Page 11 - 2013 Annual Report

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9
From Science to Science Fiction
In 1928, Paul Dirac developed an equation (called the Dirac equation) that predicted
the behaviour of electrons near the speed of light. But the Dirac equation also had
a shadow side: it worked for something no one had ever seen, a positively charged
electron. In other words, the equation implied the existence of antimatter. In 1932,
the first positrons – positively charged anti-electrons – were found in cloud chambers.
Today, antimatter is an integral part of physics. It’s essential to the particle physics
done at colliders like CERN. The puzzle of what happened to the antimatter which
theory says should have been produced at the big bang is a driving question in modern
cosmology.
And though it sounds science-fictional – it drove the Starship Enterprise, after all –
antimatter has surprising practical applications. Positrons are the basis of positron
emission tomography, or PET scans, a powerful tool in medical science. Positrons can
be used to detect defects in materials – say, semiconductor wafers − that no other
probe is sensitive enough to see. They can be added as a tag to track fast-moving, small
particles – everything from drugs moving in the bloodstream to lubricant flowing through
jet engines.
Antimatter is still mostly a technology of the future – after all, it costs trillions of dollars to
produce a gram of it. But perhaps one day the secret side of Dirac’s equation will power
ships to the stars.
In most traditional academic settings, with
regimented departments and faculties,
such chance encounters are unlikely. At
Perimeter – a building custom-designed
to spark conversation and collaboration
across disciplines – the whole is greater
than the sum of the parts.
Where intellect and imagination collide,
where the traditional boundaries
between scientific disciplines are
erased, where brilliant minds are
invited to explore bold new ideas –
this is where something incredible is
waiting to be known.