JILA Designated as APS Historic Physics Site

 The American Physical Society (APS) has designated JILA as an historic physics site as part of its Historic Sites Mission to raise public awareness of physics. APS President Robert Byer presented JILA with a plaque on July 13 at a special ceremony held at 1:30 pm on Farrand Field as part of JILA's 50th anniversary celebration.

The plaque is engraved with the citation:

"JILA is a unique interdisciplinary research and education institute, a partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (a Federal agency) and the University of Colorado Boulder. This plaque honors its achievements since its founding in 1962 in such fields as astrophysics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, biophysics, chemical physics, nanosciencce, and precision measurement science."

Dignitaries attending the special ceremony included University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano, NIST Director Patrick Gallagher, and Benjamin Bederson, Chair of the APS Historic Sites Committee. Bederson  supervised the signing of the APS ledger of historic sites by JILA Chair Eric Cornell and Byer.