Zero-In - Second Issue eMagazine

    E pur si muove!

This issue of Zero-In brings you a focus on earth sciences and astronomy. It was in 1609, exactly 400 years ago, that Galileo observed and proved that the Earth was not the only centre of movement in the Universe. His observations showed that the Earth moved around the Sun, a heretical belief which had him imprisoned. Rather than being viewed as subversive or heretical, today’s science is viewed for the most part as enriching our philosophy and benefiting our societies. Yet given the weight of data and the complexity of the experiments necessary for major advances in our day, we cannot limit ourselves to being “one man and a telescope”.

The modern equivalent - “one researcher and a computer” - has now become “global virtual research communities” thanks to e-Infrastructures. They allow us all to be Galileo at the same time: images from one telescope can be accessed and elaborated by many scientists worldwide, just as the data from the Large Hadron Collider can be stored and analysed by thousands of others in global virtual research communities. e-Infrastructures are not only a revolutionary way of doing science; the very observations and calculations that e-Infrastructures perform can provide us with glimpses of our world that will transform our knowledge, benefit our societies and even impact on humanity’s perception of itself. E pur si muove as Galielo said…

We therefore invite you to enjoy this issue which starts with a focus on earth sciences and continues to offer you stimulating articles on the many pioneering technological developments in e-Infrastructures and their exciting innovations for society. We are also pleased to bring you some important e-Infrastructure policy initiatives in this issue. Following this editorial, Kostantinos Glinos outlines the European Commissions’ EU level plans for the advancement of European research and there is a call from e-IRG for grass roots action to give input to their White paper.

Stephen Benians
BELIEF II Project Coordinator

 Download the magazine in pdf version or read the single articles clicking on the links below:

ICT INFRASTRUCTURES FOR e-SCIENCE: THE WAY TOWARDS A NEW SCIENTIFIC RENAISSANCE

EARTH SCIENCES AND ASTRONOMY: NEW WORLDS IN e-INFRASTRUCTURES APPLICATIONS

• Earth Science as an e-Infrastructure application: practices at the ESA

• Foreseeing the deluge

• Regional Earth Science Communities supported by SEE-GRID-SCI

• EXPReS: Development of Earth-sized telescope furthers grid computing

• AuScope: Australian Earth Science e-Infrastructure

• South African e-Infrastructure supports international collaborative astronomy research

• Dancing to the sounds of volcanoes: a fusion of art and science

• e-Labs: enabling collaboration between health and social research

• e-Infrastructures Revolutionising Thalassaemia Treatment

• The Brazilian Telemedicine University Network

• AITION: A Scalable Data Mining Platform for Medical Applications

• e-IRG White Paper 2008: Join the discussion on the future of e-Infrastructures!

• Enabling Grid-Network Services via Control Plane: the Phosphorus G2MPLS way to the e-Infrastructures

• DRIVER: the Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research

• Grids, clouds and communities: an Open Grid Forum perspective

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