Jim Brau, Philip H. Knight Professor of Natural Science in the University of Oregon's College of Arts and Sciences, was in Washington, D.C., Nov. 20 for a congressional reception celebrating advances in particle physics underscored by last year’s Higgs boson discovery.

“A Celebration of the Discovery of the Higgs Boson and Recent Advances in Particle Physics,” hosted by the House Science and National Labs Caucus, features professor Joe Incandela of the University of California, Santa Barbara – leader of one of the experiments that made the Higgs discovery.

The discovery of the elemental Higgs boson on July 4, 2012, was a centennial milestone in physics made possible by global scientific collaborations that included more than 1,500 U.S. scientists from national laboratories and 80 universities.

Brau and colleague David Strom have led a strong college presence at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva where the particle was discovered. Others in the group have included physics professor Eric Torrence and assistant professor Stephanie Majewski, as well as two postdoctoral students and five others.

U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio and Suzanne Bonamici planned to attend the congressional reception. Brau also planned to meet with Bonamici and staff to DeFazio and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden during his trip, which the college supported.

Particle physics is a key research area for UO scientists and others worldwide. An ongoing federal investment is considered important in maintaining the U.S.’s global standing in this field and developing future breakthroughs in the understanding of nature.

- from the UO College of Arts and Sciences