Do some of the heaviest elements in our universe come from the collision of neutron stars? The answer may be gained from how the luminosity of such an event evolves over several weeks. A group of scientists from GSI and FAIR, TU Darmstadt, the National Academy of Sciences of Taiwan and Columbia University, USA, recently published the respective results in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The option to measure the gravitational waves of two merging neutron stars has offered the chance to answer some of the fundamental questions about the structure of matter. At the extremely high temperatures and densities in the merger scientists conjecture a phase-transition where neutrons dissolve into their constituents: quarks and gluons. In the current issue of Physical Review Letters, two international research groups report on their calculations of what the signature of such a phase…

17 Greek high school students profoundly interested in science from the Senior High School (Lyceum) of Gazi, Heraklion, Crete, visited GSI and FAIR. Since 2016, these students call themselves the CURIEosity Team and aim to promote science within their schoolmates’ community.

"Megaproject aktuell - Realisierung des internationalen Teilchenbeschleunigerzentrums FAIR in Deutschland" was the topic of a parliamentary breakfast in Berlin at 16. January 2019, to which the management of FAIR and GSI had invited in cooperation with Dr. Astrid Mannes, member of the Bundestag of Darmstadt. Numerous members of the Bundestag, employees of the parliamentary offices and speakers from all parliamentary groups accepted the invitation to the event.

The magistrate of the city of Darmstadt was a guest of FAIR and GSI. First there was an information program about the current development of the accelerator facility FAIR, before the magistrate held its working session on site. The guests were welcomed by Jörg Blaurock, Technical Managing Director of GSI and FAIR, FAIR Site Manager Harald Hagelskamp and Ingo Peter, Head of Public Relations.

A Korean delegation consisting of representatives from the government and from science institutions visited the FAIR and GSI facilities recently. Following an introductory talk about the research and the construction of the international FAIR facility, the group had the opportunity for in-depth discussions with Research Director Professor Karlheinz Langanke and with Professor Marco Durante, Head of the Biophysics research department.

Clinical and radiobiological studies for tumor therapy with heavy ions began at GSI over 20 years ago. Today the objective of such research at GSI and FAIR is to continue improving this successful therapy and to use it in increasingly customized ways in medical applications. One of the researchers with this objective is Dr. Olga Sokol, a scientist in the Biophysics Department at GSI. One of the focuses of her research is the use of oxygen ions in tumor treatment.

Dr. Takehiko Saito has been invited to serve as a guest professor at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) in Lanzhou, China for a period of three years. In a ceremony at the IMP, the GSI scientist was presented with a certificate identifying him as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).

It's a success story with 20 years of tradition: On Saturday, December 8, more than 210 high school students from all over the state of Hesse had the opportunity to gain an insight into current physical research at FAIR and GSI. During tours of the research facilities, the participants explored the accelerators and experiments on the GSI and FAIR campus. They also learned about the construction of the international accelerator facility FAIR and had the opportunity to take a closer look at the…