November 2005 NEWS Volume 14, No. 10 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews Legal, Financial Issues Impact Famous Equation Holds Big Birthday Celebration APS Name Change Decision t its September 24 meet- of the name change, and 6.5% were ing, the APS Executive moderately opposed. The remain- ABoard grappled with the ing 6.6% were neutral. issue of whether or not to recom- At the September meeting, the mend changing the name of APS to Board heard expert opinion on the American Physics Society. sobering legal and trademark issues. As reported in the August/ Changing the name legally would September APS News, that issue require re-incorporation of the had been the subject of an informal Society, and potentially renegotia- email survey sent out to the entire tion of many contracts, and rereg- APS membership, in which 23.9% istering APS as the publisher of the of those who were asked for an Physical Review in numerous inter- opinion responded. Of these, 51.3% national jurisdictions. If the name Photo credit:Kendra Rand were strongly in favor of the name were not changed legally, but APS 2 change, primarily because the word merely chose to do business under September 27, 1905 was the day that Einstein's paper containing the equation E=mc arrived at the “physical” does not clearly con- the name American Physics editorial offices of Annalen der Physik. Exactly one hundred years later, a reception and preview showing note physics, and thereby limits the Society, APS could still lose the of the docudrama "Einstein's Big Idea" were held at the National Academy of Sciences building across 2 effectiveness of APS in its lobby- trademark rights to “American from the Mall in Washington. About six hundred attendees sampled E=mc birthday cake, watched the pre- ing and public outreach activities. Physical Society”, which would be view, and listened to a panel discussion about the equation and the making of the docudrama. The event But 11.5% of the respondents potentially damaging especially in was sponsored by the Department of Energy, Universities Research Association, the APS, the National were strongly opposed, many the area of journal publication. The Academies, and Washington PBS station WETA. because the word “physical” was Board considered using both The panel was moderated by APS President Marvin Cohen (in broader than “physics”, and there- names, depending on the context, the photo at extreme right).Other panelists included (l to r): fore helped APS include among its but concluded (as did most of the Paula S. Apsell, the Senior Executive Producer of NOVA and the members those working in interdis- respondents in the survey) that it Director of the Science Unit of WGBH in Boston; Walter Isaacson, ciplinary areas. would probably be too complicat- President and CEO of the Aspen Institute and former Managing In addition, 24.1% of those par- ed and confusing. Editor of TIME, who is at work on an Einstein biography; David Kaiser, associate professor of the history of science in MIT’s ticipating were moderately in favor APS Name Change continued on page 3 Program in Science, Technology, and Society; Gary Johnstone, Producer/Director/Writer of "Einstein’s Big Idea"; and David Apker Award Finalists Bodanis, author of the book E=mc2, on which "Einstein's Big Idea" is based. "Einstein's Big Idea" aired on NOVA on PBS Photo credit: Alan Chodos stations around the country on Tuesday, October 11, at 8 pm. With One Data Set Analyzed, Einstein@Home Forges Ahead in Search for Gravitational Waves By Ernie Tretkoff Interferometer Gravitational Wave Einstein@home is now searching The Einstein@home distrib- Observatory, which consists of two through data from the more sensi- uted computing effort, which facilities, one located in Livingston, tive science run S4. In late 2005, searches for gravitational waves, Louisiana and the other in Hanford, LIGO will begin a long data-taking recently finished analyzing its Washington. run, S5, at its design sensitivity, first set of scientific data. Over In August Einstein@home fin- and Einstein@home will analyze Photo credit: Shelly Johnston 60,000 individuals from over 150 ished sifting through data from that data when it becomes available. The Apker Award is given annually for undergraduate research in two countries are now running LIGO’s science run S3, which ran Gravitational waves, often categories. One award is for a student doing his or her research at an Einstein@home on their comput- from late 2003 to early 2004. Gravitational Waves continued on page 5 institution that grants the PhD degree; the other is for research at an ers, and more people are joining institution that does not grant the PhD. The selection committee picks every day. OPA’s Regan Spearheads Efforts to six finalists from the submitted nominations, and then interviews the Begun earlier this year as part of finalists in a daylong session to make its recommendations for the the World Year of Physics, Develop New Grassroots Program recipients. These recommendations are then forwarded to the APS Einstein@home is a distributed Executive Board for final approval. This year the interviews took place computing project, which relies on The APS Office of Public on September 8 at the Cosmos Club in Washington. The six finalists were volunteers’ donated computing Affairs (OPA) is instituting a (l to r): Nathaniel Craig (Harvard); Cary Pint (University of Northern time. While a user’s computer is new District Advocate Iowa); Matthew Paoletti (Bucknell); David Miller (University of idle, the Einstein@home program Program that will assign an Chicago); Jeffrey Falkenbach (MIT); and Eliot Kapit (Reed College). searches for gravitational waves in APS member as point person The recipients will be reported in next month's APS News. data from LIGO, the Laser in each Congressional district. The goal of the new program Three Physicists Share 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics is to build a volunteer net- work of district and state advo- Two APS fellows–Roy Glauber honored “for his contribution to the has long been aware of the stature cates within the physics com- of Harvard University and John L. quantum theory of optical coher- of these three great physicists,” said munity to facilitate the Hall of NIST/University of ence.” Hall and Hänsch each col- Cohen, adding that all had been Society’s grassroots activities, Photo credit: Brian Mosley Colorado–shared the 2005 Nobel lected a quarter of the prize, and honored with APS prizes. Glauber according to Kimberly Regan, Kimberly Regan Prize for physics with Theodor were honored “for their contribu- won the 1996 Dannie Heinemann the new science policy fellow who can then contact other scientists Hänsch of the Max Planck Institut tions to the development of laser- Prize; Hänsch won the 1996 Arthur at OPA. in their district to take action, whether für Quantenoptik. The prize was based precision spectroscopy, Schawlow Prize and the 1986 “We thought that having a con- it be contacting a Congressional announced on October 4. All three including the optical frequency Herbert P. Broida Prize; and Hall stituent representative in each district office, or circulating a departmental recipients’ prize-winning work is comb technique.” won the Schawlow Prize in 1993 would be a great way to ensure that letter within their university. linked to landmark papers pub- Both APS President Marvin and the Davisson-Germer Prize in the voices of individual scientists The DA program is still in its lished by the Physical Review and Cohen and APS Editor-in-Chief 1988. are heard,” explains Regan, who early days. Regan is in the process Physical Review Letters. Martin Blume extended their con- Glauber laid the foundations of joined the OPAin August. Whenever of recruiting the first 50 volunteers. Glauber received half of the gratulations to the recipients on quantum optics, showing how the a policy issue arises, the OPA can There are currently 20 members so roughly $1.3 million prize; he was behalf of the Society. “The APS Nobel Prize continued on page 4 contact the local district advocates, OPA's Reagan continued on page 5 2 November 2005 NEWS This Month in Physics History Einstein and the EPR Paradox “Think of it almost like nano- “If we do this it has worldwide y the 1920s, it had distance of the two parts. Velcro.” consequences, and it will stir up become clear to most One of the principal features –Ali Dhinojwala, University of some kind of hornet’s nest.” Bphysicists that classical of quantum mechanics is the Akron, on synthetic gecko hairs he –Burton Richter, Stanford mechanics could not fully notion of uncertainty: not all the developed, The New York Times, University, on a Secretary of Energy describe the world of atoms, classical physical observable prop- August 30, 2005 Advisory Board report that recom- especially the notion of “quan- erties of a system can be simulta- mends that the United States design ta” first proposed by Planck and neously determined with exact pre- “Zero-point energy is so tiny new nuclear weapons, Contra further developed by Albert cision, even in principle. Instead, that nobody can feel it. But when Costa Times, October 5, 2005 Einstein to explain the photo- there may be several sets of you get to the realm of quantum electric effect. Physics had to observable properties–position and mechanics, it exists. The question “Basically physicists are too be rebuilt, leading to the emer- momentum, for example–that can- is, how do you harness it? I have undisciplined to let anyone else tell gence of quantum theory. not both be known at the same not seen any meaningful theory or us what to name something.