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Biologists working at Argonne’s Structural Biology Center (SBC) recently examined components of these protein factories with X-ray crystallography at resolutions high enough to determine the position and interaction of individual atoms. These images are the culmination of four decades of work in elucidating how the ribosome creates proteins.

Instead of spark plugs and cylinders, environmentally friendly fuel cell engines may be under the hoods of the cars of the future. But first, scientists must find a practical and economical way to supply the hydrogen gas needed to power them. Chemical engineers at Argonne have developed and patented a compact fuel processor that “reforms” ordinary gasoline into a hydrogen-rich gas to power fuel cells.

By manipulating atoms on the smallest of scales, Argonne scientists have created a next-generation fluid that may revolutionize heat transfer. By adding tiny spherical particles to a conventional fluid, researchers can improve by up to 40 percent its ability to transfer heat.

On the occasion of his one hundredth birthday, we honor a great scientist who was born in Italy, made immense and lasting contributions to the birth of modern physics, and emigrated to the United States, where he carried out experiments and theoretical studies that ushered in the atomic age.

At the forefront of biomedical research, medical scientists use particle accelerators to explore the structure of biological molecules. They use the energy that charged particles emit when accelerated to nearly the speed of light to create one of the brightest lights on earth, 30 times more powerful than the sun and focused on a pinpoint.

The idea to build a Neutron Therapy Facility at Fermilab developed in the early 1970s when physicians and physicists shared a vision: to wield accelerator technology to combat cancer. Today, more than 3,100 patients have come to Fermilab in the hope of finding a cure for some of the worst tumors known in the medical field.

Many diagnostic and therapeutic techniques that have revolutionized medicine are also symbols of the interdependence of the physical and biomedical sciences. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neutron Therapy are just two of the prominent examples of the successful collaboration among innovative medical researchers, physical scientists and engineers.

Discoveries in physics have helped forge dramatic advances in cancer treatment for over a century. In 1950-54, according to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for all cancers was 35 percent; by 2000 it was 59 percent. With early detection and treatment, the five-year survival rate for screenable cancers is now 80 percent.

The future of accelerator physics isn't just for physicists. As in the past, tomorrow's discoveries in particle accelerator science may lead to unexpected applications for medical diagnosis, healing and the understanding of human biology.

Advances in technology for medical diagnosis have created extraordinary new capabilities for imaging the human body. Many of medicine's most powerful diagnostic tools incorporate technology that physicists originally developed to explore the fundamental nature of matter.