July 2016 • Vol. 25, No. 7

A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY U.S. Olympiad Team Chosen See page 3 WWW.APS.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/APSNEWS

Don't Forget to Vote in the APS General Election APS Selects Editor in Chief

go.aps.org/aps-vote-2016 By David Voss quality and breadth of our publi- Pierre Meystre of the University cations.” Meystre will be the 11th of Arizona has been appointed physicist to hold the position of NASA and ESA May Team Up to Measure Editor in Chief of the Physical Editor in Chief. His predecessor, Review research journals published Gene Sprouse, stepped down in Gravitational Waves by APS. Starting in mid-August May 2015. 2016, he will take responsibility By Katherine Kornei In 1975 the concept of a ESA for APS journal content and will U. Arizona After parting ways five years ground-based gravitational wave partner with senior leadership in ago, the National Aeronautics and detector “was literally sketched on setting the agenda and strategic Space Administration (NASA) and a napkin at a NASA review panel vision for the journals. The APS the European Space Agency (ESA) meeting,” says Ira Thorpe, an Board of Directors unanimously may yet collaborate on an orbiting astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard approved the appointment, which observatory to detect gravitational Space Flight Center. It was at this was put forward by APS CEO Kate waves. Public and professional meeting that Rainer Weiss, then Kirby on June 16. support for this observatory, which an associate professor of physics “I am honored and humbled to would launch in 2034, has been teaching a course on general rela- have been chosen to take the helm buoyed by two major milestones tivity at the Massachusetts Institute A cube of platinum-gold alloy was of the world’s most respected that occurred this year: the first of Technology, met Kip Thorne, a the centerpiece of the LISA Path- physics journals,” said Meystre finder test direct, ground-based detection of physicist at Caltech. The two men in a statement released by APS, Pierre Meystre gravitational waves, and the suc- talked late into the evening about ers paved the way for the Laser “and am looking forward to work- Meystre is currently Regents cessful demonstration by an ESA ideas for a gravitational wave Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ing with the terrific editorial and Professor of Physics and Optical spacecraft of technologies neces- detector. Observatory (LIGO), a National publishing teams at APS in con- Sciences at The University of sary to detect gravitational waves What emerged from those ini- Science Foundation-funded facility tinuing to serve the physics com- in space. tial conversations and many oth- WAVES continued on page 4 munity by further expanding the EDITOR continued on page 3

Physicist Makes Thin Films for Tough Conditions What Do You Do When a Senator Calls Your Research a Waste of Money?

By Gabriel Popkin Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, By Sophia Chen Next time you fly, think about California and at the Department At a biology workshop in the demanding conditions an air- of Energy’s Los Alamos National Washington, DC, this past May, senate.gov

Laboratory. She took courses to PPG Aerospace plane’s windows have to handle: David Hu clicked on an email from learn lab techniques such as X-ray temperatures that can dip far below his university’s media relations diffraction, vacuum sputtering, and freezing, and bombardment by dust team. They’d written to tell him atomic force microscopy. particles at more than 500 miles per that a U.S. senator had just pub- As Radcliffe neared graduation, hour. One of the people who help lished a report calling his research she realized she was not tempted to keep airplane windows ice-free a waste of taxpayers’ funds. Out of follow her professors’ career track and transparent in all conditions 20 studies highlighted in Senator into academia. She wanted to work is Amethyst Radcliffe, a materials Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) 83-page in a faster-paced environment and engineer at PPG Aerospace who report, titled “Twenty Questions: to tackle problems that would have graduated in 2014 from California Amethyst Radcliffe Government Studies That Will more immediate real-world impacts State University, Long Beach with develops are critical for keeping Leave You Scratching Your Head,” Senator Jeff Flake or could lead to new products. Hu had co-authored three. a bachelor’s degree in physics. airplane surfaces ice-free — crucial Flake even appeared on Fox Though she wasn’t aiming specifi- Hu was shocked. The Georgia Radcliffe isn’t someone who for safe takeoff and flying in cold News’ daytime talk show, Fox & cally for an engineering career, an Tech mechanical engineering pro- knew she was going to be a physi- air — as well as shielding planes Friends, to publicize the report. opportunity opened up for a materi- fessor had heard of members of cist since age three. In fact, a high from electromagnetic interference The show’s host spun a game- als engineer at the paint and coat- Congress directly ridiculing sci- school teacher who recognized her and maintaining transparency in show-style wheel divided into ings manufacturer PPG Aerospace entific research, but he never imag- talent in the subject had to plead demanding conditions. wedges, each wedge labeled with in Sylmar, California, north of Los ined he’d be on the receiving end. with her to try harder in his class. Much of what Radcliffe does is one of the twenty studies. After Angeles. Radcliffe applied and got “Everyone thinks it’s not going to During her undergraduate years, condensed matter physics — con- each spin, Flake briefly described the job. happen to them, that it’ll happen to however, Radcliffe realized she “It wasn’t so much the title ducting theoretical studies to pre- somebody else,” he told APS News. WASTE continued on page 6 was unsatisfied with the job pros- I cared about as much as the job dict the properties of a particular pects in art (her initial choice of description,” she says. material, and experiments to test major), and an advisor convinced Radcliffe graduated on a Friday predictions. But an academic physi- her to make the switch. “Physics cist would typically stop there,

in the spring of 2014 and started at Georgia Tech sort of stalked me until I decided I PPG the following Monday. For the publishing and presenting results wasn’t going to fight destiny any- past two years, she has developed for colleagues in industry to pick more,” she says. thin metal films that coat the win- up and take the rest of the way to Radcliffe gravitated toward the dows, windshields, and canopies a commercial product. Radcliffe, borderlands of physics and chem- of airplanes. Thin films are ubiq- by contrast, will continue working istry — how the arrangements of uitous in modern technology, used with a material until it’s rolling off atoms and electrons in solids give in everything from solar panels and the assembly line. materials the bulk properties that laptops to eyeglasses and pharma- She also reads the scientific lit- we’re familiar with — electrical ceuticals. Often the properties of erature to get ideas for new proj- conductivity, heat capacity, inter- the film material — for example, ects, keeps management informed actions with light, and so on. She how it absorbs or emits light — about project progress through pre- sentations and reports, and interacts studied enzymes in a biochemistry must be tailored to meet the speci- with vendors. “Every day is differ- lab on campus, and did summer fications for a particular device or research internships at NASA’s Jet application. The films Radcliffe RADCLIFFE continued on page 6 David Hu Revised 03/04/19 2 • July 2016

