DOCSLIB.ORG

Works of Love

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

reader.ad section 9/21/05 12:38 PM Page 2 AMAZING LIGHT: Visions for Discovery AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM IN HONOR OF THE 90TH BIRTHDAY YEAR OF CHARLES TOWNES October 6-8, 2005 — University of California, Berkeley Amazing Light Symposium and Gala Celebration c/o Metanexus Institute 3624 Market Street, Suite 301, Philadelphia, PA 19104 215.789.2200, [email protected] www.foundationalquestions.net/townes Saturday, October 8, 2005 We explore. What path to explore is important, as well as what we notice along the path. And there are always unturned stones along even well-trod paths. Discovery awaits those who spot and take the trouble to turn the stones. -- Charles H. Townes Table of Contents Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. 3 Welcome Letter................................................................................................................. 5 Conference Supporters and Organizers ............................................................................ 7 Sponsors.......................................................................................................................... 13 Program Agenda ............................................................................................................. 29 Amazing Light Young Scholars Competition................................................................. 37 Amazing Light Laser Challenge Website Competition.................................................. 41 Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology (FQX) ........................................... 43 Biographies .................................................................................................................... 47 Charles H. Townes.............................................................................................. 49 Participants.......................................................................................................... 51 Presentation Abstracts..................................................................................................... 91 3 AMAZING LIGHT: Visions for Discovery 4 October 6, 2005 Dear AMAZING LIGHT Attendee, th Welcome to AMAZING LIGHT: VISIONS FOR DISCOVERY, the symposium being held in honor of the 90 birthday year of Charles Hard Townes. We are delighted that you are able to join our hosts, committee members, chairs, speakers, panelists, competition finalists, and organizers for this exciting event, made possible by the John Templeton Foundation and our partnering sponsors.* This symposium brings together a large number of distinguished physicists, astrophysicists, astronomers, cosmologists, and other scientists and thinkers who are concerned with the most fundamental questions in physics and astronomy, as well as with some of the big— and very important— questions beyond the usual realm of the physical sciences. Over the course of the next three days, you will hear presentations and discussions from an eminent group of people. We are proud and honored that they are with us to celebrate the life, work, and leadership of Professor Charles Townes.† Three major themes inspired by Professor Townes and derived from some of his ideas and questions provide the structure for the topics to be explored over the next three days of the symposium: Thursday, October 6: The Ocean of Truth — Exploring the Great Unknowns in Physics and Cosmology Friday, October 7: New Windows to Discovery — Exploring Possibilities for Innovative Technologies Saturday, October 8: The “Big Picture” — Exploring Questions on the Boundaries of Science The symposium presentations will investigate key areas of particular interest to Professor Townes and that are linked with his accomplishments in discovering surprising new aspects of the quantum-mechanical behavior of light. The primary goals are to explore the persistence of deep questions and great unknowns in physics, astrophysics, and cosmology; to emphasize the continuing potential and excitement of science and technology aimed at understanding our universe; to consider promising and ambitious domains for future research; and to explore issues and questions on the boundaries of science and technology through an interdisciplinary exchanges of ideas. Following Charles Townes’ example, AMAZING LIGHT will emphasize the role of technological innovations that accelerate scientific creativity and benefit human life. It will emphasize the creative edges of the experimental (observational) aspects of physics, astrophysics, and cosmology that may lead to new discoveries—and especially to powerful new scientific instruments—that may transform human capabilities to explore physical reality. The goal of developing cutting-edge tools will be considered in the context of advancing the scientific quest for a fundamental, integrated understanding of the universe. A pre-eminent example is the fascinating and rich innovation made possible through the study of light so successfully pioneered by Charles Townes. We believe you will find every plenary lecture and panel discussion to be highly stimulating, engaging, and thought-provoking.‡ The program also has several highlights. To end the first day, on Thursday evening we have a special plenary session with John Heilbron, Professor of History and Vice Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, who will illuminate us about the fascinating history of light. In addition to bringing together an outstanding, select group of research leaders and scholars for the main presentations, the program also draws together a group of promising young scientists emerging as the * Please consult the Sponsors section of this program book. † Please consult the Biographies section of this program book. Charles H. Townes received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics “for fundamental work in quantum electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle.” See <http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1964>. ‡ Please consult the Program Agenda and Presentation Abstracts section of this program book. 5 research innovators of the future. The 18 finalists (under the age of 40) will present their research in the “Young Scholars Competition” on Friday morning. Substantial prizes will be awarded to the winners for excellence in conceptualizing and presenting fresh approaches in physics and cosmology. Also, we have a special public event on Friday evening with three of the most innovative scientists working in astronomy and astrophysics today. Other Worlds: from Imagination to Image <http://www.otherworldslecture.org/> brings together Geoffrey Marcy of UC Berkeley, Reinhard Genzel of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, and Antoine Labeyrie of the Observatory of Calern at Caussols to explain how new space- and ground-based technologies are expanding the vision of modern science and of our place in the cosmos. They will describe how optical/infrared interferometers and very large telescopes of the next generation are helping scientists to search for and image “Earth-like” exoplanets, investigate the environment of black holes and cores of galaxies, and explore regions where new planets might be formed. The formal sessions end early Saturday evening, followed by a Gala in honor of Charles Townes hosted by popular science writer and documentary-maker Timothy Ferris. The winners of the “Young Scholars Competition” will be announced at the banquet that evening, as will the winner of the “Laser Website Challenge.”§ This event also provides the public launch of a new initiative in physics research, Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology (FQX). This program, directed by two physicists, aims to create an international network for highly innovative, risk-taking research focused on “really big questions” in physics and cosmology with the goal of promoting breakthrough research.** Following the symposium, we will be publishing an academic volume through a major university press that will incorporate expanded versions of the presentations you will be hearing over the next three days.†† Our goal is to create a lasting impact on the scientific and academic community by advancing the symposium themes through the book. For updates on this and other future program-related matters, please check the project website <http://www.foundationalquestions.net/townes>. On behalf of our hosts, the University of California, Berkeley; our organizing committees; the Metanexus ‡‡ Institute and our entire AMAZING LIGHT administrative staff, thank you for joining us. Warm regards, Raymond Y. Chiao, University of California, Berkeley William D. Phillips, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg AMAZING LIGHT Co-Chairs & Charles L. Harper, Jr., John Templeton Foundation, Philadelphia AMAZING LIGHT Convenor § Please consult the respective sections in this program book. ** Please consult the FQX section in this program book. For more information, contact Max Tegmark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology <[email protected]>, and Anthony Aguirre, University of California, Santa Cruz <[email protected]>. †† For an analogous book in honor of John Archibald Wheeler, see <http://www.metanexus.net/ultimate_reality/bookrelease.htm> and <http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052183113X>. ‡‡ Please consult the Conference Supporters and Organizers section of this program book. 6 Conference Supporters and Organizers The Amazing
Recommended publications
  • Preliminary Acknowledgments

