Deputy director of Fermilab to speak on frontier physics, cosmology
Young-Kee Kim, deputy director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) will explore the frontiers of particle physics and cosmology during a public lecture Tuesday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Latham Ballroom at The Inn at Virginia Tech.
Fermilab is an internationally acclaimed research facility that specializes in high-energy particle physics. It is funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition to her leadership at Fermilab, Kim is also a professor of physics at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. Her visit is sponsored by the Department of Physics in the College of Science.
“The profound discovery by Einstein a century ago that particles can both be made from energy and disappear back into energy inspires experiments to learn more about the building blocks of matter,” Kim said. “These experiments, done at enormous energy and intensity frontier accelerators, have led to a consistent theory of the origins of our world up to a certain point.”
Kim says past the point of what existing accelerators can attain, lie many unknowns. Observations in cosmology can point to the need for a new theory in this frontier.
Kim’s lecture will lay out a path from where we are now to what steps researchers need to do toward understanding the nature of space and time.
“The discovery of new particles or new laws … will open up windows on this world,” she said.
“We are extremely honored to host Dr. Kim at Virginia Tech,” said Leo Piilonen, Hassinger Senior Faculty Fellow of Physics and director of the Center for Neutrino Physics. “We hope that her visit will strengthen the research and faculty partnerships between Fermilab and the university.”
Kim’s lecture is free. A reception will follow. Ample free parking is available at The Inn.
