Updated: 1/24/2008 9:27:52 AM
A birthday party at the Oak Ridge National Lab on Wednesday set the scene for a new collaboration.
Nearly 100 researchers and educators from ORNL, UT, Vanderbilt University and from Japan took part in the two-fold event.
The gathering recognized the 25-year anniversary of the Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research. The partnership is now expanding with help of Japanese researchers. A new addition is being added to the program, with an emphasis on nuclear physics theory.
"It's why we went to the Moon in 1967," says UT Physics Professor Lee Riedinger. "It's why we are trying to go to Mars now its why the Hubble Telescope observes galaxies and stars at the edge of the universe. We need to understand who we are on Earth, but how stars and galaxies are made. That excites everyone, I think."
The new program addition will cost about $500,000 and is set to open in 2009.