    Preliminary Acknowledgments

    PRELIMINARY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The central thesis of I Am You—that we are all the same person—is apt to strike many readers as obviously false or even absurd. How could you be me and Hitler and Gandhi and Jesus and Buddha and Greta Garbo and everybody else in the past, present and future? In this book I explain how this is possible. Moreover, I show that this is the best explanation of who we are for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it provides the metaphysical foundations for global ethics. Variations on this theme have been voiced periodically throughout the ages, from the Upanishads in the Far East, Averroës in the Middle East, down to Josiah Royce in the North East (and West). More recently, a number of prominent 20th century physicists held this view, among them Erwin Schrödinger, to whom it came late, Fred Hoyle, who arrived at it in middle life, and Freeman Dyson, to whom it came very early as it did to me. In my youth I had two different types of experiences, both of which led to the same inexorable conclusion. Since, in hindsight, I would now classify one of them as “mystical,” I will here speak only of the other—which is so similar to the experience Freeman Dyson describes that I have conveniently decided to let the physicist describe it for “both” of “us”: Enlightenment came to me suddenly and unexpectedly one afternoon in March when I was walking up to the school notice board to see whether my name was on the list for tomorrow’s football game.
  • Unrestricted Immigration and the Foreign Dominance Of

    Unrestricted Immigration and the Foreign Dominance Of

    Unrestricted Immigration and the Foreign Dominance of United States Nobel Prize Winners in Science: Irrefutable Data and Exemplary Family Narratives—Backup Data and Information Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens and Graduate Center CUNY and Social Explorer, Inc. Lynn Caporale, Strategic Scientific Advisor and Author The following slides were presented at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This project and paper is an outgrowth of that session, and will combine qualitative data on Nobel Prize Winners family histories along with analyses of the pattern of Nobel Winners. The first set of slides show some of the patterns so far found, and will be augmented for the formal paper. The second set of slides shows some examples of the Nobel families. The authors a developing a systematic data base of Nobel Winners (mainly US), their careers and their family histories. This turned out to be much more challenging than expected, since many winners do not emphasize their family origins in their own biographies or autobiographies or other commentary. Dr. Caporale has reached out to some laureates or their families to elicit that information. We plan to systematically compare the laureates to the population in the US at large, including immigrants and non‐immigrants at various periods. Outline of Presentation • A preliminary examination of the 609 Nobel Prize Winners, 291 of whom were at an American Institution when they received the Nobel in physics, chemistry or physiology and medicine • Will look at patterns of
  • Frank Wilczek on the World's Numerical Recipe

