"For the first time in several years, the ATLAS group met in person at LIP in Coimbra. There were 26 participants on site, including close collaborators and summer students, plus five colleagues participating remotely."
With the pandemic years, combined with the busy schedule most of us have had since then, it has been a long time since the ATLAS group managed to have a national meeting — and anyone who has been around for long enough can tell you that they have a great tradition in what concerns team spirit!
In fact, the characteristics of the group make this particularly important. ATLAS is the largest LIP group and is present in all three nodes. The team mirrors the diversity of LIP's responsibilities in ATLAS, ranging from building, operating, calibrating and upgrading the TileCal calorimeter to analysing and interpreting data — to deepen our understanding of the Higgs boson or to look for signs of new physics, wherever they may be.
"It was good to see colleagues and friends, meet new faces, and have the in person conversations and contacts that Zoom will never achieve,” said Ricardo Gonçalo. On twitter, Nuno Castro wrote: “Great to see so many excellent presentations made by our students”. The group PI Patricia Conde concluded looking into the future: “I hope that we can keep these kind of meetings more regular from now on."
Let's hope for many opportunities for discussing science and getting to know each other in the near future, all around LIP! And when it happens please remember to share a picture or two and few lines.
To learn more: LIP Public Report 2023
To learn even more: LIP Detailed Report 2023
The group in from the panel by Almada Negreiros, in the Mathematics building of UC.
Photos: Agostinho Gomes