The National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist) (Nist) discusses the plans to eliminate the entire team responsible for publishing and maintaining critical atomic measuring data in the coming weeks, because Trump administration continues his efforts to limit the federal workforce, according to E -Mail from March 18 sent to dozens of external scientists. The discussed data constitute basic scientific research around the world in areas such as semiconductor production and nuclear fusion.
“We have recently been informed that until there is a serious change in the plans of reorganization of the federal government, the entire group of atomic spectroscopy will be released in a few weeks, in particular, because our work is not considered statistically necessary for the Nist mission,” wrote Yuri Ralchenko, the leader of the group, written in the E -Mail message.
Ralchenko noticed that atomic spectroscopy was used to discover many fresh exoplanets and develop fresh effective diagnostic techniques, including. “Unfortunately, the history of atomic spectroscopy in Nist is coming to an end,” he wrote.
In response to a request for a comment from Wired, Ralchenko said that he could not talk about budget issues and management and addressed questions to the NIST public affairs department. Nist and her mother agency, trade department, did not answer requests for comment.
A group of atomic spectroscopy examines how atoms absorb or emit airy, enabling scientists to identify elements present in a given sample. Then collects and updates these calculations in Atomic spectra databaseCatalog of leading information and measurements of spectroscopy in the industry, which plays a key role in areas such as astronomy, astrophysics and medicine. In a post on a blog published last week emphasizing the importance From the Nist database he said that he receives an average of 70,000 search demands around the world every month.
“It is really difficult to overestimate the meaning of this data, says Evgeny Istambulchik, senior scientific scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, which he began petition Collect signatures from other researchers and society members who oppose cuts with atomic spectroscopy syndrome. The petition currently has over 1,700 signatures.
Istambulchik, whose specialty is plasma spectroscopy, says that atomic spectroscopy is basically the only tool that can be used to interpret distant objects in space, like those observed by the powerful telescope of James Webb. It is also the only tool for testing “matter in temperatures reaching tens of million degrees,” he adds, for example, inside the nuclear fusion reactor.
Another plasma physicist in an American institution who asked to maintain anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media, said that they use these data to build reliable models every day to design future fusion reactors. “The loss of this trusted data source would hinder private fusion companies,” they explain.
The American scientist claims that the data provided by the Nist atomic spectroscopy group is useful for researchers and engineers in many fields. “A type of carefully selected data, which this group provided basic systems, such as GPS and lithography,” they say. “It is this kind of demanding science and engineering that maintains our bridges and our power. It is not” move quickly and break “.