3 ms·

They did it, they finally did it! Context: I did my diploma thesis work at that lab, and shared the office with those guys. This is a result almost 10 years in

They did it, they finally did it! Context: I did my diploma thesis work at that lab, and shared the office with those guys. This is a result almost 10 years in the making. Congrats!

foota 6y ago
So stupid question, what was the slow part of this? Was the spectrometry process developed just for this?
- datenwolf 6y ago
  They were using a so called accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). The main challenge, as I understood it from talking with them, was in the chemistry required to prepare the samples for injection into the AMS. Specifically ensuring that there's no background signal created from the preparation itself. So there was a lot of work done just to get the process right (the less steps to prepare the sample, the less steps that might contaminate it). Then a lot of verification, calibration on the AMS and optimizing the beam transport to reduce losses as far as possible. EDIT: The AMS was built and used in a lot of experiments before that. Among other things done with that instrument was measuring the neutron flux of the nuclear blast at various locations in Hiroshima, by determining the isotopic composition of the copper on building facade elements. Neutron capture produces some radioactive as well as "unnatural" stable isotopes and by determining their ratio, one can determine the neutron flux and energies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6012967_Neutron-induced_63Ni_in_copper_samples_from_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki_A_comprehensive_presentation_of_results_obtained_at_the_Munich_Maier-Leibnitz_Laboratory https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6012967_Neutron-ind... It saddens me, that the accelerator they (and I for that matter) used for their research, has been decommissioned as of last year and is being dismantled right now :( – I could start a major rant about it, that would touch the subjects of funding, some people's personal pride and good science vs. fashionable science.
  - cmpb 6y ago
    Please, rant away! I'm interested in your opinion and the context of the decommissioned machine
  - codezero 6y ago
    I left academia not long after our satellite got de-funded (it's still in orbit, operating and sending telemetry, just the Navy's side of the satellite that is.) Recessions will also hit even harder - when the next grant cycle hits in the winter/fall, a lot of good teams are going to get screwed. I really hate the inconsistency and the waxing and waning - fwiw, there were times my team just grabbed grant money and spun wheels on old research, so it's not just that the money dries up easily, I don't think there's good accountability when the money is flowing either.
btilly 6y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24650325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24650325 asks whether this was caused by the same supernova that created the Local Bubble. As someone with inside knowledge, can you review my reasoning that it fits, and it probably was?
- datenwolf 6y ago
  > As someone with inside knowledge, can you review my reasoning that it fits, and it probably was? No idea. I left that particular lab a few months after I graduated which was 8 years ago.
nomoreusernames 6y ago
yaaay i dont know anything about the subject but its something about science and somebody made progress so i will be happy just like a golden retriever is anytime you start dancing out of joy! im happy because you are happy!

They did it, they finally did it! Context: I did my diploma thesis work at that lab, and shared the office with those guys. This is a result almost 10 years in the making. Congrats!

foota 6y ago

So stupid question, what was the slow part of this? Was the spectrometry process developed just for this?

datenwolf 6y ago
They were using a so called accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). The main challenge, as I understood it from talking with them, was in the chemistry required to prepare the samples for injection into the AMS. Specifically ensuring that there's no background signal created from the preparation itself. So there was a lot of work done just to get the process right (the less steps to prepare the sample, the less steps that might contaminate it). Then a lot of verification, calibration on the AMS and optimizing the beam transport to reduce losses as far as possible. EDIT: The AMS was built and used in a lot of experiments before that. Among other things done with that instrument was measuring the neutron flux of the nuclear blast at various locations in Hiroshima, by determining the isotopic composition of the copper on building facade elements. Neutron capture produces some radioactive as well as "unnatural" stable isotopes and by determining their ratio, one can determine the neutron flux and energies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6012967_Neutron-induced_63Ni_in_copper_samples_from_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki_A_comprehensive_presentation_of_results_obtained_at_the_Munich_Maier-Leibnitz_Laboratory https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6012967_Neutron-ind... It saddens me, that the accelerator they (and I for that matter) used for their research, has been decommissioned as of last year and is being dismantled right now :( – I could start a major rant about it, that would touch the subjects of funding, some people's personal pride and good science vs. fashionable science.
- cmpb 6y ago
  Please, rant away! I'm interested in your opinion and the context of the decommissioned machine
- codezero 6y ago
  I left academia not long after our satellite got de-funded (it's still in orbit, operating and sending telemetry, just the Navy's side of the satellite that is.) Recessions will also hit even harder - when the next grant cycle hits in the winter/fall, a lot of good teams are going to get screwed. I really hate the inconsistency and the waxing and waning - fwiw, there were times my team just grabbed grant money and spun wheels on old research, so it's not just that the money dries up easily, I don't think there's good accountability when the money is flowing either.

btilly 6y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24650325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24650325 asks whether this was caused by the same supernova that created the Local Bubble. As someone with inside knowledge, can you review my reasoning that it fits, and it probably was?

datenwolf 6y ago
> As someone with inside knowledge, can you review my reasoning that it fits, and it probably was? No idea. I left that particular lab a few months after I graduated which was 8 years ago.

nomoreusernames 6y ago

yaaay i dont know anything about the subject but its something about science and somebody made progress so i will be happy just like a golden retriever is anytime you start dancing out of joy! im happy because you are happy!