DECEMBER 1996 the AMERICAN P Hysicalnews SOCIETY VOLUME 5, NO 11 Two New APS Officers Begin Tenures

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A P S N E W S APSDECEMBER 1996 THE AMERICAN P HYSICALNews SOCIETY VOLUME 5, NO 11 Two New APS Officers Begin Tenures

wo new operating officers are spent the following year as NATO Tjoining the APS, one as of Novem- postdoctoral fellow at England’s Oxford ber and the other in January 1997. University. After several years as a re- Thomas McIlrath, associate dean for research associate at Harvard College search and graduate studies at the Observatory, he joined the faculty of University of Maryland, College Park, UMD, where he is presently a professor replaced retiring APS Treasurer Harry in the Institute for Physical Science and Lustig on November 11. Martin Blume, Technology, in addition to his deanship deputy director of Brookhaven National and role as staff physicist for the National Laboratory, succeeds retiring APS Edi- Institute of Standards and Technology tor-in-Chief Benjamin Bederson on the in Gaithersburg. He is an active mem- first of the year. ber of the APS Division of Laser Science, As the Society’s chief financial officer, which he chaired in 1988. the APS Treasurer is responsible for the The APS Editor-in-Chief has respon- preparation and administration of the sibility for the research journals Marty Blume Tom McIlrath APS budget, for the Society’s invest- published by the Society, including the ments, for business interactions with the large editorial and journal support staff Fellow at Tokyo University. After two theoretical solid state physics, magne- American Institute of Physics, for the located in Ridge, New York. Respon- years as a research associate at Atomic tism, phase transitions, slow neutron Society’s legal affairs, and for personnel sibilities include preserving and Energy Research Establishment (AERE) scattering and synchrotron radiation. policies and administration. The Trea- enhancing the quality of APS journals, in Harwell, England, he joined the staff His extensive APS service includes surer is also expected to participate in leading APS efforts in electronic pub- of Brookhaven, where he headed the stints as chair of the Panel on Public all aspects of the governance, policy for- lishing, working with senior editors to solid state physics group and chaired Affairs and Nominating Committee, as mation and administration of the Society, set journal polices, and handling ap- the National Synchrotron Light Source well as service with the Forum on Phys- and along with the Executive Officer and peals and ethics cases involving department before becoming deputy ics and Society and on the APS Council Editor-in-Chief, has the responsibility for authors. director in 1984. From 1972 to 1980 he and Executive Board. He has also supervising the APS staff. Blume received his Ph.D. in phys- was also a professor of physics at served on the editorial board of the McIlrath received his Ph.D. in physics ics from Harvard University in 1959 and SUNY-Stony Brook. Physical Review in addition to several from Princeton University in 1966 and spent the following year as a Fulbright Blume’s research interests include other publications. Data Storage, New Laser Advances Featured at ILS-XII Meeting

ptical and laser scientists from two-photon absorption induced and transverse image position can be keyed to deflect specific temporal data Oaround the world gathered in changes in dye-doped plastic media set by microcomputer, thus improving patterns. According to Mossberg, these Rochester, New York, 20-24 October offer an inexpensive means of produc- image quality. Other speakers covered capabilities lead, respectively, to high 1996, for the twelfth annual Interdisci- ing high-density multilayer memories. such topics as recent advances and fu- capacity, high speed, optical RAM, and plinary Laser Science Conference Scientists at the University of Day- ture optical head architectures using content-controlled optical switching (ILS-XII). The conference serves as the ton in Ohio have discovered that increased integration; the optical de- devices. annual meeting of the APS Topical micromirrors measuring about 100 mi- sign and analysis of thin-film media Norbert Hampp of Philipps Univer- Group on Laser Science, in conjunc- crons are suitable for angle structures used to produce CD-record- sity in Germany reported that tion with the Optical Society of America multiplexing in holographic data stor- able discs; and a novel method of using bacteriorhodopsin processed into a (OSA). First held in Dallas, Texas, in age systems. Such devices demonstrate an extended recording reference to polymeric film constitutes an excellent 1985, the ILS series was established to fast response times, due to their small reduce cross-talk noise in angle- mul- medium for optical and holographic survey the core laser science areas, in- inertia, and can readily be designed to tiplexed volume holographic data recording. Bacteriorhodopsin — a rela- cluding lasers and their properties, scan over two dimensions in angle storage. tive of the visual pigment rhodopsin nonlinear optics and ultrafast phenom- while simultaneously executing dis- Thomas Mossberg of the University — is a photochromic retinal protein with ena, the physics of laser sources, lasers placements that induce phase shifts, of Oregon’s Center for Optics in Sci- a highly efficient primary photoreaction, in physics and chemistry, and other according to UD’s Steven Gustafson, ence and Technology described recent large spectral shift, and excellent laser applications. who spoke at a Monday morning ses- advances in spectral holographic opti- reversibility. The material’s photochro- sion. More practical advantages include cal data storage. The spectral recording mic and related photorefractive Optical Data Storage superior ruggedness and low cost. dimension enables multi-kilobit storage properties can be modified over a pe- The most direct means of achieving To achieve improved imaging per- at single spatial locations and the writ- large increases in the capacity of opti- formance, Stephen Kowel (University ing of frequency-dependent gratings (Continued on page 3) cal disk storage is by using three of Alabama, Huntsville) has fabricated dimensions rather than the two pres- a liquid crystal adaptive lens using a ently used, according to F.B. novel conductive ladder meshing tech- APS Members Share 1996 Nobel McCormick of Call/Recall Inc. in San nique to minimize the number of Diego, California, who maintains that control electrodes. The focal distance Prizes in Physics, Chemistry n October, the 1996 Nobel Prize in And in He-4, the superfluid state is es- IN THIS ISSUE IPhysics was awarded to David Lee sentially a Bose-Einstein condensation and Robert Richardson of Cornell Uni- of He atoms in a single quantum state, Two New APS Officers Begin Tenures ...... 1 versity and Douglas Osheroff of whereas the He-3 superfluid state is a Data Storage, New Laser Advances Featured at ILS-XII Meeting ...... 1 Stanford University for their 1972 dis- condensation of pairs of atoms, which APS Members Share 1996 Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry ...... 1 covery of superfluidity in helium-3. This are magnetic and possess an internal Strangelet Searches, Spin Effects, QCD Field Theory special liquid state of matter, which can structure. In fact, superfluid He-3 ex- Highlight 1996 DNP Meeting ...... 2 flow without viscosity, was detected ists in three different phases related to APS Executive Board Establishes Task Force on Career Development ..... 2 during a search for an antiferromagnetic different magnetic or temperature con- IN BRIEF...... 3 phase in solid He-3, after the research- ditions. The highly anisotropic nature Opinion ...... 4 ers chilled their sample to a temperature of the A phase (resembling a liquid OSTP Releases Report on Reducing Excess Plutonium Stockpiles ...... 6 of about 2 microkelvins. Superfluidity crystal) was recently exploited in an Improbable Researchers Gather for 1997 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony ...... 6 was discovered in helium-4 in 1938, at experiment in which vortices set in Announcements...... 7 the much warmer temperature of 2 motion within an He-3 sample simu- The Back Page ...... 8 kelvin. lated the formation of topological APS Meeting News ...... Insert Superfluidity in He-3 is very differ- defects, or “cosmic strings,” in the early ent from He-4. For instance, the former universe. [See Nature, 25 July 1996] is a fermion and the latter is a boson. (Continued on page 3) APS News December 1996 Strangelet Searches, Spin Effects, QCD Field Theory Highlight 1996 DNP Meeting

