Argonne bid adds star power: Well-known scientist returns to lead push for exotic-beam facility

Jul. 15--Argonne National Laboratory has recruited a physics superstar to head its bid to win a new half-billion-dollar nuclear science facility for northern Illinois.

Walter F. Henning, director of Germany's premier nuclear physics laboratory, will return next month to Argonne, where he worked before the Germans recruited him earlier in this decade to oversee upgrades in that country's lab. His task here will be to guide Argonne's proposal to build an exotic-beam facility on its campus near Lemont.

U.S. scientists believe such a facility is needed if the country hopes to retain its leadership in the field, and the federal government appears ready to fund the project. The facility would be a stepping stone to landing an even bigger accelerator, likely to cost more than $10 billion, for Fermilab near Batavia in a few years, Argonne's director said.

The $500 million Argonne facility would produce exotic forms of matter not created naturally on Earth but common in exploding stars. The other leading contender for this project is Michigan State University, which also has an existing nuclear physics lab.

For Henning, 68, the new job is a return to a dream that started in the mid-1990s when he directed Argonne's physics division. Back then he and others envisioned a machine that could make rare versions of atomic nuclei that scientists can theorize over but cannot directly see or study. "My heart is in that project and the science," said Henning. "I was pleased to be offered the opportunity to get involved again."

Beyond the light elements of hydrogen and helium, most visible matter in our universe is produced in stars, especially ones that collide with each other or explode. Studying unstable atomic forms called isotopes and how they decay helps scientists understand how carbon, oxygen, lead and other common elements are created.

"We don't understand in a quantitative way how they come about," said Henning. "The only way to reach them is do studies in a rare-isotope lab."

Cosmologists interested in how stars work also find value in studying rare unstable isotopes made in a lab and comparing that with observations from outer space.

Isotope studies also benefit medicine, producing new tools to use in diagnosing and treating illness, he said.

Henning's experience makes him perhaps the best choice to head the exotic-beam project, said Don Geesaman, the lab's acting physics director.

"Walter has a tremendous track record in terms of leading and getting a major facility off the ground," said Geesaman. "He understands the technology and the science."

Even the man who could be his chief competitor for the exotic-beam facility had only praise for Henning. Konrad Gelbke, director of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State, said that he and Henning have known each other for 30 years.

"He served on our program advisory committee," said Gelbke. "He's a person I'd love to have on our faculty."

It's not yet clear to what extent Michigan State and Argonne will compete or collaborate on the exotic-beam proposal. Scientists from Illinois and Michigan are also seeking more collaboration on the project this time around. Robert Rosner, Argonne's director, said that he and Gelbke have scheduled talks to determine whether both labs could share in building the project.

"One of my goals is to see that both MSU and Argonne come out ahead," said Rosner.

Gelbke said it is theoretically possible to split the proposal so that both labs would be upgraded and that there is a lack of capacity in this country for scientists proposing worthwhile nuclear experiments.

The significance of building an exotic-beam facility goes beyond the immediate benefits to nuclear science, Rosner said, because of uncertainties over the future of Fermilab, the nation's pre-eminent high-energy physics laboratory. A new physics machine on the French-Swiss border, the Large Hadron Collider, which will start operating next year, is expected to surpass Fermilab's Tevatron as the most powerful physics workhorse.

Fermilab scientists hope another machine, the International Linear Collider, will be built here, giving them a new mission. Argonne works closely with Fermilab to advance accelerator technology, Rosner said, and "we want to be recognized as the world's leading place to do this work so that it's a no-brainer to locate the ILC here. From the state's viewpoint there's a huge amount riding on this."

When Argonne sought support to build the rare-isotope accelerator a few years ago the university got support from Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Dennis Hastert, who was then speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Former Gov. James Thompson and William Daley, a former Clinton Cabinet member, also signed on to lobby for the deal.

This time U. of C. President Robert Zimmer said he doesn't know how much clout may come into play.

"I think we feel that we will seek [politicians'] help if we need it," he said. "We'll see how it unfolds."

jvan@tribune.com

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