Friday Flyer - December 18, 2015

Spotlight on Bob Peterson: Who can explain cosmic ray performance studies with a nautical metaphor, come up with a quote about Stan Musial, and calm a nervous e-Lab user, all while tying a knot youi've never heard of and putting on an mp3 of maritime folk songs? Well, that's our colleague and pal Bob Peterson, of course, who will retire on January 4, 2016. Bob was trained in engineering at Michigan after serving on all manner of sailing vessels and has picked up skills from setting a compass to making a baseball glove (really!) to teaching physics and working with physics teachers. And he plays guitar and gets Linux jokes, too. Asked what he likes best about his job, Bob reports that it's "the gumption of our QN teachers. What they do in the classroom with students goes beyond measure." Ditto for what Bob has done with our cosmic ray program. Bob has not only been a "guide-on-the-side" to staff and QuarkNet teachers alike, but a real friend. Sail well in the coming years, Bob, and proceed as the way opens.

News from QuarkNet Central: A new International Masterclasses circular is online. That is convenient because it is just about time to sign up for masterclass orientations and updates

Physics Experiment Roundup: New particle? Ghost? Systematic error? ATLAS and CMS see a possible small bump at high energy. How about a familiar particle with a new level of structure? CMS is checking.

Resources: Love neutrinos! Here's why! The blog Little Things, Big Ideas is going and growing. Read! Write!

Just for Fun: Fifty years ago this week, the world first got Christmas music from space. Speaking of space . . .

The latest installment of movie franchise beloved of nerds everywhere is opening this weekend. Here's what we know. On April 1, 2015, CERN announced the discovery of the Force. Then there is the physics of lightsabers. And we've found out who is the real bad guy and that the Empire is the good guys

Finally, for 2015: The next Friday Flyer will be on January 8, 2016 as we all take a bit of time off; happy holidays to all in the QuarkNet family and to our kind friends and relations everywhere.

QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu