Two poets – Kate Greene, a former Berkeley Lab science writer who is an author, essayist, journalist, and poet; and fellow poet, writer, and science enthusiast Anastasios Karnazes – drew inspiration from an overnight stay June 14-15 at Berkeley Lab's 88-Inch Cyclotron.

Greene and Karnazes met while pursuing master’s degrees in a writing program at Columbia University in New York City. They brought poetry and philosophy works to keep them company during their night at the Lab’s 55-year-old cyclotron. Through the night they wrote, shared readings with one another, and spoke with cyclotron workers.

Poets are like cyclotrons in their ability to both “break and remake,” the poets noted: Cyclotrons can create new elements by fusing atomic nuclei together in high-energy particle beam experiments that bombard one type of element with another, for example, and poets “have been deconstructing and reconfiguring ideas, emotions, experiences, and truths” via a range of devices.

Their time at the cyclotron is captured in photographs by Kelly J. Owen, social media manager at Berkeley Lab.

Women Supporting Women at Berkeley Lab

A Visit to Berkeley Lab

Gathering with international colleagues on an American holiday