Fermilab 50th Anniversary

As the bookend to Dawn of a new year... from January 1, 2017, the sun sets on my favorite tree on December 31.

The last moment of 2017, as seen from the Main Control Room

Neutrino Campus MINOS.

Mr. Snowman just stopped by the Village for new year's eve. If you pass by 15 Potawatomi, make sure to say hello. He seems a bit cold at first, but has a warming heart.

On the morning of the last day of 2017, the cold, ice crystal-filled air created a parhelion around the sun.

On a cold winter day, the bison stay close to the barn and feed.

It's cold, snow on the ground and roads are closed. Typical for Fermilab.

A hawk circles over the security office building.

Can see Wilson Hall in the distance with snow on the ground.

Three of the senior engineers in the Accelerator Division relax after the last 9:00 Operations Meeting of the year in One West. L-R: Bob Brooker, Chris Jensen and George Krafczyk. George, with ID number 322, has been working at Fermilab forever.

She made a difference! Without Leah Hesla the DIFF, or Daily Image from Fermilab project would have been just another good idea. Thanks to her, Elliott McCrory, and Maura Barone Fermilab was able to celebrate it's 50th-anniversary year by gathering a least one image each day of 2017.

Some of the senior members of the ESH&Q's Interlock Group in their lab space adjacent to the Accelerator Division Main Control Room. From left: Chuck Worel, Glenn Federwitz (seated), Randy Zifko and John Fomusa. Each of these folks has a Fermilab ID number lower than 4000; Worel has the lowest one: 01943N.

Wayne Shaddix from the Particle Physics Division Building Management Group says, "See ya next year Fermilab."

Elliott McCrory was a driving force behind the DIFF project. His upbeat perseverance and encouragement kept all the photographers going and made sure that each day of the year was covered.

Farmland near Site 67, seen from NML

The beauty of the creatures here at Fermilab is something to be enjoyed every day. What a great place to work. We are truly blessed!

Just had to take a selfie as we grouped together for the DIFF family portrait.

Some of the photographers who contributed photos to the DIFF project gathered for a group photo before the end of the year. DIFF, or Daily Image from Fermilab, was organized and run by Elliott Mccrory, Leah Hesla and Maura Barone to help celebrate Fermilab's 50th-anniversary year by gathering a least one image taken at Fermilab for each day of 2017.

Reidar Hahn, Fermilab photographer, takes a group picture of the people who participated in the Daily Image From Fermilab — DIFF — project.

As the year long Daily Image For Fermilab, or DIFF , project for Fermilab's 50th anniversary comes to an end, Elliott McCrory has a brilliant idea for Fermilab photographer Reidar Hahn to photograph those folks that participated in submitting photos through out the year. My DIFF, of course: It's Reidar!

Here we are, all posing for Reidar's picture of the DIFF photographers in the Wilson Hall atrium.

Some of the DIFF photographers get ready for a group shot.

Zero-degree temperatures, clear skies and a cover of snow make for a picturesque holiday-time parking lot.

Outside Wilson Hall.

The atrium is decorated with Christmas lights.

The whitetail were out foraging early on a cold winter day.

A view from the Big Woods trail while out skiing.

It was awfully cold this morning - about 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Will Flanagan, foreground, and Shakakai Yang take shifts in ROC West, making sure all systems are running optimally for the NOvA experiment.

Clecio De Bom, guest visitor from Centro Brasileiro des Pesquisas Fisicas who works with MKIDs at Fermilab, enjoys showing his mother around SiDet.

The auditorium lobby in the early morning - fisheye view.

Kuhn Barn

The Paterno family takes time out of their Christmas day to get a photo at Fermilab, braving a flat tire, cold temperatures and negative wind chills in order to do so.

Waiting at the light at Kirk and Pine looking north, this is not a typical sight for 8 a.m. on a Monday morning. But it _is_ Christmas morning.

The fresh snowfall in the parking lot behind Wilson Hall. On any other Monday at 8 a.m., there wouldn't be an inch of undisturbed snow in the whole place, but this was taken on a bright, cold Christmas morning.

The geese don’t mind the snow. In fact, they wear it well.

It's snowing!

A holiday tradition in the Main Control Room. The tiers of colors light up sequentially as more and more beam is injected into the accelerators. It was good to see the highest tier light up just in time for Christmas, after several weeks of running low-intensity beam due to vacuum issues in the Main Injector.

Cattails along the road near the Cryogenics Department building.

Walking my dog on a lovely Saturday afternoon at Fermilab

Quiet sunset on a cold winter day.

