L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 3 Fabiola Gianotti: the Italian scientist to be CERN's first female director Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The decision was announced on November 4 after CERN Council's closed session, but the official appointment will b e i n D e c e m b e r a n d D r . Gianotti's 5-year mandate as director general will begin on January 1, 2016. "This is a great h o n o r a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r me," she commented. "CERN is a center of scientific excellence, and a source of pride and inspi- ration for physicists from all over the world. It is also a cra- dle for technology and innova- tion, knowledge and education, a n d a c o n c r e t e e x a m p l e o f worldwide scientific coopera- tion." T h e n e w s o f F a b i o l a Gianotti's designation wasn't unexpected. In 2009, she also became the first woman to lead a particle physics experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful microscope lying beneath the Franco-Swiss bor- der. For 4 years she was, in f a c t , l e a d e r o f t h e A T L A S experiment, employing about 3,000 scientists from all over the world to record collisions between accelerated protons in the LHC. Her work led to the history-making discovery of the Higgs boson, which explains how all other fundamental parti- c l e s g a i n t h e i r m a s s . A s Continued from page 1 This holiday s eas on, the United Nations headquarters in New York City will have the rare o pportunity to hos t an exhibit featuring the original writings of St. Francis of Assisi, known the world over as the patron saint of animals, the environment, and Italy. From N ovember 17- 29, 'Brother Francis: icons, words, images' will feature original documents relating to the saint, whose pop- ularity is having a resurgence due to his influence on the Catholic Church's new Pope Francis. The highlight of the exhibit, which will move to Brooklyn on D ecember 2 – January 14, 2015, is the manu- script known as 'Codex 338', which contains St. Francis's Canticle of the Creatures, per- haps the Saint's most famous poem praising God's gifts of "brother fire" and "sister water" as well as the other earthly ele- ments. In addition, intricately detailed medieval papal docu- ments from popes Honorius III and Gregory IX will be dis- played, giving Americans the brief opportunity to come in contact with historically impor- tant documents, usually con- fined within the boarders of Italy. St. Francis of Assisi was a man who, by today's standards, might be described as a hippy. He lived by example, in pover- ty, renouncing material goods and worshiping all of God's creatures and creations, both big and small. A new found inter- est in the Order of Friars Minor, als o commonly know n as Franciscans, is due in large part to Pope Francis choosing the late saint's name and focusing his papal energies on serving the underprivileged and margin- alized populations, much as Saint Francis himself did in the 13th century. This exhibit will also be of interest to lovers of literature. The Canticle of the Creatures is believed to be one of the first works written in a dialect (U mbrian) clos ely resembling the written Italian of today, and has gone on to inspire countless works of art, films, songs, etc. throughout history. It is a timely exhibit, directing our attentions to what matters most during the holi- days; treating all living things, earth, animals and humans with care and respect and living a life of humility. Let St. Francis Be Your Guide This Winter A T L A S ' c o o r d i n a t o r a n d spokesperson, she announced to t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l p u b l i c t h e proof of the existence of the long-sought subatomic particle, r e c o g n i z e d i n 2 0 1 3 b y t h e awarding of the Nobel Prize to theoretical physicists François Englert and Peter Higgs. T h e b r i l l i a n t c a r e e r o f CERN's next director general s t a r t e d i n 1 9 8 7 w h e n , a f t e r completing a PhD in experi- m e n t a l s u b - n u c l e a r p h y s i c s from the University of Milan, s h e j o i n e d t h e O r g a n i z a t i o n composed of 21 member States. Dr. Gianotti's involvement with the ATLAS experiment b e g a n i n 1 9 9 2 , b u t s h e a l s o worked on other high-energy physics experiments and on liq- uid argon calorimetry. She is a member of renowned institutes and committees the likes of the A c c a d e m i a d e i L i n c e i a n d Illinois' particle physics labora- tory Fermilab. Besides her con- t r i b u t i o n t o w o r l d s c i e n c e , w h i c h e a r n e d h e r s e v e r a l awards and the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, she has a l s o d i s p l a y e d h e r t a l e n t i n music and holds a professional diploma as a pianist from the Milan Conservatory. She is credited with being p a s s i o n a t e , d i s c i p l i n e d , a n d calm. These qualities will cer- tainly help her to shape CERN's future development and shed light on some of the unsolved mysteries of our universe. One o f t h e f i r s t c h a l l e n g e s t h a t Fabiola Gianotti will have to deal with will be to supervise the restart of the LHC, after 2 y e a r s o f m a i n t e n a n c e a n d upgrading to increase its ener- gy. "I will fully engage myself to maintain CERN's excellence in all its attributes," she said. "For me, this job is not only a great scientific adventure, but also a great human adventure." Dr. Fabiola Gianotti is the first woman to be selected to head the prestigious Euopean Organization for Nuclear Research ( CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland Portrait of Saint Francis by Giovanni Cimabue (c.1285). PAIGE HOFFMAN

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