January 2019 – July 2022
The hardy crop Sorghum bicolor stands out as a candidate biofuel feedstock, and the JGI sequenced the plant’s first reference genome in 2009. Now, Professor Peggy Lemaux of UC Berkeley shares how that early work fueled her later research on drought tolerance. https://jgi.doe.gov/jgi-at-25-studying-sorghums-survival-skills/
The 2014 publishing of the original genome sequence for the common bean by the Joint Genome Institute fueled research into disease tolerance, stress resistance, and nitrogen fixation. Hear from Phil McClean and Jeremy Schmutz about how it all came together and the implications of a better bean. https://jgi.doe.gov/jgi-at-25-building-a-better-bean/
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is releasing images today providing the sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Components for the telescope were tested at the Lab’s 88″ cyclotron with heavy ions, testing memory chips, resolver-to-digital converters, and power components. https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages
In this photo, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, the founder of the Lab, works on the 60-inch cyclotron circa 1937. Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for inventing the cyclotron, a circular particular accelerator. https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/early-years.html
On Fridays from July 8 through Sept. 1, Elements will feature a photo of something at the Lab’s hill site. Correctly guess the location by 5 p.m. Tuesday of the next week to enter into a random drawing for 499 Bucketlist recognition points. Elements will publish the winner and the answer on Fridays. https://sites.google.com/lbl.gov/weareberkeleylab/home/summer-scavenger-hunt-2022
July 4 marks the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs Boson (subatomic particle). Berkeley Lab scientists played a prominent role in the discovery, including important contributions to ATLAS, and have contributed to detailed analyses of the Higgs’ properties over the past decade. https://www.interactions.org/higgs10
Albert Ghiorso and Glenn Seaborg, with chemist James Harris, announce the discovery of the isotopes of Element 104 in this 1969 TV news clip from the National Archives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvrjj93Q6LU
A new interactive timeline captures more than 70 years of the Lab’s history in computer science, computational science, data science, and mathematics. The timeline ranges from the 1950s when researchers developed computational science to the present day and the exciting possibilities of the future. https://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/1717131/History-of-Computational-Research-and-Mathematics-Berkeley-Lab
Watch the video replay of the American Physical Society and Lab ceremony recognizing the scientific discoveries made at the former location of the Lab’s Bevatron. Science historian Kit Chapman explains the ongoing significance of the Bevatron’s contributions to the periodic table and to medicine. https://youtu.be/_H8EjgKsDGA
The American Physical Society (APS) will recognize the Lab’s Bevatron for its contributions to physics on Wednesday, May 11, at 10 a.m. at streaming.lbl.gov. In this photo essay, learn more about the Bevatron, a particle accelerator that operated at Berkeley Lab from 1954 to 1993. https://photostories.lbl.gov/the-bevatron