This Month in Physics History

“The way transitions happen is “It’s far too early to jump up and like a flock of birds, a school of fish down … [and] say the universe is July 1816: Fresnel’s Evidence for the Wave Theory of Light … There’s no one fish saying, ‘Hey, messing with us.” I want everyone to be about five Sean Carroll, Caltech, Christian ntil the early 20th century, the question of own theoretical and experimental work led him to inches away from someone else, and Science Monitor, June 3, 2016, on Uwhether light is a particle or a wave had embrace this theory as well, even though it was not we’re going to have this shape.’” the new research declaring a faster divided scientists for centuries. Isaac Newton held favored in textbooks at the time. Neil Johnson, University of expansion rate of the universe. the former stance and advocated for his “corpus- Fresnel wasn’t familiar with much of work on Miami, New York Times, June 17, cular” theory. But by the early 19th century, the the nature of light, but he was fascinated by dif- 2016, on the tracking of terrorists “My goal is neither to be an wave theory was making a comeback, thanks in fraction. When a diffracting object such as a thin on social media. alarmist, [n]or to sidetrack future part to the work of a French civil engineer named wire is illuminated, it produces a characteristic set human explorations in deep space. Augustin-Jean Fresnel. of colored bands in the shadow. A breakthrough “Today even consumer deter- Instead, I hope to point out that Born in 1788 to an architect, the young Fresnel occurred when he pasted a sheet of black paper to gent bottles are designed with prudence suggests that we better had a strict religious upbringing, since his parents one edge of a diffractor and realized that when he supercomputers … the Chinese understand [solar superflares], their were Jansenists — a radical sect of the Catholic did so, the bright bands from the light vanished. He are getting good at building these ramifications for future spaceflight, Church that embraced predestination. Initially he then devised mathematical formulae to predict the computers, and it’s a competitive and what is needed to protect crews was home-schooled, and did not show early aca- position of those bright and dark bands based on issue now for U.S. industry and from them.” demic promise; he could barely read by the time the pathlengths of rays crossing behind the diffrac- national security.” Lawrence Townsend, he was eight. Part of this may have been due to all tor. Later he used those same equations to predict Eric D. Isaacs, University of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the political upheaval in France at the time. Fresnel the interference patterns produced by two mirrors Chicago, New York Times, June CBS News, May 24, 2016, on the was just one year old when revolutionaries stormed reflecting light. 21, 2016, on the closing technol- risks associated with future Mars the Bastille in 1789, and five when the Reign of That became the basis for his 1818 treatise, ogy gap between the United States missions. Terror began. Memoir on the Diffraction of Light. But Fresnel and China. Eventually the family settled in a small vil- had published his preliminary results in July 1816, “It certainly isn't the first thing I lage north of Caen, and with the goal of fleshing out the “I love chocolate and eat it quite would have written down if I were when Fresnel was 12, he was mathematics to develop a full frequently,” he said. “I will eat allowed to augment the standard enrolled in a formal school. theory for his findings. In 1819, more chocolate once it has less fat.” model at will … Perhaps we are That is where he discovered the French Academy of Sciences Rongjia Tao, Temple University, seeing our first glimpse into phys- science and mathematics. He announced that the Grand Prix for Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2016, ics beyond the visible Universe.” excelled at both, so much that year would be given for the explaining his motivations for run- Jesse Thaler, MIT, Tech Insider, so that he decided to study best work on diffraction. Fresnel ning chocolate through an elec- May 26, 2016, on the evidence of engineering, first at the École jumped at the chance to share tric field. a mysterious fifth force of nature. Polytechnique in Paris, and his work and submitted his full then at the École Nacionale theory just before the deadline. “We were convinced it was des Ponts et Chaussées. The judges that year included real, but if it was the only one, we “For the first time, we've been able to understand their language After completing his stud- François Arago, Siméon Poisson, thought that other people might ies, Fresnel worked on various and Pierre-Simon LaPlace — all have some doubts … Now we and understand what they're telling us.” civic projects for the French supporters of the corpuscular know that there are no doubts.” government, primarily build- theory of light. Yet Poisson was Gabriela González, Louisiana Vassiliki Kalogera, Northwestern University, Tech Insider, June 15, ing roads. A major project so impressed with Fresnel’s work State University, Los Angeles Times, was to construct a road con- that he made his own prediction June 13, 2016, on the second gravi- 2016, on the new capabilities of gravitational wave detectors. necting Spain with northern using the theory — namely, that if tational wave detected by LIGO. Italy through France. In 1815, parallel light hit an opaque disk, Napoleon Bonaparte returned there would be a bright spot in the “It’s definitely not going to “STEM education must now from his exile to Elba. But center of the shadow. This was improve whether I get to meetings play the role of preparing our Fresnel supported the king experimentally confirmed, and on time, [but] it could help change country for this new innovation- against Napoleon, so when the Fresnel was awarded the Grand the way science itself works.” based economy or we will lose latter converged on Paris with Prix. It was a major victory for Andrew Ludlow, National the American Dream for future his troops, the engineer lost proponents of the wave theory generations.” Institute of Standards and his post and was placed under of light. S. James Gates, University of Technology, Washington Post, June police surveillance. He opted In addition to his work on Maryland, Chicago Tribune, June 23, 2016, in discussing the building to return to his hometown and optics, Fresnel also worked for 16, 2016. of the ytterbium atomic clock. focus on his scientific inter- the Lighthouse Commission. At ests instead — most notably the time, lighthouses relied upon in optics. mirrors to reflect light, but the When Napoleon was once reflected light was difficult to see again defeated, just 100 days from afar, and in heavy fog or later at Waterloo, and King Fresnel lens at the Point Arena stormy weather, it could barely Lighthouse in California. Louis XVIII took the throne, be seen by ships at all. Fresnel Fresnel’s engineering work resumed, but he contin- realized that since the image quality was not impor- ued his optics research, too. In particular, he built tant, a better approach would be to use a lens, but on the experimental work of Thomas Young, whose without most of the glass inside. He designed a famous double-slit experiment was seen by many aps.org/apsnews as evidence for the wave nature of light. Fresnel’s FRESNEL continued on page 4

Series II, Vol. 25, No. 7 APS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES 2016 International Councilors Staff Representatives July 2016 Marcia Barbosa, Eliezer Rabinovici, Johanna Stachel, Mark Doyle, Chief Information Officer; Amy Flatten President © 2016 The American Physical Society Kiyoshi Ueda Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Homer A. Neal*, University of Michigan Director of Project Development and Senior Advisor Chair, Nominating Committee to the Department of Education and Diversity; Trish Editor...... David Voss President-Elect Paul Chaikin Lettieri, Director of Membership; TBD, Director of Laura H. Greene*, Florida State University Science Writer ...... Rachel Gaal Development; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Dan Kulp, Editorial Director; Christine Giaccone, Contributing Correspondent ...... Alaina G. Levine Vice President Julia Philips Director, Journal Operations; Terri Olsen, Director Roger W. Falcone*, University of California, Berkeley/ Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson of Meetings; Monica Plisch, Director of Education LLBL Editor in Chief and Diversity; Matthew Salter, Publisher; Michael Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Dan Kulp* (Interim) Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer; James Past-President Proofreader...... Edward Lee W. Taylor, Deputy Executive Officerand Chief Samuel H. Aronson*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Division, Forum and Section Councilors Operating Officer APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publica- (Retired) Miriam Forman (Astrophysics); Timothy Gay* monthly, except the August/September issue, by the tion delivered by Periodical Mail Postage Paid at Col- (Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics); Jose Onuchic * Members of the APS Board of Directors American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- lege Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Chief Executive Officer (Biological); Amy Mullin* (Chemical); John Bradley lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains Kate P. Kirby*, Harvard Smithsonian (retired) Marston (Condensed Matter Physics); Giulia Galli news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, For address changes, please send both the old and new (Computational); Ann Karagozian (Fluid Dynamics); Sections, and Forums; advance information on meetings addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing label from Speaker of the Council Gay Stewart* (Forum on Education); Julia Gonski of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- a recent issue. Changes can be emailed to membership@ Nan Phinney*, Stanford University (Forum on Graduate Student Affairs); Dan Kleppner* tees and task forces, as well as opinions. aps.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS (Forum on History of Physics); John Rumble, (Forum News, Membership Department, American Physical Treasurer on Industrial and Applied Physics); Young-Kee Kim* Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- James Hollenhorst*, Agilent Technologies (Forum on International Physics); Pushpa Bhat ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- 3844. (Forum on Physics and Society); Nicholas Bigelow* dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Corporate Secretary (Laser Science); James Chelikowsky (Materials); the right to select and to edit for length and clarity. All Ken Cole Wick Haxton* (Nuclear); P. Michael Tuts (Particles correspondence regarding APS News should be directed Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 & Fields); Thomas Roser (Physics of Beams); Cary to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College General Councilors Forest (Plasma); Mark Ediger (Polymer Physics); Nan Park, MD 20740-3844, Email: [email protected]. Marcelo Gleiser, Nadya Mason, Gail McGlaughlin*, Phinney* (California Section); Carlos Wexler (Prairie Bonnie Flemming Section) July 2016 • 3

Education & Diversity Update 2016 U.S. Physics Olympiad Team Gets Ready

Apply to become an APS Bridge Program

Partnership Institution Ashauni Lennox/AAPT Masters- and doctoral- granting institutions with physics depart- ments committed to the principles underlying the Bridge Program are encouraged to apply to become APS Bridge Partnership Institutions. Deadline: September 2, 2016.

