CEBAF visit today, leaving early Wednesday morning for tours of other national laboratories and a conference of Russian and American physicists next week on Long Island in New York.
The visit is sponsored by the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Fundamental Properties of Matter, an official exchange program begun in the early 1970s to ease political tensions between the two superpowers.
``We wanted some communication with the Russians on some level,'' said Hermann Grunder, director of CEBAF. ``It looked like sharing information would keep us in contact. Now the program has become a source of mostly moral, but some economic, support for Russian scientists.''
As Russia struggles to rebuild itself politically and economically, exchange programs in physics and other disciplines have funneled hard currency and badly needed equipment to that country's research community.
``Things are tough in Russia right now,'' said P.K. Williams, a U.S. Department of Energy physicist and the coordinating committee's executive secretary. ``It's hard for them to find the resources to build the equipment they need.''
The new environment has changed the way some scientists conduct research. In at least one case, the visitors say, a proton accelerator in Moscow is being used part-time to treat cancer patients. Physicians use the particles produced by the device to target and kill certain types of cancer cells.
Despite their benefits, the exchange programs are hardly charity work, offi cials assert. Russians physicists, renowned in scientific circles especially for theoretical brilliance, give back more than they receive.
``It's a two-way thing,'' Williams said. ``We provide the facilities and they help utilize them. They're highly trained and highly intelligent people.''
American scientists are slated to visit Moscow next year, as the coordinating committee alternates its meeting venue. American and Russian physicists alike believe there won't be any shortage of subject matter to consider.
``Look: I'm an optimist. Our field will survive,'' said Nikolai E. Tyurin, deputy director of the Institute of High Energy Physics in Moscow. ``Old questions will be answered. New questions will appear.''
Basic physics research has led to computers, lasers and a host of microcircuitry-crammed electronics gear, from CD players to televisions. Without basic understanding of the atomic nucleus, there would be no advanced medical diagnostic devices like CAT scanners or Magnetic Resonance Imagers.
Researchers at CEBAF will probe the nuclei of atoms using a focused beam of electrons that race around an underground track about a mile in circumference. Subatomic debris results as the electron beam collides with liquefied gases such as helium, hydrogen and oxygen.
Scientists will study the debris to determine the behavior of subatomic particles called quarks, thought by most physicists to be nature's basic building blocks.
Worldwide, some 800 physicists from 103 universities, institutes and laboratories worldwide are planning CEBAF experiments.
Although limited research is slated to begin in the fall, the facility won't be fully operational until fall 1996. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Nikolai E. Tyurin, deputy director of the Institute of High Energy
Physics in Moscow, tours the cryomodule assembly area of the
Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility in Newport News. Six
Russian physicists visited the lab Monday.
Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Linda Ware, right, of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator
Facility, speaks to visiting Russian scientists during a tour
Monday. The Russians will continue their CEBAF visit today, leaving
early Wednesday for tours of other national laboratories.
by CNB