Inside Top Physics News of 2011 A Publication of the American Physical Society see page 3 FEBRUARY 2012 • VOl. 21, No. 2 • www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/index.cfm

APS Membership Soars Above 50,000 Benchmark Four Distinguished Scientists to Give The official count of APS mem- ing. It shows the organization is APS Membership Increases Beller, Marshak Lectures bers for 2012 has been tabulated doing a great job reaching out to 2009-2012 60,000 and the Society has reached a new its members,” said Trish Lettieri, 50,055 The recipients of the 2012 at the April Meeting in Atlanta. Total Members record enrollment of 50,055 mem- APS’s Director of Membership. 50,000 Beller and Marshak lectureships Ömer Yavaş from Ankara Uni- bers. This surpassed last year’s Student and junior membership have been selected and will give versity in Turkey will deliver the 49,000 record of 48,263 by 1,792 new both grew about 10 percent over their talks at this year’s March Marshak lecture at the March and April meetings. The speakers Meeting. members, an increase of about 3.7 last year, accelerating a trend that 48,000 percent. This is also the first time started in 2006. Lettieri credits this were selected by the APS Com- “The participation of invited the membership has passed the increase in part to a refocused em- 47,000 mittee on International Scientific speakers from abroad is an op- 50,000 milestone. phasis on promoting APS benefits Affairs (CISA), from nomina- portunity, in particular for stu- 46,000 tions submitted by various APS dents and young researchers, to Membership increased in nearly to physicists at all stages of their 2009 2010 2011 2012 14,843 units. hear about research carried out all areas that APS tracked. Catego- careers as well as to retention ef- 15,000 ries that showed the biggest growth forts by APS staff. The increase in Student Members Terry Quinn from the Bu- in other countries,” said CISA are student and junior member- regular members partially stems 14,400 reau International des Poids et member Maria Allegrini of the ships. In addition, the number of from that trend, as existing junior Mesures in France and Roberta University of Pisa. regular members grew for the first members stayed on and became 13,800 Sessoli from the University of Each lectureship comes with Florence in Italy will be deliv- up to $2,000 in funding to help time in a decade. The number of full members. 13,200 members from outside of the Unit- “APS has done a better job ering the Beller lectures at the the recipients travel to the March March Meeting in Boston, while or April meeting. The meeting ed States also continued to show promoting our career activities 12,600 steady growth. and we’ve added business cards Dong-Pil Min from Seoul Na- program and other printed meet- 12,000 tional University in South Korea ing materials will highlight the “I’m really excited that all the as a benefit for junior members at 2009 2010 2011 2012 membership categories are grow- BENCHMARK continued on page 4 Graphs are on di erent scales and show totals from January 2012 will deliver his Beller lecture LECTURES continued on page 7 Community Weighs Pros and Cons of Physics by Press Conference By Michael Lucibella In an interview, he expanded on a subtlety for news media looking Particle physics made head- his concerns over the announce- for an easy headline. lines around the world in Septem- ment. He worried that internal “People are actually talking ber with the announcement that scientific debates over technical about sigmas and how things have researchers at the OPERA experi- matters would be misinterpreted to be checked and crosschecked,” ment recorded neutrinos travel- by members of the public as scien- said Katie Yurkewicz, the Director ing faster than the speed of light. tists disagreeing over fundamental of the Office of Communication at Within the scientific community it laws of nature. Fermilab. “It’s nice to see some of sparked a heated debate not only “There are things that are that being covered in the media.” about the veracity of the results, ready for prime time and there are James Gillies, CERN’s head of but also about when controver- things that aren’t,” Krauss said. communication, said that he was sial scientific results should be re- “We have to be very careful be- generally happy with the way the leased to the public. Voices from cause the public doesn’t know bet- press covered the story. across the spectrum have spoken Dario Autiero of the OPERA collaboration explains how they measured faster- ter.” “I think that by and large the up, some supporting the research than-light neutrinos. Many scientists are highly world got it right,” Gillies said, skeptical of the OPERA results, team’s decision to release the in- ture of the situation. In an article A dramatic claim from a distin- “Our analysis of the coverage af- formation to the public, and others and expect them to be explained terwards showed that as well.” penned for the Los Angeles Times, guished laboratory that turns out decrying it. away by some as yet unknown Krauss however said that he Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State to be false reinforces the notion There has been sharp disagree- systematic error. At issue was felt that the news media hyped the ment over whether or not the University wrote that “the way that somehow science is not to be whether the public at large under- story and focused on the contro- press coverage that followed left [OPERA’s result] was presented trusted, that one can dismiss theo- stood the preliminary nature of the versial implication that faster than the public with an accurate pic- to the world is cause for concern. ries one finds inconvenient.” results, or if that was too much of PRESS continued on page 3 Companies Pioneer New Nuclear Designs APS Honoree Brandon Turner Named Rhodes Scholar By Calla Cofield have its first small modular reactor By Bushraa Khatib (SMR) up and running by 2020. Two relatively new nuclear com- When Brandon Turner gradu- Close on NuScale’s heels is Bab- panies, NuScale Power and Terra- ated from high school, his stepfa- cock & Wilcox Modular Nuclear Power, are cooking up new reactor ther, Casey, used to jokingly call Energy LLC, with the mPower designs, and meeting new challeng- him a “renaissance man” because small reactor. Lorenzini says the es along the way. of his diverse interests within two major factors in turning the Modern light water reactors gen- and outside of academia. He told market around were the need to erate, on average, 1000 megawatts Turner that the Rhodes scholar- build nuclear reactors without tak- of energy. Medium reactors can dip ship was perfectly suited for such ing a major financial risk, and in down to 700 MW. Ideas for smaller a person. turn demonstrating that small reac- reactors have always been around, Now, poised to graduate from tors could be built economically. but never made it past the drawing Wake Forest University in May “And I am not bashful in saying board, as they seemed reasonable with a bachelor’s degree in bio- that our entry into the market, fol- only for small, isolated markets. physics and minors in chemistry lowed by B&W,” said Lorenzini, But in the late 2000s, the cost of and sociology, Turner is one of “were the two major events that large nuclear power plants began to 32 Americans awarded the pres- triggered that shift.” Brandon Turner grow unwieldy. Even large buyers tigious Rhodes scholarship for NuScale formed in 2007, but it were forced to make drastic finan- 2012. already had six years of R&D data of study. In a press release, Ameri- to American college graduates.” cial bets on new reactors. So around Selected from a pool of 830 to support its small reactor design. can Secretary of the Rhodes Trust “When I heard the announce- 2009, the market changed its mind candidates, scholars anticipate be- Lorenzini says the response to the Elliot Gerson called the Rhodes ment, I was lost for words,” Turn- about small reactors. ginning their studies at Oxford in design from all different branches Scholarships “arguably the most er said. “My stepdad is over the Paul Lorenzini is CEO of NuS- October 2012. The award covers famous academic award available moon about it.” cale Power, which is aiming to DESIGN continued on page 4 all expenses for two to four years SCHOLAR continued on page 4 2 • February 2012

Members This Month in Physics History in the Media February 6, 1957: MIT introduces the first cryotron “Well, there’s thousands of peo- maintain flight indefinitely.” ple involved in the program, hun- Jason Barnes, University of t is difficult to imagine today, but computers that as one read the data, the memory would be dreds of professional scientists at Idaho, on his idea to send a flying Iused to be built with bulky vacuum tubes and erased and had to be re-written back into mag- his level… killing one of them is not drone to Saturn’s moon Titan, MS- often filled entire rooms. One of the lesser-known netic storage– a time-consuming process. Buck’s going to have a big impact on the NBC.com, January, 10, 2012. devices invented to help scale them down to size nondestructive method eliminated that extra step, program… There’s a lot of Iranians was the cryotron, invented by an MIT graduate since the data could be read without erasing the “My goal is not to destroy re- student named Dudley Allen Buck. The cryotron memory. He also invented content addressable who can step up to the plate in or- ligion, though in fact that would der to help improve or fulfill Iranian was the first practical application of supercon- memory, a means of storing and retrieving data be an interesting side effect… It’s ductivity, the ability of certain metals to conduct with no need to know the precise location of that needs for its equipment. Now, a lot not any more my goal than it was of those efforts are being stopped. electrical current with no resistance at very low data, which also reduced processing time. Charles Darwin’s goal with his temperatures. On top of all this other research, Buck was And we don’t know how good this book [On the Origin of Species]. guy was. You know, he was a bril- Scientists began experimenting with materials intrigued by the possibility of making computer My goal is to use the hook of this at low temperatures, and the impact on electrical circuits that didn’t require vacuum tubes or a tran- liant, in a sense, smuggler. His loss fascinating question, which ev- may be significant. If he was aver- properties, in the 19th century, achieving both sistor, which had only recently been invented. He eryone asks, to motivate people to liquid and solid states of gases. realized he could make a logic age, he can easily be replaced.” learn about the real universe.” David Albright, Institute for In 1911, a Dutch physicist named circuit using just wire, diodes and Lawrence Krauss, Arizona Heike Kamerlingh Onnes suc- magnetic cores, like those used Science & International Security, State University, discussing his on the recent assassination of an cessfully used liquid helium to in