February 2009 Volume 18, No. 2 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews

APS NEWS Top Physics News Stories of 2008 A Publication of the American Physical Society • www.aps.org/publications/apsnews See page 3

APS Membership Reaches Record High President Obama Names Harvard Physicist The official APS membership Junior membership John P. Holdren as Science Adviser count has set a new all-time re- category,” said APS By the numbers cord, reaching a total of 47,189 Director of Member- Charting the increase in members of APS, 2000-2009. APS Fellow John P. Holdren, an 50,000 47,189 Total members as of January 2009. This is an in- ship Trish Lettieri. 48,000 international expert on energy and crease of 920 over 2008. “Reaching that goal climate change, will serve as Presi- 46,000 Much of the recent increase will help maintain dent Obama’s Science Adviser and 44,000 can be attributed to growth in the the health of the So- Director of the Office of Science 42,000 student member category. The to- ciety membership by and Technology Policy. 40,000 tal number of student members offsetting the number 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2009 “With President Obama’s selec- increased from 10,986 in 2008 to of retiring members tion of John Holdren as his science 15,000 12,143 12,143 in 2009, the highest num- expected over the Student members adviser, the nation has a power- ber ever. next ten years.” In 12,000 house for energy and environ- Many of the new students are line with demograph- ment leadership. John will provide taking advantage of the one-year ic trends, the number 9,000 strong and effective leadership of free trial membership available to of “regular” members the OSTP team dealing with the 6,000 new student members from North has declined slightly 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2009 broad array of highly desirable America. over the past year, NOTE Graphs are on different scales and totals from January 2009 goals expressed in the Obama/ “The goal is to get students while the number of SSource:ource: APS AP MembershipS Membership Dept. Dept. APS APS News News staff graphic staff Biden science and technology pro- Photo courtesy of www.change.gov in, get them active in the Society, senior (retired) mem- gram,” said 2008 APS President and see them continue into the bers has grown. RECORD continued on page 4 Arthur Bienenstock. John P. Holdren Holdren, who served as a top voted much of his career to energy New Topical Group on Energy Research Proposed adviser to the Obama campaign, is and climate change research. In an A proposed new topical group to chair the committee that has Joseph Poon, University of the Teresa and John Heinz Profes- opinion piece published in 1998 on energy research has drawn strong representation from univer- Virginia sor of Environmental Policy and for APS, he wrote that “the green- significant enthusiasm from APS sity, national laboratory, and cor- William Marlow, Texas A&M Director of the Program on Sci- house gas most responsible for the members. A petition to form the porate sectors, as well as physical University ence, Technology and Public Pol- growing threat of human-induced new group was circulated in De- chemists, material scientists and Keith Jackson, Florida A&M icy at Harvard’s Kennedy School disruption of climate is carbon di- cember to the membership of sev- engineers” said Robert McGrath Rachel Goldman, University of Government. He is also Profes- oxide, some of it emitted by defor- eral relevant APS divisions. Over of Stony Brook University. of Michigan, sor of Environmental Science and estation, but mostly coming from 1000 APS members signed the The APS Council will consider Roberto Car, Princeton Uni- Policy in Harvard’s Department of the combustion of fossil fuels.” To petition. Only two hundred sig- the formation of the new topical versity Earth and Planetary Sciences. From effectively address the greenhouse natures are required for a petition group at its next meeting in May. John Torkelson, Northwestern 2005-2008, he served as President- issue, he called for “increased in- for a new topical group to be sent “Assuming a positive outcome, University Elect, President and Chair of the vestments in the science of climate to the APS Council. APS topical we look forward to acting for the Ryan Stillwell, Florida State Board of the American Association and climate-change impacts.” groups may hold sessions at APS topical group in setting up initial University for the Advancement of Science. Holden is the second physicist meetings and nominate members programs, sessions and commu- Alex King, Ames Laboratory In 1995, Holdren received the slated to join Obama’s Administra- for APS Fellowship. nications, and in setting up the Larry Kazmerski, National APS Burton Forum Award, “for tion. His selection follows that of “I am delighted to see this high inaugural officer and executive Renewable Energy Laboratory his many insightful contributions Steve Chu, Nobel Laureate, APS level of interest in a topical group board elections in the fall,” said Robert Biefeld, Sandia Na- to the analysis of global energy is- Fellow and lifetime member, who on energy research,” said APS Ex- McGrath. tional Laboratories sues, for his unstinting leadership has been nominated as Secretary of ecutive Officer Judy Franz. The members of the ad hoc Thomas Thundat, Oak Ridge in arms control and for the clear the U.S. Department of Energy. A planning committee has been advisory committee for the new National Laboratory and lucid presentation of these In announcing the selection formed and is charged with creat- topical group are: Jill Dahlburg, Naval Research ideas to scientists and to the gen- of Holdren in December, Obama ing a proposed vision and set of Robert McGrath, Stony Brook Laboratory eral public.” said: “A physicist renowned for his by-laws in time for APS Council University (Emeritus), Chair Mike Tamor, Ford Trained in fluid dynamics and work on climate and energy, he’s consideration. “I’m very pleased Claudio Pellegrini, UCLA Yi-Qiao Song, Schlumberger plasma physics, Holdren has de- HOLDREN continued on page 5

Lighting Up Classrooms: 2008 PhysicsQuest Kits Launched Bang! By Nadia Ramlagan materials, to registered sixth through format was a neat challenge,” said In 1893, Nikola Tesla’s alter- ninth grade physical science classes, Rebecca Thompson-Flagg, Head of nating current (AC) lit up the 1893 home school groups, science clubs, APS Public Outreach. World’s Columbian Exposition in and after-school programs. This The majority of experiments Chicago, also known as the Chica- year, over 11,000 kits have been re- are designed to highlight the ba- go World’s Fair. Over two hundred quested. sic relationship between electricity thousand electric light bulbs were il- and magnetism. “The experiments luminated by Tesla’s AC system. It are very different from past kits. It was here that electrical power was was difficult to find simple, cheap, first introduced to the general pub- middle-school level experiments lic. dealing with electricity and magne- The recently launched 2008 tism. Once we found experiments PhysicsQuest kits use colorful com- we liked, the greater challenge was ic book style illustrations to accom- making them consistently give cor- pany four experiments, which un- rect results,” said Thompson-Flagg. Activities include using “disap- On December 9, APS pre- ravel the story of Tesla and his quest sented a plaque to Bell Labs to beat Thomas Edison’s direct cur- pearing” water gel crystals to probe as part of its historic sites ini- rent (DC) for the contract to power the principles behind the index of tiative. The plaque commem- orates the discovery of the the Fair. Middle school students refraction, and “dancing” compasses to show that current creates a mag- Cosmic Background Radia- will learn about light, magnetism, tion that provided evidence for and electricity while striving to help netic field. A coiled wire and mag- the Big Bang. For this discov- Tesla find his missing tools and beat “I think the comic book is defi- net experiment demonstrates that a ery, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson shared the Nobel Prize Photos by Peter Byron Edison in the “War of the Currents.” nitely a highlight of this year’s kit. changing magnetic field can create a APS Art Director Kerry G. Johnson current. Finally, students will weave in physics in 1978. At the December 9 ceremony, Wilson (top photo) gave APS provides a free Physics- a talk, and APS vice-President (now President-elect) Curtis Callan (bottom Quest experiment kit, which in- did a beautiful job with the draw- together all the concepts they’ve photo, left) presented the plaque to Bell Labs President Jeong Kim. cludes instruction manual and all ings, and writing in comic-strip KITS continued on page 3 2 • February 2009 APS NEWS