Who is this, Mr. Christmas? No, it's not Santa Claus: The beard is not gray enough. Why, it's David Andersen, who is the keeper of the IDs. For once he gets his photo taken.

Fermilab Natural Areas' donation to the Lederman Science Center of numerous field guides was documented in a media photo session. From left: Kurt Riesselmann, Al Johnson, Tim Meyer, Spencer Pasero, Penny Kasper, Liz Copeland, Hema Ramamoorthi.

From left: Bert Gonzalez of the Particle Physics Division Detector Development and Operations Department, Matthew Jones from Purdue University, and Andrei Gaponenko of Mu2e discuss the assembly process for Mu2e modules. Bert holds a test module.

Inside Fermilab meeting rooms, the unusual and the ordinary.

A beautiful beginning to the solstice.

Rich Andrews, ID number 221, poses with the injector for FAST/IOTA in the NML building. Rich has been a mechanical engineer here since the earliest days of Fermilab.

A large number of bidders contractors / offerors attended the pre-bid meeting and walkthrough of the ICBa building project.

Good food, good friends, great Fermilab!

Donna Kubik from the Particle Physics Division Detector Development and Operations Department, is pictured with a kinetic inductance detector (KID) that she and others are studying potentially to use for study of the cosmic microwave background. The KID is mounted on one of the millikelvin refrigerators at SiDet.

TJ Sarlina shows off his amazing Christmas attire.

Members of the Fermilab Accelerator Physics Center celebrate at the annual holiday luncheon.

The sky blazes behind Broken Symmetry at the Pine Road West gate.

A place for doing hard work ...

Wilson Hall casts a long shadow just after sunrise on the day before the winter solstice.

The high-rise

Beginning of the burn west of Eola Road

Just had to catch this moment.

Nigel Lockyer listens to remarks made my DOE Fermi Site Office Manager Michael Weis during today's all-hands meeting.

An infrared image of the back side of Wilson in the late afternoon light.

Last seconds of sunlight in a short winter day

This message painted on a rock was lying along the curb at the Wilson Hall front horseshoe drive ... not sure from or for whom, but not a bad thought.

Overcast skies on a late Sunday afternoon

No known names.

Sue Campbell has been a faithful auditorium member of the Fermilab Arts and Lecture Series since before 1991.

Some of our technical staff and managers gather round the Technical Division Christmas tree for a photo op.

Mary Convery and Mike Lindgren enjoy a buffet lunch prepared by the Integrated Planning and Performance Management team on Wilson Hall's second floor.

Christmas décor in the Wilson Hall atrium, so pretty!!

Henry Pirtle received a gift from Santa at the Festive Holiday Party with Santa.

Arturo Gonzales is installing some of the 54 modules in the new solid state Marx generators in the Linac. They replace the 1968-era Continental Electronics tube-based power supplies. The tubes are becoming scarce since the U.S. Coast Guard no longer needs them. Once the supply of them is gone and existing ones can no longer be reconditioned, our Linac would be shut down if these new power sources were not built. There is one 28-cell modulator in station 1, and there will be six 54-cell units including a test/spare unit.

Adam Lyon, Tracy Usher, Erica Snider

Steve Holmes discusses the positive report for the PIP-II Independent Project Review with Elaine McCluskey, left, and the next PIP-II project leader, Lia Merminga.

The Particle Physics Division Detector Development Ops Dept. and others enjoys a Christmas lunch of pizza, salad and appetizers at Pal Joey's. Pictured from left are Wojciech Blaszynski, Sabina Aponte, Otto Alvarez, Ron Lipton, Rick Tesarek and JJ Schmidt.

Gianluca Petrillo

A group of facilities and thermosystem engineers troubleshoot a dedicated outside-air system at the Heavy Assembly Building.

Hats from over the years ...

Battalion Chief Chris Williams discusses the fire service recall features of the Wilson Hall elevators with security personnel.

Eddie Mejia enjoys his yerba mate tea with his ravioli lunch.

Brian Chase of the Accelerator Division listens to a question from a DOE reviewer during the Independent Project Review of PIP-II for CD-1, in the Racetrack.

Decorated tree on the 14th floor in Wilson Hall.

Steve Dixon and Nigel Lockyer enjoy a moment during the PIP-II Independent Project Review for CD-1.

Fermilab is a great place to enjoy the great outdoors, even in 18-degree weather! These joggers don't give it a second thought to jog around the Main Ring in this cold weather ... brrrrr!

Where did that time go?