early cryptographic commu- new book which poses the question cool solid mercury down to 4.19 nication systems. Furthermore, Iranian physicist, PBS’s News- “Why is there something rather hour, January 12, 2012. K, at which point, he noted, the if he could exploit the ability of than nothing?,” MSNBC.com, material’s electrical resistivity magnetic fields to disrupt super- “Magnetic materials are ex- January 9, 2012. abruptly disappeared. This was conductivity–usually seen as a tremely useful and strategically “It is significant because it the first observation of supercon- drawback–it would be possible to important to many major econo- opens up a whole new realm to ductivity. make a switch for use on integrat- mies, but there aren’t that many of ideas involving invisibility.” By the mid-1950s, in the wake ed computer chips. them… To make a brand new ma- Martin McCall, Imperial Col- of the invention of the transistor, Buck sketched out his con- terial is very intriguing and scien- lege London, on Cornell research researchers were looking for ways cept for a cryotron in his research tifically very important.” into a “time cloak,” The Associ- to integrate thousands of transis- notebook in December 1953, and Shan X. Wang, Stanford Uni- ated Press, January 9, 2012. tors on a single circuit, thereby began building practical devices versity, on a new 12-atom nano- creating computers that would be Dudley Allen Buck within two years, using two su- “I think it’s a big step forward… material used to store digital in- thousands of times faster and much smaller than perconducting wires made out of niobium and It’s another example of the beauty formation, The New York Times, the old vacuum tube technology previously in use. tantalum, respectively, each with a different criti- of ‘transformational optics,’ which January 12, 2012. One of the challenges was heat: packing all those cal temperature. He wrapped the higher T niobi- is behind all these ideas.” c components so close together led to increased um wire around the lower-T tantalum wire , and “If you do this with two atoms, Vladimir M. Shalaev, Purdue, c electrical resistance. Superconductors were eyed made sure they were electrically isolated from then they behave more like a quan- on Cornell research into a “time as promising candidates because they could con- each other. tum mechanical object,” Dr. Hein- cloak,” The Washington Post, Jan- duct with no resistance. And one of those research- Then Buck immersed the device in liquid heli- rich said. “This is why science is uary 4, 2012. interested in this work more than ers eying such materials was Dudley Allen Buck. um, making them superconducting. The tantalum the technology.” “I play around with Mathemat- Born in San Francisco in 1927, Buck grew up wire could conduct large amounts of electrical Andreas Heinrich, IBM, on a ica a lot… We were eating pasta, in Santa Barbara and developed a passion for am- current in its superconducting state. But when cur- new 12-atom nanomaterial used to and I was wondering how easy ateur radio, earning a commercial radio operator rent passed through the niobium coil, it produced store digital information, The New these shapes would be recreated.” license at just 16. He worked part-time at a local a magnetic field to switch off the superconduc- York Times, January 12, 2012. Sander Huisman, University of radio station before heading off to the University tivity of the tantalum wire. The tantalum served Twente, on generating mathemati- of Washington to study electrical engineering, ra- as a “gate,” while the coiled niobium served as a “El Gordo is at a distance that cal equations for pasta shapes, The dio, and radar theory. After graduating in 1948, “control.” corresponds to a distance of about New York Times, January 9, 2012. he served two years in the US Navy, working on The breakthrough generated a great deal of seven billion light years–we’re classified cryptography research in Washington excitement for the prospect of miniaturization of looking at it at a time that the Uni- “In recent years, people have DC, in a building that housed 121 “bombe” com- computer components, despite the need for liq- verse was only half as old as it is found emergent behaviors that look puters used to break Japanese and German ciphers uid helium to maintain the superconducting state. now, when structure was forming very much like properties that seem during World War II. He was even sent on a top- Life Magazine featured a full-page photograph of at a different rate… By looking at fundamental. For example, the mo- secret mission to Berlin that remains classified to Buck and his cryotron in one hand, and the out- and understanding the properties of tion of electrons in a single layer of this day. dated vacuum tube in the other, in 1957, and the El Gordo, we’re able to understand carbon atoms looks in many ways After his return from Berlin, Buck began his Institute of Radio Engineers gave him their award the time evolution of the structure like special relativity. So, before graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of for engineers under the age of 30 that same year. formation of the Universe.” the world ends, I’d like to know, Technology. His first assignment, working with The smaller he could make the cryotron sys- Jack Hughes, Rutgers Uni- deep down, is Nature reductionist Ken Olsen, was to develop ferrite materials for a tems, the greater the processing speeds that could versity, on discovering the largest or emergent?” magnetic core memory in a prototype computer be attained, so Buck’s research in the late 1950s galaxy cluster ever seen, dubbed Doug Natelson, Rice Universi- called the Whirlwind. This became the basis of his focused on ways to shrink the components further. El Gordo, BBC News, January 10, ty, upon being asked what one thing master’s thesis, demonstrating that ferroelectric With his colleague, Kenneth Shoulders, he started 2012. would he want to know if the world were about to end, The Houston materials could be used for digital data storage making thin-film cryotron integrated circuits (us- “Because it would be electrical- Chronicle, January 7, 2012. and switching–the earliest demonstration of fer- ing lead and tin thin films) in the laboratory, incor- ly powered by ASRGs (Advanced roelectric memory (FeRAM). He also showed that porating insulating oxide layers. He also improved Stirling Radioisotope Generators), “First, you have to understand these materials made excellent voltage controlled the mechanical strength of the system through the we could theoretically go forever the size and scope of this problem. switches. He earned his MS in 1952. development of electron beam lithography tech- on that power…The nominal mis- The debris field from this Japanese Buck’s other work included a new method of niques that reduced the need for chemicals when sion is a year, but we don’t re- nondestructive sensing of magnetic materials. ally have an upper limit. We could MEMBERS continued on page 4 One challenge with magnetic core memory was MIT continued on page 6

Series II, Vol. 21, No. 2 a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests from sub- General Councillors ADVISORS February 2012 scribers for missing issues will be honored without charge Haiyan Gao, Marta Dark McNeese, Nergis Mavalvala*, Representatives from Other Societies only if received within 6 months of the issue’s actual date Warren Mori, Pierre Meystre, Jorge Pullin*, Keivan G. © 2012 The American Physical Society Fred Dylla, AIP; David R. Sokoloff, AAPT of publication. Periodical Postage Paid at College Park, Stassun MD and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send International Councillor International Advisors Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 address changes to APS News, Membership Department, Annick Suzor-Weiner Louis Felipe Rodriguez Jorge, Mexican Physical Society; American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Editor•...... Alan Chodos J. Michael Roney, Canadian Association of Physicists Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Nominating Committee Staff Science Writer ...... Michael Lucibella Lars Bildsten Staff Representatives Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson APS COUNCIL 2012 Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten Proofreader...... Edward Lee President Jill Dahlburg Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director Robert L. Byer*, Stanford University Division, Forum and Section Councillors of Education and Diversity; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Editorial Director; Christine APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- Neil Cornish* (Astrophysics), Thomas Gallagher Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael monthly, except the August/September issue, by the cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing President-Elect (Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics), Mark Reeves Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Michael S. Turner*, University of Chicago (Biological), Nancy Levinger* (Chemical), Francis Hell- lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// man (Condensed Matter Physics), TBA (Computational), Administrator for Governing Committees news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. Vice-President James Wallace (Fluid Dynamics), Gay Stewart* (Forum Ken Cole Sections, and Forums; advance information on meetings Malcolm R. Beasley*, Stanford University on Education), TBA, (Forum on Graduate Student Af- of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes fairs), Michael Riordan (Forum on History of Physics), tees and task forces, as well as opinions. should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– Executive Officer TBA (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), Her- * Members of the APS Executive Board Membership Department, American Physical Society, Kate P. Kirby*, Harvard-Smithsonian (retired) man Winick* (Forum on International Physics), TBA Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, (Forum on Physics and Society), Anthony Johnson (La- ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- [email protected]. Treasurer/Publisher ser Science), Ted Einstein (Materials), David McIntyre dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Joseph W. Serene*, Georgetown University (Emeritus) (Northwest Section), Wick Haxton* (Nuclear), Marjorie For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All cor- Editor-in-Chief Corcoran* (Particles & Fields), John Galayda (Physics American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington respondence regarding APS News should be directed to: Gene D. Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) of Beams), Vincent Chan (Plasma), Scott Milner (Poly- Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least 6 mer Physics), Bruce Barrett (4 Corners Section) Past-President MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. weeks advance notice. For address changes, please send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, include Barry C. Barish*, Caltech February 2012 • 3