Members This Month in Physics History in the Media “For the last eight years and Daniel Rugar, IBM, on using a February 1928: Raman scattering discovered even before that, things in the nu- magnetic resonance force microscope clear world have really been drift- to get a 3-d image of a virus, The New n a boat trip back from England in 1921, Indian believed that something similar to the Compton Ef- ing. Now there is a lot more discus- York Times, January 12, 2009 physicist C.V. Raman, considering the ques- fect could be demonstrated with visible light scatter- sion and thought about the role of O tion of why the sea is blue, got started on a line of ing inelastically off molecules. nuclear weapons.” “If this does turn out to come research that would lead to the discovery in Febru- Raman and his research group in Calcutta set up John Browne, Los Alamos Na- from that epoch, it would be a new ary 1928 of a new scattering effect, now known as some simple experiments to look at the scattering tional Laboratory, USA Today, De- window into what was going on the Raman effect, which is important in physics and of light in various liquids. As a light source they ini- cember 14, 2008 there. It suggests there’s something chemistry. tially used sunlight, which was abundant in Calcutta. out there we’re missing.” C. V. Raman (his full name, Chandrasekara Ven- Using a colored filter they separated out blue-violet “I think you would have a hard David Spergel, Princeton Uni- kataraman, was shortened during his school years) light, which then scattered off the target liquid. They time designating CO from Coca- 2 versity, on an unexplained back- was born in November 1888 in southern India. His used yellow-green and other colored filters to visual- Cola as a major contributor to glob- ground radio noise coming from the father was a lecturer in physics and mathematics. ly detect a change in color of the scattered light. The al warming,” early universe that may cast light on In 1902, at age 13, Raman effect is weak and difficult David Haase, North Carolina entered Presidency College, to see, so they soon realized State University, CNSNews.com, the formation of the first stars,Phila - delphia Inquirer, January 8, 2009 Madras. He received his they needed a more intense December 15, 2008 bachelor’s degree in 1904 and light source. The research master’s degree in 1907. As a center acquired a seven inch “The thermal conductivity of “We want to make an anchor student he did research in op- telescope, which Raman used rocks is so low that the inside of a that can dig itself down to the right tics and acoustics. to concentrate sunlight for position to hold the vessel secure- lava flow can be red hot, and the He loved science, but saw their experiments. Even with ly–and then, just as critically, easily outside stone cold, and it could few career opportunities for a the fairly simple setup, they reposition or free itself.” still take years for the heat to come scientist in India, so after re- were able to observe a shift in Anette Hosoi, MIT, on RoboClam, out.” ceiving his degrees he took the color of light scattered by Boston Globe, December 22, 2008 Stephen Morris, University of the financial civil service many different liquids. Toronto, explaining how it can exam and went to work for In February 1928 Raman “My wife and I went to Green- take years or decades for lava to the government as an Assis- observed that the scattered land last summer where the global cool, The National Post, (Cana- tant Accountant General. But light was polarized, which warming is most intense and it’s da) January 5, 2009 he didn’t give up science–in Photo courtesy of the Emilio Segré Visual Archives/AIP distinguished the new scat- very spectacular, you really see that his spare time he carried out tering effect from fluores- the country is getting warmer very “The better we can understand experiments at the Indian As- C.V. Raman cence. He and colleague K.S. rapidly. But the point is that the [the structure of the galaxy], the sociation for the Cultivation Krishnan sent off a short people who live there love it and better the chance for finding more of Science at Calcutta. His research included studies paper to Nature titled “A New Type of Secondary they hope it continues. So I would evidence of dark matter. of the physics of the violin as well as stringed In- Radiation,” in which they reported having exam- say that it’s perfectly clear that dian instruments and Indian drums. He also became ined sixty different common liquids and observed Martin Pohl, Iowa State Uni- global warming is real but it’s not known as a good lecturer, offering popular science the new scattering effect to some degree in all of versity, on his new map of the Milky at all clear that it’s harmful.” lectures to the public. them. Shortly afterwards Raman measured the ex- Freeman Dyson, Institute for Way, Time, January 6, 2008 In 1917 Raman was offered the Palit Chair of act wavelengths of the incident and scattered light Advanced Study, on global warm- Physics at Calcutta University. In order to take the using a spectroscope, and presented the quantita- ing, The Science Show, ABC Radio “Life is sort of a small frac- position he had to leave his prestigious and well paid tive results in a lecture to the south Indian Science (Australia), December 13, 2008 tion of what the universe is about– civil service job, but he was finally able to devote Association in March and in the Indian Journal of depending on your perspective. If himself full-time to science. Physics. “It’s considered a holy text, the you look out in the universe, it’s a In 1921 he made a trip to England, where he met Other researchers at the time had also been in- ‘Citizen Kane’ of comic books. pretty dead place. . . . Anyone com- with distinguished British physicists. He returned vestigating light scattering effects. For instance, When I was done vibrating like ing from [Galileo’s] time would be to Bombay aboard the S.S. Narkunda, leaving Eng- Russian physicists Grigory Landsberg and Le- a gong, I said I’d be happy to do shocked by the diminution of man- land in September 1921. That was when he began onid Mandelshtam in 1925 began looking at light something.” kind in the context of the universe.” contemplating the striking blue color of the Medi- scattering in quartz. They were at first hindered James Kakalios, University of Adam Burrows, Princeton terranean Sea. Lord Rayleigh, who had previously by poor samples of quartz with many impurities, Minnesota, on being asked to be University, Washington Post, Jan- explained the blue color of the sky as due to elastic but by 1928 they managed to get a pure enough a science advisor to the upcoming uary 14, 2009 scattering of light by molecules in the atmosphere, sample of quartz, and in February 1928 they in- Watchmen movie, Cleveland Plain had suggested that the blue color of the sea was sim- dependently observed the same scattering effect ply a reflection of the sky. Raman wasn’t so sure this that Raman had found. They reported their re- Dealer, December 14, 2008 “The mesoscopic is where was the case. sults in at a conference in Moscow in April. you’ve got many molecules, and “I had poor attendance, and was Aboard the ship, Raman had carried with him Physicists quickly recognized the importance the manyness matters.” failing 10 to 15 percent, and grad- some simple optical equipment, including a pocket- of the Raman Effect. It provided another verifi- Athene Donald, Cambridge ing the tests and shaking my head sized spectroscope and a prism. He used these to cation of quantum theory, and was useful in the University, describing her re- in despair about how little was get- examine the water and became convinced that water study of vibration and rotation of molecules. search interests, The Guardian ting across. And this is a subject– molecules could scatter light just as air molecules Within a few years chemists were commonly us- electromagnetism–that I love.” (UK) January 13, 2009 could. He sent a letter to Nature as soon as he got to ing Raman spectroscopy for chemical analysis. John Belcher, MIT, on lectures port in Bombay. Raman received the 1930 Nobel Prize for the at MIT, The New York Times, Jan- “I started to think how can I use Inspired by his insight aboard the ship, when he discovery, as well as numerous other honors. He uary 13, 2009 these exotic quantum mechanical got back to his lab in Calcutta he and his research was knighted by the British Government in 1929. forces for technology.” group embarked on a new line of studies on light He later became director of the Indian Institute “The one thing that has always Federico Capasso, Harvard Uni- scattering effects. of Science and established the Raman Research intrigued me is, can we take the versity, on his proposed way to levitate In 1922 Arthur Compton had found that X-rays Institute in Bangalore. He died in 1970. In honor same idea and do it in three dimen- tiny objects using the repulsive Casi- could lose energy, and thus shift to longer wave- of C.V. Raman and his discovery, India observes sions?” mir effect, Reuters, January 7, 2009 lengths, in inelastic collisions with electrons. Raman a national science day on February 28 each year.

Series II, Vol. 18, No.2 For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Treasurer Philip “Bo” Hammer (Forum on Physics and Society), February 2009 American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Joseph W.Serene*, Georgetown University Steven Rolston (Laser Science), TBD (Materials), APS NEWS Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least Akif Balantekin* (Nuclear), Janet Conrad (Particles © 2009 The American Physical Society Editor-in-Chief 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes, please Gene Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) & Fields), Ronald Ruth (Physics of Beams), David send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, Hammer* (Plasma), TBD (Polymer Physics), (Ohio Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests Past-President Section), Heather Galloway* (Texas Section), TBD (4 Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Editor•...... Alan Chodos from subscribers for missing issues will be honored Corners Section) without charge only if received within 6 months of the Associate Editor...... Ernie Tretkoff General Councillors ADVISORS Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson issue’s actual date of publication. Periodical Postage Paid Robert Austin, Christina Back*, Marcela Carena, Eliza- Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik at College Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. beth Beise*, Katherine Freese, Wendell Hill*, Nergis Representatives from Other Societies Proofreader...... Edward Lee Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, Mem- Mavalvala, Jorge Pullin Fred Dylla, AIP; Alexander Dickison, AAPT Science Writing Intern ...... Nadia Ramlagan bership Department, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. International Councillor Sabayasachi Bhattacharya International Advisors Louis Felipe Rodriguez Jorge, Mexican Physical Society; APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College APS COUNCIL 2009 Chair, Nominating Committee Shelley Page, Canadian Association of Physicists monthly, except the August/September issue, by the Park, MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. Angela Olinto President American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- Cherry Murray*, Lawrence Livermore National Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Staff Representatives lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It con- Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- Laboratory Duncan Moore Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten tains news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director Division, Forum and Section Councillors Groups, Sections, and Forums; advance information on abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. of Education and Diversity; Michael Lubell, Director, President-Elect Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), P. Julienne (Atomic, meetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Editorial Director; Christine Curtis G. Callan, Jr.*, Princeton University Molecular & Optical Physics), TBD (Biological), committees and task forces, as well as opinions. librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael Nancy Levinger (Chemical), Arthur Epstein (Condensed Vice-President Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes Matter Physics), David Landau (Computational), James Barry C. Barish*, Caltech Brasseur* (Fluid Dynamics), Gay Stewart (Forum on ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– Administrator for Governing Committees Education), Amber Stuver, (Forum on Graduate Student dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Membership Department, American Physical Society, Ken Cole the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Executive Officer Affairs), Roger Stuewer (Forum on History of Physics), correspondence regarding APS News should be directed [email protected]. Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville Stefan Zollner (Forum on Industrial and Applied Phys- (on leave) ics), David Ernst* (Forum on International Physics), APS NEWS February 2009 • 3