Also, institutions granted Partnership status are eligible to apply for $10,000 grants to improve access for underrepre- sented minorities to physics graduate programs. Deadline: December 2, 2016. Five high-school physics students have been selected to represent the U.S. in the 47th International Physics Olympiad to be held July 11 - 17 in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The team is organized More information: apsbridgeprogram.org/institutions/partner- by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), with sponsorship from several scientific ship/ or email [email protected] societies, including APS. From left to right in the photo, the five are: Jason Lu, Adlai Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois; Srijon Mukherjee, Amity International School, Noida, India; Vincent Liu, State College Area High School, State College, Pennsylvania; Abijith Krishnan, BASIS Scottsdale, National Mentoring Community is looking Scottsdale, Arizona; Jimmy Qin, Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida. This year’s team leaders for mentors are Paul Stanley, Academic Director; David Fallest, Senior Coach; Eugen Hruska and Mikhail Kagan, The National Mentoring Community (NMC) is an effort to Coaches; and Chrisy Xiyu Du, Mark Eichenlaub and Kevin Zhou, Junior Coaches. increase the number of African American, Native American, and Hispanic American students obtaining bachelor’s degrees in physics. Through this program, APS is supporting mentor- ing relationships between faculty members and students by Research News: Editors’ Choice providing resources and networking opportunities to both. A Monthly Recap of Papers Selected by the Editors To learn more and register as a NMC mentor or mentee, visit Metadata Monitoring More aps.org/nmc Invasive than Expected PNAS In the wake of the U.S. National Upcoming National Mentoring Community Security Agency’s (NSA) collec- tion of bulk telecommunications Conference in Houston, TX metadata, Mayer et al. report The NMC Conference will be held October 21-23, 2016 at in Proceedings of the National the University of Houston, and will provide mentor and men- Academy of Sciences (vol. 113, 5536) that they have revealed tee training, career workshops, talks on the impact of new privacy implications of mentoring on student success, an undergraduate poster metadata collection. Recruiting session, information on research experiences for under- voluntary participants through an graduates, and even a talk on gravitational waves. Attendees Android smartphone application, MetaPhone, the team retrieved will also enjoy some fun, social activities. Visit go.aps.org/ historical phone-call and text nmc-conference to register and learn more. metadata from over 800 users, accounting for more than 200,000 phone calls and 1.2 million text messages. When a participant con- tacts another number, the meta- data of each can be accessed by EDITOR continued from page 1 the NSA through a connection Privacy and metadata Arizona, Director of the Biosphere a forward-looking vision for our called a “hop,” (at present, rules 2 Institute in Oracle, Arizona, journals. Pierre has all those quali- limit the agency’s surveillance to nuclear state in thorium-229 (Th- As von der Wense et al. report Director of the Arizona Center for ties, plus he will bring abundant two hops of metadata retrieval). 229) that has the right emission in Nature (vol. 533, 17669), the STEM Teachers, and has served energy and a very human approach Despite anonymity of participants, frequency and lifetime to be the team took numerous steps to purify as lead editor of Physical Review to the job.” researchers found that a two-hop basis for an ultraprecise nuclear their thorium source and to reduce Letters since 2013. He will step “Meystre’s passion for physics path connected many users, caused clock. Today’s best clocks are spurious signals from background down from those duties to devote and commitment to the journals in part by “hub” numbers (voice- based on electronic transitions in electrons. They found that the full time to his new position on the made a strong impression on all of mails, telemarketers) that establish atoms, with the second defined as state’s half-life is over a minute in APS senior management team. us,” added APS CEO Kate Kirby. a bridge between certain partici- 9,192,631,770 cycles of a cesium doubly ionized Th-229 and were He received his Ph.D. from the “I look forward to working with pants when they call or text a hub. emission. Nuclear clocks could able to determine that its energy École Polytechnique Fédérale in Pierre and having him involved in Many argue the retrieval of meta- be much more accurate because was between 6.3 and 18.3 eV — a Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974. He the leadership of the Society.” data has a lesser privacy impact the transitions are insensitive to range potentially accessible with joined the University of Arizona In an interview, Meystre cited compared to content disclosure, lasers, a key requirement for a as a professor of physics in 1986 a number of priorities as Editor in but the team showed it was trivial nuclear clock. Nuclear clocks and was head of the department Chief. “I’ll be an ambassador to the to re-identify dataset phone num- could be up to 10 times more accu-

from 2005 through 2007. Meystre physics community in some sense,” bers — out of 30,000 randomly istockphoto.com rate than atomic clocks, allowing is an APS Fellow and an optical he says. In addition, he wants to selected numbers, 32% of identi- new ways to detect gravitational physicist who specializes in quan- maintain and improve the quality ties were matched using only free, shifts on Earth or variations in fun- tum optics, atomic physics, and the of the 30,000 referees who support public databases hosted by Yelp, damental constants. Google Places, and Facebook. statistical properties of radiation. the journals, as well as strengthen Channeling Spin Waves When these queries were used to Barry Barish, a professor at communication between editors Two research groups have look up more numbers within a Caltech and 2011 APS president, and authors. shown that they can control the two-hop path, the team could iden- chaired the search committee that When he starts in his new posi- propagation of spin waves, or tify exchanges with health services recommended Meystre. “We con- tion, Meystre will be based full- magnons, in nanoscale wave- or religious institutes, exposing the ducted a wide-ranging search to time at the APS editorial offices Thorium keeping time guides. Magnons hold promise privacy impacts of surveillance find the best possible candidate,” in Ridge, NY. Until then, Editorial stray electric fields and radiation. for logic devices that process access to metadata. said Barish. “We sought someone Director Daniel Kulp will con- The Th-229 state has been sought information faster and with lower who is a prominent member of the tinue as interim Editor in Chief. Potential Nuclear-Clock State for over a decade, but the telling power consumption than electron- scientific community, as well as APS expects to begin promptly Discovered in Thorium evidence for its existence — an ics. However, until now research- having a broad knowledge of phys- the search for a new lead editor for A team of physicists has found electron kicked out of the atomic ics, a commitment to the APS, and Physical Review Letters. the first direct evidence for a shell — proved difficult to detect. RESEARCH continued on page 7 4 • July 2016 Letters Biased Grades Members may submit letters to [email protected]. APS reserves the I was pleased to see Emily tion numbers; I used the last 3 or 4 ity in auditions, behind a curtain right to select letters and edit for length and clarity. Conover’s article “Physics Grading digits of the student ID numbers for without shoes, has increased the Biased Against Women” in the all graded work; the numbers are number of women in orchestras [1]. April 2016 APS News. For many also useful for sorting and return- years I have used anonymous ing graded work. When we called grading. Many of my colleagues the identification numbers “magic Leonard Finegold thought it unnecessary, and teach- numbers,” the students liked the Media, Pennsylvania Confirming Coulomb ing assistants needed persuading, idea more. I found the idea liberat- yet a colleague adopted it for our ing, and students could be more [1] L. Finegold, Journal of Science ”I enjoyed the “This Month ogy available to Coulomb. Devons Ph.D. comprehensive exams. It is open in class discussion. There are Education and Technology 11, in Physics History” article about found it very difficult to reproduce a minor bother to set up identifica- other examples as well — anonym- 255 (2002). Coulomb's experiments in the June the experiments. 2016 issue. When I was a grad student at Columbia in the 1970s, Samuel Devons tried to reproduce John Farley the experiments using only technol- Las Vegas, Nevada WAVES continued from page 1

