Archives of Older News Articles

2004 American Conference on Neutron Scattering

The second American Conference on Neutron Scattering, organized under the auspices of the NSSA, and hosted by the NIST Center for Neutron Research, was held in the Inn and Conference Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD June 6-10, 2004. Nearly 500 attended.  Pictures from the event and the Shull Prize lecture presented by the 2004 winner, Dr. J. M. Rowe,  are posted on the conference web site:  http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/acns

Neutron Data Book 

The Neutron Data Book edited by Albert-Jose Dianoux (ILL) and Gerry Lander (ITU, Karlsruhe) is a pocket-sized compendium of useful information on neutron scattering, spectrometers and facilities, tables of scattering lengths and form factors, and neutron sources.  This book was originally published by ILL and has been reprinted by Old City Publishing.  Copies of the booklet will soon be available free to NSSA members.  If you did not receive a copy in the original mailing from Neutron News, please send your request to the NSSA membership secretary Greg Smith  smithgs1@ornl.gov  along with your full address and contact information.  Delivery will require several weeks.

Gen Shirane
and Frontiers of Neutron Scattering

Gen Shirane celebrated his 80th birthday in 2004. He has had an incredible 50 year career doing neutron scattering experiments. An afternoon symposium entitled “Gen Shirane and the Frontiers of Neutron Scattering,” was held on July 15, 2004 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. For details go to  http://www.bnl.gov/GenShirane/default.asp 

Questionnaire on Remote Access to Neutron Facilities/Data -- NSSA members were sent an e-mail questionnaire in December 2002, soliciting opinions from users and potential users of the national facilities about remote (computer) access to these facilities and data.  The results of this survey will be e-mailed to the NSSA membership.  A graph summarizing the results along with a copy of the questionnaire is available --  Questionnaire copy (click). 

FRM-II Receives Start-up Approval

The following message was received from Jürgen Neuhaus and Winfried Petry announcing final approval for startup of the FRM-II reactor in Munich:

Pictures from the first American Conference on Neutron Scattering (ACNS) are available on the conference web site  http://www.sns.gov/acns/

NSSA Announces the Establishment of the
 NSSA Clifford G. Shull Prize in Neutron Science

At the 2002 inaugural American Conference on Neutron Scattering, the

 NSSA announced the establishment of the Clifford G. Shull Prize in Neutron Science.   This $5,000 prize, to be awarded at each  future ACNS starting in 2004, will be given to an individual making outstanding contributions to the field of neutron science. 

An endowment has been established to underwrite the prize.  Contributions are being solicited from NSSA members, corporate organizations, and others interested.  Contributions or requests for more informtion may be sent to the NSSA treasurer, Dr. David Belanger, Physics Dept., Univ. of California -- Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.  phone:  (831) 459-2871, email:   dave@dave.ucsc.edu

OSTP Report Released on "The Status and Needs of Major Neutron Scattering Facilities and Instruments in the United States"

The Office of Science and Technology Policy has just released the report of an interagency working group, sponsored by the OSTP, entitled "The Status and Needs of Major Neutron Scattering Facilities and Instruments in the United States".  A PDF file of the complete report is on the OSTP web site at  http://www.ostp.gov/html/NeutronIWGReport.pdf  .

Cliff Shull Passed Away on March 31, 2001

Clifford G. Shull, who received the Nobel Prize in 1994 (along with Bertram Brockhouse) died in Medford, Massachusetts, March 31, 2001. He was 85 and died after a short illness.

Cliff was a friend and colleague of many members of the NSSA. As the pioneer of neutron scattering, Cliff was responsible for many landmark scientific discoveries of our field, including the first direct experimental observation of antiferromagnetism.

In 1994 the award of the Nobel Prize to Cliff and Bert was a long-overdue acknowledgement of the important place neutrons have in our current understanding of many physical phenomena. Cliff and Bert were there at the beginning.

Cliff was synonymous with neutron scattering in the U.S. and was a frequent visitor and scientific participant at all the major centers. Most recently he played a key role in the ground-breaking ceremony for the Spallation Neutron Source in November 1999.

Cliff will be greatly missed by our neutron scattering community.  A memorial scholarship fund has been set up in Cliff’s name at Carnegie Mellon University.  Contributions to this fund can be sent in c/o Christian Sullivan, Donor Relations, Carnegie Mellon University, Warren Hall, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Thom Mason Appointed Director of the Spallation Neutron Source 

Feb. 22, 2001, Thom Mason, who has been the SNS Director of Experimental Facilities since 1996, today was named the new Director of the SNS Project.  In this capacity Thom will also be an Associate Lab Director of Oak Ridge National Lab 
Division.  The announcement was made by Bill Madia, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Riso Reactor Permanently Shut Down

On September 28, 2000, the Riso Board of Governors announced the closing of the DR-3 Reactor at the Riso Scientific Laboratory in Denmark.    The scattering program associated with Riso has been one of the most productive of any of the major scattering centers, and the closure of the reactor is a major loss to both Danish and the overall neutron scattering community.  Added details are in an article by Bente Lebech in Neutron News, Vol. 12, 33 (2001).

Neutron News Subscriptions 

As a NSSA member can receive the international journal Neutron News published four times each year by Gordon and Breach Publishing Group.  If you do not currently receive a copy of this journal and would like to be placed on the mailing list, send an e-mail with your complete mailing address to Costas Stassis, NSSA Corresponding Secretary, and the information will be forwarded to the publisher -- mailto:stassis@ameslab.gov  . 

Report Available from the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee Subpanel on Neutron Scattering

This report issued in March 2000, contains recommendations for an Initiative for Neutron Science User Support to increase available source and instrument time at the US national centers.  The panel was chaired by Martin Blume and two of the NSSA officers were panel members.  The full report is available in PDF format from http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/bes/BESAC/neutronrpt.pdf   .

BROOKHAVEN HIGH FLUX BEAM REACTOR PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Tuesday, November 16, 1999, Secretary of Energy William Richardson announced that the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at Brookhaven National Laboratory would be permanently closed. The reactor was halted in January 1996, following the discovery of a small leak of water containing some tritium from its fuel storage pool.

Because of the outstanding capabilities of the HFBR and the critical shortage of neutron sources in this country, extensive efforts were made by the scientific community over the past 22 months to encourage the timely restart of the HFBR. In addition to many individuals, a number of national scientific committees and organizations including the Neutron Scattering Society of America presented a strong scientific case for the unique value of this facility and the urgent national need for its continued operation.

Against this backdrop, the surprise announcement by Secretary Richardson on last Tuesday was based largely on potential further delays in restarting and on economic considerations as stated in the DOE press release.  To see full text of  DOE Press Release click here