June 2007 Volume 16, No. 6

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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. The Bouchet family was ac- space for students to perform individual experi- 2007 could kill pedestrians below, ABC tive with their local church and the local ments. In addition to his regular teaching, News, May 3, 2007 abolitionist movement, and encour- Bouchet gave lectures on various sci- “What drives me is seeing below aged all the children to get an edu- entific topics for students and staff, the surface, seeing what is happen- “It’s an extremely efficient way cation. and even reached out to the wider ing in there.” to reduce air pollution.” The local public schools community by giving public Daniel Rugar, IBM, on a new Thomas Cahill, UC Davis, on were segregated, so in elemen- lectures on science. technique combining magnetic res- studies showing that redwood trees tary school Edward Bouchet Bouchet taught at the ICY onance imaging and atomic force remove tailpipe exhaust particles attended the Artisan Street for 26 years. However, by microscopy, USA Today, April 29, from the air, Sacramento Bee, May Colored School, which had around 1900, many black 2007 8, 2007 30 students of all grade lev- young people were being “I became the country’s leading “The trash compactors have a els, and one teacher. In 1868 pushed into vocational and tennis technologist, mostly because public outreach value. Something he gained admittance to technical training, rather I was the only one doing it.” high-profile that’s sustainable makes Hopkins Grammar School, than academic education. Howard Brody, University of a statement.” a prestigious private pre- Even black leaders, includ- Pennsylvania, on studying the sci- David Tanenbaum, Pomona paratory school that sent its ing Booker T. Washington, ence of tennis, The Jewish Expo- College, on new solar-powered graduates to Yale College. At advocated for this approach, nent, May 3, 2007 trash compactors in Palm Springs, Hopkins Grammar School he arguing that this type of educa- received a classical education, tion was what suited black people “It’s really the worst. We are half The Press-Enterprise, May 6, 2007 studying Latin and Greek as well as best. Bouchet’s accomplishments the percentage for chemistry or even “God is the cosmological singu- geometry, algebra and history. Bouchet clearly showed that black people were astronomy.” larity. I am not being blasphemous. graduated first in his class in 1870. capable of academic and scientific pur- Nora Berrah, Western Michi- I’m just following in the ancient He entered Yale in the fall of that year. suits, but in 1902 the ICY managers decided gan University, on the low number tradition in saying that science puts Bouchet was not the first black student to enter Yale, that the school would give up academic subjects and of women in physics, Marketplace, the tenets of religion up to the ex- but he was the first to graduate. He lived at home dur- shift its focus to industrial education. Bouchet lost May 4, 2007 perimental test, and we find that god ing his time at Yale, and was clearly devoted to his his job. exists.” “It sounded pretty terrible.” studies. In June 1874, he graduated sixth in a class Bouchet spent the next several years in several Frank Tipler, Tulane University, Larry Slifkin, University of of 124 students. He was the first black person to be different teaching positions around the country. In CBS11 TV, May 9, 2007 North Carolina, on picking up the nominated to Phi Beta Kappa. 1916, Bouchet returned home to New Haven in poor trumpet again after his days as an “There is a sense among many As a talented young black man interested in sci- health, and died in 1918 at age 66. He was survived Army bugler in WWII, The News & experimentalists that theorists are a ence, Bouchet had come to the attention of Alfred by his mother, who died two years later at age 102. Observer, May 7, 2007 bunch of irresponsible little spoiled Cope, a philanthropist in Philadelphia who was on As a black man in a segregated society, Bouchet “It is inevitable I bring these is- brats who get to sit around all day, the board of managers for the Institute for Colored surely faced many challenges, but he didn’t leave sues to court because there is no having all these fun ideas, drinking Youth. The ICY was one of the few places in the city behind many letters or notebooks, so we know little other way. That is the American espresso and goofing off, with next where black students could get an academic high today about his thoughts on his career or his daily way.” to no accountability.” school education. Cope wanted to build up the sci- life. A friend of his wrote in an obituary that Bouchet Ruggero Santilli, On lawsuits Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard ence program there, and hoped to bring Bouchet onto was “a man of keen sensibilities and unusual refine- he has filed alleging that other sci- University, The New Yorker, May the staff. ment. He was a prolific reader and was greatly in- entists plagiarized his work, St. Pe- 14, 2007 But before recruiting him as a teacher, Cope en- terested in the history of his own people and of his tersburg Times, May 9, 2007 “When I asked them to apply couraged Bouchet to continue his studies, and paid native