|
New
Release -- Superconductor Week does not edit or endorse the following
news release:
Kavli
Building dedicated at SLAC
Stanford,
CA, Mar. 20: The
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and
Stanford University
dedicated the Fred Kavli Building on March 17, 2006. Made possible through
contributions from Physicist Fred Kavli and the
Kavli
Foundation, this state-of-the-art building is the centerpiece of the Kavli
Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC),
a joint collaboration between SLAC and Stanford University.
“The
discoveries made by astrophysicists over the past 40 years have transformed our
knowledge of the universe,” said KIPAC director Roger Blandford. “All of this
was immensely clear to Fred Kavli and others when they created KIPAC three years
ago. The Fred Kavli Building and the research that goes on inside is a result
of their foresight and initiative.”
The 25,000
square foot building includes a high-tech auditorium, conference rooms,
workspace for 90 people and stunning views of Stanford University and the Bay.
It will soon also house a visualization lab offering the ability to display
three-dimensional cosmological simulations on an 8’ x 10’ screen.
SLAC
Director Jonathan Dorfan and Stanford President John Hennessy expressed their
gratitude to the donors and to the Department of Energy, which is a major
supporter of the Institute’s occupants and of its operating costs.
“This
building will tie together SLAC and the Stanford campus in a unique and
beautiful way,” said Hennessy. “The work we do here will encourage the exchange
of ideas and provide the foundation that will enable us to think differently.”
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Mike Honda both attended the ceremony
and congratulated SLAC, Stanford University, KIPAC and Fred Kavli on the
dedication of the new building.
“We invest
in basic science because we believe in its long range benefits to society,” Fred
Kavli told an audience of about 150 using the Kavli Building auditorium for the
first time. “Sacrifices that we make today will build a future more spectacular
than we can imagine. I am confident that the scientists here will make great
discoveries and answer some of our most fundamental questions.”
Also at the
ceremony were Pierre Schwob, the Palo Alto entrepreneur whose $1 million
donation funded the building’s Pierre R. Schwob Computing and Information
Center, dedicated to the computational and large-scale visualization aspects of
KIPAC research, and Adele and Pehong Chen, whose generous donation endowed the
chair for the KAVLI Institute.
Activities
in the building will champion the increasing convergence of particle physics—the
science of the extremely small—and astrophysics—the science of the very large.
KIPAC researchers seek solutions to some of today’s most fascinating and
challenging problems in astrophysics and cosmology.
Return
to industry news releases |
