Commentary: Let's Re-Create Bell Labs!
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Commentary: Let’s re-create Bell Labs! Mark G. Raizen Citation: Physics Today 71, 10, 10 (2018); doi: 10.1063/PT.3.4033 View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4033 View Table of Contents: http://physicstoday.scitation.org/toc/pto/71/10 Published by the American Institute of Physics READERS’ FORUM Commentary Let’s re-create Bell Labs! NOKIA CORPORATION, COURTESY OF THE AIP EMILIO SEGRÈ VISUAL ARCHIVES, PHYSICS TODAY COLLECTION ell Labs was the research arm of the American Telephone and Telegraph B Company (AT&T). During its golden era, from approximately 1925 to 1985, researchers could alternate between tar- geted development projects and new directions of their choice. Bell Labs re- cruited the brightest people, put them together in a crowded research setting, and often gave them only top-level guidance. That strategy may seem risky, but it led to remarkable breakthroughs and discoveries, including radio astron- omy, the transistor, the CCD, the laser, information theory, the detection of cos- mic background radiation, and new ef- fects in solid-state physics. Those ad- vances transformed the communications industry and resulted in eight Nobel Prizes. In my field of atomic and molecular physics, two examples of breakthrough Bell Laboratories facility research are the development of laser at Murray Hill, New Jersey. cooling of neutral atoms, led by Steven Chu, and the optical tweezer, invented by Arthur Ashkin. Neither one was re- One interesting exception is Google X, US, is experiencing a steady decline in lated to the labs’ corporate mission of a semisecret experiment in creative re- funding. I doubt that corporate leaders, communications. search at Google, where researchers are lawmakers, or university administrators Bell Labs was a great success, but the attempting daunting projects. I am not can solve these problems. breakup of AT&T in 1982 over concerns convinced, though, that pursuing pre - Our best hope for cutting-edge sci- that it had monopoly power marked the selected projects in a secret setting is the ence that will lead us forward is a re- beginning of the end of the labs’unique re- right approach. search laboratory focusing on applied search culture.1 It was only one of many Some corporate R&D efforts have physical sciences to benefit humanity outstanding corporate labs of that era that grand goals; for example, Google, Mi- and a nonprofit foundation to support conducted innovative, world-changing crosoft, IBM, and others are pursuing it. Many existing foundations, following research. Another great place for discov- the development of a quantum computer. a long tradition of philanthropy in this ery, one that preceded Bell Labs, was the Those efforts are tightly focused and di- country, could join forces to realize that laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York, rected, without the freedom that was vision. created and privately funded by Alfred seen at Bell Labs. Likewise, current re- In making my case, I draw on my own Loomis. It became a leading facility in search at government labs is program- experience in academia, working with radar and ultrasound imaging and other matic and has little room for exploratory both federal and nonprofit funding innovative research.2 research. agencies. At key points I was able to se- We need a new Bell Labs or Tuxedo Most curiosity-driven research today cure support from my institution through Park today more than ever. Civilization is conducted at universities and depends both a continuing endowment and dis- in the 21st century is facing great chal- primarily on federal funding. The peer- cretionary funds. That money, obtained lenges whose solutions will depend not review process directing that funding without a formal proposal and with no on incremental progress but on bold, cre- is astonishingly risk averse, favors large strings attached, allowed me to pursue ative breakthroughs. The corporate sec- collaborations and facilities, and comes new directions. For example, my research tor, now preoccupied with quarterly with increasingly onerous bureaucratic group developed novel methods to con- earnings and global competition, will not requirements. Additionally, even small- trol and cool atoms as an alternative to be a likely source of such innovation. scale tabletop research, especially in the laser cooling. When that work proved 10 PHYSICS TODAY | OCTOBER 2018 Ultra High Performance successful, I was able to attract federal would be donated to each fellow’s home Silicon Drift Detectors and foundation support. My group’s ef- institution, which would enable them ® forts then led to a new and efficient to continue the research if they could FAST SDD method for isotope separation, again obtain