South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
Welcome to Underground Science

Dr. Ray Davis inspects his neutrino detector under construction in the Homestake gold mine. (1965)

A laboratory 4,850 feet underground in the Homestake gold mine helped start a revolution in physics.

Dr. Ray Davis installed a neutrino detector in Homestake in 1965. Neutrinos are subatomic particles. Over the course of decades, the Davis experiment led to the discovery that the neutrinos produced in our sun change type, or "flavor," on their way to earth. The change in flavor meant neutrinos had to have at least a wisp of mass -- a wisp that required a rewrite of the Standard Model of how the universe works.

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The Sanford Lab Plan

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds explains the Sanford Laboratory plan. Click here for video

The DUSEL Plan

An NSF DUSEL at Homestake The National Science Foundation’s DUSEL at Homestake, would have campuses from the surface down to 8,000 feet. Click Here...
 
"Deep Science" tour draws hundreds East River PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 21 November 2008 00:00

deepsciencelecture.jpgDr. Jose Alonso nearly filled the Belbas Theater in Sioux Falls for "Deep Science for Everyone" lecture Tuesday night (Nov. 18) in Sioux Falls. Dr. Alonso also drew crowds in Brookings, Madison and Vermillion. The audiences included many students, including one middle schooler who suggested a research study examining Sanford Lab's "yucky water."

 

Natasha Powell, age 12, persuaded her mother to drive her from St. Paul, Minn., to Sioux Falls for Tuesday's "Deep Science" lecture. Dr. Alonso and the other "Deep Science" presenters always stay for questions, and Natasha waited patiently for more than 45 minutes to grill Dr. Alonso. She was last in line, but undeterred.
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$20 million received from Denny Sanford PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 16:28
LEAD, S.D. -- The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority received a $20 million check from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford this week.

"During these rather difficult economic times it is very reassuring that Mr. Sanford has once again been able to honor his commitment to the children of South Dakota and has generously provided the second installment of his gift in the amount of $20 million," Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday. "We are very grateful for Mr. Sanford's generosity to future generations."
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4850 Level dry by ... PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 18 December 2008 16:11
LEAD, S.D. -- The important "4850 Level" in the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake could be dry by late April, a lab scientist says. (Click the chart for larger image.)"Our goal is the 4850 by spring or bust," Sanford Lab Science Liaison Director Dr. Jaret Heise said.
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P5 report endorses deep science and DUSEL PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 04 June 2008 17:48
The P5 Panel report that was released last week had a chapter devoted to the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at Homestake. “P5″ stands for the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel.
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DOE official: DUSEL among top priorities PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 19 December 2008 14:13

BY WENDY PITLICK
Black Hills Pioneer
Thursday, December 18, 2008

LEAD - Experiments that are proposed for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory at Homestake are among some of the top priorities for the Office of Science and High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy, one of the agency's top-level officials said Monday.

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Davis-Bahcall Scholarships launched PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 21:20
The Davis-Bahcall Scholarship is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for South Dakota students who love science. Recipients will study at Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake in Lead, S.D., at Gran Sasso National Underground Laboratory in Italy, and at  Princeton University in New Jersey.
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Deep labs inspire South Dakota physics degree PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 02 June 2008 17:46

By Bill Harlan
Sanford Underground Lab public information officer

The South Dakota Board of Regents has announced that a new physics degree will be offered jointly by three South Dakota schools: the South Dakota School of Mines &  Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota State University at Brookings and the University of South Dakota at Vermillion.

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