Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln sweats the small stuff

Geneva resident Don Lincoln is not ashamed to admit he smashes things at his office. Afterward, it pleases him to explain why he did it and what, if anything, he learned from the event.

A senior scientist and experimental physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Lincoln said, "You can't work anywhere else if you want to smash atoms."

Fermi is the highest-energy, premier particle physics laboratory in the world, Lincoln said. Fermilab's mission is to understand the smallest particles of nature. To do this, scientists there re-create conditions of the universe a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, a scientific theory that purports to explain creation.

Discovering a fundamental scientific fact, force, principle or law is probably more difficult than writing this column. Lincoln said there are now six known quarks. Fermi scientists discovered two of them, including the top quark.

I always have trouble remembering their names. Let's see: Sleepy, Grumpy, Doc. No wait, those are star dwarfs.

Lincoln said two teams of 100 scientists each worked four years to discover the top quark. "As we neared completion of the research," Lincoln said, "even slackers worked 60 hours a week.

"Discovering the top quark would be like throwing 30 million cubic zirconia on the floor and spending years looking for the possible 30 diamonds among them," he said.

There was plenty of competition between the two teams. "In science, there is only one first — no second, no third," Lincoln said. "There's also pressure to be right. It's like a sibling rivalry." When Fermilab announced the discovery of the top quark, both teams were jointly credited.

So what is a quark, let alone the top quark? I have no idea, but Lincoln's new book, "Understanding the Universe from Quarks to the Cosmos," will explain quarks for you. In a promotional quote from his publisher, World Scientific, Nobel Laureate in Physics Gerardus't Hooft said, "Lincoln gives particularly colorful descriptions ... interspersed with humorous comments" and called the book "easy and pleasant to read."

Lincoln said this book, his first for the lay reader, tells what we now know about the laws of nature. He's working on his next book, which will explain what we're looking for next. "The really cool stuff," he said.

This year is the World Year of Physics, an event that was kicked off in Paris earlier. As part of that event, 40 volunteers at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory are making presentations about science in our area schools.

A presenter himself, Lincoln said, "All elementary kids are scientists. In middle school, they're cool and hip and into MTV but still open to science. By high school, they're hardened. They either like science or they don't. I try really hard to show them we have the ability to control and predict nature and that the world is an orderly and interesting place."

Lincoln said he always gets several e-mails after he makes a school presentation. The gist of the students' comments is, "Wow! Didn't realize science was so cool. I wanna do this."

In Lincoln's presentation, "Force in Motion," one of nine Fermi programs available, Lincoln asks the students which will hit the floor first when dropped simultaneously, a pingpong ball or a bowling ball. Then he drops both. Relax, teachers — he drops the bowling ball on a cushion.

To schedule a free science presentation, contact Fermilab at (630) 840-5588.

In addition to searching with his Fermi colleagues for such truly innovative phenomena as extra dimensions and microscopic black holes, Lincoln also supervises graduate students. "To get a Ph.D. in science, you have to make a discovery," he said. "You have to be very clever to pull out of a trillion particle collisions the four events that make a signature." (See "Understanding the Universe, from Quarks to Cosmos," available at Barnes and Noble in Geneva, $28 paperback.)

As we walked around Barnes and Noble to check on sales of his book, I noticed a small gold pin on Lincoln's black leather jacket. I asked him what it signified.

"It's the emblem of the science officer on 'Star Trek.' I'm a big fan."

Slice of Life focuses on Tri-Cities people who have a certain flair and passion for life. If you know a person who would be an interesting subject for Slice of Life, please e-mail suggestions to paulsullivantravels@yahoo.com with a short description of the person, why you suggested them, your name and how you can be reached.