Hessian Minister for Europe Lucia Puttrich visits GSI and FAIR
21.02.2022 |
The progress of the FAIR project and the current scientific activities on campus were central topics during the visit to GSI and FAIR of the Minister of European and Federal Affairs and Representative of the State of Hessen at the Federal Government, Lucia Puttrich. She was welcomed by Professor Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, Dr. Ulrich Breuer, Administrative Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, Jörg Blaurock, Technical Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, as well as Carola Pomplun from the Public Relations Department and Dr. Kathrin Göbel from the Joint Outreach Office.
After introductory information on the FAIR project, the campus development, previous research successes and current experiments, the CDU politician was given insights into the FAIR construction activities on the 20-hectare construction field in the east of the existing GSI and FAIR campus.
Minister for Europe Lucia Puttrich was impressed by the globally unique research project: "The international accelerator center FAIR is one of the most impressive research facilities in the world. In addition to the federal government and the state of Hesse, European research funding programs have also supported the GSI Helmholtzzentrum and FAIR for many years. More than 27 million euros come from European funding. With the new particle accelerator, one of the world's largest facilities for fundamental physics research is being built in our state. This makes Hesse one of the top locations for science in Europe. Scientists from all over the world can already use the research facilities today. This is international cooperation in science in daily life and I am proud that we have contributed to the success of the project with our intensive promotion in Berlin and Brussels," said Minister for Europe Lucia Puttrich.
During their visit the guests had the opportunity to get an overview of the entire construction site and the activities in the northern and southern construction areas from the viewing platform on the edge of the construction site. Then they took a tour of the site, in which also participated FAIR Site Manager Dr. Harald Hagelskamp, to get a close-up view of the construction progress. The agenda also included a walk-through of the underground accelerator tunnel, completed in shell construction, and the transfer building.
The transfer building is the most complex building of the facility and the central hub of the facility’s beam guidance system. The large, 1.1 kilometer ring accelerator SIS100 will be the heart of the future facility. The ring closure, which took place in 2021, represents an important milestone in the realization of the entire FAIR project, and installation of the technical building equipment will start in the near future.
The FAIR facility will provide researchers from all over the world with unique experimental opportunities to produce and examine cosmic matter in the laboratory that usually only exists in the depth of space. In giant planets, stars, and also during stellar explosions and collisions, matter is subject to extreme conditions such as very high temperatures, pressures and densities. FAIR will enable scientists to create such conditions in the laboratory. To do so, they will bombard small samples of matter with ions (electrically charged atoms). These collisions will, for very short periods of time, create the cosmic matter at the tiny impact points. Scientists can thus gain new insights into the structure of matter and the evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. They also develop new applications in medicine and technology. (BP)
