June 2007 Volume 16, No. 6 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews APS NEWS Our Siberian Correspondent A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY • WWW.apS.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/apSNEWS International News on page 4 Gender Equity: No Silver Bullet but Lots of Ways to Help Chairs of about 50 major re- over the next 15 years. The gender shop co-chair Arthur Bienenstock search-oriented physics depart- equity conference was organized by of Stanford University said that ments in the United States and APS with support from NSF and given the current US demograph- managers of about 15 physics-re- DOE. ics and increasing competition lated national laboratories met at Women now make up about from other countries in science and the American Center for Physics 13% of physics faculty, but only technology, we need to increase the May 6-8 for a conference entitled 7.9% at top 50 research-oriented proportion of the US workforce en- “Gender Equity: Strengthening the universities. Berrah pointed out gaged in science and technology. To Physics Enterprise in Universities that chemistry and astronomy have do this, we must recruit more wom- and National Laboratories.” twice the percentage of women that en to scientific careers. “If we fail to Photo by Ken Cole The goal of the meeting, accord- physics has. “The gender gap is a increase the participation of women Alice Agogino of UC Berkeley addresses the opening session of the Gender ing to conference co-chair Nora serious concern. We should be talk- we will see a steady decline in the Equity conference. (See story on the right.) There were 127 attendees at the Berrah of Western Michigan Uni- ing advantage of the pool of talent,” fraction of the workforce in science conference, of whom 72 were male and 55 were female–closer to gender versity, was to find ways to double she said. and technology,” he said. equality than in the larger physics community. the number of women in physics In the opening session, work- EQUITY continued on page 7 New Data Produce Radio Map of North Galactic Pole NSF’s “Broader Impacts” Criterion Using combined data from on scales to be imaged by the of view is centered on the Coma Gets Mixed Reviews the Arecibo telescope and the PLANCK cosmic microwave cluster of galaxies. Every scientist who submits Panel on Public Affairs, was at Dominion Radio Astrophysical background explorer. They were looking for areas a proposal to NSF must address NSF when the criterion was first Observatory, scientists have pro- Kronberg and colleagues pro- of faint, 0.4 GHz synchrotron both the intellectual merit and the put in place in the mid-1990s. He duced a new view of the universe duced the image by combining emission at low surface bright- “broader impacts” of the proposed said that the criterion is meant to above the north galactic pole. data from Arecibo, the world’s ness levels on angular scales research. The broader impacts re- serve two purposes: first, it forces The new map, which covers largest radio telescope, located in from 3 minutes to 8 degrees. In quirement is supposed to promote scientists to think more carefully over 50 square degrees of sky, Puerto Rico, and the Dominion producing the map, they sub- education, outreach, and benefits about the ways in which their reveals several new features that Radio Astrophysical Observatory tracted out known point sources, to society, but some scientists work impacts society, and second, haven’t been seen before. in British Columbia, Canada. The cosmic microwave background view the criterion as confusing, it helps provide the public with “You might have thought that DRAO is an array of 7 telescopes, radiation, and smooth Milky burdensome, inappropriate, or more information about what sci- the radio sky has been well im- each 9 meters across, in an east- Way foreground. counterproductive. entists are doing. aged,” said Philipp Kronberg, of west line. The telescopes shift They found several interest- The broader impacts section of Fred Cooper, a current NSF Los Alamos National Lab, who along the line over twelve days ing features, which Kronberg a proposal could include a descrip- program director for theoretical led the research project. But in in such a way that the combined reported at the April Meeting of tion of how the researcher will physics, said his personal opinion fact there are holes in our picture data simulate a single 600 meter APS. promote teaching, training, and is that this is a good thing for NSF of the sky, he said. telescope. For instance, they found no learning; broaden participation of to do. “I’m very happy to encour- The image, the researchers The researchers chose the re- correlation between the faint underrepresented minorities; en- age people to think about these report, provides the first detailed gion of sky above the north galac- radiation produced