ecent studies of quantum chaos in the confinement scale. However, in a Massimiliano Ferro-Luzzi of The Neth- developed a theory for the statistical R mesoscopic systems, and effective Saturday morning session, Michael Frank erlands’ NIKHEF facility. The technique properties of the conductance peaks field theory were among the topics fea- of the Institute for Nuclear Theory dis- has several advantages — including par- using random matrix theory, and his tured at the annual fall meeting of the cussed how the advent of a new ity of the target species, high polarization, predictions have recently been experi- APS Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP), generation of accelerators, such as Tho- clean recoil hadron detection, and the mentally confirmed. In the same held 2-5 October 1996 at the Massa- mas Jefferson National Laboratory, has ability to manipulate the target spin — session, Argonne National Laboratory’s chusetts Institute of Technology in enlarged the energy domain of nuclear which allow the study of the electromag- John Schiffer described new simula- Cambridge, Massachusetts. The meet- physics beyond the scale for which such netic structure of the nucleon and light tions of the behavior of cold confined ing consisted of six invited sessions, low-energy effective theories are valid. nuclei with high statistical and system- ions, which revealed that when both including a plenary session on basic As a possible solution, he suggested de- atic precision. Ferro-Luzzi reported on spherical and spheroidal ion clouds are research in nuclear physics, five mini- veloping and exploring an effective field measurements obtained from two recent cooled they form ordered structures symposia, and 20 contributed sessions. theory of subhadronic degrees of free- experiments scattering unpolarized elec- that exhibit classical shells with magic A town meeting was also held on dom which maintains the global trons from tensor polarized helium-2 and numbers. Friday afternoon to provide an oppor- symmetries of QCD and reproduces helium-3 targets. A third experiment is Mini-Symposia and Workshops tunity for a large segment of the nuclear chiral perturbation theory in the appro- underway using a polarized electron science community to contribute to the priate limit. He has used such a theory beam and interal targets, in order to study Speakers at the Thursday afternoon and ongoing discussion regarding future to calculate low-energy chiral coeffi- simultaneously several channels over a Friday morning symposia on giant reso- challenges and priorities for the field. cients and hadronic form factors, for broad kinematical range. nances described recent accomplishments, example. problems, and experimental challenges in Effective Field Theory Quantum Chaos in Mesoscopic giant resonance research, covering such Searching for Strangelets Systems Although traditional nuclear structure topics as giant monopole resonance in cold calculations have benefitted from new On Saturday morning, Huan Huang of Recently there has been considerable and hot nuclei, multiphonons, the giant methods and increased computer the University of California at Los An- interest in the transport properties of dipole resonance in hot nuclei, and the power, they have lacked direct input geles reported on recent progress in mesoscopic devices such as quantum possibilities and promises of using un- from quantum chromodynamics the search for strange quark matter and dots: isolated regions of a few microns stable particle beams. Friday afternoon (QCD), the basic theory of strong in- other exotic forms of matter at or less in length to which several hun- featured a mini-symposium on the phe- teractions. According to Richard Brookhaven’s Alternating Gradient Syn- dred electrons are confined. While nomenon of “identical bands” in nuclei, Furnstahl of Ohio State University, who chrotron. “Heavy ion collisions at the previous studies have focused on dis- whereby rotational cascades in differ- spoke at a Friday morning session, “Ef- BNL-AGS are characterized by forma- ordered systems, where the elastic ent nuclei exhibit very similar transition fective Field Theory provides a tions of high baryon density and yields scattering length is small compared to energies and/or moments of inertia. framework for connecting the energy of large strangeness, in which quark the size of the dot, recent advances in Speakers at Saturday’s symposia de- scales and degrees of freedom appro- gluon plasma (QGP) may be formed nanostructure technology allowing the scribed recent investigations of a priate for nuclear structure with those due to fluctuations,” he said, adding fabrication of ballistic dots that are “caloric curve” of nuclear matter indi- in the underlying QCD.” He has found that strangelets are predicted to be pos- smaller than the elastic path of the elec- cating a possible low-density phase that, for heavier nuclei, this framework sible remnants of this QGP formation. tron. According to Yoram Alhassid of transition, as well as of weakly bound provides new insight into issues of At the same session, Thomas Yale University’s Center for Theoreti- halo nuclei. nucleon compositeness, vacuum con- Glasmacher of Michigan State cal Physics, because of the irregularities Prior to, but in conjunction with, the tributions and extrapolations to high University’s National Superconducting of the dot’s shape, the electron dynam- DNP meeting, two workshops were density, for example. David Kaplan Cyclotron Laboratory described a new ics are chaotic in nature, and the held on Sunday. The first, focusing on (University of Washington), who spoke technique using fast radioactive ion universal features of the conductance the quark-gluon structure of the at the same session, has found effec- beams to investigate the evolution of fluctuations are consistent with quan- nucleon, covered such aspects as elec- tive field theory techniques to be nuclear shell structure. tum chaos theory. tric form factors of the neutron, quark powerful tools for theoretical descrip- Attention is also shifting from stud- seas and strangeness in the nucleon, Measuring Spin Observables tions of nucleon-nucleon scattering. ies of open dots — characterized by and using lattice QCD to model Chiral dynamics is an effective low- Polarized targets internal to electron stor- many overlapping resonances — to nucleon structure. The second work- energy field theory of QCD which age rings represent a unique opportunity closed dots which are weakly coupled shop featured talks on collective effects provides a framework to make rigorous for the measurement of spin observables to the external leads via tunnel barri- and the quark gluon plasma in heavy and model-independent predictions at in electro-nuclear physics, according to ers. “In this regime, a single electron ion collisions, and disoriented chiral resonance whose energy is closest to condensates. Speakers discussed the Fermi energy dominates the con- multistrange baryons, signatures for