2011 in Review: Policy and Budget Highlights from FYI of Top 11 Physics Headlines 2011 The following are reprinted from FYI, the American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News, http://aip.org/fyi/. APS News Picks 2011’s Top 11 Physics Headlines January President Barack Obama signs into law a reauthorization of the At the turn of the year, APS scientists continued to sift through down proof of the elusive particle, America COMPETES Act. OSTP Director John Holdren issues a News staff looked back at the news data from the disaster, new insights only to have it dodge discovery memorandum on scientific integrity. NASA warns of inadequate about physics and physicists that into what happened have been again and again. The first wave funding and unattainable schedule for Space Launch System and made headlines in 2011. These gleaned. In December, researchers of news came in the beginning of Crew Vehicle. top eleven selections for 2011 are from NASA and Ohio State Uni- April when the CDF collaboration February not necessarily the stories that will versity announced that the resulting at the Tevatron at Fermilab made A NASA safety panel expresses concern about the human prove the most significant or long- headlines with the announcement spaceflight and exploration program. House Republicans put forth lasting, but they are a fair sample of an unusual “bump” in their data a budget plan that includes significant cuts in funding for the DOE of what the media reported, and the that could indicate a new particle. Office of Science and the National Institute of Standards and Tech- public digested, over the previous Ultimately the bump turned out nology. The President’s FY 2012 budget request keeps funding for twelve months. to be a statistical fluke that disap- NSF, the DOE Office of Science, and NIST research programs on Closing in on Habitable Planets peared with more data. Hot on a doubling track. Corporations, associations, and universities warn Astronomers using the Kepler its the heels came a leaked memo of “devastating impact” of funding cuts to S&T programs in House- telescope are homing in on discov- seemingly indicating that an an- passed budget bill. ering a true Earth-like, potentially nouncement was imminent from March habitable planet outside our solar the ATLAS detector at the LHC that Appropriations hearings begin, with Members expressing sup- system. In January, news broke the boson was spotted with a mass port for S&T agencies and doubt about Administration’s intentions that it had discovered its first rocky around 115 GeV. An official denial for NASA. planet, one just 1.4 times the size Helicopter view of Sendai, Japan after from CERN put that rumor to rest. 2011 tsunami which shows damage in April of Earth, but twenty times closer to the Tōhoku region with black smoke The airwaves went quiet for a few Republican and Democratic appropriators fiercely criticize Ad- its star than Mercury is to the Sun. coming from the Nippon Oil Sendai oil months, until mid-December when refinery ministration’s decision to cancel the development of the Yucca In February, the team said that out an announcement through a public Mountain nuclear waste repository. Congress completes work on of Kepler’s more than 2,300 planet tsunami was so devastating in part seminar revealed that physicists FY 2011 appropriations legislation, about six months after the new candidates, it found 54 signals that because two tsunami waves merged at ATLAS and CMS both saw en- fiscal year started. House passes a FY 2012 budget plan that would indicated a planets orbiting their offshore to form a single massive hancements in their data at around cut science funding to the 2008 level. Key Senate Democratic ap- parent stars in the zone where liq- ocean surge. 125 GeV, but not nearly at the lev- propriator warns NASA officials that appropriators will not support uid water can exist. The first habit- Quantum Computing els of significance needed to be de- projects with cost overruns. able zone planet was confirmed in Researchers working towards clared a discovery. Thus, the search May December with the announcement building a workable quantum continues. House and Senate authorizers express skepticism about Admin- of a planet 2.4 times the radius of computer hit a major milestone in Heaviest Antimatter istration’s human spaceflight plans. House appropriators express Earth orbiting a star 600 light-years 2011. In March, a team at Univer- Researchers at the Relativistic strong support for federal science funding, but severely criticize Ad- away. Just a few days later, NASA sity of California Santa Barbara an- Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven ministration’s interpretation of a directive prohibiting interactions by revealed its discovery of the small- nounced that it had built a chip that National Laboratory announced in OSTP and NASA with China. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben est rocky planets yet, the smallest holds four qubits capable of doing April that they had synthesized the Bernanke highlights the government’s role in promoting research being 87 percent the size of Earth, basic calculations. In September, heaviest antimatter ever produced, and development in a keynote address. Sixty-one representatives orbiting a star 1,000 light years the same team announced that it had a handful of antihelium-4 nuclei. sign a letter to House appropriators expressing their “strong support away. improved upon the design and built They produced the anti-alpha par- for robust and sustained funding” for the DOE Office of Science. A The Japanese Tsunami and a chip that incorporates Von Neu- ticles by smashing gold atoms to- National Academy of Science committee declares “Climate change Fukushima mann architecture similar to that gether nearly a billion times, pro- is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses The magnitude 9.0 Japanese found in home computers. The de- ducing the signature of antihelium significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems.” earthquake and subsequent tsu- sign utilizes a tiny central process- a total of eighteen times. The sci- June nami and nuclear meltdown were ing unit hooked up to rudimentary entists at the STAR collaboration, House appropriators start approval of FY 2012 funding bills. terrible tragedies of an almost in- memory that holds programming responsible for the creation of the “U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Plan” identifies as one of its comprehensible scale. The coincid- instructions and data. The chips are antihelium, say that this will likely four goals “Maintain a vibrant U.S. effort in science and engineering ing disasters prompted a mass of about as elementary as computing stand as the record for the heaviest as a cornerstone of our economic prosperity with clear leadership in news coverage that intimately tied can get, and there remains a lot of antimatter for the foreseeable fu- strategic areas.” FDA and EPA announce plans to review nanotech- together science and public safety. work ahead, but it is a major early ture, as the production of heavier, nology applications. National Science Board requests comments on As the catastrophe at the Fukushi- step on the road from quantum qu- stable nuclei are far rarer and be- draft NSF merit review criteria. ma Daiichi power plant continued bits to viable processors. yond the capacity of any current ac- July to unfold over weeks, then months, Higgs Boson celerator technology. House appropriators terminate FY 2012 funding for James Webb news about the dangers of radia- The hunt for the Higgs boson Living Laser Space Telescope. Government Accountability Office faults Depart- tion exposure, containment and captured headlines throughout the Scientists at the Harvard Medi- ment of Energy about the helium-3 stockpile shortage. House re- cleanup grabbed headlines around year. Every few months scientists cal School and Massachusetts Gen- REVIEW continued on page 6 the world. Even months later, as seemed closer than ever to pinning HEADLINES continued on page 6

PRESS continued from page 1 light travel undermines the theory results. sible to keep out of public view boson was posted to Peter Woit’s seminar, CERN put out its own of special relativity. “People get the impression that for long. In many fields of phys- blog “Not Even Wrong.” Over press release, which featured ca- “For me, if a story leads the science is just a series of fads,” ics, including particle physics, it is just a few days, rumors circulated veats about the results including, public to follow-up, and the sto- Krauss said. now standard practice for the pre- around the world until CERN put “independent measurements are ries that can be written follow-up On the flip side is the opinion print of an upcoming paper to be out an official statement saying needed before the effect can either on sound science, it’s a good thing. that the public is interested in the posted to the online website arXiv. that the memo was not a definitive be refuted or firmly established. If instead it leads the public to to- process of science, and has a right org, where it is freely accessible statement of any official results. This is why the OPERA collabora- tally misinterpret the science, than to know how it works. Announce- by anyone, including the press. Preprints, leaks and rumors tion has decided to open the result that’s a bad thing,” Krauss said. ments like OPERA’s have been “The world, the blogosphere, like these have shaped how pub- to broader scrutiny.” “What is the message the public is seen as a way for people to learn the press was talking about this lic information officers deal with Even before the press release going to get?” about what happens within large before CERN put out any press re- potential news coming out of labs and seminar, information about Still others have taken a more scientific collaborations. lease,” Gillies said. and experiments in the age of the the findings started appearing on carefully nuanced view. “I don’t see why we can’t tell In addition, huge research internet. Press officers say they the internet and in the popular “Like anything else there was the public when we’re making teams like OPERA or the ATLAS have to try to be the first to release press. Postings by the scientists press that was responsible, care- progress but not there yet,” said and CMS collaborations are made information in order to have their on the internet and interviews fully noting the caveats, and there Sean Carroll of Caltech. “More up of scientists from hundreds of voices heard and stay ahead of the given to the news media prompted was press that was not as respon- information is more honest. The institutions. Coordinating what rumors. sible,” said Robert Garisto, editor public can get a better idea of how information is released and when “I think it’s more confusing for CERN to put together a press re- of Physical Review Letters. science actually works.” can be difficult. the public that results