    Frank Wilczek on the World's Numerical Recipe

    Note by All too often, we ignore goals, genres, or Frank Wilczek values, or we assume that they are so apparent that we do not bother to high- light them. Yet judgments about whether an exercise–a paper, a project, an essay Frank Wilczek response on an examination–has been done intelligently or stupidly are often on the dif½cult for students to fathom. And since these evaluations are not well world’s understood, few if any lessons can be numerical drawn from them. Laying out the criteria recipe by which judgments of quality are made may not suf½ce in itself to improve qual- ity, but in the absence of such clari½- cation, we have little reason to expect our students to go about their work intelligently. Twentieth-century physics began around 600 b.c. when Pythagoras of Samos pro- claimed an awesome vision. By studying the notes sounded by plucked strings, Pythagoras discovered that the human perception of harmony is connected to numerical ratios. He examined strings made of the same material, having the same thickness, and under the same tension, but of different lengths. Under these conditions, he found that the notes sound harmonious precisely when the ratio of the lengths of string can be expressed in small whole numbers. For example, the length ratio Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT, is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the develop- ment of quantum chromodynamics, the invention of axions, and the discovery and exploitation of new forms of quantum statistics (anyons).

  • Divine Action and the World of Science: What Cosmology and Quantum Physics Teach Us About the Role of Providence in Nature 247 Bruce L

    Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies JBTSVOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 Christianity and the Philosophy of Science Divine Action and the World of Science: What Cosmology and Quantum Physics Teach Us about the Role of Providence in Nature 247 Bruce L. Gordon [JBTS 2.2 (2017): 247-298] Divine Action and the World of Science: What Cosmology and Quantum Physics Teach Us about the Role of Providence in Nature1 BRUCE L. GORDON Bruce L. Gordon is Associate Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at Houston Baptist University and a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture Abstract: Modern science has revealed a world far more exotic and wonder- provoking than our wildest imaginings could have anticipated. It is the purpose of this essay to introduce the reader to the empirical discoveries and scientific concepts that limn our understanding of how reality is structured and interconnected—from the incomprehensibly large to the inconceivably small—and to draw out the metaphysical implications of this picture. What is unveiled is a universe in which Mind plays an indispensable role: from the uncanny life-giving precision inscribed in its initial conditions, mathematical regularities, and natural constants in the distant past, to its material insubstantiality and absolute dependence on transcendent causation for causal closure and phenomenological coherence in the present, the reality we inhabit is one in which divine action is before all things, in all things, and constitutes the very basis on which all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). §1. Introduction: The Intelligible Cosmos For science to be possible there has to be order present in nature and it has to be discoverable by the human mind.
  • INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE of BENGAL and HIMALAYAN BASINS 10 Evans Hall, University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, California

    INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE of BENGAL and HIMALAYAN BASINS 10 Evans Hall, University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, California

    INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BENGAL AND HIMALAYAN BASINS 10 Evans Hall, University of California at Berkeley BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA The International Institute of the Bengal and Himalayan Basins PEACE July 20, 2013 TOWNES AND TAGORE FOURTH ANNUAL SEMINAR ON THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS 1:30 – 2:00 PM RECEPTION/MIXER 2:00 – 2:15 PM POETRY / SONG Mamade Kadreebux Sushmita Ghosh 2:15-4:00 PM SEMINAR INTRODUCTION Rosalie Say Welcome Founder’s Introduction: Mamade Kadreebux Welcome and Prefatory Remarks, Rash B. Ghosh, PhD, Founder, IIBHB SPECIAL WORDS FROM FRIENDS & WELL-WISHERS OF PROFESSOR CHARLES TOWNES 2:45 – 4:00 PM SESSION ONE The Convergence of Science and Spirituality David Presti, PhD, Professor, Molecular Cell Biology, UC Berkeley Water Budget Estimation and Water Management in the Mekong River Basin Jeanny Wang, President/Sr. Environmental Engineer, EcoWang Ltd. Sand from Newton’s Seashore: Introduction of Dr. Charles H. Townes John Paulin, PhD, Technical Writer and Editor, IIBHB Chief Guest Address: Vivekananda and a Vision for the South Asia, the US, and our Planet Charles H. Townes, PhD, 1964 Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1999 Rabindranath Tagore Award Recipient, and 2005 Templeton Prize Awardee Q & A 4:30 - 6:30 SESSION TWO INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKER Derek Whitworth, PhD, President, IIBHB Keynote Address Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Reducing the Impact of Toxics in Drinking Water Resources Rash B. Ghosh, PhD, Founder, IIBHB Special Presentation: How Advances in Science are Made. Douglas Osheroff, PhD, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physics Q & A SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS Sterling Bunnel, MD, IIBHB Former President and Advisor ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Master of Ceremonies Rosalie Say Professor Charles Hard Townes was born in 1915 and invented the microwave laser, or maser, in 1953 while at Columbia University.
  • Kenosis and Nature

