Fabiola Gianotti

CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti to be conferred an honorary doctorate of the University of Helsinki

Photo: CERN, Beutler, Christian

The Conferment Jubilee of the University of Helsinki commences on 20 March 2023 with the announcement of the University’s new honorary doctors. In the spring, the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Law will celebrate the conferral of degrees.

More information:

https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/science-policy/thirty-new-honorary-doctorates-be-conferred-conferment-jubilee

Fabiola Gianotti, PhD, Director General of CERN will be conferred by the Faculty of Philosophy on 26 May 2023.

Katri Huitu continues as Director of HIP

Katri Huitu giving presentation at the SAB Meeting 30.8.2022 (photo Juha Aaltonen)

More information (https://flamma.helsinki.fi/s/mXqYs):

Katri Huitu appointed director of Helsinki Institute Physics.

The board of Institute proposed Katri Huitu to continue as the Director of HIP for a five year period starting on 1.2.2023.

The call was open and five people applied for the position.

Warm congratulations!”

CLOUD-project: Nitric acid may influence the formation of aerosol particles in the upper troposphere

The chamber at CERN where measurements were conducted (Image: Hanna Manninen)

A new mechanism was discovered in a study published in the journal Nature, which suggests that nitric acid, sulphuric acid and ammonia can together form aerosol particles and ice nuclei much more efficiently than previously understood. This mechanism is thought to be particularly significant in the cold environments.

More information at https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/mathematics-and-science/nitric-acid-may-influence-formation-aerosol-particles-upper-troposphere

HIP project leader Aleksi Vuorinen receives the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation science prize

Professor Aleksi Vuorinen. (Image: Veikko Somerpuro)

Aleksi Vuorinen, HIP project leader (High Energy Phenomenology) and professor of theoretical physics from the University of Helsinki was presented the award (prize sum €20,000) by the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation for his successful research on the application of Quantum Chromodynamics to quark matter of finite density or temperature.

More details here: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/space/aleksi-vuorinen-receives-magnus-ehrnrooth-foundation-science-prize

LHC Restart 2022

Large Hadron Collider restarts. Beams of protons are again circulating around the collider’s 27-kilometre ring …

(The LHC tunnel at point 1. Image: CERN)

The world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator has restarted after a break of more than three years for maintenance, consolidation, and upgrade work. Today, 22 April, afternoon two beams of protons circulated in opposite directions around the Large Hadron Collider’s 27-kilometre ring at their injection energy of 450 billion electronvolts (450 GeV).

More information:

https://home.cern/news/news/accelerators/large-hadron-collider-restarts

See also the full media updates:

News and Press Releases, University of Helsinki
In English: Large Hadron Collider restarts | University of Helsinki
In Finnish: LHC-kiihdytin käynnistettiin uudelleen | Helsingin yliopisto (helsinki.fi)

ERC Consolidator Grant to HIP project leader Mikko Voutilainen

(Image: screen capture from the video posted in European Research Council’s YouTube channel)

Professor Tuuli Toivonen and Associate Professor Mikko Voutilainen from Kumpula Campus and Associate Professor Pekka Katajisto from Viikki Campus were granted competitive ERC Consolidator Grants in the 2021 call.

More information here:

https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2021-consolidator-grants-results

https://flamma.helsinki.fi/s/DFq6V (intranet, requires login)

MoEDAL-experiment at CERN searches for traces of magnetic monopoles by utilizing the strongest known magnetic fields produced in lead-lead collisions at LHC

(Image: James Pinfold, MoEDAL Collaboration)

Magnetic monopoles are hypothetical fundamental particles that are predicted by several theories but have never been detected. MoEDAL experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is designed to search for highly ionizing avatars of new physics, such as magnetic monopoles. In recent paper published in Nature, MoEDAL collaboration presents results on searches for magnetic monopoles utilizing the Schwinger mechanism in Pb–Pb heavy ion collisions producing the strongest known magnetic fields in the Universe.

More information:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04298-1
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00188-2

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-harnessing-strongest-magnetic-fields-universe.html
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2306763-strongest-ever-magnetic-field-fails-to-make-predicted-exotic-particles/

The Open Science Award of 2021 was granted to HIP project leader Kati Lassila-Perini and the Language Bank of Finland

University of Helsinki gives recognition to promoters of open and reusable research data

The Open Science Award of 2021 was granted to the Language Bank of Finland and research coordinator Kati Lassila-Perini.

More information: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/university/university-helsinki-gives-recognition-promoters-open-and-reusable-research-data