apres le deluge

   and in a wink, it is over ...

The centrepiece of the Canadian World Year of Physics celebrations was a gala event at the wonderful Chan Centre auditorium Sunday June 5, where Prof Clifford Will of Washington University in St. Louis gave his public talk entitled "Was Einstein Right ?"  His talk was preceded by Borealis String Quartet performance of a work composed (in his spare time !) by PhD Physics student Aaron Hryciw of the University of Alberta.  The piece was really very good, and was very well received by the 900 or so people in attendance.

Well, the whole evening lasted about 1 1/2 hours.  For that, we spent MONTHS planning it: arranging media, organizing publicity, sorting out the tickets, etc etc etc.  and in a veritable blink, it was gone ...

This Outreach stuff is really quite a change from my prior life doing physics.  Then, we'd plan experiments for YEARS, run the experiments for WEEKS or MONTHS, and then analyze the data again for YEARS. (and for me, take MONTHS to write the papers...)   Now, it is : plan like a maniac for  days, weeks, or months, and then watch the thing fly by in minutes or hours. 

I love this Outreach gig, but somedays I pine for the lasting impression of a physics job well done. I have a paper simmering on the back-burner, and methinks it's time to get at it.  a mental health break, so to speak.

but no time to complain:  now we are planning furiously to arrange for the Borealis Quartet to take Aaron's music on the road across Canada, as part of WYP2005.  no rest for the weary...