by particles hance infrastructure for research things,” he said. He says it is in view of foreground galactic and tic pole in order to be minimally accelerated in the magnetized and education; disseminate results scientists’ self-interest to do so. extragalactic features that might affected by the Milky Way, said plasma of space and the distribu- broadly; or benefit society. However, some scientists ob- contribute to CMB backgrounds Kronberg. The new map’s field NEW DATA continued on page 4 Bob Eisenstein, Chair of APS’s NSF continued on page 6 Preliminary Results from Gravity April Meeting Prize and Award Recipients Probe B Announced at April Meeting The preliminary results from on the gyroscopes are better under- Gravity Probe B are in, provid- stood, the GP-B scientists expect the ing further evidence in support of precision of their geodetic measure- Einstein’s theory of general relativ- ment to improve to a level of 0.01%. ity, according to Francis Everitt of Still to come is the final analysis Stanford University, the scientific of the data on measuring the frame- overseer for the project. Everitt gave dragging effect: whether or not, and a broad overview of the space-based by what degree, the Earth drags the experiment during the first plenary fabric of spacetime with it as it ro- lecture at the APS April Meeting in tates. However, Everitt, while cau- Jacksonville, Florida. tious, is “optimistic” that they have Gravity Probe B is an orbiting caught “glimpses” of the frame-drag- observatory dedicated to testing gen- ging effect. eral relativity. Stanford officials call That caution translates into an- it “the most sophisticated orbiting other eight months of data analysis to laboratory ever created,” but it is also account for the unexpected anoma- possibly the longest-running, most lies, but Everitt is confident that in expensive single experiment in his- the end, GP-B’s results will mesh tory, experiencing numerous delays nicely with Einstein’s prediction at and a few unexpected complications the 1% level. (An earlier indirect in the data collection that made the measurement of frame-dragging by subsequent analysis more difficult. the LAGEOS satellite had a 10-15% The measurement data indicate uncertainty.) that general relativity correctly pre- There is little doubt about the Photo by Ken McCray dicts the geodetic effect–how much confirmation of the geodetic effect, Seated (l to r): Bruce Winstein, Amy Barger, Kathryn Miknaitis, Magdalena Djordjevic, Gabriela Gonzalez, Stuart J. the mass of Earth is warping local according to Everitt: “[It] is clearly Freedman. Standing (l to r): Ronald Drever, Stanley Brodsky, Matthew Bunn, Heinrich Wahl, Italo Mannelli, Joseph Pol- spacetime–to within around 1%. seen even in the unprocessed sci- chinski, Juan Maldacena, David Kestenbaum. Once certain unanticipated torques PROBE continued on page 6 • June 2007 APS NEWS Members in the Media This Month in Physics History “The hype is bigger because the ter, she complains, ‘But the teacher June 1876: Edward Bouchet becomes the first physics is richer.” doesn’t do it that way.’ ” African American PhD in physics Carlo Beenakker, Leiden Uni- William Christie, Brookhaven versity, on graphene, The New York National Lab, on trying to tutor his n 1876 Edward Alexander Bouchet made his- many career options were open to him as an African Times, April 10, 2007 daughter in physics, The New York Itory by becoming the first African American PhD American. So in the fall of 1876 Bouchet went to “I guess you could say we’re Times, May 6, 2007 physicist, and the sixth person of any race to receive teach at the Institute for Colored Youth, as Cope had now living on borrowed time. All “They’re thinking of a world a PhD in physics from an American university. wanted. we need to keep going is maybe without air ... but air resistance is Bouchet went on to educate and inspire others as a At ICY, Bouchet headed the school’s new sci- $20,000, but nobody seems that in- a big deal for little things. It slows science teacher at a school for black students. ence program. In addition to physics and chemistry, terested in funding this project.” down leaves, it slows down rain- Edward Bouchet was born in September 1852, in Bouchet taught classes in astronomy, physical ge- John Cramer, University of drops and it slows down pennies.” New Haven, Connecticut. His father, a freed slave, ography, and physiology. An advocate for improv- Washington, on a time travel experi- Lou Bloomfield, University of worked as an unskilled laborer, like many black men ing science education, Bouchet repeatedly asked the ment for which he can’t get funding, Virginia, on the myth that pennies in the town. His mother was a housewife, and he had school’s board of managers to provide laboratory Seattle Post Intelligencer, April 8, thrown from the tops of buildings three older sisters.