Michael DuVernois
Assistant Professor
School of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Minnesota

Academia

Previously I was a postdoctoral research fellow at Penn State University working with James Beatty and Stephane Coutu. I did my Ph.D. research at the University of Chicago under the direction of John Simpson.

One can get in touch with me as listed.

My CV, pubs, and research statement (updated VERY infrequently) are available here in Adobe PDF format.

Current projects:
• HEAT balloon-borne cosmic ray experiment. This experiment was flown to the top of the atmosphere on a helium balloon in 1994 and 1995. It consists of a superconducting magnet spectrometer and a rotating cast of particle detectors including time-of-flight scintillators, transition-radiation detectors, a drift-tube tracking hodoscope, and an electromagnetic calorimeter. With it, we study the electrons and positrons in the cosmic radiation. Could this be the new HEAT mascot and logo?

• HEAT-pbar balloon-borne cosmic ray experiment. This experiment was flown from beautiful Fort Sumner, NM in 1999 and 2000 with dE/dx xenon wire chambers replacing the calorimeter and TRD. The primary science goals involve antiproton measurements.

• Pierre Auger giant airshower experiment. This experiment, once built, will study the highest energy cosmic rays above 10^20 eV using a hybrid atmospheric nitrogen fluorescence detector in conjuction with an array of surface water cherenkov tanks. Other Auger pages of high utility include: Auger Admin Page, Auger a Paris which is especially good for the Auger bibliography, and Auger Technical Notes

• CREAM balloon calorimeter intended to look directly at the knee of the cosmic ray spectrum.

• ACCESS concept study. This is a NASA project for early next century to extend exisiting high energy cosmic ray measurements from balloons into low Earth orbit. Check out Penn State for the ACCESS Data Management Center.

• Cosmic ray propagation studies. How do the cosmic rays propagate in the Galaxy? What are their sources? How are they distributed in the Galaxy? Eventually I'll come up with a good cosmic ray theory page of my own, but for the moment you'll have to look elsewhere.

• Some papers of mine are locally available. They are in postscript format and quite technical. You are warned.

• And if you liked that, you might just want to buy the associated merchandise. How's that for commerical?

Academic institutions/organizations I am, or have been, affiliated with...
• University of Minnesota

• UMN Physics

• UMN Astrophysics and Cosmology research group

• Penn State University

• PSU Physics

• University of Chicago

• Astrophysics at the University of Chicago

• NASA's scientific ballooning program.

• Another link to the NSBF ballooning folks.

Interests suited to the WWW

• I have twins. They're named Sylvia and Mara. Take a look...
• Some photographs I've taken. Mostly of interest to friends and similar sorts.
• Travel photos from Europe. Very limited sampling.
• Travel photos from Southern Africa. Limited and only briefly annotated so far.
• A diagram of how the bible works [sic].
• Top rejected Dr. Seuss book titles.
• Absinthe FAQ.
• Do you remember the beginning of the HappyNet?
• Voynich manuscript.
• Artaud's manifesto in clear language
• My stunning contribution to the theory of music, physics, and the Bipcuds Factor. Presented at the first, last, infamous, and final Ball Conference.
• Barney's lawyers send me email.
• Corbett on audiophiles. The book is HIGHLY recommended.
• Futurist Architecture Manifesto from 1914.
• Gysin's explanation of cut-ups.
• A filtered version of cut-ups. This may have appeared in print somewhere, but I haven't kept close enough track.
• In your heart, you know it's flat. As many people have asked me how I, as an astronomer/physicist, could believe in a flat Earth, I must say, "have you no sense of humor?"
• ToPY This is the grey book, the original introduction to the Temple ov Psychick Youth.
• Live and learn, die and forget. Unless you're an expert system.
• The MUCH shorter Illuminati Trilogy?
• The Great Leader.
• The unauthorized biography of George Bush that neither he nor anyone else cares if you see.
• COMPLETE, amazing time line of Illuminati history/herstory.
• Everyone should have a favorite lawsuit. In addition, this article is especially interesting because it reveals the true reason for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. If you can be arrested and sentenced to serve two years in prison for contempt of congress for asking "where did the cocaine end up?" to the Iran-Contra committee, imagine what could happen to you if you asked Ken Starr about death-hunting and Proteus...
• Ebay can be useful
• Would you believe that rock music has satanic origins? Well, me neither, but I think it's funny anyway.
• The DTED-0 data tiles. How's that for obscure?
• My most requested web document. It's a elegant piece of nonsense about a space-alien-constructed tunnel linking Puerto Rico with Spain. Original author unknown. Quoted in papers that YOU can buy in the supermarket.

Official disclaimer.

7 June 2002, updated rarely
Parts of these web pages date back to the early days of the web at the University of Chicago in 1993.

Me wearing a jacket at La Sapienza (Rome) for the 1995 ICRC.