are being lease about the findings. Gillies What role these news reports These kinds of debates are like- “These collaborations have made public anyway, being dis- said that in the days before De- have on the general public’s over- ly to intensify in the future as the thousands of people, all of whom seminated by people who are not cember’s seminar that presented all perception of science is at the public continues to get a more un- have access to the internet and can part of the collaboration,” Yurke- “tantalizing hints” of the Higgs core of many of these debates. A filtered view of the internal work- tell people about findings,” Yurke- wicz said. boson, news of the findings like- big concern is whether members ings of science. The internet has wicz said. Such was the case with the OP- wise started to trickle out. of the general public see a news changed the paradigm of how and Leaks are not uncommon, and ERA results. They were presented “In these two cases we’ve been item about a scientific discovery when news is released and through can quickly spiral out of control. not at a true press conference per trying to tone down what has been seemingly overturning long-es- what channels. Information about In April, an internal memo from se, but an open seminar showing said about them already,” Gillies tablished theories, and start to lose big discoveries, especially at large the ATLAS collaboration about a results which garnered much press said. “We’re not driving this con- faith in the authority of scientific collaborations, is nearly impos- supposed detection of the Higgs attention. In conjunction with the versation, we’re joining it.” 4 • February 2012

SCHOLAR continued from page 1 MEMBERS continued from page 2 This isn’t Turner’s first time components. tragedy is the size of the state of crystals particularly rich, but ex- and time worrying about that. I just receiving recognition for aca- His classes and lab work in California.” periments are pretty cheap and love the ability to be able to pour demic success. He received the college helped Turner develop a Michio Kaku, City College of easy. As you can imagine, ice your experiment down the drain or 2010-2011 APS Scholarship for physicists’ approach to problem- New York, on debris that washed doesn’t have a lot of safety issues. just evaporate it into the air without Minority Undergraduate Physics solving that he finds applicable up on the west coast of the United For almost anything else you can any thought of safety.” Majors, which provides funding to other areas. “You can work out States, purportedly left over from think of growing, experiments are Kenneth Libbrecht, Caltech, on and mentoring to underrepresent- a lot beforehand if you picture a the Japanese tsunami, CNN.com, confounded by safety issues. Just his work researching snowflakes, ed minorities pursuing degrees in problem in your head and extrap- December 29, 2011. about any chemical has hazards, so The Los Angeles Times, December physics. Past scholars have gone olate from that,” he said. “Not only is the physics of ice you have to spend a lot of money 23, 2011. on to earn PhDs in physics, work Though Turner was aware of as university faculty members, re- DESIGN continued from page 1 the Rhodes Scholarship since of the industry was overwhelm- yourself in this business without for sixty or more years. search scientists, and high school graduating high school, he dis- ingly positive. The cost of small establishing both market credibility A major hurdle for a new and physics teachers. Turner also at- missed the idea while in college, reactors alleviated the growing cost and a financial balance sheet,” said innovative nuclear technology is tends Wake Forest on a full, merit- believing he wasn’t competitive of large reactors, while also offer- Lorenzini. “The buyers of these proving that it is safe. That’s the based Reynolds scholarship. enough. Tom Phillips, Director ing scalability, that is, the option to plants want to know that the seller responsibility of the NRC. The ma- Turner hadn’t always planned of the Wake Forest Scholars Pro- add more modules to one facility if has got the capability to deliver and jority of designs that come through on majoring in physics. When he gram, approached Turner during the energy demands grew. is going to be there. So you’ve got the NRC are based on light water was younger, he thought that he his junior year and encouraged The NuScale design is based to have people behind you who are reactor technology, and in those would become a biologist. Every- him to apply. on light water reactor designs, but going do that.” cases “the staff here at the NRC thing changed when he took and Turner will head to DC in the NuScale reactor units are only In 2011, Fluor Corporation expects it to take about 5 years to fell in love with AP Physics as a September for a farewell party of 45 megawatts. The reactor is scal- agreed to invest in excess of $30 go through all the work necessary senior in high school. He liked sorts, where this year’s scholars able, and a single facility can host million in NuScale, which gives to show that any given design is that physics combined math- will leave for Oxford together. between one and twelve units. The the company the financial security acceptable for use in the Unit- ematical rigor with the ability to He looks forward to exploring a reactor is cooled by natural circu- it needs to attract future purchas- ed States,” said Scott Burnell, a explain the world–something that range of possibilities for his next lation, so there are no pumps or ers. The next step will be gaining spokesperson for the NRC. Burnell he appreciated and enjoyed about two years abroad. He plans to try pipes, which can potentially fail. approval from the U.S Nuclear says the Commission is working to other sciences. a Masters in evidence-based so- The entire plant, including the Regulatory Commission (NRC) to expand its knowledge base to keep “I was really excited to find out, cial intervention for a year, and if containment, sits in a pool of wa- start construction. The company up with more innovative designs in college, that there is actually a that doesn’t suit his tastes, to con- ter, so that no systems need to be plans to submit its application to on the horizon. But right now, the great variety of ways to combine tinue on with a one-year global running to remove heat. Lorenzini the NRC this year. NRC may not have the expertise to my interest in biology and phys- health science program. Classes describes the technology as revo- NuScale has a major advantage evaluate all new technologies in the ics,” he said. Jacquelyn Fetrow’s and summer research won’t leave lutionary, but also emphasizes its in its pursuit of approval from the desired time frame. lab at Wake Forest presented an Turner with too much free time to simplicity. NRC, because its design is based “We have had conversations ideal combination of his two in- return to the US. Instead, his fam- Work on the NuScale design be- on current light water reactors. This with vendors where we’ve said, terests, and Turner has worked on ily anticipates seizing the oppor- gan in 2000, and emerged out of a may not be the case for companies ‘you’re going to need to do a lot various computational biophysics collaborative project led by Idaho working with more innovative de- of work to beef up the supporting and bioinformatics projects there tunity to visit him–and Europe–in National Environment & Engi- signs, such as the traveling wave case for this particular technolo- since his freshman year. the near future. neering Laboratory (INEEL) with reactor (TWR) design by Terra- gy’,” said Burnell. “It’s not enough Fetrow was very happy to hear Beyond the Rhodes Scholar- support from Oregon State Univer- Power. to simply run a computer model if that Turner was named a Rhodes ship, Turner sees medical school sity (OSU), and funded by the U.S. The TWR reactor requires a you’re going to offer some inno- scholar. She calls Turner a smart, on the horizon, perhaps with a res- Department of Energy. The project small amount of enriched uranium vative feature. To some extent the hardworking student who very idency in radiation oncology since ended in 2003, but OSU continued to start the fission process, but the NRC is going to have to see real- much deserves the honor. “His the specialty can be physics-ori- to support R&D on the reactor de- majority of its fuel is natural or de- world empirical data to say that that contributions to my research and ented. He dreams of a way to tie sign. By the time the company was pleted uranium 238: the most com- particular new feature is going to to the lab group rival those of his myriad interests–biophysics, officially formed in 2007, the- or mon isotope of uranium found in do what you say it’s going to do.” graduate students,” Fetrow said. sociology, and social intervention, ganization had six years of strong nature, and a waste product from This appears to be the case with Fetrow’s research group aims among others–into a cohesive set R&D data to support the design. the production of LWR fuel. Inside TerraPower, which, without the to identify or strengthen the con- of activities. It is possible that NuScale could the TWR reactor, uranium 238, ability to build a test reactor, can’t nection between the structure of a Turner said that reading about have sold the design to a larger which is not fissile and cannot sup- gather enough data to satisfy the protein’s active site and its func- the accomplishments of other nuclear company, but each meeting port a chain reaction by itself, turns NRC in the time frame they’d like. tion. “The more success we have Rhodes scholars blows him away, with a potential buyer also revealed into plutonium 239 which is also So the company wants to gain ap- with this will allow us to take and that it’s an honor to be includ- NuScale’s design to a potential used as fuel. This would mitigate proval to build a reactor in a coun- any protein, analyze its structure, ed in the group of current and past competitor. Eventually, the deci- the threat of nuclear proliferation try that has the expertise to approve and make claims about its func- scholars. “I look at this as a great sion was made to start an indepen- because the plutonium 239 is never the TWR design. TerraPower will tion,” Turner said. Since numer- opportunity. It doesn’t say much dent company. separated from the uranium, and is then return to the US with data to ous medications deal with binding about me yet. It says a lot about “We believed right from the be- used immediately. The TWR reac- demonstrate the safety of the de- to the active site, Turner’s work what I can do,” he said. “I’m look- ginning that you couldn’t sustain tor can operate on one fuel supply sign. could potentially have applica- ing forward to this opportunity to tions in reverse-engineering drugs challenge myself and grow in the or determining their ideal protein process.” Letters APS encourages interested readers to submit letters to by Michael Lucibella APS News by emailing [email protected].

