The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) discusses plans to eliminate an entire team responsible for publishing and maintaining critical atom measuring data in the coming weeks, as The Trump administration continues its efforts Reduce US Federal WorkforceAccording to a March 18 email sent to twelve -two scientists outside. The data discussed underpins advanced scientific research worldwide in places such Semiconductor manufacturing and Nuclear fusion.
“We have recently been aware that unless there is a major change in the re -renovation of the federal government, the entire atom spectroscopy team will be placed within a few weeks, in particular, as our work is not considered legal that is important for the NIST mission,” Yuri Ralchenko, head of the group, wrote in the email, wired.
Ralchenko noted that atomic spectroscopy has been used to discover many new exoplanets and develop strong new diagnostic techniques, among other applications. “Unfortunately, the atomic spectroscopy story on NIST is over,” he wrote.
In response to a request for comment from Wired, Ralchenko said he was not allowed to talk about budget and management issues and identified the public department's questions in NIST. The nist and its parent agency, the Commercial Department, did not respond to the requests for comment.
The atomic spectroscopy group's study of how atoms absorb or illuminate lights, allowing researchers to identify the elements present in a given sample. Then collects and updates the calculations in Atomic Spectra DatabaseA catalog of information leading to the spectroscopy industry and measurements that play an important role in fields such as astronomy, astrophysics, and drugs. In a blog post published last week The highlight of the importance In the database, NIST said it receives an average of 70,000 search requests worldwide each month.
It is “really difficult to overdo” the importance of this data, says Evgeny Stambulchik, a senior research scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel who started a Petition To gather signatures from other researchers and members of the public that oppose the cuts of the atomic spectroscopy group. The petition currently has more than 1,700 signatures.
Stambulchik, whose specialty is plasma spectroscopy, said the atomic spectroscopy is essentially the only tool that can be used to interpret remote objects in space, such as The observed Through the strong telescope of James Webb. It is also usually the only tool for investigating “a temperature object of reaching ten -ten million degrees,” he added, such as a nuclear fusion reactor.
Another Plasma physicist at a US institution who asked to stay anonymous because they were not authorized to talk to the media said they were using this daily data to produce reliable models for designing future fusion reactors. “Losing a trusted source of this data will impede private fusion companies,” they explained.
The US scientist said the data provided by the Atomic Spectroscopy Group of NIST is of benefit to researchers and engineers in many fields. “This kind of careful curated data has provided underpins reliable systems such as GPS and lithography,” they said. “This is this kind of strict science and engineering that keeps our bridges and our power. It's not 'moving fast and things break.'”