Education Award Recognizes 2-Year College Workshop Team Established 3 years ago, the APS Education C orner Award for Excellence in Education A column on educational programs and publications is primarily intended to recognize a group, rather than an individual. This Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PTEC) Conference year's recipient, approved by the APS Executive Board last spring, is the The annual PTEC Conference is the only national event in the Two-year College Workshop Team, country dedicated to physics and physical science teacher educa- whose leaders are (l to r): David Ma- tion. This year’s event will explore the theme of “Institutional Trans- loney (Indiana-Purdue University, Fort formation: how do we change departments and universities to Wayne), Curtis Hieggelke (Joliet Junior embrace the mission of preparing tomorrow’s teachers?” National College), and Tom O’Kuma (Lee Col- lege). leaders in physics and physical science teacher education will lead 90-minute workshops in four parallel sessions. In addition, the pro- In recommending the award, the se- gram will include plenary speakers, a contributed poster session, lection committee noted that “physics two half-day post-conference workshops (see below), and ample faculty members in two-year colleges opportunity for networking and sharing ideas. The conference will are frequently very isolated from their take place in Pittsburgh on March 13 and 14, immediately prior colleagues and are usually members to the APS March Meeting. For more information and to register, of general science departments. Very often, there is only one physicist on the Photo by Regina Barrera please see www.ptec.org/conferences/2009. faculty of the institution. Approximately 25% of students who enroll in introductory physics do so at two year institutions, and the percentage is higher for those students who will become K-12 teachers. In addition, the TYCs are the portal to Education Workshops at the APS March Meeting higher education for minority students and currently constitute the fastest growing segment of higher education in the The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PTEC) will sponsor two US. By reaching out to these faculty and building a network among them, the Two Year College Workshop Team has half-day workshops prior to the APS March Meeting in Pittsburgh. had a critical impact in improving physics instruction.” These workshops are intended to help faculty improve their un- dergraduate physics courses while recruiting undergraduates into teacher preparation programs. Ed Prather of the University of Ari- The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008 zona, a leader in research-based teaching techniques, will lead a workshop on how to make lectures more interactive and effective. The following ten stories were from outside our solar system. For tal interactions of quarks and their Valerie Otero and Steve Pollock, professors at the University of selected by science writers and the first time, astronomers have been strong nuclear forces. At the SLAC Colorado at Boulder, will lead a workshop on their nationally rec- editors of the American Institute of able to image extra-solar planets. BaBar experiment in California, ognized Learning Assistant program, which recruits undergradu- Physics and of APS as the top ten In addition, scientists have detect- scientists have isolated the lowest ates into teacher education programs with experiences as peer physics news stories of 2008. They energy state of bottomonium, a par- mentors. Both workshops will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon are in no particular order. In many ticle composed of a bottom and anti- on Sunday, March 15. For more information and to register, go to cases, more information about these bottom quark. In addition, in Japan’s www.ptec.org/conferences/2009/. topics can be found in the new APS KEK laboratories, scientists believe The APS Forum on Education is organizing a half-day workshop online publication, Physics. they have detected the first four- prior to the APS March Meeting entitled “Incorporating Simulations Superconductors–An entirely quark particles. and Computer Modeling into Upper Level Physics Courses.” Pre- new line of compounds capable of Read more about bottomonium: senters Wolfgang Christian, Harvey Gould, Anne Cox, and Chan- Physics 1, 11 (2008) dralekha Singh will expose participants to recently developed com- superconductivity at comparatively More about four-quark particles puter-based curricular material that improves student understand- high temperatures has been isolated. Photo courtesy of NASA ing of upper-level physics topics and that makes many previously Materials using an iron-arsenic base in Physics Today, June 2008 inaccessible topics accessible to undergraduate and graduate were found to conduct electricity Debris ring around Fomalhaut location Farthest Gamma Ray Burst – students. The workshop will take place from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. on with zero resistance at temperatures of extrasolar planet Formalhaut b. On September 19th NASA’s Swift Sunday, March 15. For more information please see www.aps.org/ just over 50 Kelvin. This is the first ed spectroscopic evidence of both satellite caught sight of the most meetings/march/events/workshops/fed-dcomp.cfm. time that a material other than a carbon dioxide and water vapor in distant gamma ray burst ever de- copper-based compound showed some of these planets’ atmospheres. tected. A tremendous gamma ray The Noyce Scholarship such electrical characteristics at More locally, the Messenger Space- burst nearly 12.8 billion light years The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher these high temperatures. In addition, craft, though still more than two away was first spotted by the Swift Scholarship program provides scholarships of $10,000 or more per these new iron-arsenic-based con- years from reaching its target orbit satellite and soon tracked by several year for future science and math teachers. Since 2002, the Noyce around Mercury, has already started ground-based observatories. After program has supported over 1,500 future teachers from over 90 ductors have been shown to be less brittle and easier to form than older, beaming back spectacular images of analyzing the objects redshift us- colleges and universities. The scholarships can go toward a teach- the planet’s surface, and discovered ing telemetry from observatories in er’s undergraduate or graduate education, and recipients must copper-based materials, potentially commit to teaching for two years in a high need school district for lending themselves to more practi- its magnetic field to be unexpect- Chile, scientists were able to calcu- every year of scholarship support. The term “high need” is defined cal uses in the future. Not only does edly symmetrical. Numerous probes late the huge distance the object’s quite broadly, and includes districts in every part of the country. this discovery come with many pro- all over Mars continue to transmit light had to travel before reaching evidence about the red planet’s wa- Earth. A gamma ray burst that size A new component of the Noyce program called the NSF Teach- spective functional uses, but also it ing Fellowship/Master Teaching Fellowship program will support offers clues towards answering the tery past. The now inert Phoenix comes from a super-massive star, Lander found strong evidence of many magnitudes larger than our science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals fundamental question of what actu- a layer of water ice just under the sun, after it has exhausted all of its who enroll in master’s degree programs leading to teacher certifi- ally causes high-temperature super- surface around the polar regions. nuclear fuel and collapsed into it- cation, as well as exemplary teachers who wish to become Master conductivity. Teachers in high need school districts. This program will provide At the same time, images from the self, forming a black hole. Not only Read more about iron-based su- academic courses, professional development, and salary supple- orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Or- perconductors: Physics 1, 21 (2008) ments to these fellows, in exchange for a commitment to serve in biter show landscape features that Read more about the most re- a high need school district. likely came as the result of a liquid cent iron superconductor discovery: Proposals for both the pre-service scholarships and the teaching ocean sometime during the planet’s Physics 1, 28 (2008) fellowships are due March 10. More information can be found on warmer history. The Venus Express LHC–After the better part of a the NSF’s website at www.nsf.gov by searching on “noyce.” has taken outstanding images at a decade, the Large Hadron Collider, APS and the American Association of Physics Teachers recently variety of wavelengths of Venus’s located along the Franco-Swiss bor- won an award to provide Noyce scholarships to future physics cloud cover. Cassini’s continuing der, was completed in June. With its teachers at PhysTEC institutions. For more information on this pro- mission to Saturn has returned an gram, please see www.PhysTEC.org/noyce or the November 2008 17 mile-long collider tunnel, it is not unprecedented amount of new data issue of APS News. only the world’s largest particle ac- about its moons and extensive ring Photo courtesy of NASA/Swift/Stefan Immier celerator but also essentially the larg- system. Photos and telemetry from est science experiment in the world. Gamma Ray burst 080913, the most the sixth planet have shown a mys- distant gamma ray burst detected The accelerator will propel protons terious aurora around its poles, an with energy on the order of 7 TeV KITS continued from page 1 unexpectedly thinning ring system, is the September burst the farthest per proton, registering their impacts and tremendous geysers on its icy observed event, it is also the oldest. explored by constructing a magnet- ence experiments centered on a in one of four giant detectors around moon Enceladus. Based on the amount of time for its powered pinwheel, to illustrate how mystery. Each story-based experi- the track. Physicists hope that these Quarks–A new baryon was light to reach Earth, the burst hap- current can make a magnet turn. ment gives students a clue needed collisions will be energetic enough to detected by Fermilab’s DZero ex- pened when the universe was less “Everything from lightning to to advance their journey towards produce a variety of exotic particles, periment. The new particle, dubbed than 825 million years old. computers ultimately relies on a including the elusive Higgs boson, solving the mystery. Classes submit Omega-sub-b, contains two strange Ultra Cold Molecules–For the few fundamental principles of elec- the theorized elementary particle that quarks and a single bottom quark. first time, entire molecules have their answers online and are entered tricity and magnetism. Students will gives matter its mass. A malfunction Baryons containing a bottom quark been cooled to a few hundred-bil- discover that these principles apply into a random drawing for prizes. in September knocked several of its are extremely rare and short-lived. lionths of a degree above absolute to their everyday lives,” said Chris The program focuses specifically superconducting magnets badly out The team at Fermilab recorded only zero. By modifying an established DiScenza, APS Public Outreach on middle school students because of alignment, temporarily shutting 18 instances of the new particle af- laser cooling technique used on indi- Specialist. these grades have been identified as down the facility. Repairs are under ter nearly 100 trillion recorded colli- vidual atoms, two teams were able to PhysicsQuest is a middle school the point when many students are way and technicians expect the LHC sions, each surviving only for about create the coldest molecules in his- competition that aims to give stu- should be up and running by the in danger of losing interest in math a millisecond before decaying. This tory. The team in Boulder, Colorado dents a positive experience with summer of 2009. discovery continues to fill in the pe- isolated several individual atoms of and science. PhysicsQuest 2009 kits physics, as well as introduce them Planets–Major planetary discov- riodic table of baryons and furthers potassium and rubidium in an opti- to physics concepts. The competi- will be laser-themed, in conjunction eries were made from near and far. the understanding of the fundamen- cal lattice formed by crossed laser tion consists of four physical sci- with LaserFest in 2010. Perhaps the biggest discovery comes TOP TEN continued on page 6 4 • February 2009 APS NEWS

