Wednesday Nite at the Lab
UW Genetics-Biotechnology Center 425 Henry Mall, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: For the fall semester, WN@TL goes hybrid both with Zoom and with in-person presentations. The zoom registration link is still go.wisc.edu/240r59. Starting September 15, you can also watch a live web stream at biotech.wisc.edu/webcams
On September 15 we return to the Auditorium, Room 1111 Genetics Biotech Center, 425 Henry Mall, with a special set of presentations entitled “IceCube Turns Ten: Past, Present and Future for the World’s Biggest and Strangest Observatory” by Francis Halzen, John Kelley, and Lu Lu.
Description: The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, dubbed “the strangest telescope in the world”, sits in a cubic kilometer of ice at the South Pole, Antarctica. IceCube detects signals from astrophysical neutrinos that interact in the ice, revealing previously hidden information about the universe. It has been 10 years since IceCube began full operations on May 13, 2011. Join us as we look back at the massive construction effort led by UW-Madison, highlight exciting discoveries uncovered by a team of nearly 400 scientists from 53 institutions in 12 countries, and give a glimpse into the future of this one-of-a-kind instrument.
Bios:
Dr. Francis Halzen is the principal investigator of IceCube, Hilldale and Gregory Breit Professor at UW–Madison. In 1987, Halzen started working on the concept of using natural Antarctic ice as a neutrino detector. This led to the AMANDA experiment, a first-generation neutrino telescope at the South Pole that represented a proof of concept for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
Dr. John Kelley is a scientist and detector operations manager of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. He started working on IceCube in 2003 and has deployed nine times to the South Pole.
Dr. Lu Lu is an assistant professor at UW–Madison working to discover the origins of the highest energy particles and to understand their acceleration mechanisms using IceCube. In addition to her research and development work, Lu co-developed an augmented reality app, ICEcuBEAR, to visualize IceCube real-time alerts on mobile phones.