Gaining a better understanding of the limiting factors for the existence of stable, superheavy elements is a decade-old quest of chemistry and physics. Superheavy elements, as are called the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 103, do not occur in nature and are produced artificially with particle accelerators. They vanish within seconds. A team of scientists from GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU),…

Professor Almudena Arcones has been elected "Fellow 2020" of the American Physical Society (APS). With this prestigious recognition, the APS honors Almudena Arcones' outstanding contributions in the field of astrophysics. The Spanish-German physicist works since 2007 in the GSI Theory department with a joint appointment with the Technische Universität Darmstadt.

Professor Omar Azzaroni from Argentina has received the Georg Forster Research Award, granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, for his research in the field of nanosciences. As award winner, he will work in close cooperation with the Materials Research Department of GSI.

The research at FAIR and the ongoing research activities in the run up to its establishment were the focus of a visit by Professor Wolf-Dieter Lukas, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Together with further senior staff from the BMBF, he heard all about the outlook for the future at the FAIR and GSI campus.

Dr. Uwe Niedermayer has received the Young Scientist Award for Accelerator Physics of the German Physical Society (DPG). The award honors his scientific achievements in the development of simulation programs that are used, for example, for the design and calculation of future accelerators at GSI/FAIR and CERN as well as his contributions to the realization of a laser driven accelerator on a chip.

An important success has been achieved in the Electroplating Department of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung: The copper plating of a cavity with two meter in diameter was successfully realized. This is also of great importance for the future accelerator center FAIR. In order to achieve the FAIR parameters, the existing linear accelerator UNILAC, which will serve as a pre-accelerator in the future, has to be partially upgraded with new cavities.

Patrick Burghardt, State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry for Digital Strategy and Development and CIO of the Federal State of Hesse, was a guest at GSI and FAIR. His visit focused on the energy-efficient high-performance computer center Green IT Cube and the progress of the FAIR project. He was accompanied by the Hessian Co-CIO Roland Jabkowski.

An interactive picture slider provides new insights and shows the progress on the FAIR construction site. It allows to compare the pictures from the beginning of construction and today. The virtual superimposition of the images makes the process of building the large particle accelerator facility clearly visible.

The progress of the FAIR project and the current scientific activities on the campus were the central topics during the visit of Marcus Bühl, a member of the Bundestag. The politician comes from Ilmenau and belongs to the AfD party. He is member of the budget committee of the Bundestag and deputy member of the committee on the digital agenda. He was received by Professor Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, Dr. Ulrich Breuer, Administrative Managing Director, and Jörg…