APS COUNCIL 1996 ductance, and it is thus possible to quark gluon plasma, and recent experi- probe the chaoticity of the electronic mental results at chiral phase President APS News Robert Schrieffer, Florida State University wave functions,” said Alhassid. He has transitions. President-Elect D. Allan Bromley, Yale University Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Vice-President Series II, Vol. 5, No. 11 December 1996 Andrew M. Sessler, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory APS Council Establishes Task Force on © 1996 The American Physical Society Executive Officer Judy R. Franz, University of Alabama, Huntsville Editor: Barrett H. Ripin Treasurer Career Development Newswriter: Jennifer Ouellette Thomas McIlrath, University of Maryland Production: Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Bederson, New York University, emeritus he APS Executive Board approved “We hope to receive specific advice Coordinator: Amy Halsted Past-President a proposal to establish a Task Force C. Kumar N. Patel, University of California-Los Angeles T from the task force on how the APS on Career and Professional Develop- APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, monthly, General Councillors should proceed to help physicists cope except the August/September issue, by The American Physical Daniel Auerbach, Kevin Aylesworth, Arthur Bienenstock, Virginia ment to provide guidance to the Society with the current employment situation Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) Brown, Jolie A. Cizewski, Jennifer Cohen, Charles Duke, Elsa 209-3200. It contains news of the Society and of its Divisions, Garmire, Laura H. Greene, Donald Hamann, William Happer, on its activities in this area. Intended and, in the long term, to develop a Topical Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information on Anthony M. Johnson, Miles V. Klein, Zachary Levine, Susan Seestrom, for a term of one year, renewable for a meetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its com- Ronald Walsworth good match between training and pro- mittees and task forces, as well as opinions. second, the task force is expected to Chair, Nominating Committee fessional expectations of physicists, and Martin Blume present a report of its initial recommen- Letters to the editor are welcomed from the membership. Letters the needs of the work force and soci- must be signed and should include an address and daytime tele- Chair, Panel on Public Affairs dations to the APS Council in April ety,” said APS Associate Executive phone number. The APS reserves the right to select and to edit David Hafemeister for length or clarity. All correspondence regarding APS News should 1997. Officer Barrett Ripin, who is the APS be directed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Division and Forum Councillors The task force is charged with ad- staff adviser to the task force. “There is Park, MD 20749-3844, email: [email protected]. Frank C. Jones (Astrophysics), Joseph Dehmer, Gordon Dunn (Atomic, Molecular and Optical), TBA (Biological), Stephen Leone vising the APS on efficient and effective a need to step back and assess our ef- Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publication de- (Chemical), Joe D. Thompson, David Aspnes, Lu J. Sham, Allen mechanisms for coordinating and inte- livered by Periodical Mail. Members residing abroad may receive Goldman (Condensed Matter), David Anderson (Computational), forts in this area with the objective of airfreight delivery for a fee of $20. Nonmembers: Subscription Guenter Ahlers (Fluid Dynamics), James J. 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(Forum on Physics and Society), Andrew Lovinger (High Poly- a long-term strategy to address career mer), Daniel Grischkowsky (Laser Science), Howard Birnbaum Examples of APS activies to help al- (Materials), John Schiffer, Peter Paul (Nuclear), Henry Frisch, and professional development issues; Subscription orders, renewals and address changes should leviate the employment situation George Trilling (Particles and Fields), Hermann Grunder (Phys- be addressed as follows: For APS Members—Membership De- ics of Beams), Roy Gould, William Kruer (Plasma) and identifying and assisting implemen- partment, The American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, include issuing a special Graduate Stu- College Park, MD 20740-3844, [email protected]. For Non- tation of new programs that can dent Packet; providing forums for members—Circulation and Fulfillment Division, American In- ADVISORS effectively serve the physics commu- stitute of Physics, 500 Sunnyside Blvd., Woodbury, NY 11797. discussion at APS meetings and in APS Sectional Representatives Allow at least 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes, John Pribram, New England; Peter Lesser, New York; Perry P. Yaney, nity in dealing with career issues. The please send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, News; sponsoring career workshops include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests from sub- Ohio; Joseph Hamilton, Southeastern; Stephen Baker, Texas first meeting will be held this winter, and placement centers; including scribers for missing issues will be honored without charge only Representatives from Other Societies featuring a review of the present em- if received within 6 months of the issue’s actual date of publi- Robert Hilborn, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP young activists in APS governance; and cation. ployment situation for physicists and formation of the APS Forum on Indus- Staff Representatives ongoing APS activities in this area, as Periodical Postage Paid at College Park, MD and at additional Barrett Ripin, Associate Executive Officer; Irving Lerch, Director of trial and Applied Physics (FIAP). Most mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, International Affairs; Robert L. Park, Director, Public Informa- well as identifying gaps or superfluous recently the Society has produced a Membership Department, The American Physical Society, One tion; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Ad- Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. ministrative Editor; Reid Terwilliger, Director of Editorial Office programs and possible sources of out- special insert to APS News, “CareerPlus,” Services; Michael Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer side funding for future initiatives. (Continued on page 3)

2 December 1996 APS News

ILS-XII Meeting (Continued from page 1) riod of several years, making it well- high power/high pulse energy fiber suited for technical applications. sources based on novel doped fiber IN BRIEF designs. In addition, all-fiber Lasers Applications • The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) has issued modelocked lasers have found techno- a revised version of its “Guidelines for the Use of Major Physics Users In the area of telecommunications, the logical applications in recent years, and Facilities,” based on comments received on existing large facilities that advent of the optical amplifier, together cladding-pumped erbium fiber oscilla- recover operating costs from users. The revised guidelines explicitly de- with ever-increasing communication tors and amplifiers have enabled the tail a realistic special treatment for such existing facilities. Originally drafted demands, has made wavelength-divi- construction of high-power ultrafast in 1994 by the U.S. Liaison Committee to IUPAP, the guidelines are the sion multiplexing (WDM) an attractive fiber pulse sources delivering pulses as result of extensive consultation with other national liaison committees, method for transmission capacity up- short as 100 femtoseconds, and aver- UNESCO Physics Action Council, and the physics community at large, grade over existing standard fiber, age powers in excess of one Watt. thus incorporating a wide perspective on major facilities. The revised according to R.C. Alferness (Bell Labo- 3-D Imaging and Display version was approved by the IUPAP Executive Council in September 1995, ratories/Lucent Technologies). “The and by the IUPAP General Assembly in September 1996. potential to build reconfigurable trans- Improved dimensionality from displays mission networks and possible has required an increase in the amount • A new report by the American Institute of Physics puts the number of evolution into the access portion of the of information conveyed, including physics graduate students for the 1994/1995 year academic year at 13,285. network offer further growth for the binocular disparities and motion par- Of these, 43 percent were non-U.S. citizens, 16 percent were women, 2 application of WDM technology,” he allax, according to Stephen Benton of percent were African-American, 3 percent were Hispanic-American, and 4 said, adding that highly functional, MIT’s Media Laboratory, who focused percent were East-Asian-American. Considering only the non-U.S. citi- mass producible, cost-effective sources on autostereoscopic technologies that zens, China (28 percent), the Former Soviet Bloc (16 percent), and Western will be key to the ubiquitous deploy- do not require viewing aids (such as Europe (14 percent) sent the highest fractions of students. 1,461 Ph.Ds ment of WDM systems. spectacles) in his Thursday afternoon were granted. The median time between the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees for In addition, a great deal of progress overview of the field. Other advances U.S. citizens was 6.5 years. The favorite subfields of study were con- has been made in understanding the reported in the session include the first densed matter (23 percent) and particle physics (13 percent). For more active region properties of ultrahigh demonstration of the use of a information, contact Patrick Mulvey of the AIP Education and Employ- speed diode lasers, including electron photorefractive crystal to display a ment Statistics Division (301) 209-3076. (Item courtesy of Phil Schewe, and hold dynamics — alternatively three-dimensional image in space, and AIP Public Information.) known as the transport and capture the development of a new technique problem for quantum well lasers — and called optical scanning holography, • In September, the APS Executive Board approved a proposal by Elsevier the effect of active region doping and which extracts holographic information Science Publishers to sponsor the John H. Dillon Medal, in the amount of strain, resulting in improved dynamic by two- dimensional active optical het- $2000 per year for a minimum period of five years, with an option to performance of these devices. erodyne scanning. extend the sponsorship for another five-year term. No cash award was In the medical sphere, fluorescence In addition, scientists at the Univer- previously given with the medal. “We feel that the purpose of the Dillon spectroscopy of native tissue can pro- sity of Alabama in Huntsville are Medal very much coincides with the objectives of our journal, Polymer,” vide a noninvasive rapid diagnostic tool, studying the partial pixel approach to said Henri G. van Dorssen, a senior pulishing editor for Elsevier’s materi- according to A. Katz (City College of New 3-D displays, which they believe pro- als science group. Established in 1983 by the APS Division of High Polymer York), who has found that differences vides a conceptual framework for such Physics, the medal is intended to recognize outstanding research accom- in spectra can be used to distinguish displays that are functionally equiva- plishments by a young polymer physicist. malignant from benign tissues. Currently lent to holographic stereograms. three generations of optical biopsy di- According to team leader Gregory agnostic instruments with organ-specific Nordin, he and his colleagues have News from APS Sections optical probes are under development implemented both monochromatic and • The APS Ohio Section held its annual fall meeting 1-2 November at Ohio for in vitro and in vivo tissue diagnosis, full color displays based on the use of University in Athens, Ohio, organized around the theme of nonlinear along with various algorithms to improve diffractive optical elements and conven- dynamics and chaos. On Friday, Ohio University’s Earle Hunt spoke on the prediction accuracy. tional liquid displays. chaos in electrical circuits, incorporating live demonstrations of the phe- Laser-aided manufacturing is another nomenon. William Ditto, director of the Applied Chaos Laboratory at the Special Lectures important emerging application. For Georgia Institute of Technology, discussed recent experiments exploiting example, in the automotive industry In addition to the regular technical ses- the sensitivity of chaotic systems to manipulate their dynamical behavior there is great interest in tailored blank sions, four critical reviews were given in desirable ways, emphasizing the control of chaos in biomedical sys- welding and option hole cutting, ac- on exciting new developments in the tems. Friday evening’s banquet featured a talk by Neil Gershenfeld, director cording to David Rosenberg of General field of laser science by recognized of MIT’s Physics and Media Laboratory, on musical instruments, models Motors R&D Center. In addition, scien- experts. First instituted in 1995, this and machines. A co-director of a Santa Fe Institute/NATO study on non- tists at the Illinois Institute of year’s lectures covered photonic band linear time series, Gershenfeld was also a featured speaker on Saturday, Technology are developing a new, ver- gaps, semiconductor cavity QED, wave reviewing a number of the more broadly applicable recent extensions to satile, automated laser shaping system packet dynamics, and the realization the notion of state estimations for nonlinear systems. Saturday’s program for the manufacture of ceramic and ce- of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute, also included a lecture on quantum signatures of classical chaos by Mar- ramic composite components. trapped alkali gases. The conference tin Gutzwiller of IBM/T.J. Watson Research Center. also featured a plenary lecture by Will Advances in Fiber Lasers Happer of Princeton University on the • Two weeks later, the APS Southeastern Section held its annual fall meet- On Monday afternoon, D.J. Richardson medical application of lasers and spins ing, 14-16 November in Decatur, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. Invited of England’s Southampton University to the illumination of lungs, and the speakers gave presentations on such topics as cold atoms, computational described recent advances in the de- Schawlow Prize Address on laser spec- physics, computerized and Web-based teaching methods, elementary par- velopment of novel fiber components troscopy of atomic hydrogen by ticle physics, high energy physics, high spin nuclei and women in physics. for short pulse generation and manipu- Theodor Hänsch of the Max Planck In- In addition, some of the contributed abstracts were deemed of broad lation, particularly the development of stitute for Quantum Optics. enough interest to merit special 20-minute invited presentations at the start of the session to which each paper was assigned. Friday evening’s banquet featured a keynote address by D. Allan Bromley, as well as the 1996 Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry presentation of the George Pegram Award to Wendell G. Holladay (Vanderbilt University) and Dudley Williams (Kansas State University). (continued from page 1) The meeting was held jointly with the Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma to celebrate their Diamond Jubilee. A graduate student at Cornell when versity of Sussex, for their 1985 discov- the discovery was made, Osheroff went ery of fullerenes, new forms of carbon on to achieve the first experimental that include the soccer-ball shaped car- verification of the “baked Alaska” bon-60 atoms otherwise known as Task Force on Career Development (continued from page 2) model, a theory first formulated by “buckyballs”, because their shape re- Anthony Leggett (University of Illinois) sembles the geodesic domes pioneered and enhanced the APS career guidance serve in an advisory capacity. to explain the somewhat piecemeal by the architect Buckminster Fuller. Web page with employment listings Diandra Leslie-Pelecky of the Uni- transition from the A phase of super- Lee, Richardson and Osheroff are and other resources, including a speak- versity of Nebraska’s Center for Materials fluid He-3 into the lower-temperature APS Fellows and were awarded the APS ers’ list on industrial and applied Research and Analysis will chair the task B phase, by supposing that B-phase Oliver E. Buckley Prize in 1981 for their physics topics. force. The other members are Peter droplets can be nucleated within the discovery. Smalley, who is also an APS The APS task force membership in- Abbamonte (University of Illinois), Rob- supercooled A phase by the ionizing Fellow, was similarly honored in 1991 cludes representatives from the Forum ert Bartolo (University of Maryland, energy of passing cosmic rays. [See with the APS Irving Langmuir Prize in on Education, the Forum on Physics College Park), Glen Crawford (Stanford Physics Today, June 1992] Chemical Physics. In addition, and Society, and FIAP, as well as one University), Robert Kwasnick (General The 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Richardson is a former chair of the APS graduate student, junior faculty mem- Electric Corp. R&D), Anthony Nero was shared by Richard F. Curl and Ri- Division of Condensed Matter Physics, ber, industrial physicist, and two (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), Steven chard E. Smalley of Rice University, and Osheroff has been active in nu- postdocs. Ed Goldin, director of AIP’s J. Smith (National Center for Atmospheric along with Harold W. Kroto of the Uni- merous APS activities. Career Services, and Roman Czujko, Research), and Peter Wolff (Massachu- director of AIP’s Statistical Division, will setts Institute of Technology).