managed by MIT and Caltech that collaborated on developing a Laser tor,” says NASA’s Thorpe, the U.S. started searching for gravitational Interferometer Space Antenna lead for data analysis on the LISA waves in 2002. In February 2016 (LISA), a triangular interferom- Pathfinder mission. LIGO announced the momentous eter with arms several million An orbiting gravitational-wave Basic Research Benefits first direct detection of gravita- kilometers on a side that would be observatory such as LISA would tional waves, which were produced launched into orbit around the Sun. be complementary to ground- Lawrence Krauss makes many equivalence, which has had pro- by the merger of two black holes However, NASA withdrew from based facilities like LIGO. “The good points in his Back Page found practical effects on human- in a distant galaxy; a second such the collaboration in 2011 due to same sources that LIGO sees in article (APS News, May 2016) kind from bombs to nuclear energy. detection followed in June. budget cuts, and ESA continued to their last couple of orbits before comparing the LIGO discovery Another example would be the LIGO’s exquisite sensitivity to develop the technologies necessary inspiral, LISA could see months to to the appreciation of aesthetic revolution of quantum mechanics. gravitational waves means that its for LISA. “ESA took a gamble,” years before they merge,” explains things of culture like art, music, The general public might have detectors record many spurious sig- says Paul McNamara, an astro- Thorpe. “LISA would see some of and literature. I would add that, in asked at the time, “Who cares if I nals from vibrations caused by, for physicist at ESA and the deputy these sources first and could basi- addition to advancing understand- put a free particle, which can have example, traffic and ocean waves. project scientist for LISA. “They cally be an early warning system ing of our universe and ourselves any energy, in a box and the box “Ground-based detectors have a wanted the science, and they spent for LIGO and also, more impor- hard lower limit on the frequen- a large chunk of money to demon- tantly, for telescopes [that mea- within it, past evidence proves somehow tells the particle what cies they can detect at about 1 hertz strate that it was possible.” In 2013, sure electromagnetic radiation]. that even seemingly remote and energies it is now allowed and not because of seismic noise, which ESA announced a science theme of That would be transformational “trivial” events such as this will allowed to have; while interesting, limits them to seeing very massive “The Gravitational Universe” for science.” always eventually lead to profound of what practical benefit is it to objects moving very fast,” says the third large-class mission (L3) NASA is once again entertain- practical benefits to humankind; it's humankind?” However, the prac- Charles Dunn, Project Technologist component of its Cosmic Vision ing the idea of officially partner- just a matter of time. tical benefits to humankind have at NASA’s Jet Propulsion 2015 - 2025 program, which solidi- ing with ESA on LISA. The U.S. There are many examples in once again been profound, with all Laboratory. Furthermore, LIGO’s fied LISA’s position in ESA’s long- agency has assembled an “L3 Study scientific history that prove this the applications to semiconductors, ability to detect gravitational waves term planning. Team” to see how NASA might point. While the LIGO event is lasers, communications, medical is limited by the relatively short Before NASA withdrew from participate in LISA. Scientists and the province of general relativity, imaging technologies, etc. There lengths of its arms, because con- the collaboration, the two agen- NASA leadership also have their another such case is from special are many other examples that could structing extremely straight, long cies had decided to develop a eye on the 2020 Decadal Survey relativity concerning correcting the be cited also. tubes on Earth’s curved surface is small spacecraft to test the tech- in Astronomy and Astrophysics, transformation equations between It is my belief that the U.S. both difficult and expensive. nologies necessary for a success- which will be conducted by the inertial reference frames from Congress should be made aware The next literal jump in technol- ful LISA mission. In December National Research Council to sur- the Galilean group to the Lorentz of this and continue to fund this ogy will be to take gravitational- 2015, ESA launched that space- vey the priorities of the astronomy group. The point seems trivial as it kind of research, and all similar sci- wave detectors to space; an orbiting craft, called LISA Pathfinder, to and astrophysics community. Most has no real practical, everyday con- entific research, even if any imme- gravitational-wave observatory the L1 Lagrange point 1.5 million major missions require endorse- sequences except at speeds close to diate practical benefits may not be would overcome both the limita- kilometers from Earth. One of the ment from the Decadal Survey light, so who cares? However, this evident at the time. tions of vibrations and the difficulty primary science goals of LISA before they can go forward, and “trivial” point ultimately led to our of achieving long laser pathlengths. Pathfinder was to demonstrate previous Decadal Surveys have ability to unleash the energy of the “In space, we can get down to the that two paperweight-sized cubes endorsed a LISA-like mission. atomic nucleus (for good or bad) Frederick Weist 0.1 millihertz frequency range, of gold and platinum onboard the “This science is so compelling, and through Einstein’s mass-energy Clarksburg, Maryland which should allow observation spacecraft could be shielded from we’re making great strides with the of many more sources, including all forces save for gravity. “LISA technology,” remarks Thorpe. “I’d things that can be seen with more Pathfinder shows that we can put be surprised if the U.S. community conventional telescopes,” notes a test mass in perfect free fall, didn’t want to be involved.” NASA’s Dunn. which is what we’d need to do a Katherine Kornei is a freelance In the 2000s, NASA and ESA full-scale gravitational-wave detec- science writer in Portland, Oregon.