The “Bod Squad” annual holiday party was held December 12, 2017, at Chez Leon which included a fun “white elephant” gift exchange. Pictured here are members of the squad and their gifts. Standing, from left: Roger Dixon, Penelope Constanta, David Hockin, Joan Forsberg instructor, Roberta Kucharski, Carol Johnstone, Jeanne and Arthur Kreymer, and Melonie Hays. Seated: Barbara Kristen, Suzanne Wilczak, Marilyn Dixon and Carol’s father Jerry.

Silly coyote - walking across the ice in front of Wilson Hall in the middle of the day.

If this owl hadn't flapped its wings, I wouldn't have seen it camouflaged in the woods near the Fire Department.

I catch Bert getting ready to log back in to his laptop after getting his well deserved cup of java! #MobileMonday

Snow after the burn

On a nice sunny day looking down Blackhawk Boulevard, seeing a nice sky.

One of the students of Saturday Morning Physics brought his little brother, and a colorful hat, to the final lecture of the term. Pushpa Bhat of the Director's Office is the lecturer.

One of the first hard freezes of winter is shown near the Main Ring cooling ponds.

Si Xie, a guest and visitor from California Institute of Technology, does some testing in the Photo Detector Timing Lab for the Compact Muon Solenoid / CMS timing project.

These Accelerator Division folks often enjoy an early morning snack in the cafeteria on a Friday. From left: Paul Czarapata, Bob Brooker, Cons Gattuso, Dave Capista, Stan Johnson and Greg Vogel.

The taco salad in the Fermilab cafeteria is a perennial favorite.

Light snow in December.

This morning, Thursday, December 7, we work up to our first light dusting of snow for the season. While walking to work, in the woods between the Lederman Science Education Center and Wilson Hall, I noticed this interesting pattern of bicycle tracks. Apparently, the three riders compacted the snow with their tires and when the snow on the warmer path either melted or sublimated. Only the tracks were left visible.

First snow of the year ... small, but a sign of things to come.

Melonie Hays is shown visiting with Mike Smego, Gary Teafoe and Chuck Wilson about their work on LCLS-II cryomodule 08 after taking their photo to be documented in the Fermilab 50th-anniversary DIFF gallery.

December dusting of snow covers some of the road on the way to SiDet.

Aligning a cold-mass cavity string to the vacuum vessel for LCLS-II Cryomodule 08. Pictured here are Mike Smego, left, Chuck Wilson, center, and Gary Teafoe, sitting.

Liz Copeland sorts seeds for distribution in specific locations in the prairie.

View from 15th floor of Wilson Hall.

New bicycles ... Divvy or Fivvy?

Ed Dijak, from the Alignment and Metrology Department in Particle Physics Division, took advantage of using the secured bins for secure shedding placed at SiDet.

Reversed view from IARC to Technical Division.

MINERvA and MINOS data acquisition experts work hard to get detectors working before beam comes back.

The Main Control Room has through out the day many operators and experts working to deliver beam to the users.

Accelerator operators Alyssa Miller and Mike Olander are interviewed by a film crew from WGBH for an upcoming episode of the PBS show Nova.

Some Christmas décor at SiDet

Before moving to Illinois to work at the lab I lived in areas that had mountains or at least significant hills. Those are among the things I really miss living here. I tend to think of Illinois as being rather flat place. However, that's not quite true. This is a photo taken of the lab prairie adjacent to Pine Street following the burn that was just done. Note the ant mounds that one doesn't normally see when the plants are growing. Now with the plants burned off, you can see that the prairie is anything but "flat," especially at the scale of an ant. Does anyone know which type of ants create the mounds on our/their prairie?

Rich Divelbliss mows down some tall grass in his garden in the Fermilab Garden Club area.

Andre Donadon Servelle of the Particle Physics Division Astrophysics Department works on the Sub Electron Noise Skipper-CCD Experimental Instrument, SENSEI, a project in the Lab A cleanroom at SiDet. #MobileMonday

Scorched earth day after controlled burn

It's a beautiful Saturday morning, the sun is shining, and the light is good. So where is everyone?

Erik Ramberg talks about the great mathematician, Emmy Noether, in the context of symmetries in physics during Saturday Morning Physics.

It's done very carefully.

The waxing gibbous moon makes an early arrival.

Tom Nicol, mechanical engineer in the Technical Division, at a service recognition lunch at Chez Leon celebrating 40 years at Fermilab with other members of the 25-, 40- and 45-year clubs.

Greg and Andrea share a quiet lunch together in Greg's office in the Transfer Gallery.

Joe Schaubel and Dana Smith of Fermilab's Carpenter Shop hang a banner on the billboard along Kirk Toad thanking the public for helping us celebrate this past year.

Greg Gilbert leads the meeting to go over the week's safety issues with the electricians and mechanics of Site 38.

A Fermilab prairie burn.

'Tis the season!