3 APS News December 1996 OPINION

APS VIEWS LETTERS Sections: APS’ Mini-Physical Societies by Barrett Ripin, APS Associate Executive Officer Of Grammatology and Beyond… An occasional light note is certainly to The original, innocuous as it is, When I attended my first section meeting a couple of years ago, my initial be encouraged, but I take exception would have been preferable on all reaction was that it seemed much too enjoyable to be a ‘real’ physics meet- to your limerick in response to Fabrizio counts: ing. A stimulating range of current physics topics outside of my specialization Pinto (APS News, October 1996, p5). In There was a young fellow named Bright presented in an understandable tutorial manner reminded me of what en- selecting a classic of the genre and Who travelled much faster than light. ticed me to become a physicist. My second reaction was irritation at not coarsening it a bit to meet modern en- He set off one day, in a relative way being introduced to sectional meetings much earlier, particularly during my tertainment standards, you have And came back the previous night! college/graduate school days. achieved a verse which does not scan Ralph P. Hudson There are five geographic APS sections in the United States (see map (an unpardonable sin!) — that is, un- Chevy Chase, Maryland below) with memberships in the one to two thousand range. In 1931 Coun- less you want the reader to accent the cil amended the APS Constitution to allow both geographic sections and first syllable of “eloped” and “con- technical divisions to be established. A number of independent physics clubs ceived,” making for a very artificial, Editor’s Response… were already active at different locations in the US. All sections were formed strained reading. Moreover, you have There once was a poem misquoted in the 1930s except for the Texas Section, which was established in 1982, lost the sense of the “impossible,” And commas left out that were noted. fifty years after the first, the New England Section. Distant travel was not so which was, of course, the essential fea- When genders reversed, prevalent back then and, for many, these sections were the focus of physics ture of the original (conceiving before The writer was cursed communications. eloping being perfectly possible and And regrets he transgressed as denoted. Regional physics activities are still vital, even in our fast-paced mobile quite likely these days, in fact). (M. Freedhoff, 1996) world. Industrial-academic interactions are typically local phenomena, as are many professional collaborations that enhance our research, teaching, and Physics Limerick Contest pleasure of doing physics. Students from physics departments feed local Clearly physicists care deeply about vented. Author of the best limerick industry and graduate schools. Faculty are a resource of technical expertise their limericks. In response to mem- will win a flock. Submit entries to: for industry and government laboratories. Industry, in turn, often provides ber demand, we announce the APS [email protected], or mail to: Limerick regional departments with a technical focus, internships, and support. Re- Physics Limerick Contest. Limericks se- Contest, APS News, The American gional meetings enable faculty and students from small departments to become lected will be printed in APS News Physical Society, College Park, MD connected to the broader physics community. and authors awarded a dunking bird, 20740. Deadline for submissions is Section meetings draw professors, undergraduate and graduate students, arguably the best physics toy ever in- January 15, 1997. retirees, and physicists working in local industry together to discuss a diverse range of research or educational issues. They are usually held at easy to reach (and inexpensive) sites and have low registration fees. Professor/ McKinsey & Co. a Boon to Downsizing mentors from physics departments throughout the region will cram their The opinion by Wolfgang Hierse in the NEW YORK TIMES, Sunday, September students into vehicles and go on a section meeting ‘road trip.’ Meetings are October 1996 APS News (“Leaving Sci- 16, 1996), and who would turn down usually informal and attendees tend to get to know each other well. They ence Can Be a Good Career Decision”) a good meal? Rich meals might even provide a unique educational experience for PITs (physicists in training) to hits the nail on the head: by choosing cut the life expectancy of the general meet working physicists, to experience the terror of presenting their work to to join McKinsey & Company he will population enough to help reduce others (in as nurturing a context as they will encounter in the outside world), help eliminate the few physicists that Medicare budgets. as well as possibly making post-graduation employment connections. still remain. McKinsey & Co. has been The writer is grateful to the Sections develop unique characters to suit their region’s membership. the star of such management consult- McKinsey organization for having been Some hold meetings that are primarily comprised of thematic tutorial invited ing firms all over the industrialized instrumental in forcing his early retire- sessions. Thematic sessions typically feature world-class researchers selected world for a great many years. Their ment after more than 30 years of service for their ability to give both tutorial background and a good feeling for activities have been good for society, to a major corporation, thereby bring- research frontiers. Other sections draw large numbers of invited and contrib- because the current oversupply of sci- ing him into an academic career. uted papers in diverse areas and have the flavor of small general meetings. entists and others might turn into an James L. Lauer Close to 500 attended the most recent Texas Section meeting. There is a oversupply of culinary experts (see the San Diego, California strong student involvement and educational component to most section meetings and they are frequently held jointly with sections of the American More Thoughts on Leaving Science… Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the Society of Physics Students (SPS). I enjoyed the Opinion article by we all have valuable skills in analytical If you live in a region that has a section and you wish to join, then contact Wolfgang Hierse on “Why Leaving Sci- thinking, problem-solving, mathematics, the APS Membership Department at: [email protected] or 301/209-3280. ence Can Be a Good Career Decision.” I etc. Unless you’re one of the “absolute There is no charge to join an APS section. credit him for being blunt... it’s needed! geniuses,” you should think seriously If you do not live in a region that has a section and are interested in Society can only afford to support a cer- about applying some of your valuable helping to form one, please contact me at: [email protected] or 301/209-3233. tain amount of pure “quest for skills elsewhere. Like Dr. Hierse (and my- knowledge” research, and I self), you might even find it more believe that society is tell- enjoyable than doing traditional phys- ing us that we can no longer ics! be this big. Take this as a Peter Heimann wake-up call. As physicists, Middletown, New Jersey