BENCHMARK continued from page 1 our meetings,” Lettieri said. “It’s She noted that the Society has also starting to pay off in growth of recently added more international both junior membership and the members to its Council and has regular members.” been developing more programs The number of international and other ways to serve interna- members showed healthy growth tional members. as well. All together 10,989 mem- Other demographics of the bers live abroad, up 640 from last membership held constant or year or about 6 percent. In total, showed very slight growth. Senior international members make up members also posted an increase about 22 percent of APS member- of just less than 1 percent, while ship. Amy Flatten, APS Director lifetime members all posted in- of International Affairs, credited creases of 1.6 percent over last the increase to more efforts to year. reach out to physicists interna- These membership counts tionally. are held every year to assess the “We’ve been trying to expand health of the Society. The mem- our international engagement, and bership numbers are important through our International Friends also in enhancing the Society’s network, we’ve provided activity grass-roots lobbying efforts when grants to encourage APS activi- advocating for improvements in ties in the local communities of science policy and increased re- our APS members,” Flatten said. search funding. © Michael Lucibella, 2011 February 2012 • 5

Laying on of Hands On January 13, 26 physicists Education C orner from around the country gath- A column on educational programs and publications ered at APS headquarters in College Park to sort more than 1000 abstracts for the PhysTEC publishes book on teacher preparation. April Meeting, which will take APS and AAPT recently published a compendium of ar- place this year from March 31 ticles on the preparation of physics and physical-science to April 3 in Atlanta, Georgia. In the photo, Bernard Kelly of teachers. This book includes new reports reflecting cut- NASA Goddard conducts the ting-edge research and practice, as well as reprints of ritual blessing of the manu- previously published seminal papers. The book has three scripts while Vicky Kalogera of primary objectives: (1) to provide a resource for physics Northwestern University (left) departments and faculty members who wish to develop and Manuela Campanelli of and/or expand programs for pre-service or in-service Rochester Institute of Technol- teachers; (2) to encourage scholarly documentation of ogy (right) read abstracts. ongoing research and practice, in a form accessible to a Photo by Michael Lucibella/APS broad audience of physicists; (3) to encourage recogni- tion of teacher preparation as a scholarly endeavor ap- Foundation Marks Its Centennial at APS March Meeting propriate for faculty in physics departments. The book is freely available online, and printed copies of the book will The Research Corporation for tion has supported more than and among scientific organiza- be available soon. Scientific Advancement (RCSA), 18,000 scientists, 40 of whom tions–and we are both focused on the oldest foundation dedicated have gone on to win Nobel prizes improving science education and To view the electronic version of the book, please visit: purely towards funding scientific including ten in physics. creating new and productive com- http://www.ptec.org/webdocs/PtecBook.cfm research, is marking the centen- A former physical chemist munities of scientists.” nial of its founding at a reception at the University of California, RCSA has carved out a niche Career Workshop with Peter Fiske at APS March at this year’s APS March Meeting. Berkeley, Frederick Gardner Cot- for itself as one of the premier Meeting As part of the reception, Eric Ma- trell established Research Cor- sources of grants for students and Are you or someone you know a physicist who wants to zur of Harvard will honor David poration in 1912 using proceeds researchers early in their career. take his or her job search to the next level? APS is proud Hall of Amherst College, recog- from his invention, the electrostat- “Their idea is to help young sci- to offer a FREE interactive workshop at the APS March nizing him as the 2012 recipient ic precipitator, which helps to pull entists get started,” said Judy Franz, Meeting with award-winning author and experienced sci- of the APS Prize for a Faculty air pollutants out of smokestacks. who served as APS Executive Of- ence career coach Peter Fiske. Topics will include career Member for Research in an Un- APS and RCSA have worked ficer from 1994 to 2009. “A lot of dergraduate Institution, a prize together to increase the participa- planning, developing a compelling CV, and more! Space people started with their first grants that is sponsored by RCSA. tion of underrepresented groups is limited, so anyone interested should RSVP to Crystal from Research Corporation.” RCSA is the second oldest pri- in physics. The Corporation pro- Bailey ([email protected]) She was among them. Franz vate foundation in the US, after vided the seed money for the APS www.aps.org/meetings/march/events/workshops/ca- got her research career started the Carnegie Foundation. Histori- Edward A. Bouchet award, which reers.cfm with a grant from Research Cor- cally it has sponsored cutting-edge each year recognizes the contribu- poration in the late 1960s. research, often with uncertain out- tions of a distinguished minority Career and Diversity Events at the APS March Meeting comes but with the potential to physicist. In addition, the Corpo- “It was wonderful because it A variety of career and diversity events will be offered at have a big impact on society. It ration helped establish and con- was a way to get your first grant,” the upcoming APS March Meeting in Boston. was an early backer of Ernest O. tinues to sponsor the Prize for a Franz said. “It wasn’t a huge grant • APS Job Expo, February 27-29 Lawrence’s development of the Faculty Member for Research in but it was important to get it be- • COM/CSWP Diversity Networking Reception, Febru- cyclotron, and of Robert God- an Undergraduate Institution. cause at that point I was just start- ary 28 dard’s liquid-fueled rockets. Other “RCSA and APS both believe in ing, and I didn’t have any other • CSWP/FIAP Networking Luncheon, February 28 technologies that have come out providing effective programs for funding.” • Lunch with the Experts (for Graduate Students), Febru- of basic research funded by RCSA the support and advancement of RCSA will hold its centennial ary 28 grants include magnetic resonance science,” said RCSA president and event at the March Meeting in imaging, nuclear medicine and la- CEO James M. Gentile in a press room 152 of the Boston Conven- Visit the March Meeting’s Events & Activities site for times sers. statement. “We both encourage tion Center on February 28, from and locations: www.aps.org/meetings/march/events/ Over the years, the organiza- collaboration–among researchers 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

Special Undergraduate Events at APS March and April Meetings APS and SPS are teaming up to bring a number of spe- cial events just for undergraduates. Come to Future of Physics Days 2012 to learn more about graduate pro- grams, physics careers, cutting-edge research, and more! For more information on FPD 2012 events, visit: www.aps.org/programs/education/undergrad/students/ futurephysics/fpd2012/

CSWP announces first recipients of the Woman The Circus Is Coming Physicist of the Month Award. by Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) began a new program in 2012 to highlight ex- When the founders of our coun- tripartite government. down if they didn’t get their way. ceptional female physicists. The Committee is pleased try dreamed up the concept of But before we look forward, They marched to the precipice to announce Dr. Helen Caines of Yale University and Dr. checks and balances, they didn’t where a deck of tarot cards might twice during the struggle over the Elizabeth Simmons of Michigan State University as the intend it to mean putting a police be as accurate as any Inside the fiscal year 2011 Continuing Reso- first two recipients of the award. Read about each re- boot on the legislative vehicle. But Beltway forecast, let’s take a look lution needed to fund the govern- cipient at: www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/ last year, that’s what happened. back, where we have some facts to ment through September of last womanmonth/2012.cfm By every measure, the first ses- guide us. year. They went to the brink again sion of the 112th Congress was by For science, 2011 ended with over extension of the debt limit, Nominations for the CSWP Woman Physicist of the far the least productive in the 60 a legislative Christmas Eve gift, and they nearly drove the govern- Month are accepted on a rolling basis. For more infor- years that such record-keeping has hardly imaginable at the beginning ment over the cliff during consider- mation on the program and/or to submit a nomination, existed. The collective activity of of the year. The draconian funding ation of the fiscal year 2012 spend- please visit: www.aps.org/programs/women/scholar- our elected representatives yield- cuts threatened in January by a Re- ing bills. ships/womanmonth/ ed passage of only 68 substantive publican House held hostage by a Each time, they pulled back, bill–compared to well over 100 in boisterous band of newly elected and although they fell far short of M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship a typical year–and of those, half Tea Partisans vaporized during a their fiscal austerity goals, they APS is now accepting applications for the M. Hildred merely extended existing laws. series of near-death experiences for succeeded in wringing substantial Blewett Fellowship. This award is intended to enable The second session is not likely the federal bureaucracy. concessions from Democrats on women to resume physics research careers after an in- to yield more fecund fruit, espe- Each time money was on discretionary spending and thwart- terruption. The deadline to apply is June 1, 2012. For cially with members up for re-elec- the congressional gaming table, ing White House efforts to increase more information and/or to apply, please visit: www.aps. tion already running scared. And in Speaker John Boehner’s grumpy federal revenues by raising taxes 2012, the power sharing enshrined GOP minions tried to rake it back on the wealthy. org/programs/women/scholarships/blewett/ in the Constitution is liable to look into the House coffers, warning The bitter wrangling over the more like a four-ring circus than a they would shut the government CIRCUS continued on page 7 6 • February 2012