FRESNEL continued from page 2 ESA lens comprised of rings of glass and his name is inscribed on the prisms, resembling a giant beehive, Eiffel Tower, along with the names with a lamp in the center. Those of 71 other French luminaries. Yet prisms serve to bend and concen- Fresnel was never one to seek trate light from the lamp (or other out the spotlight. As he wrote to light source) into a bright beam that Thomas Young in 1824, “All the travels further and is easier to see, compliments that I have received even in foggy conditions. from Arago, Laplace, and Biot Fresnel’s design was so effec- never gave me so much pleasure tive that such lenses continued as the discovery of a theoretic truth, to be widely used in lighthouses or the confirmation of a calcula- until the mid-20th century. For a tion by experiment.” He died of time, Fresnel lenses were used in consumption on July 14, 1827, at the headlamps of cars, and they are Ville-d’Avray in France. still used in taillights and backup Further Reading: lights, and also in solar cookers. Fresnel, Augustin. (1818) “Memoir They are also common in lighting on the Diffraction of Light,” The Wave for film and theater — not only do Theory of Light: Memoirs by Huygens, Young and Fresnel. Woodstock, GA: they produce a brighter beam, but American Book Company. the light intensity is more uniform. For all his successes, Fresnel Fresnel, Augustin. (1819) “On never achieved fame as a scientist the Action of Rays of Polarized Light in his lifetime. Many of his papers Upon Each Other,” The Wave Theory of Light: Memoirs by Huygens, Young were published posthumously. He and Fresnel. Woodstock, GA: Ameri- did earn the respect of his peers, can Book Company. LISA concept involves a triangular interferometer with several million kilometer long arms July 2016 • 5 Senate Introduces Science Research Legislation Washington Dispatch By Sophia Chen committee, have worked together research, beyond that currently pro- This June, the Senate introduced to gather input for the bill from vided by the High Energy Physics POLICY UPDATE a bill regulating science research researchers, academic officials, Advisory Panel in the Department and industry leaders. In interviews of Energy. Although this commit- ISSUE: APPROPRIATIONS AND AUTHORIZATION BILLS for several federal agencies. The with ScienceInsider, both senators tee “works quite well” according Congressional committees continued the process of developing fiscal bill, called the America Innovation said they support federal funding to Lubell, the bill creates another year 2017 spending bills for the Department of Energy (DOE), Department and Competitiveness Act (S. 3084), of science research. oversight subcommittee run by the of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will establish policy governing Last fall, APS staff participated National Science and Technology the National Science Foundation National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technol- in a working group organized by Council, a high-level interagency (NSF) and the National Institute ogy (NIST), and National Science Foundation (NSF). Consistent with the the senators and provided feedback committee, whose members of Standards and Technology fiscal year 2016 - 2017 budget agreement the White House and Congress on a recent draft of the bill, Lubell include the directors of NSF and and includes a 4 percent increase struck last fall, most science accounts were held to flat funding in com- says. “[The Senate committee] has the National Institutes of Health. in authorized funding for both mittee “markups.” Only one bill — appropriations for Energy and Water been very thoughtful in this pro- “It’s not at all clear what this panel agencies between FY2017 and Development — reached the floor of either chamber, and it fell victim to cess,” he says. “That doesn’t mean would do because it’s at too high a FY2018. (These funding levels an amendment on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans issues that peeled that I necessarily agree with every- level,” Lubell says. do not reflect actual dollars appro- away Republican support for the measure. thing in the draft, but they’ve come Furthermore, the bill makes priated to the agencies; they are up with a mostly reasonable bill.” NSF responsible for a portion of aspirational guides for agencies’ Lubell says that APS has the contingency funds of large- With the legislative calendar shortened by the political conventions and budgets.) Last month, Michael the November election, it is likely that Congress will again resort to a expressed its support of certain scale research projects, instead of Lubell, the APS director of public provisions in the bill. In particu- leaving it to project managers. “It short-term continuing resolution that would allow the federal government affairs, spoke to APS News about lar, APS supports merit-based peer wouldn’t damage the projects, but to function through the beginning of December. In a lame-duck session the bill before its official release. review and the need to minimize it creates more red tape,” Lubell following the election, Congress will probably wrap almost all fiscal year While Lubell’s comments apply agencies’ administrative burden. says. “If you’re a project manager, 2017 spending legislations into an omnibus appropriations bill. to the June 15 working version APS also supports a section of the you would have to justify to NSF of the bill, APS News has verified bill that pivots attention to NSF’s the need for contingency funds.” WASHINGTON OFFICE ACTIVITIES that his comments are applicable mid-scale projects that range Lubell says that this provision is ADVOCACY to the bill amended by the Senate from $3 million to $40 million. in response to NSF’s reported mis- At the 2016 APS April Meeting, the APS Office of Public Affairs (OPA) Committee on Commerce, Science, (Examples of current mid-scale management of the $433 million helped 335 meeting attendees make an impact by sending the APS Con- and Transportation on June 28. projects include the construction National Ecological Observatory tact Congress letter to their Senators and Representatives. At the APS The Senate’s bill marks a of university radio telescope obser- Network (NEON), a project for Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) meeting, an return to bipartisan collaboration vatories and data management for monitoring long-term ecological additional 317 attendees sent letters. This letter addressed science- in research policy after a polar- dark energy observations.) Lubell changes on a continental scale, ized two-year battle over the bill’s funding issues, as well as the impact of child poverty on U.S. STEM says that NSF doesn’t have a which Congress approved for con- House counterpart, the America Performance in International Student Assessments (known by the acronym good strategy for managing these struction in 2011. After discovering COMPETES Reauthorization projects. that NEON was projected to over- PISA). The letter called for Congress to support sustained robust science Act (H.R. 1806). Since last sum- However, some parts of the draft run its budget by $80 million, NSF funding and to request a National Academy of Science study of the child mer, Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) are “problematic,” says Lubell. fired its contractor in December poverty issue. The DAMOP meeting letter focused on the appropriations and Cory Gardner (R-CO), two The bill would create additional last year. bills that affect DOE, NSF, NASA, and NIST. freshmen senators on the Senate oversight of high energy physics LEGISLATION continued on page 6

In late April, OPA's Government Relations Specialist Greg Mack accom- panied Scott Franklin, professor of physics and astronomy at Rochester Institute of Technology and Director for its Center for Advancing Science/ Math Teaching, Learning, & Evaluation, to meetings in House and Senate International News offices to discuss priorities for the physics community, including science Why India Matters funding, education, and issues faced by women in science. By Sushanta K. Mitra and Vladimir Shiltsev

In June, APS participated in a meeting at the Department of Education India has a rich tradition of with other members of the Physical Sciences Education Policy Coalition, physics, with such luminaries which has representatives from APS, the American Association of Phys- like J. C. Bose, S. K. Mitra, C. V. ics Teachers, American Institute of Physics, American Astronomical Raman, and S. N. Bose, to name Society, and The Optical Society. The meeting was intended to provide a few. Now, under Prime Minister guidance to the Department of Education for the creation of a STEM Narendra Modi, India is seeing Master Teacher Corps, called for in the Every Student Succeeds Act the a renewed investment in science and technology, particularly in big president signed into law on December 2015 as a replacement for the science projects. For instance, the 2002 "No Child Left Behind" Act. budget for India’s largest granting council for science, the Department MEDIA UPDATE of Science and Technology (DST), Sarit Dhar, associate professor of physics at Auburn University, published was increased by 17 percent from an op-ed on May 21 in the Opelika-Auburn News, urging the United States last year to $660 million. This is to step up its commitment to clean-energy research. Read the piece at coupled with the launch of some go.aps.org/294ILst boutique programs like Make-in- Vladimir Shiltsev Sushanta Mitra India and Start-up India, which a consortium of Indian research could boost further investments project with Indian and interna- PANEL ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS institutions (Institute of Plasma in particle physics, making sub- tional scientists. This flagship At its June meeting, the APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) considered Research Gandhinagar, Inter project will further promote inter- whether to archive the seven APS Statements up for review in 2016. Five components for the Large Hardon Collider, among other opportuni- University Centre for Astronomy national collaboration, particularly of the seven statements will remain active. Of the two others, Statement ties. India’s physics community is and Astrophysics, Pune and Raja with the U.S.; its bilateral relation- 96.2, Energy: The Forgotten Crisis, will undergo a full review, rewrite, and excited about all these new devel- Ramanna Centre for Advanced ship with India has been at an all- membership evaluation, while Statement 91.5, Reaffirmation of Statement opments, and the global physics Technology, Indore), and the time high, as shown by the joint on Scientific Review of Research Facilities Funding, will be reexamined community should pay more atten- LIGO Laboratory in the U.S., along declaration of President Obama and by the Physics & the Public subcommittee for further action. tion to these new trends in invest- with its international partners in Prime Minister Modi (see go.aps. ment in basic science in India. Australia, Germany and the U.K. org/2921BA6). POPA also approved a recently completed report on helium economics There are several notable LIGO in the U.S. will provide the Another actively developing — Responding to the U.S. Research Community’s Liquid Helium Crisis: An examples of large U.S.-India col- LIGO interferometer hardware, collaboration is taking place in Action Plan to Preserve U.S. Innovation. Follow-on activities related laborations. Given the recent break- along with training, support, and the field of high energy physics. to recommendations in the report are being developed. The Physics & through observation of gravitational assistance with installation. In 2014, the U.S. particle phys- ics community came out with a the Public subcommittee presented preliminary data on how to overcome waves by the Laser Interferometer LIGO-India will provide research opportunities to hundreds decadal plan that calls for estab- obstacles in recruiting teachers in the physical sciences; a full report is Gravitational-Wave Observatory of Indian students and scientists, lishment of a world-leading neu- expected later this year. The National Security subcommittee proposed (LIGO) collaboration, it is great to see that the LIGO-India project has and will definitely boost scientific trino physics research program in a statement on highly enriched uranium (HEU) reactor conversion and a recently received an in-principle ties between the American and the U.S., which will be truly inter- potential study on the obstacles to elimination of HEU civilian reactors. approval from the Indian govern- Indian physicists. It will provide national from the very beginning ment. LIGO-India is a planned fertile ground for Indian scientists and employ ’s accelera- Following the recommendation of POPA, APS has begun a carbon inventory advanced gravitational-wave obser- and engineers to work on a global- tor facilities. Fermilab and Indian of the Society’s operations. vatory to be located in India as part scale problem. It will also help institutions have been collaborating of the worldwide network. local industries, particularly those on high energy physics experiments A template for study proposals can be found online, along with a sugges- The proposed LIGO-India proj- engaged in ultra-high vacuum, to since 1985. tion box for future POPA studies: go.aps.org/9XXVlv ect will be a collaboration between participate in this collaborative INDIA continued on page 6 6 • July 2016

WASTE continued from page 1 LEGISLATION continued from page 5 the study that the wheel’s indi- Scientific American guest op-ed. In The bill is a long-awaited NSF-funded studies. the “national interest,” as defined cator landed on. “I don’t see the the piece, Hu explained the poten- renewal of the original COMPETES Smith’s detractors accused him of by seven specific criteria, which utility, frankly,” Flake said on the tial applications of the work and law, which was passed in 2007 to substituting peer review with politi- include improving the economy, show, when the wheel landed on pointed out that scientists do not keep the U.S. a global leader in sci- cal review, because he targeted cli- increasing partnerships with indus- one of Hu’s studies. (Flake did not solely serve the public. But he also ence. The law contained several mate and social science studies. Rep. try, and developing the scientific respond to a request to comment acknowledged scientists’ failure to provisions that expanded govern- Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), workforce. on this story.) communicate the importance of ment-funded science research, such the highest ranking Democrat on Compared to the House, the Hu’s offending research con- their work to the public. He ended as one that set goals to double the the committee, accused Smith in Senate’s bill looks much friendlier sisted of a study on the mechanics the op-ed diplomatically: “I sin- NSF’s budget within a few years a letter of attacking these research to researchers — but even if the of how animals dry themselves, cerely thank Senator Flake for con- (it did not come close to happen- fields “because the Chairman per- Senate passes it, it will be difficult a study on whether body size tinuing this conversation. If it leads ing). The original COMPETES act sonally does not believe them to to predict how the two houses will affects how fast mammals uri- to better communication between received bipartisan support from be of high value.” The two parties reconcile their bills, especially in nate (it doesn’t), and one on the the public and scientists, he will both the Bush administration and disagreed so vehemently over the an election year. Lubell suspects functionality of eyelashes in mam- have done us a great service.” Congressional Democrats and was bill that the minority Democrats in that if both houses do get their acts mals — all supported by National Flake, in turn, responded via renewed once, in 2010. the committee drafted their own together, the final version will be Science Foundation funding. In a Facebook post that same day. However, when the law expired legislation independently from the significantly watered down. “The Flake’s report, embellished with “I appreciate Dr. Hu’s thoughtful in 2012, Congressional Republicans Republicans. This kind of partisan- House and Senate really don’t see brightly colored cartoons, the sena- response to #20questions and I had begun to withdraw support for ship was previously “unheard of,” eye to eye on this bill,” he says. tor referred to each study respec- would welcome his input on how several of its provisions. (Programs Lubell says, because the two parties “You’re looking at something that tively as “How Many Shakes to better identify those projects that authorized by the law could con- have typically worked together on will be very difficult to [send to] Does It Take For A Wet Dog To he believes are indeed wasteful,” tinue unchanged.) The debate in science bills. conference and come out with Dry Off?”; “How Long Does It the senator wrote.‬‬ the House over the law’s renewal The House finally passed its anything reasonable that the presi- Take To Pee Like A Racehorse?” But Hu’s case raises some ques- grew increasingly vitriolic, with bill last May. The research com- dent would sign. Therefore, I don’t and “Which Has More Hairs, A tions about the effectiveness of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the munity widely criticized the final consider the bill as a really signa- Squirrel Or A Bumblebee?” Flake public outreach. The conventional House committee chair, calling for version for being too restrictive. ture piece of legislation this time explained that he’d been moti- wisdom is that when scientists stricter oversight of government In particular, the bill included a around.” vated to expose these so-called communicate their work to the pub- agencies and instructing his staff to contentious section that requires Sophia Chen is a freelance wasteful studies after reading a lic, the public will understand and investigate review documents from NSF-funded research to serve writer based in Tucson, Arizona. 2014 Huffington Post interview support the work, and that support with National Institutes of Health will trickle over to the politicians. Director , in which But Hu is an exemplary science Collins had said that they “would communicator: His research has probably have had a vaccine in been featured in publications such INDIA continued from page 5 time” for ebola, had it not been for as Discover and the New York Indian scientists have made Innovation 1000 report, there has and faculty exchanges. A call for stagnant government spending. The Times, and he even teaches science significant contributions to the been a 115 percent increase in proposals for these programs is funds from studies like these could communication. Why did Flake Fermilab program. Several students India’s R&D spending from 2007 issued each fall and more infor- be diverted to ebola instead, Flake still single him out? have received their Ph.D. degrees to 2015, to $28 billion, which is mation is available at go.aps. suggested. The answer is unclear, but a under the Indian Institutions - coupled to a 116 percent increase in org/1xicNwu. Now is an excel- Since then, journalists and sci- soon-to-be-published survey con- Fermilab collaboration, so it is imports (primarily from the U.S.). lent time for U.S. physicists at entists have criticized the Flake ducted by nonprofit ScienceCounts natural that India is already tak- This will provide a significant boost all levels, from graduate students report’s inaccuracies, ranging from may shed some light, says Lubell, ing a very active role in this to India’s innovation ecosystem. to senior professors, to capitalize its incorrectly cited dollar amounts a senior adviser for the group. development. Culmination of the The increased funding from DST on this growing momentum and to its omission of essential context. (ScienceCounts has received collaborative effort was an over- would be targeted towards build- engage in more long-term sustain- But the report still poses a “serious funding from APS.) The survey arching goal of the Memorandum ing research centers and business able collaboration between the two problem” to the public image of found that some common science- of Understanding between the incubators across academic cam- countries. science, says Michael Lubell, the outreach approaches are ineffec- U.S. and Indian Universities & the puses in India, and will facilitate S. K. Mitra is founder of the director of APS Office of Public tive. From surveying 2000 people Accelerator Laboratories, signed the creation of campus-led start-up/ Micro and Nanoscale Transport Affairs. “The reason it’s serious is and conducting focus groups, they on January 9, 2006 to extend the spin-off activities. Also, additional Laboratory and Associate Vice that most people are not in a posi- found that explaining the practical collaboration on accelerator devel- funding will help India to take on President for research at York tion to evaluate what [Flake] says applications of research doesn’t opment in both countries. The col- more “risky” projects and allow University in Toronto, Canada. and whether [the report] is really resonate with the public. In the laboration enables scientists in the Indian scientists to take part in “big V. Shiltsev is Director of the valid,” Lubell says. “The fact that absence of government funding, the U.S. and India to jointly develop science” initiatives. With India still Accelerator Physics Center at some prominent senator is put- public thinks that industry would and optimize the technologies for being a low-cost country (the aver- Fermilab. Both are members of the ting this out casts some doubt on have developed those products future high-power superconduct- age engineering wage is less than APS Committee on International whether federal agencies can func- anyway. One focus group modera- ing radio frequency accelerators, $35,000 per year), this also brings Scientific Affairs. tion efficiently and effectively.” tor pointed out that Google’s first such as the Proton Improvement a significant competitive advantage Flake’s report is just the latest algorithms were NSF-sponsored Plan-II accelerator for neutrino pro- in developing technologies and Related information in a long line of accusations from research. “I had never seen such duction at Fermilab and, as part of hardware for various world-wide IndiGO consortium (gw-indigo.org) politicians that scientists abuse rapid-fire anger,” Lubell says of the the India’s 12th national plan, two “big science” projects. LIGO-India (go.aps.org/29224C3) the public’s funds. In the 1980’s, focus group. “What was the anger? accelerators in India for materi- Also, APS is engaged with India Institutions Fermilab Consortium Senator William Proxmire would It was, ‘These guys became bil- als science, energy, and medical the Indian physics community (iifc.fnal.gov) frequently award scientific stud- lionaires on my taxpayer dollar?’” applications. through the Indo-U.S. Science and “More Money for India’s Science,” ies his monthly Golden Fleece Instead, the public supports gov- As mentioned by Pricewater- Technology Forum through a part- Chemical & Engineering News, March Award, which singled out fed- ernment funding of discovery and houseCoopers’ 2015 Global nership to offer student, postdoc, 9, p. 32 (2016). eral projects he deemed wasteful. breakthrough, such as the Higgs “There’s really nothing new here. boson or new materials. Congressmen have always found But the key to science com- they can get attention by beating up munication, Lubell says, is to tell on eggheads,” says Spencer Weart, stories, not facts and figures. What RADCLIFFE continued from page 1 the historian emeritus for the kinds of stories? “That’s a work in American Institute of Physics. “The progress," he says. "We don’t yet ent from the last,” she says, “even if have as much chemistry knowledge American Institute of Physics. The Congressman can show himself know how to tell the stories." I am working on the same project.” as they do, it greatly benefits our pathway provides endless oppor- to be a champion of the common Hu now views the experience She works on teams as small productivity [to be] speaking the tunities to put physics into action, man by beating up on people who in a positive light. Many people as three and as large as 15 people. same scientific language,” she says. Radcliffe says. In the future she seem like they have their heads in wrote to him in support after read- Projects can last for as little as two She has also had to learn cer- envisions pursuing a Ph.D. and the clouds.” The media will often ing his op-ed, and he even found years, but rarely longer than five tain skills on the job, including directing a research and develop- pick up reports like Flake’s because a new collaborator who learned years, since PPG, like any com- high-level statistical analysis and ment laboratory. they’re looking for “something cute about his research from the arti- pany, cannot invest indefinitely in communications skills to present “The most rewarding part of and humorous [that] … sounds cle. “More people are going to read an effort without some return. technical material to managers, what I do is actually working with ridiculous,” Weart says. “It’s the the Scientific American article than Radcliffe says her physics back- who often do not have scientific the material,” she says. “Being equivalent of a cat video.” my journal articles,” he says. He’s ground has given her a major leg backgrounds. Hu initially considered ignoring pleased, too, with Flake’s response. up with the complex modeling she Engineering is an important surrounded by physics and chem- Flake’s report, but Georgia Tech’s “I would love to go to a Republican needs to optimize the properties of career path, with around 11% of istry as part of my job makes all media relations team “insisted” convention and talk about science,” the metals and metal oxides that physics majors going directly those years studying for my degree that he respond in writing, he says. he says. “But I haven’t seen any she works with. The chemistry she into engineering jobs and earning worth it.” Georgia Tech scientists usually invitations yet.” picked up along the way has also starting salaries that often range Gabriel Popkin is a freelance post on a university blog, but Hu Sophia Chen is a freelance proven useful. “I work closely with between $49,000 and $65,000, writer based in Mount Rainier, chose to publish his response as a writer based in Tucson, Arizona. chemists, and even though I don’t according to statistics from the Maryland. July 2016 • 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS Reviews of Modern Physics

Physical properties of low-dimensional sp2-based carbon nanostructure V. Meunier, A. G. Souza Filho, E. B. Barros, and M. S. Dresselhaus

This review focuses on the fundamental physical properties of low-dimensional carbon nanostructures (gra- phene, graphene nanoribbons, and carbon nanotubes), with an emphasis on understanding and utilizing the unique physical properties that make this class of materials ideal building blocks for future nanoscience and nan- otechnology development. In-depth discussions of the structural, electronic, vibrational, and transport properties of these carbon nanostructures from both theoretical and experimental standpoints provide a coherent and foun- dational overview for researchers interested in broader areas of carbon science and related noncarbon systems. go.aps.org/294SDFY journals.aps.org/rmp

2016 GENERAL ELECTION

2016 APS National Mentoring Community Conference

go.aps.org/aps-vote-2016

RESEARCH continued from page 3 ers have not been able to make no hair,” meaning that nothing devices that guide magnons on would be visible from the outside. sufficiently small scales for appli- If this is the case, when a black cations. As described in Nature hole evaporates it would destroy Nanotechnology, Wagner et al. all the information it contains, as Nature Nanotechnology OCTOBER 21  23, 2016 (vol. 11, 339) demonstrated a Stephen Hawking suggested 40 at the University of Houston scheme in which magnons are years ago. Since information loss launched by a microwave antenna violates quantum mechanics, this Houston, Texas and guided through a 40-nanome- started what is known as the “black ter-wide channel running along hole information paradox.” In a the wall between two magnetic paper in Physical Review Letters Plenary talks on mentoring research domains on a ferromagnetic strip. (vol. 116, 231301), Hawking et Programmable magnons Panels and discussions on mentoring Haldar et al. (vol. 11, 332) instead al. now suggest that black holes changed, but these manipulations best practices used nanolithography to fabricate might have “soft hair,” a kind of can cause additional infection a chain of 260-nanometer-wide quantum peach fuzz of low-energy or tissue damage. Imaging with NASA tours nanoresonators, which can trans- quantum excitations. Among other terahertz radiation might be one port magnons generated by a implications, soft hair would pre- way to nondestructively inspect Career workshops and panels nearby antenna along the chain. serve at least a fraction of the infor- the wound area, since these fre- Undergraduate research poster Importantly, both schemes are mation. So far the work relates only quencies penetrate many materi- session reconfigurable and could thus be to electromagnetic forces, but the als, especially textiles. In Applied used to realize programmable cir- researchers are seeking to extend it Physics Letters (vol. 108, 233701), Networking opportunities cuits. In the scheme of Wagner et to gravitation. Although the black Suen and Padilla report their com- al., a small applied magnetic field hole information paradox remains parison of terahertz versus infra- And much more alters the position of the domain unresolved, the new results point red and millimeter-wave imaging wall, shifting the waveguide. toward a fresh attack on the prob- for noninvasive monitoring of Haldar et al. use a magnetic field lem. (For more, see the Viewpoint wounds through clinical dressings to control the magnetization state “Black Holes Have Soft Hair” by and topical ointments. They found of individual resonators in the Gary Horowitz.) that while infrared radiation was chain, thereby creating straight Watching Wound Healing strongly attenuated, the terahertz and curved spin-wave trajectories. Through Bandages transmission was high for non- Black Holes Are Not Completely Some wounds, especially aqueous antimicrobial treatments Bald burns, must be carefully tended and typical dressings. In addition If you toss an encyclopedia with constant monitoring of the to burn treatment, the authors sug- into a black hole, is the informa- dressing and healing process. gest that terahertz imaging might go.aps.org/nmc-conference tion destroyed? John Wheeler This is typically done by visual also be suitable for monitoring and famously said, “black holes have inspection when the bandage is care of eye wounds and infections. 8 • July 2016

