| Once upon a time, on a dark
night, a thunderous storm
woke me up. Mysteriously, I found myself in the basement corridor of a strange building.
Frightened, I tiptoed towards the exit sign at the end of the empty, quiet hallway. Suddenly, a thick book fell
in front of me, landing by my
right foot and blocking my way. Driven by curiosity, I picked up the book, and opened it to page 785, which was bookmarked
by a strip of old film negatives. An article appeared on the page entitled
Through the Labyrinth of ....
It showed a photograph of a group
of triumphant people who had come near the exit of the sophisticated labyrinth.
The article described their journey and the complex turns they had taken right here in their laboratories.
Holding up the book with my left hand, standing still in the middle of the corridor, I was fascinated by the intriguing
article. This is the scene I remember vividly.
|
|
About
the cover: The cover is designed as a viewport to the
contents of the website, which include five categories: People, Projects,
Publications, Portfolio, and a Peek in the Lab. Each category is represented
by an image: People by a group photo taken in early 2000; Projects by a
close-up photo of one of our instruments; Publications by Professor Madix’s article
reviewing the early group research activity, published in Surface Science,
the First Thirty Years, 299/300 (1994) 785-797; Portfolio by a thumbnail
image from its Image Gallery; Peek in the Lab by a photo of the corridor
in its Virtual Lab Tour. All five images are merged together to form an organic
whole. See the cover story on the left if you have not done so. |
by Xing-Cai Guo