Correction Offered to Science and History of Cosmic Acceleration Letters As a member of the High-Z September 8, 1998 and appeared in In March 1998, Saul Perlmutter Supernova Search Team (HZT), the June 1999 issue. was asked by the New York Times I think it is worthwhile to correct On the history, the January 1998 to explain his reluctance to assert both the science and the history that AAS meeting was not the time and cosmic acceleration at the AAS in Economic Theories not Scientific were described in “This Month in place where the world learned we January. According to the Times, I congratulate H. Eugene Stan- Marxism and Maoism. Physics History” that appeared in live in an accelerating universe. At “Describing their results in January, ley for his very illuminating Back Because economic theories are the January APS News. the AAS press briefing, 5 speakers, Dr. Perlmutter acknowledged that Page (APS News, December 2008) essentially political, they tend to On the science, Type Ia superno- including Peter Garnavich from the evidence strongly suggested a on the role of physics in the current be ideological, putting them in the vae are not standard candles: their HZT, concurred that we live in a cosmological constant, but went no financial crisis. I wholeheartedly same category as religion. Which luminosities vary by a factor of 3. low density universe that would ex- further. ‘We were trying to be very agree with him regarding the con- as we all know is the antithesis of Sorting the bright from the dim by pand forever. In that public setting, conservative until we had more tention that physicists are respon- science. the shape of their light curves to get no one claimed that the universe observations’.” Nobody claimed sible for it. That is simply a red Stanley’s intuition that an over- precise distances was introduced was accelerating [see, e.g. John No- to have announced cosmic accel- by HZT member Mark Phillips in ble Wilford, The New York Times, herring, introduced to shield those connected system is disadvanta- eration in January 1998. I think we who are truly responsible. geous is correct in my opinion. 1993. Jan 9, 1998 “New Data Suggest should mark the dates of scientific On the other hand, I disagree Since the introduction of require- Similarly, absorption by inter- Universe Will Expand Forever”.] discoveries from the submission of with his characterization of eco- ments for quarterly reporting, listed stellar dust can mimic dimming The first clear public statement that refereed publications, not commem- nomics as a science. Current eco- corporations have largely aban- that is due to accelerated expan- evidence from supernovae indicated orate the extrapolations of reporters nomic theories are essentially po- doned long-term planning, focus- sion. Riess, Press, and Kirshner cosmic acceleration took place in who get ahead of prudent scientists litical, and insofar as I can discern ing instead on short-term results to developed a solution to this prob- February 1998, at the Dark Matter are divorced from a number of well please the analyst-priests. In addi- lem, published in 1996, which was meeting in Marina Del Rey. Alex in drawing reliable conclusions. I established scientific facts: that tion, programmed trading enhances essential to the analysis of distant Filippenko of HZT said “the dim- say we should have the anniversary resources are finite, for instance. the connectivity, providing a sub- supernovae submitted by Riess and ness of the supernovae–pointing on March 13! On this basis, I look While we see criticisms of capital- stantial positive feedback response. HZT to the Astronomical Journal to unexpectedly large distances– forward eagerly to the next “This ism as being incapable of recogniz- A simple fix would be to introduce on March 13, 1998. This paper was implies that cosmic expansion has Month in Physics History.” ing the worth of things that cannot significant but random delays in accepted on May 6, and published actually sped up in the years since References to the articles men- be valued in units of currency, such large programmed trades, in an ef- in September 1998. The Supernova the stars exploded.” This triggered tioned above can be conveniently as clean air and water, biodiversity, fort to partially decouple them. Cosmology Project also developed a flood of public attention, includ- found at http://www.cfa.harvard. and human dignity among others, an effective way to measure dust ing an interview of HZT member edu/~rkirshner/whowhatwhen/ the same can also be said of other Stephen Schiff absorption to individual superno- Adam Riess on The News Hour. Thoughts.htm recent economic theories such as Aldie, VA vae, but not until 2003. Their article Cosmic acceleration seemed like on cosmic acceleration was submit- news to the world in February. Not Robert P. Kirshner Malthus Still Relevant ted to the Astrophysical Journal on January. Cambridge, MA The Back Page on Econo- important contribution Physics physics by H.E. Stanley does can make is promoting the im- Meeting Planners Need to Think Green not mention an equally or even portance of considering all the In this era of green thinking will need to fly, but choosing Ha- minimize the carbon footprint of greater failure. Malthus warned interacting parts, rather than de- and friendliness to Planet Earth, I waii, for example, as a destination the meeting, reduce costs associ- of the problem, but prematurely. veloping a technical fix for one make a plea to all those who orga- means that every participant will ated with travel, and lessen the Today only a few lonely voices nize (APS and other) conferences. clock up thousands of air miles part while ignoring its effect on tedium of hours and hours spent are heard, when it should be clear Surely, it makes sense, when de- and be responsible for significant that “solving” the energy prob- the whole. confined in a metal tube. ciding on a venue, to avoid far- CO2 emissions. Why not choose a lem without simultaneously ad- flung corners of the US. Holding major airline hub, or somewhere Elmer Eisner dressing the population growth a major scientific meeting inevita- that is close to the workplace of Paula Rosen is counterproductive. The most Houston TX bly means that some participants many of the attendees? This will Reading, Berkshire, UK

APS Copyright Revision Expands RECORD continued from page 1 APS membership also has a totals can play an important role is advocating on issues mandated by Author Rights significant international com- with respect to lobbying activities. Council. The impact that APS can ponent. There are now roughly As a registered lobbyist in Wash- have depends on having a large, By Nadia Ramlagan post on sites like Wikipedia. 10,000 members from outside the ington, APS seeks to promote the active membership. APS has recently revised the “The APS goal is to allow au- US, representing 21% of the total, health of the profession by argu- More information about APS copyright transfer form for jour- thors maximum freedom to re- approximately the same percent- ing for funding for science, re- membership can be found at the nal articles, in order to give the purpose their papers for other au- age as in recent years. search and education and to bring membership website, www.aps. author additional rights. The new diences, and take only the rights One area in which membership science into the policy arena by org/membership/. agreement allows authors to make that we must have to continue to and hold copyright for “deriva- provide quality publications to the tive works” that contain at least at physics community,” said Gene least 10% new material, and not Sprouse, APS Editor- in-Chief. more than 50% of the published APS also gives authors the APS journal article. If these con- right to post and update a paper ditions are not met, the author on their (or their employer’s) Look at my particle collider. must obtain explicit permission website and on free e-print serv- I’ve calculated that each of Stand back! from APS. ers such as arXiv. Authors are the walnuts will have about Ready... Revisions to APS copyright entitled to provide full copies of Whatcha doing? the same energy as a proton their paper, for research purposes, in the LHC when we let go of ...Aim... policies have been under discus- the slingshots. sion with input from the commu- to a colleague or third party as ... Fire! nity over the last two years. The long as a fee is not charged. Third emerging philosophy regarding parties can use copies for teaching copyright is to keep only those also, but incorporation into course rights that APS needs to safe- notes for more than one semester guard the continuity and value of requires APS permission. the journals and to cede the rest The change reflects the accom- to authors. modation of APS Journal polices APS strongly advocates reus- to advances in the way scientific ing article ideas and material in literature is communicated, and conference proceedings and class- the means by which APS takes room lectures; it is the posting into consideration future dissemi- of full articles on open content nation of knowledge, while pro- Oww-ww! Hey! I think you just n tecting and preserving the archive Watch it. discovered the Higgs! encyclopedia projects like Wiki- That hit me! pedia or Quantiki that presents a of physics research. K! copyright issue, as such sites have “Physical Review is really a RAC strict regulations requiring that community project–a public re- C authors hold copyright to mate- cord of what is important in phys- rial that they post. The policy lets ics, and we try to act in a way that authors reuse material from their doesn’t harm that. But it’s hard to APS journal articles when writ- tell where technology is going Alan Chodos and Kerry G. Johnso ing for a new audience, widening and what will be most useful to the scope of freedom of authors subscribers,” said APS Treasurer to create derivative works and to Joe Serene. 2009 © by APS NEWS February 2009 • 5