    Kenosis and Nature

    from John Polkinghorne, ed., The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. Eeerdmans Publishing Co., and London: SPCK, 2001, pp. 43-65. Kenosis and Nature HOLMES ROLSTON, III Every commonplace detail of nature, every stone and tree, includes an immense richness and variety of lesser detail: in every fragment of it a thousand million lesser fragments cohere and interact. Loves Endeavour, Love's Expense, p. 84 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 1. Selfish Genes, Selfish Organisms, and Survival of the Fittest If one compares the general worldview of biology with that of theology, it first seems that there is only stark contrast. To move from Darwinian na- ture to Christian theology, one will have to change the sign of natural his- tory, from selfish genes to suffering love. Theologians also hold that, in regeneration, humans with their sinful natures must be reformed to lives that are more altruistic, also requiring a change of sign. But the problem lies deeper; all of biological nature can seem to run counter to what Jesus teaches: that one ought to lay down one s life for others. In nature, there is no altruism, much less kenosis. 43 HOLMES ROLSTON, III Life, coded by the genes, is always encapsulated in particular organ- isms. In biology we find, at once and pervasively, the organism as a bounded somatic "self" — something quite unknown in physics, chemis- try, astronomy, meteorology, or geology. The general Darwinian interpre- tive framework moves from the coding genes to the coping organisms and sees organisms so constituted genetically that self-interested (typically la- beled "selfish") behavior is inevitable.
  • NMD, National Security Issues Featured at 2001 April Meeting In

    NMD, National Security Issues Featured at 2001 April Meeting In

    April 2001 NEWS Volume 10, No. 4 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews NMD, National Security Issues Featured Phase I CPU Report to be at 2001 April Meeting in Washington Discussed at Attendees of the 2001 APS April include a talk on how the news me- Meeting, which returns to Wash- dia cover science by David April Meeting ington, DC, this year, should arrive Kestenbaum, a self-described “es- The first phase of a new Na- just in time to catch the last of the caped physicist who is hiding out tional Research Council report of cherry blossom season in between at National Public Radio,” and a lec- the Committee on the Physics of scheduled sessions and special ture on entangled photons for the Universe (CPU) will be the events. The conference will run quantum information by the Uni- topic of discussion during a spe- April 28 through May 1, and will versity of Illinois’ Paul Kwiat. Other cial Sunday evening session at the feature the latest results in nuclear scheduled topics include imaging APS April Meeting in Washing- physics, astrophysics, chemical the cosmic background wave back- ton, DC. The session is intended physics, particles and fields, com- ground, searching for extra to begin the process of collect- putational physics, plasma physics, dimensions, CP violation in B me- ing input from the scientific the physics of beams, and physics sons, neutrino oscillations, and the community on some of the is- history, among other subdisci- amplification of atoms and light in The White House and (inset) some of its famous fictional sues outlined in the draft report, plines.
  • See the Scientific Petition

    See the Scientific Petition

    May 20, 2016 Implement the Endangered Species Act Using the Best Available Science To: Secretary Sally Jewell and Secretary Penny Prtizker We, the under-signed scientists, recommend the U.S. government place species conservation policy on firmer scientific footing by following the procedure described below for using the best available science. A recent survey finds that substantial numbers of scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe that political influence at their agency is too high.i Further, recent species listing and delisting decisions appear misaligned with scientific understanding.ii,iii,iv,v,vi For example, in its nationwide delisting decision for gray wolves in 2013, the FWS internal review failed the best science test when reviewed by an independent peer-review panel.vii Just last year, a FWS decision not to list the wolverine ran counter to the opinions of agency and external scientists.viii We ask that the Departments of the Interior and Commerce make determinations under the Endangered Species Actix only after they make public the independent recommendations from the scientific community, based on the best available science. The best available science comes from independent scientists with relevant expertise who are able to evaluate and synthesize the available science, and adhere to standards of peer-review and full conflict-of-interest disclosure. We ask that agency scientific recommendations be developed with external review by independent scientific experts. There are several mechanisms by which this can happen; however, of greatest importance is that an independent, external, and transparent science-based process is applied consistently to both listing and delisting decisions.
  • Title: the Distribution of an Illustrated Timeline Wall Chart and Teacher's Guide of 20Fh Century Physics

