• John
  • Felde
  • University of Maryland
  • USA

Latest Posts

  • USLHC
  • USLHC
  • USA

  • James
  • Doherty
  • Open University
  • United Kingdom

Latest Posts

  • Andrea
  • Signori
  • Nikhef
  • Netherlands

Latest Posts

  • CERN
  • Geneva
  • Switzerland

Latest Posts

  • Aidan
  • Randle-Conde
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles
  • Belgium

Latest Posts

  • TRIUMF
  • Vancouver, BC
  • Canada

Latest Posts

  • Laura
  • Gladstone
  • MIT
  • USA

Latest Posts

  • Steven
  • Goldfarb
  • University of Michigan

Latest Posts

  • Fermilab
  • Batavia, IL
  • USA

Latest Posts

  • Seth
  • Zenz
  • Imperial College London
  • UK

Latest Posts

  • Nhan
  • Tran
  • Fermilab
  • USA

Latest Posts

  • Alex
  • Millar
  • University of Melbourne
  • Australia

Latest Posts

  • Ken
  • Bloom
  • USLHC
  • USA

Latest Posts


Warning: file_put_contents(/srv/bindings/215f6720ac674a2d94a96e55caf4a892/code/wp-content/uploads/cache.dat): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/customer/www/quantumdiaries.org/releases/3/web/wp-content/plugins/quantum_diaries_user_pics_header/quantum_diaries_user_pics_header.php on line 170

Seth Zenz | Imperial College London | UK

View Blog | Read Bio

Strange Hours

I would never claim that I work harder than average for people on my experiment, but I do think I work stranger hours.  I’m likely to check my email first thing in the morning, rather than waiting to get to work, or before I go to bed when I come home exhausted from a Friday night party.  And, if there’s something quick that needs to be done, I generally do it immediately.

What could persuade me to do work at such odd hours?  Well,  remember, ATLAS is a world-spanning collaboration.  My collaborators may be working at any time, whether it’s day or night for me, and we have computers doing testing, simulation, and analysis for us continuously.  A colleague of mine might need help before he can continue his work; one of the professors I’m working with back in Berkeley might have some time to investigate a problem I found, if only I’ll give her more information about it; the disk that stores the results for a software testing suite might be about to fill up.  If I update myself at the right time and take action, my colleagues can get their work done (or help me), the software tests can proceed without problems, and so on.

I would almost never miss a dinner with friends, a hike, or a weekend trip to do work.  But between those things, a quick email check and a little effort on my part can make a larger difference in the work done by the collaboration as a whole.  Nothing I can do will make a big difference for the experiment, but when others do the same, it adds up.

Share