Washington Dispatch A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

ISSUE: Science Research Budgets Just prior to the January 16th APS News deadline, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a draft of the Second Economic Stimulus bill (officially known as the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”). The proposal includes “$10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation” and $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research. Key elements of the $12 billion total include: From oil wells to fountains of knowledge: • National Science Foundation (NSF): $3 billion, including $2 billion for expanding employment opportunities in fundamental science and engineering; $400 million to build major research facilities; $300 million for major research equipment; $200 million building a research culture in Qatar to repair and modernize science and engineering research facilities at the nation’s institutions of higher education and other science labs; and $100 million to improve by Millie Hyde-Smith instruction in science, math and engineering. • Department of Energy: $1.6 billion for basic research in the physical sciences The Arab region is not re- working in collaboration with of primary importance to Qatar. (including high-energy and nuclear physics, fusion energy sciences and high-speed nowned for its research input. academic partners abroad. To An example lies in nanotech- computing; and improvements to DOE laboratories and scientific facilities); $400 encourage these partnerships a nology, which has great signifi- million for the Advanced Research Project Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) to support high- According to UN figures, Arab risk, high-payoff research into energy sources and energy efficiency; $2 billion for countries spend 0.15% of gross delegation from QNRF visited cance to Qatar’s gas industry competitive energy efficiency and renewable energy grants to universities, companies, domestic product (GDP) on a selection of UK and US uni- as nanocatalysts are used in the and national laboratories. research, and this amounts to versities over the summer of gas-to-liquid conversion pro- • National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST): $300 million for competitive only fractionally over 10% of 2008 to explain what funding cesses. Enhancing the activity construction grants for research science buildings at colleges, universities, and other the global average. Yet, if the and partnership opportunities and selectivity of these nano- research organizations; and $100 million to coordinate research efforts of laboratories and national research facilities by setting interoperability standards for manufacturing. small Gulf country of Qatar has are available. Sattar Al Taie, catalysts is a multi-disciplinary its way, all this will change. Director of QNRF elaborates: By the time APS News went to press, the Senate had not yet released its Stimulus draft. research field which is one of However, congressional leaders and President Obama have stated that the Stimulus is The state of Qatar, which has “We actively encourage col- those supported by QNRF and their top priority. The Senate and House hope to have a Stimulus bill passed and ready the fastest growing economy in laborative research between involves joint teams comprised for the President’s signature by the President’s Day recess, which is scheduled to begin the world, has dedicated 2.8% institutions in Qatar and estab- th of both US- and Qatar-based at the close of business on February 13 . If the legislative process slows down, the of its GDP to research with a lished research facilities abroad congressional leaders have said they will keep both chambers in session. researchers. The input of phys- view to diversifying its income because promoting knowledge ics is crucial in understanding Readers will recall from the December Washington Dispatch that the majority of the Federal Government is operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year from oil and gas revenues to and technology transfer in this the processes of these cata- 2009 (FY09) that holds federal funding at FY 2008 levels. An FY 2009 Omnibus Bill is one derived from a knowledge- manner builds human capital. lytic reactions at the atomic nearing completion, but it is unclear when Congress will turn to consideration of the based economy focused on sci- In this way we help our aca- and molecular level, and the legislation. Should completion of the Stimulus bill bog down, preventing completion ence, technology and medicine. demic institutions attract and by the President’s Day recess deadline, Congress may turn to the FY09 Omnibus, identification and character- particularly in light of the expiration of the CR on March 6th. Should Congress not Put in real terms, that 2.8% retain top faculty, and contrib- ization of the active sites. This consider the Omnibus by that date, there is a possibility that Congress would vote to equals 1.5 billion US dollars ute to the development of a re- can inspire chemists to look for extend the FY09 CR for the remainder of the fiscal year, which would keeping funding per year and compares to 2.7% search culture here.” ways to design and make high at FY08 levels. in the US and 1.8% in the UK. The principal funding pro- performance nanocatalysts. ISSUE: POPA Activities Nonetheless, Qatar is aware gram for professional research- For example, a research team Since the October 3rd, 2008 meeting of the APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA), that it takes more than money ers is the National Priorities composed of Professors Mah- subcommittees have been busy at work on approved and proposed studies for the to excel at research. Having Research Program, or NPRP as coming year. moud Khader of Qatar Univer- looked at the success of oth- it is known. This annual pro- sity, Wayne Goodman at Texas POPA approved a study on non-biological CO capture, and William F. Brinkman 2 er countries such as the UK, gram is currently in the midst A&M University, and Drago- has agreed to be Study Chair. A POPA member, Robert Socolow, will Co-Chair. The of assessing applications to study’s committee has been assembled and leadership is finalizing budget details.T he where research output greatly mer Burkur at Texas A&M at inaugural meeting of the committee is tentatively scheduled for March. exceeds investment in compari- its 2nd cycle of funding and Qatar addressing issues related The POPA Energy & Environment Subcommittee is considering a proposal for a study son to other countries, it has in Spring will be awarding a to the activation of supported focused on modernizing the current U.S. energy grid to enable significant expansion of recognized the need to focus, to total of US $45 million with cobalt nanoparticles. renewable energy. This will be discussed at the February 6th POPA meeting. invest in excellent universities, grants ranging from $20,000 to University physics depart- $350,000 per year, payable to The National Security Subcommittee has developed a study proposal on verification and to favor multi-disciplinary ments are also involved in a technology for reducing nuclear arsenals, a topic that arose as a supplementary item of work. projects spanning anywhere be- wide range of QNRF-funded interest from the report, Nuclear Weapons in 21st Century U.S. National Security, which So in order to allocate some tween one and three years. Ap- was produced jointly by POPA, AAAS and the Center for Strategic and International activity, notably projects con- of that capital whilst simul- plications are all independently Studies (CSIS) and released in late 2008. The National Security Subcommittee will cerning biodetection, solar present its proposal for consideration at the February 6th, 2009 POPA meeting. taneously, and perhaps more peer reviewed by at least three energy conversion, photoca- importantly, ensuring that a international experts, and the Anyone who has suggestions for a POPA study can visit http://www.aps.org/policy/ talysis, photonics, laser spec- reports/popa-reports/suggestions/index.cfm and send in his or her ideas. Reports sustainable research culture process adheres to a strict pol- troscopy and nonlinear optics. stemming from past POPA studies can be found on the web at http://www.aps.org/ is established, the Qatar Na- icy of transparency and equal- policy/reports/popa-reports/index.cfm. Funded research activities in tional Research Fund (QNRF) ity. Al-Taie feels this rigor, applied mathematics and theo- ISSUE: Washington Office Media Update was established in 2006. Its combined with encouraging retical physics include projects Bloomberg news service and PhysicsToday.org published stories regarding the mission is to administer fund- collaboration, has contributed aiming at understanding quan- nomination of Steven Chu as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Chu is the ing for original, competitively to the success of the NPRP: current Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an APS Fellow. tum entanglement, the outcome selected research that is in the “A manifestation of this is of which could have great ap- USA Today and Global Newswire published stories about the release of the APS/ national interest, but QNRF that QNRF received during the plications in the security of AAAS/CSIS Nuclear Policy report. Interested readers can find the report on the POPA has been established as much second NPRP cycle nearly 500 Report website, at http://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/index.cfm. more than a funding body. It proposals from 277 institutions communication within quantum

promotes the concept and im- located in 46 countries.” information science. The APS Energy Efficiency report (http://www.aps.org/energyefficiencyreport/) has Qatar’s efforts to create a received coverage in the following media outlets: portance of research nationally, Applications can come knowledge-based economy, Print: McClatchy News Service, Miami Herald, Seattle Times, Bellingham (WA) Herald, particularly to young people at from within a range of broad Lawrence (KS) Journal World, Politico, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Grand Junction (CO) undergraduate level. The Fund research areas, including the which started over a decade Daily Sentinel, Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA) and Epoch Times also ensures that the research it natural sciences, engineering, ago with the establishment of Magazine: Science, Physics Today provides for adheres to interna- and technology. At least one PI a world-class educational in- TV: CNN, Clean Skies TV, Energy & Environment TV tional standards. In order to do must reside in Qatar and 50% frastructure before the focus transferred to research and de- Radio: An audio news release aired on 150 stations in the top-50 markets, reaching this it has worked closely with of the research effort must be more than 15 million households. Some of the stations included: CNN Radio, Wall a number of international bod- conducted in the state; how- velopment, represent a unique Street Journal Radio, Metro Networks (San Francisco, Oakland, CA) and American ies, such as the NSF, NIH and ever, QNRF recognizes that experiment. Ultimately it is Urban Radio Network. the U.S. Civilian Research & modern research programs are hoped that some of the research Online: CNNmoney.com, Newsweek On-Air, Energy Efficiency News (UK), Business Development Foundation, and not restricted by borders or in- funded by QNRF and others Week, Clean Earth News, Climate Wire, CoStar Group, Energy & Environment News will result in the ultimate prize PM, Energy Bulletin, SLAC Today, Smart Brief, American Institute of Physics has deliberately kept the bench- stitutional boundaries and can mark for funded research high be coordinated across multiple of intellectual property rights Blogs: Grist, Energy Independence, Green Car Congress, Northern Crude Alaska, and commercialization. Only Peak Oil to encourage excellence. sites. Another key role of the QNRF is funding research time will tell if Qatar’s ambi- Log on to the Public Affiars website (http://www.aps.org/public_affairs) for QNRF is to facilitate collabo- in many disciplines of physical tious plans, enviable wealth, more information. ration and multi-disciplinary sciences, ranging from theo- and unbridled enthusiasm pay off. HOLDREN continued from page 1 research between Qatar-based retical and fundamental physics received numerous honors and cil of Advisors on Science and institutions and international to immediate applied physics. Researchers who are inter- awards for his contributions and Technology (PCAST) along with partners. Many of these proj- Physics research is also inte- ested in collaborating with re- has been one of the most pas- Harold Varmus and Eric Lander. ects involve one of the six US gral to many interdisciplinary searchers in Qatar and applying sionate and persistent voices of “Together, they will work to re- universities with branch cam- research projects, particularly for NPRP funding for the next our time about the growing threat make PCAST into a vigorous ex- puses in Education City (the those springing out of the pet- cycle, which begins in summer of climate change. I look forward ternal advisory council that will education & research hub es- rochemical industries. In keep- 2009, should refer to the NPRP to his wise counsel in the years shape my thinking on scientific tablished by Qatar Foundation), ing with its drive to develop proposal submission section of ahead.” aspects of my policy priorities,” but increasingly state and pri- home-grown knowledge, as op- the website: www.qnrf.org. Holdren will also serve as a said Obama in his announce- vate entities in Qatar are devel- posed to relying on bought ex- Millie Hyde-Smith is a con- Co-Chair of the Presidents Coun- ment. oping research programs and pertise, this field of research is sultant for QNRF. 6 • February 2009 APS NEWS