    Title: the Distribution of an Illustrated Timeline Wall Chart and Teacher's Guide of 20Fh Century Physics

    REPORT NSF GRANT #PHY-98143318 Title: The Distribution of an Illustrated Timeline Wall Chart and Teacher’s Guide of 20fhCentury Physics DOE Patent Clearance Granted December 26,2000 Principal Investigator, Brian Schwartz, The American Physical Society 1 Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 301-209-3223 [email protected] BACKGROUND The American Physi a1 Society s part of its centennial celebration in March of 1999 decided to develop a timeline wall chart on the history of 20thcentury physics. This resulted in eleven consecutive posters, which when mounted side by side, create a %foot mural. The timeline exhibits and describes the millstones of physics in images and words. The timeline functions as a chronology, a work of art, a permanent open textbook, and a gigantic photo album covering a hundred years in the life of the community of physicists and the existence of the American Physical Society . Each of the eleven posters begins with a brief essay that places a major scientific achievement of the decade in its historical context. Large portraits of the essays’ subjects include youthful photographs of Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Richard Feynman among others, to help put a face on science. Below the essays, a total of over 130 individual discoveries and inventions, explained in dated text boxes with accompanying images, form the backbone of the timeline. For ease of comprehension, this wealth of material is organized into five color- coded story lines the stretch horizontally across the hundred years of the 20th century. The five story lines are: Cosmic Scale, relate the story of astrophysics and cosmology; Human Scale, refers to the physics of the more familiar distances from the global to the microscopic; Atomic Scale, focuses on the submicroscopic This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government.
  • July 2007 (Volume 16, Number 7) Entire Issue

    July 2007 (Volume 16, Number 7) Entire Issue

    July 2007 Volume 16, No. 7 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews APS NEWS Election Preview A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY • WWW.apS.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/apSNEWS Pages 6-7 Executive Board Resolution Thanks US physics team trains for competition in Iran By Katherine McAlpine Legislators for Support of Science Twenty-four high school stu- The APS Executive Board bill authorizes nearly $60 billion dents comprising the US Phys- has passed a resolution thanking for various programs for FY 2008 ics Olympiad team vied for five House and Senate policy makers through FY 2011. The bill would places on the traveling team at for recently-passed legislation double the NSF budget over five the University of Maryland from that strengthens the science, math years and double the DOE Office May 22nd to June 1st. Those and engineering activities of our of Science budget over 10 years. chosen to travel will compete nation. The House of Representatives this month against teams from “Sustaining and improving the passed five separate authorization all over the world at Isfahan standard of living of American bills, which were then combined University of Technology in Is- citizens, achieving energy security into one bill, H.R. 2272, the 21st fahan, Iran. and environmental sustainability, Century Competitiveness Act of Over 3,100 US Physics Team providing the jobs of tomorrow 2007. The bill would put the NSF hopefuls took the preliminary and defending our nation against budget and the NIST Scientific examination in January, and 200 aggressors all require federal in- and Technical Research and Ser- were given a second exam in vestments in science education vices budget on track to double in March to determine the top 24 and research… The Board con- 10 years.
  • A Brief Look at Mathematics and Theology Philip J

    A Brief Look at Mathematics and Theology Philip J

    Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal Issue 27 Article 14 Winter 1-1-2004 A Brief Look at Mathematics and Theology Philip J. Davis Brown University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmnj Part of the Logic and Foundations of Mathematics Commons, Mathematics Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Davis, Philip J. (2004) "A Brief Look at Mathematics and Theology," Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal: Iss. 27, Article 14. Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmnj/vol1/iss27/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Claremont at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 A Brief Look at Mathematics and Theology Philip J. Davis "Such a really remarkable discovery. I wanted your opinion on it. You know the formula m over naught equals infinity, m being any positive number? [m/0 = ]. Well, why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by naught? In which case you have m equals infinity times naught [m = x 0]. That is to say, a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn't that demonstrate the creation of the Universe by an infinite power out of nothing? Doesn't it?" Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point, (1928), Chapter XI. I Introduction We are living in a mathematical age. Our lives, from the personal to the communal, from the communal to the international, from the biological and physical to the economic and even to the ethical, are increasingly mathematicized.
  • Exoplanet Community Report

    Exoplanet Community Report

    JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probe­class missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2