HEADLINES continued from page 3 eral Hospital in Boston created the cial relativity. A veritable cottage the 1920s, but it's speeding up as it Focus on first living organism that can gener- industry sprang up finding theoreti- goes. This revelation shook cosmol- APS Sections ate laser light. To generate the beam, cal holes in the results, but OPERA ogy at its core, and later computa- the team first engineered a human reran the experiment with shorter tions found that it could mean that kidney cell to produce green fluo- neutrino pulses, and found the same three-quarters of the universe is rescent protein as a gain medium, results. Fermilab is set to run its own likely made up of some as yet un- Four Corners Section Embodies Western Spirit the same protein that makes jellyfish experiments to test whether it can identified "dark energy." glow and that is often used in labs reproduce the results; if not, the an- In addition, the prize for chem- By Brian Jacobsmeyer to label cells. The team then shone swer may lie buried in some as yet istry was awarded to Dan Shecht- a blue light on a single cell placed unknown systematic error in OP- man of the Technion–Israel Institute After seeing milk production research at the section’s meeting. between two mirrors, and found it ERA’s setup. of Techonology for his discovery from his cows dwindle, a farmer Attendees vote for four separate emitted a weak green glow, but still Tevatron Shutdown of quasicrystals, research first pub- seeks out a theoretical physicist student awards covering posters an order of magnitude brighter than After 28 years and countless lished in PRL in 1984. Shechtman’s at the local university for help. and papers for both graduate and natural jellyfish fluorescence. trillions of particle collisions, the work turned crystallography on its Weeks pass, and the physicist fi- undergraduate students. “Seeing” a Wave Function Tevatron smashed its last atoms head, and completely revolutionized nally comes back with a computer While presenting research can Wave functions of quantum par- on September 30th. Just past 2:30 the way scientists thought about how model that should help the farmer be nerve-wracking, one of the ticles represent probability ampli- pm, following a brief ceremony, re- the structures of crystals could form. boost milk production. “I have biggest challenges for some stu- tudes in an abstract space, so direct- nowned physicist Helen Edwards, So controversial were his findings, your solution,” says the physicist, dents can simply be making it to ly detecting one is tricky, to say the who helped design the great ac- it took a long time for the scientific “but it only works for spherical the meeting due to the section’s least. However in June, physicists celerator, pushed two specially establishment to come around and cows in a vacuum.” large geographical area. To help at the National Research Council constructed buttons, shutting down accept his results. Initially, after he Add some western flair to this encourage student participation, of Canada in Ottawa devised a way the power to the machine forever. announced he’d found crystals that old physics joke, and the result section leaders grant several trav- to eke out just enough information Capable of colliding particles up to didn’t form repeating identical pat- is the APS Four Corners Sec- el stipends for students and even about the wave functions of polar- energies of a trillion electron volts, terns, his bosses at NIST asked him tion Spherical Cowboy Award: organize group trips. ized photons to map out their wave the 4-mile-round particle accelera- to leave the lab where he was em- a student-awarded prize for the “One time, we rented a coach function, without violating the tor was for years the most powerful ployed. Now he has a Nobel Prize best non-student talk at the sec- bus, gathering students across Heisenberg uncertainty principle. in the world, until the Large Hadron validating his work. tion’s annual meeting. The joke Utah for the meeting,” said Van By repeatedly weakly measuring Collider came online in 2008. With Biggest Black Hole alludes to the apparent discon- Huele. “It was a great road trip.” the carefully angled path of identical the Tevatron’s capabilities eclipsed A newly discovered interstel- nect between theoretical physics Upon arriving at the meeting, photons, the team was able to glean by the new European machine, the lar behemoth shattered the record and practical applications, and students are exposed to a variety a little bit of information about each Department of Energy opted to re- of biggest black hole in the known the gimmicky prizes–such as a of experts presenting research one’s position or speed without col- direct Fermilab’s focus from the en- universe. In December, astronomers cowboy hat or stuffed spherical ranging from physics education lapsing its wave function. The aver- ergy frontier to the intensity frontier. cow–reflect the joke’s punch line. to high energy physics. Invited aged results then painted a complete Researchers at Fermilab still have from the University of California, Unlike the physicist in the joke, speakers have included top na- picture of the photon’s wave func- about a year’s worth of data to sift Berkeley announced that the black the awardee is recognized for re- tional laboratory scientists, in- tion, a technique the team thinks can through from the last runs of the Te- hole at the center of the galaxy NGC search that has had an impact on dustry leaders and even former be scaled up to larger quantum par- vatron and they are also moving on 4889, 336 million light-years away, the students’ lives. astronauts. ticles including electrons, ions and to help CERN crunch data from the tips the scales at almost 21 billion “Our section is unique because The annual meeting has be- even molecules. LHC. solar masses, and is ten times the there are so many national labs,” come the main event for the sec- Faster than Light Neutrinos Nobel Prizes size of our solar system. The pre- said Four Corners Chair-Elect tion, but organizers have also There may only be two things The Nobel Prizes always make a vious record holder weighed in at John Cumalat of the University of focused their efforts beyond the that travel faster than light, muon big splash in the press, and this year a mere 6.3 billion solar masses. At Colorado-Boulder. “Many lab sci- section’s borders. For instance, neutrinos from CERN’s Super was no exception. Saul Perlmutter the same time, the research team an- entists don’t see students often, so the section held a joint meeting Proton Synchrotron, and the news of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, nounced the discovery of another our meeting is a good opportunity with the Texas section several about them. Within minutes of the Adam Riess of The Johns Hopkins black hole, this one 9.7 billion times for them to interact.” years ago. At first, people ques- announcement that the OPERA University and Brian Schmidt of the size of the Sun in the Virgo clus- With three national Depart- tioned whether the organizers experiment in Grand Sasso, Italy the Australian National University ter. The two black holes were dis- ment of Energy laboratories and could bring together people from had detected evidence of neutrinos shared the physics prize for discov- covered after analyzing data from several major universities, the such a large area. The meeting breaking the ultimate speed limit, ering the accelerating expansion of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the section features an eclectic mix was a great success though, and word spread around the world of this the universe. By studying the red- Gemini North and Keck telescopes. of researchers, professors and the two sections hope to hold a seemingly impossible result. Physi- shifts of distant supernova, the two Astronomers hope that a better un- students. Since the first meeting similar joint meeting in the future, cists mostly greeted the news with teams made the shocking finding derstanding of these black holes in 1998, the section has become said Van Huele. skepticism, as the results seemed to that not only is the universe expand- will yield insight into how galaxies one of the fastest growing in In addition to organizing meet- fly in the face of the tenets of spe- ing, a fact that's been known since formed in the early universe. APS. Total membership for the ings, section members have also section rose from 1,500 to 1,700 arranged for students to meet po- REVIEW continued from page 3 over the past two years. And stu- litical leaders in Washington, DC jects DOE funding request for Pu-238 production used to fuel deep space probes. dent membership has grown even every year. The experience allows August faster–over the same period stu- students to step outside of the Department of Commerce issues report stating that there are significant benefits to pursuing jobs in STEM dent members jumped from 377 classroom and conduct lobbying disciplines. Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future declares U.S. approach to the handling of to 452, a 20 percent increase. on science funding. nuclear waste as a “deeply flawed program.” President signs legislation setting discretionary spending caps “While we encourage all mem- “It was a really good experi- through FY 2021. bers to present at the annual meet- ence for a graduate student,” said September ing, it has evolved into a very stu- Eric Sorte from the University of The Office of Management and Budget issues general budget guidance for FY 2013, citing need to dent-friendly atmosphere,” said Utah, a former Four Corners stu- invest in areas critical to job creation and economic growth. House hearing held on NSF merit review Jean-Francois Van Huele from dent-at-large member who trav- process. White House holds event on NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative. Key House appropriator chides Brigham Young University-Pro- elled to Washington in 2009 and Administration for not identifying spending offsets for increased cost of James Webb Space Telescope. vo, the section’s treasurer and one 2010. “The senators and represen- House Science Committee roundtable discusses proposed Deep Underground Facility. of the first meeting’s attendees. tatives liked to interact with the October Aside from deciding the Spher- students as well.” NRC committee issues report on NASA’s Meteoroid and Orbital Debris programs. Some of America’s ical Cowboy Award winner, stu- The next section meeting will most prominent business executives call on Congress and the Administration to “improve the effectiveness dents frequently present their own be held in the late fall of 2012. of the U.S. energy innovation program.” NRC report concludes little firm evidence exists about how to improve K-12 STEM instruction. Senior House Democratic appropriator warns the deficit reduction “super MIT continued from page 2 committee” about the impacts of automatic spending cuts on health, science, and innovation programs. Republicans on House Science Committee recommend $1.5 billion in spending reductions on S&T pro- etching what he called “micro- high-efficiency wind turbines, grams in FY 2012. miniature printed systems.” and particle physics accelerators. November Other researchers built on his Buck’s scientific star was very Almost 70 scientific societies and associations, universities, and organizations sign a letter urging a research over the ensuing years, much on the rise, which makes special congressional committee charged with developing a deficit reduction plan to avoid cutting R&D leading to the invention of a his sudden death from a “mys- funding. First FY 2012 appropriations bill is passed: NSF funding increases 2.5 percent, NASA funding cryotron catalog memory sys- terious illness” in May 1959, at declines 3.5 percent, NIST funding increases 0.1 percent. Appropriators approve funding for James Webb tem in 1956, IBM’s Crowe Cell, the age of 32, all the more tragic. Space Telescope. Senate passes medical isotope production bill. House committee passes bill requiring patented by James W. Crowe He had received his PhD only the disclosure of peer reviewers. in 1957, the Josephson junc- year before. “Dudley was not am- December tion, and the first superconduct- GAO issues a report on alternatives to using helium-3 neutron detectors. The second and last of two ing quantum interference device bitious in the meaning that word is usually used,” his MIT class- major FY 2012 appropriations bills is passed: DOE Office of Science funding increases 0.6 percent, Na- (SQUID). Today neuroscientists tional Nuclear Security Administration funding increases 4.5 percent, U.S. Geological Survey funding de- are able to map brain activity mate, Charles Crawford, recalled after Buck’s passing. “Dudley clines 1.3 percent, NIH funding remains level, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering using magnetoencephalography increases 8.0 percent, Mathematics and Science Partnership funding declines 14.3 percent and a new was not ambitious for himself; (MEG) because of these ground- program is funded, and Defense basic research funding increases 16.6 percent. Conference held on en- he was ambitious for the human breaking developments, as well hancing collaboration between the United States, and the European Union and its Member States. as applications in maglev trains, race.” February 2012 • 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Reviews of Modern Physics