Finding Sanctuary in Faith and Physics

By Alaina G. Levine A Priest and a Rabbi walk into doing a measurement, of finding same way. He was excited by phy of nature”, with a thesis in Rabbi Kopelman notices that a physics lab. It could be the start a number,” he explains. “I liked science as a child, and says “my relativistic cosmology. Since “you find very much the same of a joke, but in this case it’s the the challenge of doing an experi- dream from the very beginning then he has served in academic thing in the lab.” “You know premise of the lives of Michal ment and getting a number with was to study the sciences. It was positions in physics and astro- what the technology is,” he ex- Heller, a Catholic priest, and greater accuracy than anyone else quite natural.” And yet he knew physics at universities throughout plains. “Can you take that tech- Ronald B. Kopelman, a rabbi, had done before.” “religion was something that was Europe, and has conducted astro- nology and adapt it to find a new both of whom also happen to be His career transition from absolutely necessary (to be part nomical research at the Vatican and better measurement? In a physicists. physicist to spiritual leader began of)”. Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, way both challenges are the same Drawn to science as young- in 1990, although Kopelman says “I was too ambitious,” Heller Italy, among other places. He has thing–you are looking at a specif- sters, Reverend Heller, 72, and it was “a midlife crisis 20 years admits, “I always wanted to do also written several books with ic question and you’re trying to Rabbi Kopelman, 56, both see in the making.” At that time, at the most important things, and titles such as Some Mathematical see it in a new and novel way.” religion and science as inher- the age of 41, he was working what can be more important than Physics for Philosophers, The Neither Heller nor Kopelman ently connected. “Science gives for NASA in Cleveland while his science and religion?” By the New Physics and a New Theolo- sees a conflict between religion us knowledge, and religion gives family lived in Utica, NY. Ev- time he was in his teens, he knew gy, and Theoretical Foundations and physics. Says the Rabbi: “I us meaning,” says Heller. And as ery weekend, he drove the three he would pursue both. However, of Cosmology–Introduction to the have come to the conclusion that Kopelman puts it: “Science asks hours home and during the long growing up in Poland at the end Global Structure of Space-Time. if Torah and science seem to be how and religion asks why…they drives he found himself thinking of World War II, and then under Both the rabbi and the priest in conflict, then you’re not pos- deal with two sides of the same more and more about see connections and ing the question the right way. At coin.” Judaism. He started parallels between no time should the two of those The two clergymen completed reading books on the religion and science. be in conflict. My scientific back- their physics and religious train- subject and learning “Religion permeates ground lets me step back and see ing in reverse order–Kopelman Hebrew, and before everything,” Heller how these two could not be in worked as a physicist for al- he knew it, he real- says, and “science conflict.” most 15 years and then became ized he needed for- concerns every- Heller agrees. “(Science and a rabbi, whereas Heller went to mal training to go thing.” He believes religion) both are prerequisites Seminary in his teens and studied further with his stud- that everything was of the decent existence,” he says. physics following his ordination ies. “What started created by God, and “The paradox is that these two as a priest. out as an avocation through science, “we great values seem often to be in Rabbi Kopelman received his turned into a full- rabbi Kopelman Reverend Heller figure out how God conflict. I am frequently asked PhD in physics, in the area of time pursuit,” he did it.” how I could reconcile them with critical point phenomena in gas says. He quit his job, enrolled in a communist regime, he knew The rabbi distinguishes many each other. When such a ques- and liquid transformations, from the Jewish Theological Seminary getting a degree in physics was places where science and Juda- tion is posed by a scientist or a the University of Maryland. He in New York City, and seven not a simple option. He chose the ism, in particular, cross. For ex- philosopher, I invariably wonder went straight into an industrial years later, emerged as a rabbi. priesthood first. After graduat- ample, when someone creates a how educated people could be so physics career, but had always His first pulpit out of semi- ing from seminary and being or- new material, Kopelman ponders blind not to see that science does been very interested in Judaism. nary was at a synagogue in Bow- dained, he went to study physics whether one can make a kosher nothing else but explores God’s Having been raised in an Ortho- ie, MD. Looking back, Rabbi at Catholic University in Lublin, dish out of that material. “You’re creation.” dox Jewish household in Detroit, Kopelman asserts that he would which at the time was the only taking very ancient laws that Rabbi Kopelman jokingly says he had first contemplated becom- not have done his training any university in Poland at which a people know well but applying he “hopes” that having studied ing a rabbi in his younger days, other way. “What I am today is priest could study openly. them in uncharted regions,” he physics has made him a better although he ultimately chose to a reflection of both worlds and Although there was no phys- says. “It’s the same thing when spiritual leader. “It has allowed first pursue a career in science. I wouldn’t give either one up,” ics department at the institution, a new species is discovered; you me to see my religion and what Kopelman had been attracted he says. In fact, “I wish I could Heller was still able to take phys- have to determine if it is kosher. goes on in the Bible in unique to physics because he was mag- have spent a whole lifetime do- ics and mathematics courses. By You have to ask: can you take the ways that other rabbis don’t see,” netized by measurements. “I was ing both.” 1966, he had graduated with a text that’s there and adapt it to he states. Furthermore, “it gives always excited at the thought of Reverend Heller feels the master’s and a PhD in “philoso- new situations?” SANCTUARY continued on page 7

TOP TEN continued from page 3 beams. They then brought the two to increase the life of each molecule in a diamond environment. At the originated from some previously been blocked are able to cross the dramatically. same time, a group at Harvard was unknown type of radio-silent pul- zinc strip. This is the first experi- Read more: Physics 1, 24 (2008) able to locate within a nanometer a sar, or possibly even the product of mental confirmation of the previ- Diamond Detectors–Work on single Carbon-11 impurity using its decayed dark matter particles. ously predicted necklace states. the molecular structure of carbon nuclear spin interactions. Read more about the highest en- Read more: Physics 1, 20 continues to show great promise Read more: Science, Vol. 320. no. ergies of cosmic rays: Physics 1, 9 (2008) for quantum computing. This year 5874, pp. 352–355 (18 April 2008); (2008) Macroscopic Feedback Cool- scientists were able to construct a Nature 455, 644-647 (2 October Read more about the unexpected ing–An aluminum bar weighing nano-scale light source that emits a 2008) directions of cosmic rays: Physics one metric ton has been success- single photon at a time. The team Cosmic Rays–Research into 1, 37 (2008) fully cooled to approximately first removed a solitary atom from high energy cosmic rays keeps pos- For more about the high energy .2mK, the first time anything so Loosely bound molecules (left) contain- the carbon’s otherwise regular ma- ing new questions faster than old electrons and protons: PAMELA: massive has been cooled below ing two Rb atoms can be made by mag- trix and then introduced a nitrogen ones can be answered. On the one arXiv:0810.4995 one millikelvin. That alone is a netic forces in optical traps at nK tem- peratures. When an extra radio wave atom nearby. When they excited hand, researchers at the Pierre Au- Light Passes through Opaque tremendous achievement; how- field is applied the molecules become this crystal with a laser, single po- ger Observatory in Argentina seem Matter–Ordinarily when light falls ever, the bar is integral to an ex- more tightly bound (right). Reported larized photons were emitted from to have finally pinned down the up- on an opaque object, interference periment that could once and for by: Lang et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, the empty space. These photons permost energies of cosmic rays at due to the material’s entropy scat- all prove the existence of gravity 133005 (2008) could be used to detect very small about 1019 electron volts. However ters the photons so few if any get waves predicted by Einstein. The elements together using Feshbach magnetic forces. Additionally the when the Milagro Gamma-Ray Ob- through to the other side. Techni- aluminum mass works as a tuning resonance to bind the atoms into a photons emitted contained two spin servatory mapped the skies, it found cians at the University of Twente in fork in the AURIGA gravity wave single molecule, without accidently states and were able to exist in that the majority of the high energy (ten the Netherlands have now been able detector in Padova, Italy. By cool- infusing any energy into the cold state for nearly a millisecond be- trillion plus electron volts) cos- to send large numbers of photons ing the mass, physicists hope to atoms. At the same time, a team in fore their wave function collapsed. mic rays originated in only a few through normally opaque objects eliminate any background noise Innsbruck, Austria combined two ru- The emitted photon is essentially a specific directions, prompting the by finding low interference paths so they can more easily detect bidium atoms to form their ultracold long-lasting qbit which could, with scientists to ask what’s out there? called “necklace states.” By spe- any harmonic vibration when the molecules using the same method. further development, be entangled Perhaps even more tantalizingly, cially angleing different phases of predicted gravity waves strike the In the past, getting a molecule to re- with other adjacent qbits for uses several independent observers de- light at thin zinc strips, the photons aluminum. Should the harmonic main stable at such low temperatures in quantum computing. Another tected surprisingly large numbers travel through these necklace states, effects of these waves be detect- has been devilishly difficult because team at the University of Delft in of high energy electrons and posi- avoiding much of the chaos within. ed, it would be their first direct of its complex structure. However the Netherlands, working in con- trons hitting the upper atmosphere. Under these conditions, approxi- experimental confirmation since by first chilling then bonding the in- junction with UCSB, was able to These findings have prompted a lot mately 1000 times the number of Einstein predicted them in 1918. dividual atoms, the teams were able detect the spin of a single electron of speculation that they could have photons that would have otherwise Read more: Physics 1, 3 (2008) APS NEWS February 2009 • 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS

RECESSION Call for Proposals: India-U.S. Travel Program Now Appearing in RMP: Recently Posted Reviews and Colloquia Means employers must hire highly skilled employees The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the American Physical Society (APS) You will find the following in and jobseekers must set themselves apart. are pleased to announce the launch of two new pro- the online edition of grams: 1) the India-U.S. Physics Student Visita- Reviews of Modern Physics Register for the upcoming APS March Meeting Job Fair tion Program, and 2) the India-U.S. Professorship Awards in at and give yourself an edge. Physics. http://rmp.aps.org Through the Physics Student Visitation Program, U.S. and Employers will have access Indian graduate students may apply for travel funds Quantum entanglement to hundreds of highly skilled of U.S. $3,000 to pursue opportunities in physics. The Ryszard Horodecki, Paweł Horodecki, candidates and jobseekers travel funds could be used to attend a short course or Michał Horodecki and summer institute, to work temporarily in a laboratory, Karol Horodecki will have access to their ideal or for another opportunity that the student and the host From the point of view of quan- jobs. professor believe is worthy of support. The Physics Student Visi- tum information science, entangle- tation Program aims to mostly support graduate student travel to ment is a resource that can be used to perform tasks that are impos- India by U.S. citizens, while enabling some students of Indian citi- APS March Meeting Job Fair sible in a classical world. In a cer- zenship to travel to the United States. tain sense, the more entanglement The Professorship Awards in Physics funds physicists in In- we have, the better we can perform Date: March 16-17, 2009 dia or the United States wishing to visit overseas to teach short those tasks. Thus, one of the main David L. Lawrence Convention Center, courses or provide a physics lecture series delivered at a U.S. or goals in this field has been to iden- Place: tify under which conditions two or Indian university. Awards will be up to U.S. $4,000. Pittsburgh, PA more systems are entangled, and Further details about both programs, including proposal guide- how entangled they are. This paper lines, are provided at www.aps.org/programs/international/us-in- reviews the main criteria to detect Register today at: http://www.aps.org/careers/ dia-travel.cfm. entanglement as well as entangle- The upcoming deadline is 31 March 2009. Recipients will be ment measures and also discusses employment/jobfairs.cfm the role of entanglement in quantum selected by a joint APS-IUSSTF Review Committee. communication and cryptography.

SANCTUARY continued from page 6 APS Members Participate in AAAS Meeting me another tool in my arsenal for Interdisciplinary Studies in for studying Torah and our tradi- conjunction with Jagiellonian By Nadia Ramlagan organized the symposium. secrets of our ancient world, in tions and understanding them.” University and the Pontifical Several APS members will be The symposium “Basic Re- fields such as archaeology, - pale search for Global Energy Securi- ontology, and anthropology in the For example, since he finds Academy of Theology in Cra- speaking at this year’s American ty: A Call to Action”, will feature symposium, “Casting New Light joy in physics and religion, and cow to further research and edu- Association for the Advancement Paul A. Alivisatos of UC Berkley on Ancient Secrets”. is still charmed by measure- cation in science and theology as of Science (AAAS) Annual Meet- and others discussing innovations The three symposia are spon- ments, his unique background an academic discipline. ing in Chicago, February 12-16, in energy production, transmis- sored by Brookhaven National allows him to examine certain Both theologians still consid- 2009, which this year is held joint- sion, and storage, and explain how Laboratory (BNL). In addition, portions of the Torah, such as er themselves physicists. Rabbi ly with the American Association basic research–particularly in the Lene Vestergaard Hau, Mallinck- the 10 plagues, for its scientific Kopelman “doesn’t do much of Physics Teachers (AAPT). relevance. “The ninth plague is physics”, but “would feel com- emerging field of nanoscience–is rodt Professor of Physics and Ap- Barbara Jacak of SUNY Stony enabling advances in catalysis, plied Physics at Harvard, will give darkness,” he notes, and “I as fortable at an APS meeting.” He Brook and John E. Thomas of a physicist start thinking: can I occasionally teaches mathemat- superconductivity, artificial pho- a topical lecture, “Wizardry with Duke University will speak at the tosynthesis and other areas. Re- Light: Freeze, Teleport, and Go!” find a solar eclipse that’s com- ics at a community college. Rev- symposium, “Quest for the Per- plete over the land of Egypt in erend Heller, on the other hand, search on identifying and advanc- on ultra slow light as a novel tool fect Liquid: Connecting Heavy ing renewable and sustainable for probing the fundamental prop- certain centuries that come at takes out a paper and a pencil Ions, String Theory and Cold a certain time of the year? If I and works out a problem almost sources of energy, such as solar erties of Bose-Einstein conden- Atoms.” The talk will bring to- find that then I can date the Exo- every day. He often carries a wind, hydro and biofuels/biomass sates. gether experts from Brookhaven’s dus.” But he is quick to clarify math book or some exercises will be presented. Member James The theme of this year’s AAAS Relativistic Heavy Ion collider that the majority of his teach- with him. “If you stop doing Misewich of BNL co-organized Meeting is “Our Planet and Its (RHIC), string theory/cosmology, ings as a rabbi rely on his and physics you forget everything,” the symposium. Life: Origins and Futures,” in con- and atomic physics to discuss how his congregants’ faith. “What we he says. So his math work “must Murray Gibson of Argonne Na- junction with the 200th anniver- RHIC’s findings help us under- are talking about is the novelty be done.” He quips that he re- tional Laboratory and Uwe Berg- sary of Charles Darwin’s birth and stand ultra cold matter and pos- th of my approach,” he explains. gards himself as “the best physi- mann of SLAC National Acceler- the 150 anniversary of the publi- “That’s only part of the ap- cist among priests and the best sibly high-temperature supercon- ator Laboratory will discuss how cation of his book, On the Origin proach. I have a certain love and priest among physicists.” ductors and neutron stars. Peter light source research facilities of Species by Means of Natural faith in my religion that tran- Was it divine intervention Steinberg, of Brookhaven Nation- around the world are using state- Selection. All meeting attendees scends science.” that led these two mortals to de- al Laboratory (BNL) and William of-the-art, nondestructive X-ray are encouraged to come to these The rabbi and the priest have vote their lives to physics and A. Zajc, of Columbia University, techniques to uncover fascinating symposia. had extraordinary experiences. faith? Was it free will? Or per- Rabbi Kopelman had the pro- haps it was a combination of found privilege of giving the many elements, a celestial fu- Keeping Tabs on Publications sermon at a prayer service in sion of divinity, mortality, and memory of the victims of the quantum mechanics that direct- Columbine massacre, as well as ed these philosophers to incor- providing solace to the family porate science with the sacred. of Liviu Librescu, an engineer- In any event, the priest and the ing professor (and Orthodox rabbi have contributed much to Jew) killed during the Virginia the discussion of the bond be- Tech massacre in 2007. Rabbi tween religion and science, as Kopelman performed Shemirah, crystallized in the words of an- a Jewish ceremony involving other philosopher physicist, who watching over the body from the famously wrote that “science time of death until burial, never without religion is lame, religion permitting it to be alone. As without science is blind.”1 the shomer (guard), he recited Alaina G. Levine can be psalms and stayed with Librescu reached through her website until other rabbis came to ac- www.alainalevine.com. company his body to Jerusalem Copyright, 2009, Alaina G. for the burial. Levine Reverend Heller was honored in early 2008 with the Temple- 1ALBERT EINSTEIN, paper ton Prize, the world’s largest prepared for initial meeting of the Photo by Ken Cole annual monetary award given to Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the an individual. Bestowed by the On January 8, the Publications Oversight Committee held its first meeting of 2009 at APS headquarters in College Democratic Way of Life, New York Park, MD. Among its important tasks is recommending a journal pricing structure for the coming year. Left to right: John Templeton Foundation, the City, September 9–11, 1940.—Ein- Prize is worth more than $1.6 Vladimir Goldman, Stony Brook; Joe Krause (librarian advisor); Brad Cox, Virginia (Chair), Bert Halperin, Harvard stein, Out of My Later Years, chapter (Past Chair); Judy Franz (APS Executive Officer); Guenter Ahlers, UCSB; Gene Sprouse (APS Editor-in-Chief); million. Heller is using the funds 8, part 1, p. 26 (1950, rev. and re- Thomas Glasmacher, Michigan State; Joe Serene (APS Treasurer/Publisher); David Singh, NRL. to launch the Copernicus Center printed 1970). 8 • February 2009 APS NEWS The Back Page

