Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
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Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#2One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era.
The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to clean that room out and throw the stuff away. So what we got to do was help with that, and put anything we liked in my car instead of the dumpster.
We were stripping stuff there in the parking lot to save space. Crammed that car full of junk. It was a truly wonderful day.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#3One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
One man's junk is another man's treasure.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#4One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
One man's junk is another man's treasure.
I have a bunch of stuff in my house that I know there are people who would be happy to have it and maybe pay a few dollars but I live in a fairly small town and I'm certainly not about to go to the trouble of boxing things up and shipping them. I can get rid of some things by just leaving them at the end of the driveway with a free sign but doesn't work for everything.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#5One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
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Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#6One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
As a teenager I got to work and study at Fermi for two weeks under a DoE summer program. There was one kid from each US state and territory, and a few from other countries. We worked in the shops assembling the D0 and Leon Lederman tried to teach cosmology, which was both an incredible privilege and ultimately futile. I was eating in the cafeteria the day the Texas Supercollider was canceled and I don’t think there’s ever been a sadder crowd of physicists anywhere.
I wonder if they still do that summer program.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#7> However, Fermilab may not deserve all the blame, says a theoretical physicist who requested anonymity to protect relations with DOE. For example, he says, after the lab finally hammered out an excavation contract with Thyssen Mining, months passed before DOE approved it. “I’m not sure whether it’s really the lab that has a problem, or if it’s DOE that has a problem and is blaming the lab.”
If you need anonymity to talk to a reporter, you already know that DOE has a problem.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#8One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
Fermilab was built from late 1967 and opened in 1969 so that must have been really old stuff.
Similar to your story, I got to take high school physics extra classes there, and it was awesome, like being in a Star Wars set with entirely normal parents who worked there and who could teach us really interesting physics (classical mostly, and relativity).
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#9One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
One man's junk is another man's treasure.
So the adage goes but sometimes one man's junk just becomes another person's hoarding.
Re: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled U.S. particle physics center
#10One of my great joys as a teenager exploring electronics was the opportunity to clean out an old storage closet at some Fermilab facility with a friend. This was in the late 80s, we got several 1950s oscilloscopes and much other gear of similar era. The room had been overlooked in the usual surplus process for years. My friend was related to someone working for the janitorial services company, and they'd been told to…
I tried taking apart one of those old oscilloscopes. After the first screw, I heard a few nuts and parts drop behind it. I knew it was never going to be the same again. Complicated instruments.