New England Section New York The commentary by have the somewhat disturbing impres- Section Wolfgang Hierse illustrates sion that what they are doing is actually a large and welcome trend, science in a way — the way it should Ohio as we witness competent be.” Section newly minted science Well-educated scientists, especially Ph.Ds compete success- those who have earned Ph.Ds, should fully for well-paid know when something is a science and non-academic positions. when it isn’t. And most practicing sci- This means that science is entists and engineers at all degree levels respected outside of its would agree that management consult- South Texas Eastern field. How many bankers, ing is not a science, nor are Section Section business analysts, or con- management consultants scientists. sultants could, in three There may be some similarities, but months, jump into the po- they are not the same. “We must make sition of a physics or clear that if a thing is not a science it is chemistry professor? not necessarily bad,” Richard Feynman But I was very sad as I once said. “For example, love is not a read Hierse’s following science. So, if something is said not to words: “I chose to join the be a science, it does not mean that consulting firm McKinsey something is wrong with it; it just last August. It seems to me means that it is not a science.” Hierse’s that these people care about misunderstanding of the endeavor of the right problems. I also purely academic research and for the

4 December 1996 APS News OPINION The Research Environment in a Global Economy by Robert M. White

he research paradigm has changed combination of theory and materials sci- Programs driven by federal agency Tsince the early years of the Cold ence, these so-called spin valves now missions, such as those of the Depart- War, when basic research was gener- operate at room temperature in fields as ment of Defense and NASA, will ously supported in the belief that this low as a few oersteds. This makes them continue to be a source of commer- research would serendipitously lead to candidates for field sensors, such as for cially relevant technology. new technology or, at least, establish a the fields associated with the data pat- Since technology is such an impor- reservoir of knowledge that could be terns recorded on magnetic disks or tant factor in economic growth, some tapped when needed. In the post-Cold tapes. Indeed, recording heads employ- felt that its development should not be War era, economic growth has become ing this phenomenon are now in left to chance. Thus, the federal gov- the national focus in research and de- development, only seven years after it ernment has also created new programs velopment. appeared in Physical Review Letters. specifically to stimulate industry to A list of the topics covered in “Phys- In this changed environment, corpo- develop technologies which they might ics News” in 1995 provides a list of rations cannot independently develop otherwise regard as too risky. The Ad- commercially relevant technologies of technology. The corporate laboratory is vanced Technology Program (ATP) in current interest to physicists: lasing being supplemented, if not replaced, by the Department of Commerce is an without inversion, protein folding, alliances, quite often with small compa- example. While ATP provides match- semiconductor noncrystallites, nies that have developed unique ing funds to industry for technology biomembranes, quantum computing, technologies with venture capital. Such development, its greater value may be characterized by multiple funding sources, nanotribology, and high temperature alliances also free corporations from the its impact on the innovation process by concerns about intellectual property, by superconductors. old sequential innovation process. To through the growth and acceptance of technology transfer mechanisms, and by There are two principal causes for this use a metaphor from computer architec- partnerships. ATP’s unrestricted fund- partnership agreements. I believe the chal- change in the research paradigm. First, ture, innovation today is like ing to partnerships provides an lenge facing the APS is to help prepare we face global competitors both in the “pipelining,” where multiple events are incentive for the formation of research young physicists for this new world. domestic U.S. market and in increasingly simultaneously overlapped in execution. consortia. Furthermore, more than $85 important world markets, competitors The national laboratories, somewhat million has flowed from ATP to more Robert M. White heads the Electrical and who are very adept at tapping into the isolated from the global economy by than 100 universities subcontracted by Computer Engineering Department at knowledge base to manufacture prod- their agency missions, have not seen ATP grant recipients, largely to provide Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to ucts with qualities and development the dramatic change that corporate the fundamental understanding associ- joining CMU in 1993, he served as the cycles that give them a competitive ad- laboratories have. They still attempt to ated with the technology being first Undersecretary of Commerce for vantage. Secondly, technology today has be self-sufficient. However, political developed. Technology. White will chair the APS become extremely complex and multi- forces during the early 1990s have This new paradigm means that physi- Panel on Public Affairs in 1997. This disciplinary. Electronics now comprises opened the national labs to industrial cists will increasingly find themselves in a article appeared in the August 1996 is- 20 percent of the value of an automo- collaboration through the mechanism much more complex, less sheltered re- sue of the newsletter of the APS Forum bile, for example. The innovation of the Corporate Research and Devel- search environment, one that is on Industrial and Applied Physics. process has also become tightly coupled opment Agreement (CRADA) program. from discovery to application. Sophisti- Our laws have also changed in rec- cated analysis techniques and rapid ognition of this need to establish communication have shortened the de- partnerships. The National Cooperative Practicing Civic Science: velopment time. Thus, high risk research Research Act of 1984 allows corpora- may not mean long-range research! tions to form research consortia without A good example of this is the recent fear of antitrust reprisal. Since partner- Notes From the Field discovery of giant magnetoresistance. ships involve the exchange of by Joel A. Snow With the development of thin film information, protection of intellectual deposition techniques, physicists natu- property rights is important. In 1980, n numerous occasions in recent seem hopelessly arcane and irrelevant. rally began to explore the properties the University and Small Business Omonths, NSF Director Neal Lane The pace of change has been so rapid of ultrathin films and multilayers. In Patent Procedure Act (known as the has suggested that the science commu- that it is hardly surprising that formal 1989, a group in France discovered that Bayh-Dole Act) gave universities the nity has a “new need to share with the education has not kept up. The pub- multilayers of iron and copper showed right to own and subsequently license American public the value and prom- lic, clearly, must learn outside the a very large change in their in-plane research results developed with federal ise of science and technology.” Indeed, classroom. resistance, depending on whether the funding. Prior to this time, such results he has suggested that “it may be time Improving the science and science- magnetization in the iron layers was par- were in the public domain, which in- to expand the professional responsi- awareness content of general education allel or antiparallel. As a result of a hibited their commercialization. bilities of science to include informing has long-run benefits for the unknown fellow citizens about science…” This and unanticipated vocations of the 21st mission of carrying science to the citi- century. But education, and public edu- zenry has been called a “civic role for cation in particular, seems to resist Letters Continued scientists,” or “civic science.” revolution and is entwined with so many people conducting it is so unfounded ity about the natural world (not the fi- Unlike public science, which is other aspects of society (including fi- and distressing because it is the very nancial, business, or social world) and aimed at advocacy of public policy re- nancing) that improving its pertinence skills, abilities and credentials that he the courage to try to intelligently pose lated to science and technology, the and performance will be a long, tough acquired through his Ph.D. that gave and answer questions about it; it is the objective of civic science is to inform struggle. Civic science, on the other him entree into the types of jobs he humility that one may or may not be citizens of how science functions and hand, is for today. The challenge is to was pursuing. able to offer some insight; and it is the contributes to our society, and there- discover how to communicate with “If you tackle problems nobody has rational application of the imagination. fore why it merits the public’s interest today’s working, reading, viewing and solved yet,” says Hierse, “If you do These, in my mind, are the defining and support. It is a broader issue than voting public on the basis of the tools whatever it takes to solve them, if you characteristics of scientists. building a constituency for science, but and experience that they have on tap believe in the power of reason, you Aaron Moment includes appreciation of the appropri- on their home ground. They will not be are a scientist.” I disagree. It is curios- Boston, Massachusetts ate uses of science. It’s not that the interested in laboratories or lectures, but public lacks interest, but rather that rather in finding out about things that Population Growth is Root of Energy Problem knowledge and understanding of sci- affect their jobs, businesses, health and The facts recounted in “The Current in total energy consumption in the U.S. ence are unfortunately not widespread. daily lives. Energy Situation: Federal Role Remains is the continuing rapid growth of the Despite the reality that science has On the basis of some 30 years of field Important” (The Back Page, October U.S. population, which is now over 3 enabled an unprecedented transforma- experience as a civic scientist, let me of- 1996) have been recounted before and million additional people each year. tion of human society, many of the fer a few observations or guidelines: have been largely ignored for years. Here is a challenge. Can you think daily activities of most people are simi- 1) Doing civic science is not for ev- The situation is truly frightening. But it of any problem, on any scale, from mi- lar to those of earlier generations, erybody. It is a calling where there is really distressing