Onward SDSS Soldiers… Composed, annotated and read by Stephen Pordes at the June 10 symposium honoring Director John Peoples. Peoples, John, our retiring Director No more onion-peeling layer by layer, 4 No more talk of calorimeter or quark With the SDSS, the knot he’s tied. On and on, I could go12 1 There are high-energy interactions in space, but "accelerator-based HEP" wouldn’t fit the meter of the poem. 2 This is the first time I’m aware of that that title has had any use. 3 Economists used to talk about "sectors;" now the term is fashionable among physicists. 4 We used to say that high-energy physics peeled away the layers of matter. 5 See previous article. 6 A purveyor is a high-class word for a seller of something, like jam. 7 An oh-so-subtle reference to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. 8 Originally, this line was "…when he’s really in the dark." 9 A reference to LOW energy—and to the holes drilled in the SDSS plates to match the galaxies. 10 It’s not quite on the top. 11 OK, OK …. It may not be two pi, but please… 12 [Note: At this point in the reading of the poem, Ruth Pordes, wife of the author, began ringing Fermilab’s famous cowbell, announcing the end of the morning session.] 13 Apache Point Observatory. |
last modified 7/2/1999 email Fermilab |
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