Travel Grants Colloquium: Stimulating uncertainty: Amplifying the quantum Physicists and physics graduate students in India and the United States can apply for vacuum with superconducting circuits travel grants to pursue opportunities in the other country. P. D. Nation, J. R. Johansson, The APS-IUSSTF Professorship Awards in Physics funds physicists in India or the M. P. Blencowe, and Franco Nori United States wishing to visit overseas to teach short courses or provide a physics lec- In classical mechanics the "vacuum" is empty (nothingness). In con- ture series delivered at a U.S. or Indian university. Awards are up to U.S. $4,000. trast, the vacuum of quantum mechanics is a volatile sea of ephem- Through the APS-IUSSTF Physics Student Visitation Program, U.S. and Indian graduate eral virtual particles. This Colloquium describes several processes in students may apply for travel funds of U.S. $3,000 to pursue opportunities in physics. which these vacuum fluctuations are amplified into real observable The travel funds could be used to attend a short-course or summer institute, to work particles, and how superconducting circuits can be used to realize temporarily in a laboratory, or for another opportunity that the student and the host such amplification mechanisms, and therefore explore the proper- professor believe is worthy of support. The Physics Student Visitation Program aims to ties of the quantum vacuum. http://rmp.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v84/i1/ mostly support graduate student travel to India by U.S. citizens, while enabling some p1_1 students of Indian citizenship to travel to the United States. http://rmp.aps.org Further details about both programs, including proposal guidelines, are provided at: www.aps.org/programs/international/us-india-travel.cfm CIRCUS continued from page 5 This program is sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and debt ceiling culminated in the reined in discretionary spending, administered by the American Physical Society (APS). Budget Control Act (Public Law for fiscal year 2012, it provided 112-25)–or technically the amend- $24 billion more than the Ryan ments to the 1985 Gramm-Rud- budget. That proved to be a boon to man-Hollings Act (Public Law Senate appropriators, who hadn’t TM Deadline: Friday, 30 March 2012 99-177)–which cleared the Senate even started their dithering until on August 12 and immediately re- midsummer. ceived President Obama’s stamp The Democratic Senate major- of approval. The legislation estab- ity immediately seized on the un- lished annual discretionary spend- expected largess and began filling ing caps that would save $917 holes in social programs, knowing Exchange Program billion over a ten-year period. It that they would have to strike deals Brazil-U.S. also set up a 12-member bipartisan with their House counterparts dur- The American Physical Society is now accepting applications from U.S. joint select committee and charged ing end of the year conferences. applicants for the Brazil-U.S. Exchange Program. it with finding $1.5 trillion addi- And when the conferees finally tional in deficit reductions. If the met, House appropriation subcom- Through the Brazil-U.S. Physics Student Visitation Program, committee failed to do so, $1.2 tril- mittee chairs, Frank Wolf (R-VA graduate students can apply for travel funds to pursue a breadth of lion across-the-board reductions in 10th) and Rodney Frelinghuysen opportunities in physics, such as: 1) attending a short-course or summer discretionary spending would be- (R-NJ 11th), both science boost- institute; 2) visiting with a professor in his/her field of study; 3) working temporarily in a lab; gin on January 2, 2013. ers, used the higher BCA cap to or 4) any other opportunity that the student and professor feel is worthy of travel support. Failure, the president said, rescue the research budgets under Grants are for up to USD $3,000. would be an intolerable outcome. their purview. Failure, House Speaker Boehner, For fiscal year 2013, science The Brazil-U.S. Professorship/Lectureship Program funds physicists in Brazil and the said would be unacceptable. Fail- will confront a much thornier United States wishing to visit overseas to teach a short course or deliver a lecture series in ure, Senate Majority and Minor- thicket. Facing the mandated BCA the other country. Grants are for up to USD $4,000. ity Leaders Reid and McConnell, reductions, every interest group said was unthinkable. But in the will be battling to boost its favored The application deadline for U.S. applicants traveling to Brazil is 30 March 2012. poisoned partisan atmosphere account. And without strong advo- Applications from U.S. applicants should be submitted to Michele Irwin, APS Office of International the intolerable, unacceptable and cacy, scientists should be prepared Affairs, [email protected]. Additional information about the program, including application guide- unthinkable happened. And in a for federal spending on research lines, is provided at: www.aps.org/programs/international/ year’s time, the triggered reduc- and education to tumble. tions will kick in, with defense This year is unlikely to see the Information for applicants from Brazil can be found on the SBF website at: www.sbfisica.org.br/v1/ spending taking an 11-percent hit Washington partisan atmosphere and non-defense activities, includ- become any less toxic. President ing almost all of science, looking Obama is expected to use a “Re- This program is sponsored by the Sociedade at an 8-percent buzz cut. publican do-nothing Congress” as TM Brasileira de Fisica (SBF) and the APS. For now, though, research bud- his political foil. Democrats, fear- gets are benefiting from a small ful of losing control of the Senate, uptick, largely because last-year’s will focus their ire on intransigent LECTURES continued from page 1 chaos and confusion allowed sci- obstructionist House Republicans. recipients as well. hope this opens more wide com- funds to allow [a] younger re- ence champions to push the spend- And Republicans will blast the “I am pleased to have been se- munication within the world sci- searcher of the lab to attend [the] ing envelope in an unexpected President and congressional Dem- lected,” Quinn said. “The finan- ence community on seeking… international meeting, the major way. ocrats for fiscal irresponsibility cial support has been welcome more effective way[s] of collabo- benefit is that the lectureship will Here’s how it happened: and economic ineptitude. in my coming to Boston and pre- ration and cooperation.” probably allow my presentation House appropriators began In the midst of the partisan war, senting my lecture.” Yavaş echoed this sentiment, to stand out from a very rich pro- their work last spring under the the Supreme Court will launch its The Beller lectureship was en- adding that he was excited to gram,” Sessoli said. $1.019 trillion Ryan budget plan, own rocket-propelled-grenade: a dowed by Esther Hoffman Beller share the work of the Turkish Ac- At the March Meeting, Sessoli $35 billion below the previous judgment on the constitutionality to bring eminent physicists from celerator Center with physicists will deliver her talk on “Single year’s spending. They completed of the individual health care man- abroad to speak at APS meetings. from around the world. Molecular Magnets on Conduc- much of their work before the ink date. P.T. Barnum would love it–a The Marshak lectureship was en- “[I]nternational exposure at a tive Surfaces” on Tuesday in ses- was dry on the Budget Control Act four-ring circus on the banks of the dowed by Ruth Marshak in honor large meeting like the APS March sion H13 at 8:36 am. Quinn will (BCA). And although the BCA Potomac. of her late husband, Robert Mar- Meeting is a golden opportunity give his lecture titled “From Arti- shak, to bring physicists to the to inform your scientists about facts to Atoms: The Origins and POPA continued from page 8 APS meetings from “developing the status and future plans of Early Years of the International nations or the Eastern Bloc.” The physics in Turkey,” Yavaş said. Bureau of Weights and Mea- the report. In the case of the En- publicly at the annual meeting of recipients of both awards receive Sessoli said that she planned sures” on Thursday in session ergy Critical Elements report, the the American Association for the travel stipends to attend either the to use some of the funds to help X2 at 3:06 pm. Yavaş will speak committee, after several telecon- Advancement of Science in Febru- March or April meetings. Recipi- bring a student from her lab to about The Turkish Accelerator ferences throughout early 2010, ary of 2011. ents have traveled to the United the meeting who would not have Center on Monday in session B2 held a conference in April where However, the process does not States from as far abroad as In- been able to attend otherwise. at 1:03 pm. Min will deliver his each member presented a white stop with the publication of the re- dia, Israel and France. “Beyond the economic sup- talk titled “The Korea Project” in paper on their subjects in the re- port. Members of the APS media “It is my great honor and plea- port, which is always welcome as an April Meeting session that has port, then gathered in Washington, and public affairs team then work sure to be selected,” Min said. “I it will allow [us] to use the saved yet to be determined. DC in September to meet with to get the word out to members of those who might be affected by Congress, industry regulators, sci- the study, such as people in the entists and the general public. Edi- Department of Energy and the Of- torials are written and sent to news fice of Science and Technology outlets. If there is congressional APS NEWS online: Policy as well as executives in the action on the subjects of the report, mining industry. Between Octo- the lead author is often called be- http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews ber and November the report was fore the Senate or House commit- written up and finally presented tee that oversees the matter. 8 • February 2012 The Back Page