How can Physicists Help the Public Make Better Decisions about Science and Technology? By Joel R. Primack

or more than 40 years APS has worked to improve sort by scientists at all stages of their careers. Fgovernmental decision-making, mainly through the I also suggest that leading professional societies col- Congressional Science Fellowship program and through occa- laborate to create online authoritative reviews of impor- sional studies of important science and technology issues. I UC Santa Cruz tant science policy topics addressed to the public. A recent helped to initiate these activities in the early 1970s, and they example of this is the report by the AAAS Climate Science remain very valuable. But today’s needs are far greater. How Panel, WHAT WE KNOW: The Reality, Risks, and Response can APS and other professional societies more effectively to Climate Change, on the web with an introductory video combat anti-science propaganda and help the public develop narrated by the president of the American Meteorological better-informed views about science and technology? How Society [7]. Creating videos and using social media to spread can individual scientists communicate scientific concepts the messages is essential to reach a large audience in the in a more understandable and engaging way? How can we modern world. encourage young scientists and students to participate in When serious disagreements remain about how to interpret creating a scientifically responsible future? the science underlying a policy decision, it is not advis- The new science and public policy activities in the 1970s able to paper over the differences. Nancy Ellen Abrams grew out of a “public interest science” movement [1,2], which and Steve Berry suggested a better approach that they call assumed that better decisions would come from providing Scientific Mediation [8]: Have experts who disagree write improved knowledge (for example, through science-based a joint report with the help of a mediator, in which they policy studies) and expertise (for example, Congressional specify the topics on which they agree and disagree, and Science Fellows). From participating in such activities, explain why they disagree on each of those points to each several thousand scientists have now become what former others’ satisfaction, clarifying what additional assumptions Presidential Science Advisor Neal Lane [3] called “civic they are making. These additional assumptions are often not scientists.” Democratic decision-making on technological scientific. Fracking and nuclear power might be good topics issues has certainly improved as a result. Joel R. Primack for Scientific Mediation. But despite these efforts, the U.S. has continued to have Don’t be discouraged by the tremendous challenges we difficulty addressing the crucial technological challenges of that in the modern digital era people increasingly get informa- face. Richard Feynman advised that in choosing projects, we our time, including human-caused global climate change. tion from sources, including social media, that often confirm should maximize the product of the (importance) x (prob- Ever since about 1800, the doubling time for human produc- their prejudices. ability of success). And don’t underestimate the probability tion of carbon dioxide and other industrial waste products So … What can we as individual scientists do to of success! has been about 30 years. In the next 30 years or so, human- improve the situation? Sometimes one’s public activities have unexpected ity must somehow stop this exponential trend and develop a First, individual scientists need to get better at explaining benefits. When I was in Washington in 1976 to work with sustainable relationship with Earth. Our collective impact on our research and also the scientific basis of public policy Senator Ted Kennedy to organize hearings and testify on the planetary systems is now so great that this growth in resource choices to the public. This is difficult for several reasons. Science for Citizens bill, the Congressional Science Fellow use must slow very quickly, despite global industrialization One is because most non-scientists don’t know enough about as an increasing fraction of the world’s people improve in Kennedy’s office got me invited to a meeting of President science, and also because scientific discourse is full of facts, their lives. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand the Ford’s Science Advisory Committee that was discussing the theories, logical arguments, and jargon. We have to become dangers of exponential growth. proposed “Science Court”. That’s how I met the love of my better at presenting science in ways that people can grasp Frank von Hippel and I wrote Advice and Dissent: life, my wife Nancy Ellen Abrams. Nancy was then work- and act on. Scientists in the Political Arena [2] during the Nixon ing at the Ford Foundation, and she had been invited to the Actor Alan Alda for 14 years hosted the Scientific administration. Science Advisory Committee meeting in the hopes that Ford American Frontiers TV show, constantly challenging sci- After President Nixon abolished the Presidential Science would fund a trial of the Science Court. Nancy liked my entists to explain things in a compelling way. In 2009 he Advisory Committee, we thought things couldn’t get worse critique of the Science Court at the meeting, one thing led to founded the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at — but we were wrong. For example, President Reagan com- another … and we were married the following year. We have Stony Brook University. Alda and his team have been giving mitted many billions of dollars to the Strategic Defense subsequently coauthored many articles and two books [9]. workshops for scientists about how to reach audiences by Initiative without critical review — although the 1987 APS Side-benefits are not guaranteed, but scientists and science telling memorable stories. Most non-scientists quickly grasp study on directed energy weapons subsequently showed organizations can improve the way our society deals with ideas expressed as social situations and stories. The Alda team that these “Star Wars” projects were extremely unlikely to issues of science and technology. also leads improvisation exercises to help scientists learn to succeed. Joel Primack is Distinguished Professor of Physics sense how the audience is responding and not overestimate We did not foresee in the 1970s that the Republican Party Emeritus, University of California, Santa Cruz. This article how successfully they are communicating. would wage a war on science and other independent sources is based on his Leo Szilard Lectureship Award talk at the Several scientists have also been giving helpful workshops of truth [4]. Among the first things that Newt Gingrich’s 2016 April APS Meeting; the complete text and slides are at and writing books on communicating science effectively. Republican Congressional majority did when they came to go.aps.org/290bAV9. Randy Olson, a former professor of marine biology turned power in 1995 was to abolish the Congressional Office of References Technology Assessment and the NSF Science for Citizens film-maker, in his 2015 book [6] recommends a dialectical scheme for turning science into stories: background, problem, 1. Martin Perl, Joel Primack, and Frank von Hippel, “Public In- Program, and fire the only astronomer who ever headed terest Science — An Overview,” Physics Today, 27, 23 (June the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Martin Harwit. solution, which he summarizes as “And…But…Therefore”. 1974). The present era seems to be ripe for student involvement President George W. Bush’s administration appointed science 2. Joel R. Primack and Frank von Hippel, Advice and Dissent: advisory committees based on who had voted for him, and in hopeful causes. Scientists at colleges and universities Scientists in the Political Arena (Basic Books, 1974; New censored the public statements of government scientists on can encourage and help our students to organize “Science American Library, 1976). Available at physics.ucsc.edu/~joel/ issues like climate change. The House Science Committee, Workshops on Political and Social Issues” to study important Advice_and_Dissent.pdfgo.aps.org/292JfTz chaired by Lamar Smith of Texas, has more recently been issues and help improve the world. When we were Stanford 3. In his article “Benjamin Franklin, Civic Scientist” (Physics To- given sweeping investigative power by the House lead- graduate students, physicist Robert Jaffe and I helped to orga- day, October 2003), Lane defined a civic scientist as one who nize a program of such courses that lasted 20 years and did uses his or her special scientific knowledge and skills to influ- ership and is using it to harass scientists. And Oklahoma ence policy and inform the public. Senator James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment much good — including helping to launch the Congressional 4. Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science (2006). Committee, claims that global warming is a “hoax.” Science Fellowship program. We also did not appreciate that prominent physicists like When scientists become advocates, they may be perceived 5. Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How Frederick Seitz, National Academy president 1962-1969, by their colleagues and the public as biased. But scientists a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from To- bacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010). would become what historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik have a right to express their convictions and work for social Conway called “merchants of doubt” [5], attacking the sci- goals. These activities need not undercut rigorous commit- 6. Randy Olson, Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story (2015). entific basis for regulating everything from cigarette smoking ment to objectivity in research. to carbon dioxide, claiming in every case that “The science What can professional scientific societies do? 7. The website is whatweknow.aaas.org and the video is at what- weknow.aaas.org/consensus-sense is unsettled so action is premature.” Such efforts unfortu- Excellent science reporting can help, but scientists them- nately continue to work: Only about one in ten Americans selves — particularly diverse and articulate ones — are 8. Nancy E. Abrams and R. Stephen Berry, “Mediation: a better needed to explain the scientific background for important alternative to Science Courts,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists understands that nearly all climate scientists are convinced (April 1977). that human-caused global warming is happening. issues. We need human examples, demonstrating by their We also did not foresee that people’s religious and politi- presence how a scientist thinks and acts. APS and other 9. Books by Nancy Ellen Abrams and me: The View from the Center of the Universe (2006) and The New Universe and the cal identities would increasingly determine their views on professional societies should encourage this by establishing Human Future (2011). See new-universe.org and www.nan- scientific issues like the existence of climate change — and new annual awards to recognize exemplary efforts of this cyellenabrams.com.

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