all Gerald Gabrielse stories

NAS elects five Harvard faculty members

50443248 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:10:17 -0400

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced this past Tuesday (May 1) the election of five Harvard affiliates among its 72 new members and 18 foreign associates. Members are chosen in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Measuring one of the universe's building blocks

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:37:46 -0400

Electrons are everywhere. There are trillions of them around you as you read this. They help make your computer, TV, cell phone - even the universe - work.

Every atom boasts a thin cloud of them orbiting its core, or nucleus. When they jump from one orbit to another, they create the electric and magnetic forces that power the universe. Their behaviors in the most energetic orbits determine the chemical properties of everything you can think of.

Lasers produce slow, cold antiatoms

50443248 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:17:10 -0400

A new way to make colder atoms of antimatter has been found. It could help bring scientists closer to understanding why we, and everything else, are made out of matter instead of antimatter.
According to the best theories, ordinary matter and its shadowy twin were created in approximately equal amounts when the universe came into existence some 14 billion years ago. If that's true, then where has all the antimatter gone?

"The imbalance is an embarrassing thing in physics, something we don't talk about," admits Gerald Gabrielse, Leverett Professor of Physics at Harvard University. To solve this universal mystery, researchers want to get a good look at antimatter atoms. To get such a view, they need a good way to slow them down.

Scientists look inside antimatter

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:25:53 -0400

"We have obtained the first glimpse inside an antihydrogen atom, and this is a significant step on the way to precision measurements that will allow matter/antimatter comparisons to be made," says Gerald Gabrielse, professor of physics at Harvard and leader of the research team. Such comparisons could show why antimatter and matter have not destroyed each other; in other words, why there's a universe at all. They also might cause physicists to scrap all their theories of how the universe operates. Although no one is making any claims at this point, practical applications might come from the research.

Why antimatter matters so much

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:15:21 -0400

In 1995, experimenters made nine or 10 atoms of antihydrogen at the Center for European Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, researchers have sought a method for making more antimatter, which would allow them to test fundamental theories of the universe. A team led by Gerald Gabrielse, Harvard professor of physics, is close to making a mass of antihydrogen atoms. These atoms would be trapped in a special apparatus where they can be held long enough to accurately measure their properties. How close is the team to achieving its goal?