to see that the ar- croscopic to global, whose long-term though with different tools. The trans- needs to be a rapport between you ticle contains a clue to, but no overt solution is in any demonstrable way forming technologies that make our and your audience. You need to recognition of, the root of the prob- aided, assisted or advanced by having society different (from instant electronic speak their language. lem, in the statement, “On the other large populations at the local, regional, communications to highly productive, 2) What you have to say is not for hand, energy use [in the U.S.] on a per national or global levels? disease resistant seed corn) are seldom everybody. Interesting Joe and Jane capita basis has been relatively con- Albert A. Bartlett obvious in their relevance to everyday Farmer in cosmology may just be stant…” This suggests that perhaps the Boulder, Colorado life. Little wonder that what takes place too hard a sell, although why the main cause of the continuing increases in the research laboratory now may (Continued on page 6) 5 APS News December 1996 OSTP Releases Report on Reducing Excess Plutonium Stockpiles An interim study by independent U.S. DOE is expected to announce preferred President Clinton in October 1995. The Accelerator Center; and John Taylor, and Russian scientists released in No- alternatives for disposition of U.S. ex- commission was formally established emeritus vice president for nuclear vember by the White House Office of cess plutonium later this year. [Copies in mid-1996 at the initiative of the power of the Electric Power Research Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of the interim report are available upon PCAST, and the Russian Academy of Institute. Every member of the team is recommends a broad program of co- request from the White House Office Sciences. The group was directed to also an APS member; Ahearne and operation between the United States, of Science and Technology Policy.] make recommendations to the two Garwin are Fellows; Holdren is a Fel- Russia, and other countries to reduce “Moving forward to get rid of the Presidents on specific steps that could low and Recipient of the 1995 APS stockpiles of excess weapons pluto- vast stocks of excess bomb materials be taken to reduce stockpiles of ex- Forum Award; and Panofsky is a Fel- nium resulting from ongoing nuclear built up over nearly five decades of cess weapons plutonium. These low and was APS President in 1974. arms reductions. The group’s key rec- Cold War is one of this Administration’s independent recommendations The Russian team was chaired by ommendations are included in the highest priorities,” said John H. Gib- complement the government-level joint Academician Evgeniy Velikhov, presi- interim report; a final report is expected bons, Assistant to the President for technical assessment of plutonium dis- dent of the Kurchatov Institute, and in 1997. Science and Technology and co-chair- position options, also released today. included Aleksei A. Makarov, director The interim report released in No- man of President’s Committee of The U.S. team was chaired by Pro- of the Institute of Energy Economics vember recommends that both the U.S. Advisors on Science and Technology fessor John Holdren of Harvard in Moscow (and also an APS member); and Russia move forward quickly, and (PCAST). “This report provides both University, a member of PCAST, and Fedor M. Mitenkov, director of the Min- in parallel, to safely and securely store Presidents with the views of this dis- included John Ahearne, an adjunct pro- istry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM) and then reduce their stockpiles of tinguished group of scientists on the fessor of public policy at Duke nuclear design institute; Nikolai N. excess plutonium, with international quickest, most cost-effective, and most University; Richard Garwin, fellow Ponomarev-Stepnoi, vice president of inspection applied from very early in secure ways to reach that end, while emeritus of IBM Research Laboratories the Russian Research Center at the the process. The report urges that both protecting the environment and pub- and who served in an advisory capac- Kurchatov Institute; and Fedor countries pursue a dual-track approach, lic safety.” The Clinton Administration ity under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson Reshetnikov, senior scientist at using some of the excess plutonium as is expected to review the recommen- and Nixon; Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky, MINITOM’s Bochvar Institute of Or- fuel in existing nuclear reactors, and dations in preparation for deciding on director emeritus of the Stanford Linear ganic Materials in Moscow. immobilizing the rest in glass or ceramic options both for dealing with U.S. ex- with high-level wastes. cess plutonium and cooperation with U.S.-Russian technical cooperation Russia and other countries. to demonstrate the feasibility of vari- The U.S.-Russian Independent Sci- Improbable Researchers Gather for 1997 ous approaches is already underway. entific Commission on Disposition of These approaches are among the op- Excess Weapons Plutonium is an inde- Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony tions being considered in the U.S. pendent group chartered as a result of Some of the world’s top scientists con- National Public Radio’s “Talk of the plutonium disposition program, led by a proposal by Russian President Boris vened at Harvard University’s Sanders Nation/Science Friday” program, as the Department of Energy (DOE). The Yeltsin at his Hyde Park meeting with Theatre for the 1996 Ig Nobel Prizes, well as the television network C-SPAN. presented at the Sixth First Annual Ig The 1996 honoree in physics was Nobel Prize Ceremony, held October Robert Matthews of Aston University, Notes From the Field (Continued from page 5) 3, 1996. The prizes were handed out England, for his studies of Murphy’s Law, by genuine Nobel Laureates Dudley and especially for demonstrating that night sky isn’t bright might work. audience than the tale of the inven- Herschbach, William Lipscomb and oth- toast always falls on the buttered side. Most people are willing to have tion of Velcro or the Post-It Note, ers. A good-natured spoof of science Other awards include: Peace—Jacques faith that scientists know what they which also illustrate the scientific and the Nobel Prizes, the ceremony Chirac, President of France, for com- are doing. method, serendipity, and how honors people whose achievements memorating the 50th anniversary of 3) Keep it simple. We who are ad- chance favors the prepared mind. “cannot or should not be reproduced.” Hiroshima with atomic tests in the pa- dicted to precision in terminology 9) Seek out opportunities. Probably The event was reluctantly presented cific; Medicine—Tobacco company and expression, along with the ifs no one will come beating on your by The Annals of Improbable Research CEOs for their unshakable discovery, as and buts and caveats of a detailed door asking you to speak, but op- (AIR) (which has been described as “the testified to the U.S. Congress, that nico- argument, can quickly lose our au- portunities are everywhere if you MAD Magazine of science”). The cer- tine is not addictive; and in Art—Don dience in a welter of detail. But a pursue them. emony also featured the world Featherstone for the plastic pink fla- simple ice cube analogy can show 10) Communicating about science with premiere of “Lament Del Cockroach,” mingo. Additional information on the why warming that melts the west the general public is hard work. It a mini-opera for Nobel Laureates and studies cited or on the ceremony itself Antarctic ice cap would cause glo- takes time and talent to do it well. mezzo-sopranos. The event was tele- can be obtained by sending email to bal flooding. Moreover, the rewards are largely cast live, worldwide, on the Internet, [email protected] and/or visiting the 4) Avoid “talking down.” The audi- psychic — it’s a paying profession and recorded for later broadcast on AIR web site http://www.improb.com. ences may be literate, though not for only a few. But you might be literate in science. surprised at how open the public 5) Be clear on what your message is in your community may be to hear and what connection hooks it to about what you know, what you some matter of general public in- do, and why you do it. For them terest with which people identify. it’s a new and different world. 6) Credibility is precious, so be sure 11) Finally, remember to lighten up. your facts are really facts, that your Science is fun, after all, and some- interpretations of the importance of times can be funny. Public radio the work you are discussing is not in many locations carries a parody overblown, and that your conclu- called “Dr. Science” that spoofs the sions or opinions are not unduly smug, all- knowing scientist who self-serving. This is particularly the pontificates on practically every- case in communicating with politi- thing. A year or so ago, a film called cians where invidious remarks about “I.Q.” featured Walter Matthau as a subspecialities other than your own slightly batty Einstein with equally seldom result in overall benefit. batty Institute for Advanced Study 7) An out-and-out sales pitch for sci- buddies. This summer’s movie fare ence funding is seldom included “Phenomenon,” “The appropriate. The funding issue is Nutty Professor,” and “Twister,” always there in the background, about chasing tornadoes for scien- but public investments are made tific purposes. These films are full for many public purposes and of stereotypes involving science haves many different rationales. and light humor, to be sure, but APS E-Print Server Civic occasions are usually ill- also reflect perceptions in popular suited to complaining about money culture that include a certain odd — particularly if the complainer’s respect with which science is Authors, try out the new APS E-Print Server. The server is personal income is well above the viewed, and some frustration at open for postings of articles in any and all fields of physics local median income. Making a how hard it can be to understand. and physics education. Applied, industrial as well as basic top- pitch to a politician is a legitimate personal advocacy, but be careful Joel A. Snow is director of the Institute for ics are welcomed. Posting is free and accessible by colleagues about seeming to represent your Physical Research and Technology at Iowa world-wide through the web. Instructions for submittal or use institution if that’s not your job. State University. A longer version of this can be found under the E-Print Server button on the APS 8) The mundane may be more inter- article appeared in the Summer 1996 news- esting than the profound. The letter of the APS Forum on Education see Homepage [http://www.aps.org] or directly at [http:// discovery of quantum mechanics http://www.research.att.com/~klb/APS/ publish.aps.org/eprint/]. may be less compelling to a general newsletter.html.