hese are tough times. The stock market has our universities despite the financial downturn, we Tplummeted, stores and factories are closing, and will lose many young people in the STEM fields, many people are losing their jobs. Here in Tennes- in general, and in physics, in particular. see the tax revenues have been decreasing for the So the recent emphasis on strengthening the ef- last year and will probably continue to do so for forts in STEM education and recruiting, as high- some time to come. As a direct consequence of the Tough Times lighted so well in the Rising Above the Gathering decreasing revenue the state funding for Universi- Storm report, might be another casualty. In our ty of Tennessee was cut by 5% for this fiscal year, department we had developed a great plan for in- By Soren P. Sorensen and during the recent budget hearings in Nashville, creasing our efforts in the undergraduate program Governor Bredesen predicted budget cuts for higher on educating physics teachers. We thought that education at the 10%-15% level for next fiscal year. would be important in a state where there are ap- And now the latest news sets the level at 20%. In gener- proximately 700 public and private high schools, but only al, our Governor has been providing as much funding for 250 certified high schools teachers in physics! An impor- higher education in Tennessee as possible (after all Gov- tant component of the plan was to introduce a set of cours- ernor Bredesen is one of us, since he has a BS in Physics es that would better suit the needs of future K-12 teachers from Harvard), but even a physicist cannot violate the fi- than our upper-division core curriculum classes, which are nancial equation of continuity: when less money is coming nearly entirely taught as preparation for success in a gradu- in, there is less money to give out. ate program in physics. But now the flow of memos from We are not the only state facing tough times. The trend the administration requires our faculty to teach more class- all over our nation has been that state universities get less es and, in particular, larger classes, so implementing new and less support from public funds. At some state univer- classes that initially might only serve a couple of handfuls sities the public support is now less than 10% of the total of future physics teachers is impossible. So much for doing revenue. In 2009 this trend will escalate at a dramatic rate, something to “rise above the gathering storm.” including at University of Tennessee. Even when the finan- Some of my good friends, who are working in private cial situation for the state of Tennessee hopefully gets bet- industry as physicists, engineers, or in staff positions, are ter in a few years, I do not expect we will be able to fully not particularly sympathetic to our plight in academia. recover what is now being lost. The same will be true for “Welcome to the club” they say, since they are used to liv- most publicly funded universities. We simply have to get ing with the much more frequent layoffs and funding fluc- used to the fact that there will be fewer state funds avail- tuations seen in industry. But most of them have been able able for higher education. layoffs. The problem is being enhanced by the state control to compensate for this lower job security by having higher So how do these budget cuts influence our physics de- of tuition increases. Private universities have been able to salaries than we can offer, at least in our department. So it partment here at University of Tennessee? Profoundly! We increase tuition to unprecedented levels over the last cou- seems that for a period our department will have to deal now have 25.5 Full Time Equivalent faculty members in ple of decades, but the Tennessee University system will with both low salaries and low job security, at least for staff our department. This is two less than just a year ago, since not be allowed to implement tuition increases that can off- and non-tenured faculty. we lost two positions as a result of the budget cuts in June. set the decreasing state funding, even if most of our stu- However, in all this doom and gloom there is one bright We have to go all the way back to around 1960 to find few- dents now are covered by the HOPE scholarship funded by spot. Our department has been blessed by wonderful alum- er faculty members in our department. We have partly com- the state lottery. ni and donors, who over the last 8 years have increased our pensated for this loss in FTEs by having more Joint Faculty So how do we implement budget cuts? endowment by a factor of 20. This has enabled us to pro- positions with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), so The fundamental problem is that in common with many vide scholarships and support for many of our students at the 25.5 FTE correspond to 33 actual living beings! other academic departments and colleges, we don’t have both the undergraduate and graduate level. Increasingly we Our department used to have a large set of lecturers any contingency plans for such a situation. Yes, we do have will have to offset the diminishing state support by rely- and adjunct teaching staff, who would be responsible for a fancy strategic plan, but like most strategic plans it deals ing on the proceeds from our endowment to be able to pro- many of our big service courses and general education with the much more pleasant problem of defining how to vide a meaningful educational experience for our students. courses. Over the last several years we have lost many of grow our department, not how to reduce it. “Fortunately” Many of our donors have graciously made the stipulations them and have not had any funds to replace them, so we we are given some guidance by the university administra- of their donations very broad, which has enabled us to use are now down to only 3 lecturers, and since two of them tion, who tells us that the cuts we implement should be the funds to support a range of activities that used to be are part-time they only represent 1.7 FTE. This has placed “strategic” and preserve our “core mission”. This sounds state-supported: research participation for undergraduate a strong teaching responsibility on our faculty and they good, but the problem is that nobody seems to know what students during the summer semester, support for students have responded well. Our physics faculty is now teaching strategic cuts are, other than it is the opposite of “across on foreign exchange programs, support for equipment used more student credit hours than any other department at the the board” cuts. Similarly there are many different opinions by students in our educational labs, and even in a few cases university, because our faculty members have been willing about what the university’s core mission is. If we ask the support for research equipment benefitting our graduate and have had the skills to teach general education astron- politicians or the general public it seems to be undergradu- students (and their advisors!). We will also increasingly be omy and physics for biologists, engineers, and architects. ate education. My colleagues in the humanities and social using our endowment proceeds as payment/scholarships In some other departments at our university the students sciences, who typically spend 2-3 times as many hours in for our junior and senior physics majors, when they work do not meet a real tenured professor before classes at the the classroom as we do in physics, tend to agree with the in our tutoring center. This tutoring center has been a great sophomore or junior level! emphasis on the undergraduate education, but many of success and we want to expand that service. We have also had to reduce our staff in the department. them are also willing to place some emphasis on the gradu- I am mentioning these concrete examples of what have We are now operating our Electronics Workshop with only ate programs. been done and what can be done with endowment funds, two people instead of three, and our Mechanical Workshop But most physics departments at research universities since we have come to the same realization as many oth- will now be run by only four people after the recent death are different. In our case, we have more students in our er state universities: we cannot continue to rely on state of our workshop supervisor, since we do not have any graduate program than in our undergraduate program, and funds, but increasingly we have to go the same route as funds to replace his position. We might even be down to 2/3 of our total budget consists of external research grants the private universities and raise the funds needed for three, if another machinist chooses to retire in the spring. and contracts. So for a physics department it is vital also to teaching and operation from our alumni. Demographics Our administrative and financial staff now consists of only maintain the emphasis on excellence in research and grad- might help us. Many physics departments grew dramati- five people, who manage to run a “business” with approxi- uate education, and that is not an easy task in the current cally in the years after the Second World War and then mately 200 employees in the form of faculty, departmental climate. Letters to the editor of our local newspapers or on- after the “Sputnik” crisis. Many of our alumni from that staff, research staff, research and adjunct professors, and line comments to articles about our university give the im- time have now retired and have hopefully fond memo- graduate research and/or teaching assistants. pression that a large segment of the public (and therefore ries of their time in our departments. We have found that This high efficiency, however, is coming at a cost. There maybe also the politicians) considers research a nice hobby keeping in touch with them through a newsletter and oc- is no more “slack” in the system in the form of professors for the faculty, but nothing that should have any priority casional personal contacts greatly increases the likelihood who can teach more courses. If we have to implement ad- during a financial crisis. Maybe Tennessee is different from that they will donate substantial amounts, especially in ditional budget cuts, we will have to cancel classes. This the rest of the nation, but I doubt it. So one of our most their estate. So the job of a department chair is changing. will result in much higher student dissatisfaction and, more important tasks as physicists in the coming years will be “Development” will be a major part of it in the future. importantly, longer graduation times for our majors, since to intensify the efforts to educate the general public, politi- Many people have worked hard in the past in order many students will not be able to schedule the needed 15 cians, and university administrators about the importance to bring our physics departments to their current level, credit hours each semester. of the research component in our universities. where we as a community can be proud of having what This is our situation right now, but it will be getting Placing emphasis on research at a university is not an is probably the best higher education system in physics worse very soon. abstract concept. In practice it means preserving faculty anywhere in the world. We should now be determined As mentioned above the state of Tennessee, like many and staff positions in research intensive departments like to avoid being the generation of physicists that will let other states, will be cutting the funding to higher education physics, which might not produce as many Student Cred- the current financial crisis and the steady erosion of state in the next fiscal year, maybe up to 20%. Since state appro- it Hours in teaching undergraduates as do popular majors support result in a significant weakening of that educa- priations only count for approximately 35%-40% of the to- like Psychology, Sociology, or English. It means retain- tional system. tal university revenue, the cuts at departmental level might ing Teaching Assistant slots for graduate programs, and it Soren P. Sorensen is a Professor and Department “only” be 5%-8%, but in a departmental budget dominated means preserving funds for startup expenditures for young Head in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the by salary expenditures this means just one thing: additional faculty. If all this is not done for the next couple of years at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected]