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PHYSICS and SOCIETY PHYSICS and SOCIETY THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FORUM ON PHYSICS AND SOCIETY, PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY, 335 EAST 45th ST., NEW YORK, NY 10017 PRINTED BY PENNY-SAVER, MANSFIELD, PA. 16933 Volume 10, Number 3, July, 1981 TABLE OF CONTENTS Synopsis of the April, 1981 Executive Committee Meeting........................................... 2 Report of the Forum Councillor, Mike Casper........................................................... 3 Committee on Opportunities in Physics, Earl Callen................................................... 3 Possible POPA Studies, George SeideL................................................................... 4 Report on Livermore Arms Control Conference, Charles Schwartz................................ 4 The Defense of the United States, review by John Dowling.......................................... 6 Arms Control Kit, John Dowling............................................................................ 7 PHYSICS AND SOCIETY is a quarterly newsletter of the Forum on Physics and Society. a division of the American Physical Society. The newsletter is distributed free to members of the Forum and also to physics libraries upon request. It presents news of the Forum and of the American Physical Society and provides a medium for Forum members to exchange ideas. PHYSICS AND SOCIETY also presents articles and letters on the scientific and economic health of the physics com­ munity; on the relations of physics and the physics community to government and to society, and the social responsiblities of scientists. Contributions should be sent to the Editor: John Dowling, Physics Department, Mansfield State College, Mansfield, PA 16933, 717-662-4275. Forum on Physics & Society BULK RATE Physics Department U.S. POSTAGE PAID Mansfield State College Mansfield, Pa. Permit No.3 Mansfield, PA 16933 Educational Non-Profit ARTI-'UR 7 QOSEN **** PHYSICS DEPARTMEkT CAL POLY STATE UkIVERSITY SAN LUIS OBISPO CA 93407 PHYSICS AND SOCIETY, Volume 10, Number 3 ••••••••••••••••••••••••• July 1981 Page 2 Synop.l. of the Executive Com mitt.. Meeting of the The motion passed. Kim, Callen and Brian Schwartz Forum on Phy.lc. and Society. Summarized by John will prepare a proposal along these lines for Friday's Dowling from Secretary·Trea.urer Dietrich Schroeer'. meeting of the Council. Political action in the short Minute. of the Meeting 21 April 1981. term is needed; e.g., could an invitation be arranged for some ex-Congressional fellows to speak before the appropriate NSF subcommittee? Should a session of The balance in Report the Secretary-Treo.urer: be organized on the subject for the next Washington the Forum operating and awards-endowment ac­ meeting? counts as of 1 March 1981 were $4,623 and $1.587, respectively. The APS is adding a one-time payment of $1,500 to the Forum operating account to help cover For three Forum ses­ some of the publication costs of the Newsletter. To Plan. for Forum Se••lon.: 1982 sions are planned for the AAPTlAPS meeting in San avoid any possible future financial problems, Brian Francisco in January, two for the Dallas meeting in Schwartz moved and Paul Horwitz seconded that: March, three for the Washington meeting in April, and one for Philadelphia in November. Motion No.1: The FortJm will spend during the year after this Baltimore meeting no Aft.r-the-fad Exposure for M.. tlng Symposia: How more than $1,000 for travel. can the Forum provide wider exposure for talks given This motion passed. The priorities between expenses at its sessions at APS meetings? In the future, session of invited speakers and Executive Committee chairpersons should be asked to provide summaries members shall be set by the secretary and the of their sessions for the Forum Newsletter. Might one meetings chairperson. explore a mechanism for proceedings distribution like that of the AAPT? An ad hoc committee was formed to Report of the New.letter Editor: John Dowling examine some of these questions, consisting of reported that he has been able to hold newsletter ex­ Robert Cahn, Nina Bvers, Marty Perl and John Dowl­ penses to 2.5' per page, sending out for each issue ing. about 3,000 copies to individuals and about 300 to libraries. Forum members are not submitting much to the Newsletter. Ground Zero: Leo Sartori reported on the "Grqund Zero" activities proposed for April of 1982. Together Forum·AAPT Links: Kenneth Ford reported on his with the "Science for Peace" group of Canada, and the conversations on possible Forum links with the AAPT. "Scientists Against Nuclear Arms" group of the U.K., The AAPT is sympathetic; he is still waiting for a "Ground Zero" plans a week·long countrywide educa­ definitive response from the APS. He will continue tional effort about the nuclear arms race. Sortori mov­ workin,.g toward such arrangements. ed and Earl Callen seconded that: Nominating Committee Membership: The nominating committee for 1981 will consist of Ralph Motion No.3 The Forum Executive Committee Llewellyn (Chairperson), Ernest Hammond, Caroline requests that the question of APS affilia­ Herzenberg, Arnie Strassenberg, and Mike Casper tion with "Ground Zero" be placed on the (APS Council Appointee). agenda of the June meeting of the APS Executive Committee. Award. Commltt.. Membership: The awards com­ mittee for 1981 will consist of Joel Lebowitz (Chairper­ The motion was accepted unanimously. Sartori will be son), Dietrich Schroeer, and Mary Beth Stearns. happy to present information about "Ground Zero" at the June meeting. A Forum ad hoc committee con­ Nomln... for APS Po.ts: Nominations for various sisting of Sartori, Callen and John Toll is keeping in APS posts, e.g., on POPA were solicited. close touch with the "Ground Zero" developments. The Reagan Budget for Scl.hce: Kenney Kim describ­ ed some of the present and anticipated consequences for science resulting from the policies of the Reagan MI.celianeou.: Should the idea of a physics-and­ administration. Earl Callen argued for an unified society joU'tnal be revived, or do journals like the science lobby to educate politicians and the public Technology Review and the Bulletin of the Atomic about the value and needs of science. Paul Horwitz Sclentl.t. adequately serve such a function now? moved and Alvin M. Saperstein seconded that: Earl Callen proposed, as he does every year, that Motion No.2: The Forum on Physics and there should be a contributed session organized at the Society urges the Council of the APS to re­ Joint APSIAAPT meeting devoted solely to Forum­ quest its officers to meet with the officers related matters. Maybe this time it will come off? of other scientific societies for the pur­ pose of organizing a fully staffed profes­ Robert Cahn circulated the Forum-related questions sional Washington office for public educa­ that are to be asked of candidates for APS offices. He tion about science. asked for comments on them. PHYSICS AND SOCIETY, Volume 10, Number 3 •.••••.••••.••••••••••••• July 1981 Page 3 REPORT OF THE FORUM COUNCillOR, by Mike bring a history of close involvement with the very Casper, Department of Physics, Room 20B·226, MIT, issues that the APS is supposedly subjecting to Cambridge, MA 02139 disinterested scrutiny. At the April 24 APS Council Meeting in Baltimore, In the ensuing discussion at the Council Meeting. several items of special interest to Forum members a member of the APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) were discussed: candidly disclosed how POPA hoped to cope with the problem of biased experts. He said that POPA was seeking a study group with the following make-up: I. Congressional Fellowships: The Fellowship five. pronuclear; three. anti-nuclear; and four. "good program that sends physicists to work as congres­ physicists." I wonder where those numbers come sional staffers for a year will be continued. That was from. who the people will be. and how consideration the recommendation of an ad hoc Council committee of EPRI. NRC. and DOE sensitivities may influence and the policy adopted by the Council. Two things the their choice. program needs now are more applicants and a code of ethics. A Forum committee on Congressional Fellowships could help to revive and safeguard this When I suggested at the meeting that the current useful program that we began many years ago. study proposal might be extended to include the relative proliferation resistance of various breeder technologies. I was told in no uncertain terms that 2. Phys. Rev. E?: Editor-in-Chief Dave lazurus that topic had already been ruled out. I wonder if that announced that a comprehensive reevaluation of decision could have any relation to the interests of the Phys. Rev. is taking place. The review process affords funders. an opportunity for us to reintroduce our long·dormant proposal for a Journal of Physics and Society that got These are not trivial issues, but I for one would such an enthusiastic response when circulated a few welcome a much more open process by which APS years back. Many believe the proposal is superb; studies are planned and study group members what we need now is a physicist willing to serve as selected. It would be a process that was clearly in· editor. Then we could make a serious approach to the sulated from the possible influence of special in­ Council subcommittee headed by Stan Hanna which is terests. It would be useful to have a Forum committee conducting the Phys. Rev. review. do a formal critique of past APS studies and come up with some constructive proposals to safeguard the 3. Studies: The Coal Utilization study is finish· good name of our Society. ed; the Breeder Safety study is about to begin; and the Alternative Energy Strategies study is on hold and likely to be dropped. ccccccccccccccccccccccccc I personally am getting an uneasy feeling about Committee on Opportunities In Physics: A report on the APS studies, especially the way they are funded the Baltimore April APS meeting, by Earl Callen, and the way they are planned. There is a danger that Physics Department, American University, the APS can become the unwitting tool of special in.
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