d. Note: Robert Socolow, a Professor of strategies related to transport. Both the public and EMechanical and Aerospace Engineering at policy makers need help as they contend with a dis- Princeton University, was Chair of the APS Panel To POPA: A Former Chair’s Farewell course riddled with self-interest. Who will provide on Public Affairs (POPA) in 2010. Upon complet- by Robert Socolow independent advice about the promise of new tech- ing his term on POPA in the fall of 2011, he deliv- nologies, such as batteries, geothermal energy, and ered the following farewell address. small nuclear power plants? It has been a privilege to be associated with the Panel on Not long ago, one could presume that the general pub- Public Affairs for the past four years. This remarkable unit lic, as well as decision makers, welcomed the engagement of has no counterpart in other professional societies. It is a scientists. We were regarded as uniquely able to conduct im- product of the 1960s and 1970s, a time when physicists were partial and authoritative studies. Right now, it seems to me, particularly inclined to scrutinize their motivations for being any such special standing is in jeopardy. Think hard about physicists. Our first answer was that we hoped to discover Governor Rick Perry’s mental model that led him to invoke a few of nature’s secrets. But many of us, nearly as much, Galileo in the way that he did in a debate last month. He hoped to use our specialized knowledge to address social associates the current science establishment with the 17th problems. We had a broad agenda, starting with but going century Catholic Church–and himself with those who, like beyond nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The slogan was Galileo, challenge established wisdom. In places like POPA, “science for the people.” we scientists need to examine that charge, not write it off. He I was a physics major at Harvard when Sputnik raced is giving us a wake-up call. overhead in October 1957. Immediately, President Eisen- What are the similarities between the current scientific en- hower summoned scientists to Washington to explain this terprise and an established church? We scientists are remote, study, Direct Air Capture of CO with Chemicals, which I new accomplishment. From Cambridge came James Killian, 2 we believe we deserve deference, we extract considerable George Kistiakowsky, Norman Ramsey and one of my co-chaired, is generating its own Hegelian process. Some financial resources from the general population to run our af- teachers, Edward Purcell. Late in the afternoon, Purcell and POPA committee members and staff did not find the report fairs, and we intrude on people’s lives with conclusions about Ramsey would return to the physics building, after having congenial. A principal concern was that the report does not evolution and the vulnerability of the planet that many people written pamphlets about why a satellite can’t fall straight make recommendations to governments. Like the original don’t want to hear. down, and after working out the implications of Sputnik for APS statement on climate, in the aftermath of an adversarial We must not underestimate the threat now looming in the strategic weapons delivery systems. To those of us who were process POPA and APS are now codifying the kinds of stud- form of a growing public disenchantment with the scientific hanging around doing problem sets, they said: “Somebody ies POPA should and shouldn’t conduct. enterprise. Scientists believe that the scientific way of know- has to do this full time.” Twelve years later, after seven joyful For both APS statements and POPA reports, in my view, ing is privileged relative to other ways of knowing that are years with quarks, I acted on their advice. In my generation, the danger during the current Synthesis stage is too much rooted in myth. We must not take for granted that others do. many did. codification. Be careful not to suppress the lively interloper. Over the next decade, the highest priority for the APS and Numerous institutions designed to encourage “science- When I became Vice-Chair of POPA four years ago, I ex- POPA is to retain the public’s trust by demonstrating the based decision-making” emerged in the following two de- horted POPA members to invent studies in which they were worth to society of the fundamental values of science. cades. Among the important ones still with us are the Presi- willing to invest serious time. It seemed to me that POPA The second P of POPA stands for “public.” It has two dent’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the then was less committed to conducting studies and produc- meanings: the government and everybody. Be careful not to Council on Environmental Quality, the Natural Resources ing reports than it had been. I argued that studies and reports forget the second meaning, especially now. This is never easy Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and our are the principal reason for POPA’s existence, a statement for an organization based in Washington. own POPA. that I think is not controversial now. POPA meetings are now I will close with thanks to the POPA staff and all the POPA During the past four years, APS and POPA have been re- mostly about studies. members I have worked with. The commitments of time and examining their communication strategies. A Hegelian pro- The questions I brought with me onto POPA were: 1) energy and the resulting creativity emerge from deeply per- cess is under way: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis. Consider the What kinds of studies are professional societies in general sonal commitments to connect physics with public service. incautious 2007 APS Statement on climate change, with its –and POPA in particular–well suited to conduct? 2) What POPA is a force for good in this world. famously ill-chosen word, “incontrovertible.” The Statement kinds of studies does the broader society need somebody to Robert Socolow’s research interests include global car- produced a bitter minority response; then, two years ago, a conduct? bon management, carbon dioxide capture from fossil fuels moderate Commentary; and then, still under way, the codifi- Technology assessments constitute one important class and storage in geological formations, nuclear power, en- cation of a tightened process for producing Statements. The of needed studies. In 1972 the U.S. created the Office of ergy efficiency in buildings, and the acceleration of deploy- deep message we can all extract is that physicists care pas- Technology Assessment (OTA) within Congress to do such ment of advanced technologies in developing countries. sionately about what their Society tells the world. However, studies. OTA was shut down in 1995. The needs OTA filled He was a member of the National Academies’ Committee passions inflamed can destroy an institution. I am proud of are not being filled to this day. Studies are sorely needed, in on America’s Energy Future (2007-2009) and its Com- how APS, and POPA, preserved themselves while encourag- particular, that address the world’s future energy system. The mittee on America’s Climate Choices (2009-2011). He re- ing debate and producing a credible Commentary. energy system over the next few decades may well be traded ceived the APS Leo Szilard Lectureship Award in 2003. At the level of studies rather than statements, an APS in for another one–with lower carbon intensity and with new POPA Reports Bring Physics Perspective to Public Policy Debate APS’s Panel on Public Affairs, more commonly known does…and short quick research issues the Congressional into the Defense Authorization Act of 2009 and passed into as POPA, has been an important part of the Society’s advo- Research Service does,” Slakey said. law. In conjunction with the report, POPA put together an cacy arm for many years. It has weighed in on many issues This method of putting reports together has been effec- education module for high schools which taught students of public policy important to the physics community, as well tive. Information and recommendations in recent reports by about what nuclear forensics is and how it’s done. The kits as more general issues that would benefit from the perspec- the panel have made their way into the legislative process were distributed to about 1000 classrooms across the coun- tives of physicists. and regulatory policy. An example is the report, Energy Crit- try. “It is the body within the American Physical Society that ical Elements: Securing Materials for Emerging Technolo- “Outcomes of POPA reports are not just limited to Con- delivers the opinion of the physics community on issues be- gies, written in collaboration with the Materials Research gress or the administration,” Slakey said. ing debated by the Congress and within the administration,” Society and released in February of 2011, which found that A typical POPA study starts as an idea or proposal at one said Francis Slakey, APS Associate Director of Public Af- the US needed to do more to secure its supply lines of rare of the three annual meetings of the panel. The ideas are first fairs, and the staff advisor to POPA. “In particular it’s en- and exotic elements critical to future scientific research. discussed in one of its subcommittees, then brought forward ergy, environment and national security.” The report’s findings, which included having the Depart- to the full committee for further evaluation and refinement. POPA has been in existence since the early 1970s, but in ment of Energy work with the Department of the Interior to During these group discussions, issues are weighed such the early 2000s it took on a new, more focused approach to put together a comprehensive report on better ways to pro- as the proposed report’s relevance to physicists and public putting together reports. This new paradigm emphasizes rel- duce, collect and recycle these rare elements, were incorpo- policy, whether the study can be put together in time to have atively short but detailed evaluations of technical subjects, rated into several bills working their way through Congress. an impact, and whether there could be a well defined route usually resulting in about two reports a year. The reports Slakey said that although report findings can often take be- for the report to affect public policy. generally concentrate on evaluating or exploring in depth a tween five and six years before becoming legislation, the If the proposed idea makes it through the full committee, specific aspect of a technical subject where physics expertise recommendations from the Energy Critical Elements report a taskforce is appointed to put together a small study, only a can offer fresh insights. The idea is to produce reports aimed were brought up before Congress in just a matter of months. few pages long, that outlines the areas of research a full re- at national decision makers, within a timeframe that can in- “That’s the thing about POPA studies,” said Robert Jaffe, port might go into. Once the preliminary study is assembled, fluence the debate on an important subject. Reports vary in vice chair of POPA and chair of the group that produced the it’s circulated among the members of POPA, and followed length from about 15 to 25 pages, and take approximately a Energy Critical Elements report. “They’re really done with by a presentation and discussion at the next meeting. The year to produce. a conscious effort to fold them into the policy development committee then votes on whether to go forward with a full Past reports have weighed in on a range of subjects in- process as easily as possible.” report. cluding nuclear weapons and energy, NASA’s moon and Similarly, a POPA report issued in 2008 about the uncer- Once a report gets the green light, a full report committee Mars program, helium and hydrogen policy, missile defense, tain state of nuclear forensics research in the US prompted is assembled, bringing in experts from across the relevant and the energy needs of the upcoming century. congressional action. Representative Bill Foster, himself a areas of sciences and public policy. How the committee “The concept is that we could fill the gap between long former Fermilab physicist, brought the issue to the floor of then proceeds varies somewhat depending on the needs of term research studies that the National Academy of Sciences the House. Many sections of his bill were later incorporated POPA continued on page 7

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