funding. That arrangement will funded by my institution. free up lab space for the next group of Count Rate = >1,000,000 CPS At that point I decided to establish the fellows. nonprofit Pointsman Foundation to pro- If the research leads to inventions, the The True State-of-the-Art duce much-needed isotopes for medicine, intellectual property would belong to the especially cancer therapy (see PHYSICS Pointsman Foundation, where it would • In-house manufacturing TODAY, September 2016, page 22). The be developed into commercial products • Lower noise foundation is broadly dedicated to ad- that will sustain the foundation in the • Lower leakage current vances in the physical sciences to benefit long term, beyond our initial line of med- humanity. We are starting with philan- ical isotopes. Sharing royalties with the • Better charge collection thropy, but we will be able to sustain our inventors should stimulate innovation. 2 55 efforts with revenue from isotope sales. In many cases, advances might not lead 25 mm FAST SDD® Fe Spectrum The foundation’s permanent scientific and to patents or products, just to basic engineering staff will incubate new in- knowledge. But that is perfectly fine. ventions and applications and develop Imagine a cadre of fellows working them into products and deliverables in a stimulating environment and feed- without the pressure of venture capital ing one another intellectually in ways investment firms that demand quick that lead to unexpected breakthroughs. profits. My longer-term vision for the The Pointsman Foundation’s laboratory foundation is to establish a parallel basic would get several new fellows every research laboratory—a new model for year to ensure a constant, enduring flow discovery and innovation in the spirit of of creativity. Resolution vs Peaking Time Bell Labs. We cannot predict what will be dis- 160 25 mm2 Here is how I think this could work: covered, but given the example of Bell 155 The Pointsman Foundation will appoint Labs, we can be optimistic about success. 150 Standard SDD a top-level scientific advisory board An optimum number of Pointsman fel- 145 140 FAST SDD® comprising scientists and engineers who lows—eventually perhaps around 25— 135 will be compensated for their time. The would allow the foundation to reap the 130 board will recommend Pointsman fel- benefits of cross-disciplinary collabora- 125 Resolution (eV FWHM @ 5.9 keV) lows, who will conduct independent re- tion. The cost of such a vision would 120 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 search at the lab for six years with the depend on the scale, but I estimate that Peaking Time (μs) possibility of a small extension for out- an endowment for one fellow for a standing progress. The fellows—typically six-year appointment would be around tenured university faculty in depart- $3 million, including funds for admin- Options: ments of physics, chemistry, and engi- istrative and technical support staff. • 25 mm2 collimated to 17 mm2 neering—would be selected for their The cost would be borne initially by • 70 mm2 collimated to 50 mm2 track record of exceptional creativity. philanthropy but would be sustained After advisory board recommendations long-term by revenue generated by the • Windows: Be (0.5 mil) 12.5 μm, or and directors’ approval, the fellows foundation. C Series would be required to spend eight weeks It is time to stop criticizing the current • TO-8 package fits all per year at the laboratory and would hire poor funding environment and do some- Amptek configurations postdoctoral fellows and technicians to thing about it. I call on the physics com- conduct research. munity to provide input and help make Pointsman fellows could thus main- this vision become reality. Let’s re-create tain their research groups and academic Bell Labs! responsibilities at their home institu- tions. They would be given a yearly References stipend of around $400 000 to develop a 1. J. Gertner, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the new experiment of their choice, with Great Age of American Innovation, Penguin Books (2013). only one qualification: that the work be 2. J. Conant, Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon of benefit to humanity. The lab space for and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed Please see our web site for complete a fellow would not be large, perhaps the Course of World War II, Simon & Schuster VSHFL¿FDWLRQVDQGYDFXXP enough for a tabletop experiment. The (2003). DSSOLFDWLRQV fellows could utilize the significant Mark G. Raizen resources of their home institutions for ([email protected]) ® AMPTEK Inc. fabrication and diagnostics. At the end University of Texas at Austin [email protected] of the funding period, the equipment and the Pointsman Foundation www.amptek.com OCTOBER 2018 | PHYSICS TODAY 11.