6 December 1996 APS News ANNOUNCEMENTS

STOP! CAUGHT IN THE WEB Notable additions to the APS Web Server. The THINK! APS Web Server can be found at http://www.aps.org New/Updated Links: Meetings • March 1997 Meeting Announcement APS News Online (latest edition) • April 1997 Joint APS/AAPT Meeting NOMINATE! • APS Online Supplement Announcement • Electronic Abstract Submission Guide Education and Outreach Which of your APS member colleagues do you admire most? Who shares your views and concerns? Who has the best combination of Units • Industrial Summer Intern Program knowledge and experience to represent you, and lead the APS in • DHP Newsletter (Vol VI No 5, Oct 1996) Online Journals the right direction? Well, why not nominate the person (who could • Physical Review D online be you) to be a candidate for an elected position in the APS?

The Nominating Committee depends on APS members to propose candidates for positions elected by the membership: Vice Presi- dent, Chair-Elect of the Nominating Committee, and General Coun- Commonwealth of Independent States: cillors; and those elected by the Council: members of the Panel on Public Affairs and of the Nominating Committee. 1996-1997 Directory of For a nomination form contact: Amy Halsted, Administrator for Op- erating Committees, APS, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD Physics and Astronomy Staff 20740-3844, phone: (301) 209-3266; fax: (301) 209-0865; (email: [email protected]). Please provide biographical/supporting material Now Available from the Russian Academy of Sciences on your nominees. The deadline is January 31. The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) is now offering the first Directory of Physics and Astronomy Staff for the Commonwealth of Independent States, retailing for US$94.50 plus postage and handling. It numbers more APS Mass Media Fellowship Program - Summer 1997 than 516 pages. Compiled by S.I. Shkuratov and E.F. Talantsev of the Insti- tute of Electrophysics or RAS’ Urals Division, the hardcover book includes Deadline: 15 January 1997 listings for members of national academies of sciences, professors, doctors ▼ of sciences and philosophy, researchers, as well as more than 540 organizations doing physics, in all the republics of the former Soviet Union: Armenia, NEW IN 1997! Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, In affiliation with the popular AAAS program, APS will sponsor two ten-week Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and fellowships for physics students to work full-time over the summer as reporters, Uzbekistan. Email addresses are included in the listing. To order, complete researchers, and production assistants in mass media organizations nationwide. and return the form below. PURPOSE The intent of the program is to improve public understanding and appreciation ❑ of science and technology and to sharpen the ability of the fellows to commu- YES, Please send me: nicate complex technical issues to non-specialists. Please Print in Block Capitals QUANTITY PRICE ELIGIBILITY Commonwealth of Independent States: Priority will be given to graduate students in physics, or a closely related field, 1996-1997 Directory of Physics and although applications also will be considered from outstanding undergraduate Astronomy Staff (hardcover) and postdoctoral researchers. Applicants should possess outstanding written and oral communication skills and a strong interest in learning about the media. SUBTOTAL:

STIPEND *POSTAGE & PACKING: Remuneration is $4,000, plus a travel allowance of approximately $1,000. TOTAL: TERM Following an intensive three-day orientation in early June at the AAAS in POSTAGE & PACKING PER BOOK Washington, winning candidates will work full-time through mid-August. Russia: US$5.50 North America: US$10.50 former Soviet Union: US$7.50 Europe: US$10.00 SELECTION PROCESS Israel & Middle East: US$11.50 All other countries: US$11.00 During February, a review committee will screen completed applications received by the January 15 deadline. Files of the four or five most qualified appli- Draw a cheque to: Dr. S.I. Shkuratov cants will be submitted to host media organizations for final selection in April. Institute of Electrophysics Urals Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences TO APPLY 34, Komsomolskaya Str. The following materials must be received at the address below by JANUARY 15: Ekaterinburg, 620049, RUSSIA • Completed application form (available from the program office, below) Telephone: (3432) 49-91-80 • A copy of your résumé Facsimile: (3432) 44-50-51 • Brief sample(s) of your writing (3-5 pages on any subject, written in email: [email protected] language understandable to the general public — no technical papers, please), on single-sided, 8 1/2" x 11" paper, unstapled Signed:______Date:______• Three letters of recommendation (to be mailed directly to the program). Two of these letters should be from faculty members; one should be a Name:______personal reference. • Transcripts of your undergraduate and graduate work (to be mailed directly Position:______to the program) Organization:______

MAIL TO Address:______APS Mass Media Fellowship Program 529 14th Street, NW, Suite 1050 ______Washington DC 20045 Postal/Zip Code:______(202) 662-8700 • email: [email protected] http://aps.org/public_affairs/Media.html (includes PDF application forms) Country:______Internet Address:______

7 APS News December 1996 THE BACK PAGE Is Science a Victim of its own Success? by John Horgan

hese are trying times for truth-seek revolutions but only incremental, di- thought they knew everything. But Ters. Scientists feel increasingly be- minishing returns. then Einstein and other physicists dis- sieged by technophobes, animal-rights The vast majority of scientists are covered relativity and quantum activists, religious fundamentalists, content to fill in details of the great mechanics, opening up vast new vis- post-modern philosophers and stingy paradigms laid down by their prede- tas for modern physics and other politicians. After decades of stupendous cessors. They try to show how a new branches of science. Moral: anyone growth, funding for basic research has high-temperature superconductor can who predicts science is ending will begun to decline. be understood in quantum terms, or surely turn out to be as short-sighted Also, as science advances, it keeps how a mutation in a particular stretch as those 19th-century physicists were. imposing limits on its own power. of DNA triggers breast cancer. But some A similar anecdote alleges that in the Einstein’s theory of special relativity scientists are much too ambitious and 19th century a U.S. patent commis- prohibits the transmission of matter or creative for merely “mopping up” after sioner quit his job because he thought even information at speeds faster than the pioneers (as the philosopher Tho- everything had been invented. that of light. Quantum mechanics dic- mas Kuhn, who died this past June, First of all, both of these stories are tates that our knowledge of the liked to put it). These overreachers apocryphal. No American patent offi- microrealm will always be slightly want to transcend the received wisdom, cial ever quit his job because he blurred. Chaos theory confirms that to create revolutions in knowledge thought everything had been invented. even without quantum indeterminacy analogous to those triggered by And physicists at the end of the last many phenomena would be impossible Darwin’s theory of evolution or by century were engaged in debating such to predict, because minute influences quantum mechanics. profound issues as whether atoms re- can have have gigantic consequences. For the most part these ambitious ally exist. The historian of science And evolutionary biology keeps re- types have only one option: to pursue Stephen Brush of the University of minding us that we are animals, science in a speculative, non-empirical Maryland has called the “Victorian designed by natural selection not for mode that I call ironic science. Ironic calm” in physics a “myth.” discovering deep truths of nature but science resembles literary criticism or Furthermore, the inductive logic for breeding. philosophy or theology in that it offers underlying the that’s-what-they- All these limits will make the search points of view, opinions, which are, at thought-at-the-end-of-the-last-century “Unfortunately, the for truth more difficult in years to come. best, “interesting,” and which provoke argument is also deeply flawed. Be- microrealm that But in my view, by far the greatest further comment. But ironic science cause science has advanced so rapidly superstrings allegedly threat to science’s future is its past suc- does not converge on the truth. over the past century or so, this logic cess. Researchers have already mapped The most obvious source of ironic suggests, it can and will continue to inhabit is completely out the entire universe, ranging from science in this century is social science, do so, possibly forever. But viewed inaccessible to human the microrealm of quarks and electrons which has given us such wonderfully from an historical perspective, the mod- to the macrorealm of planets, stars and provocative paradigms as Freudian psy- ern era of rapid scientific and experimenters... This galaxies. Physicists have shown that all choanalysis, Marxism and structuralism. technological progress appears to be problem led the Nobel matter is ruled by a few basic forces. But ironic hypotheses have cropped up not a permanent feature of reality but laureate Sheldon Scientists have also stitched their in the so-called hard sciences as well. an aberration, a fluke, a product of a knowledge into an impressive, if not One striking specimen is superstring singular convergence of economic, Glashow of Harvard terribly detailed, narrative of how we theory, which for more than a decade political and intellectual factors. University to compare came to be. The universe exploded into has been the leading contender for a “The age in which we live,” the great existence 15 billion years ago, give or unified theory of physics. Often called Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once superstring theorists to take five billion years, and is still ex- a “theory of everything,” it posits that declared, “is the age in which we are ‘medieval theologians.” panding outwards. About 4.5 billion all the matter and energy in the uni- discovering the fundamental laws of years ago, the detritus from an explod- verse and even space and time stem nature, and that day will never come ing star, a supernova, condensed into from infinitesimal, string-like particles again.” our solar system. Sometime during the wriggling in a hyperspace consisting Modern science, as far as it has next few hundred million years, single- of 10 (or more) dimensions. come, has left many deep questions celled microbes emerged on the earth. Unfortunately, the microrealm that unanswered. But the questions tend to Prodded by natural selection, these pri- superstrings allegedly inhabit is com- be ones that will probably never be mordial organisms diversified into an pletely inaccessible to human definitively answered, given the limits extraordinary array of more complex experimenters. A superstring is suppos- of human science. How, exactly, was creatures, including Homo sapiens. edly as small in comparison to a proton the universe created? Could our uni- “The age in which we My guess is that this basic narrative as a proton is in comparison to the solar verse be just one of an infinite number live,’ the great Nobel that scientists have constructed from system. Probing this realm directly would of universes? Why is there something their knowledge, this modern myth of require an accelerator 1,000 light years rather than nothing? laureate Richard creation, will be as viable 100 or even around. This problem led the Nobel lau- These are the kinds of unanswer- Feynman once declared, 1,000 years from now as they are to- reate Sheldon Glashow of Harvard able questions that give rise to day. Why? Because it is true. Moreover, University to compare superstring theo- superstring theory and other ironic ‘is the age in which we given how far science has already rists to “ medieval theologians.” theories. I do not mean to imply that are discovering the fun- come, and given the physical, cogni- Some optimists contend that these ironic science has no value. At its best, damental laws of nature, tive, social and economic limits unconfirmed, far-fetched hypotheses ironic science, like great literature or constraining further research, science are signs of science’s vitality and art or philosophy, can ensure that we and that day will never is unlikely to make any significant ad- boundless possibilities. I see them as retain our sense of wonder before the come again.” ditions to the knowledge it has already signs of science’s desperation. By far mystery of the universe. But ironic sci- generated. By science I mean not ap- the most common objection to my end- ence cannot give us the truth. plied science but science at its purest of-science spiel is some variant of and grandest, the primordial human “That’s what they thought 100 years John Horgan is a senior writer at Sci- quest to understand the universe and ago.” Implicit within this response is entific American and author of The our place in it. Further research may the following argument: As the 19th End of Science, published this year by yield no more great revelations or century wound down, physicists Addison-Wesley.

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