town.” their knowledge in a situation they for his graduate education at Yale. Edward Bouchet Bouchet never married or had children. He was a “She asked me do I work here spent two more years there, completing further stud- member of the Franklin Institute and the American and what I do here. ‘I’m a physi- had not seen before, they failed. You have to be able to tackle the new ies in chemistry, mineralogy, and physics. His pri- Academy of Political and Social Science and was ac- cist,’ I told her.” mary professor was Arthur Wright, who in 1861 had tive in the NAACP. John Krizmanic, NASA, on and unfamiliar, not just the famil- iar, in everything. We have to give become the first person to earn a doctorate in physics Over his career in teaching, Bouchet had edu- meeting Queen Elizabeth, Washing- from an American university. Bouchet’s original re- cated many black youth in science, but black people ton Post May 9, 2007 the students the skills to solve such problems. That’s the goal of educa- search focused on geometrical optics, and he wrote were still excluded from most scientific education “I’m just a physicist.” tion.” a dissertation entitled “On Measuring Refractive In- and careers for many years. It was not until 1918, Martha Elizabeth Baylor, Uni- Eric Mazur, Harvard Univer- dices.” Just two years after completing undergradu- the year Bouchet died, and 42 years after he received versity of Colorado, on being the sity, on why he switched from giving ate studies, Bouchet became the first black person to his PhD, that Elmer Imes became the second African first black woman to get a PhD in lectures to having students work in earn a PhD in physics. American to receive a PhD in physics. physics at Colorado, Denver Post, small groups in introductory phys- A white person with Bouchet’s credentials would Further reading: Ronald E. Mickens, ed., Edward April 22, 2007 ics classes, The New York Times, have been able to obtain a university position, but Bouchet, The First African-American Doctorate, “When I try to help my daugh- May 10, 2007 even with his impressive accomplishments, not World Scientific Publishing Company (2002).

Series II, Vol. 16, No.6 For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Editor-in-Chief (Plasma), Scott Milner (Polymer Physics), Paul Wolf June 2007 American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Gene Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) (Ohio Section) APS NEWS © 2007 The American Physical Society Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least Past-President 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes, please John J. Hopfield*, Princeton University ADVISORS send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, General Councillors Representatives from Other Societies Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests Robert Austin, Christina Back, Elizabeth Beise, Wendell Fred Dylla, AIP; Harvey Leff, AAPT from subscribers for missing issues will be honored Hill, Evelyn Hu*, Ann Orel*, Arthur Ramirez, Richart Editor ...... Alan Chodos without charge only if received within 6 months of the Slusher*, International Advisors Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette issue’s actual date of publication. Periodical Postage Paid International Councillor Francisco Ramos Gómez, Mexican Physical Society Staff Writer...... Ernie Tretkoff at College Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Albrecht Wagner Melanie Campbell, Canadian Association of Physicists Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, Mem- Chair, Nominating Committee Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik bership Department, American Physical Society, One Margaret Murnane Staff Representatives Forefronts Editor...... Craig Davis Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten Proofreader...... Edward Lee Robert Eisenstein Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, ed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College APS COUNCIL 2006 Division, Forum and Section Councillors of Education and Outreach; Michael Lubell, Director, monthly, except the August/September issue, by the Park, MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. President Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), P. Julienne (Atomic, Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Chris- American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- Leo P. Kadanoff*, University of Chicago Molecular & Optical Physics) Robert Eisenberg (Bio- tine Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It con- Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- President-Elect logical), Charles S. Parmenter (Chemical), Richard M. Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer tains news of the Society and of its Divisions,Topical cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Martin (Computational), Moses H. Chan (Condensed Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information on abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Vice-President Matter Physics), James Brasseur (Fluid Dynamics), Peter Administrator for Governing Committees meetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// Cherry Murray*, Lawrence Livermore National Labora- Zimmerman* (Forum on Education), Roger Stuewer Ken Cole committees and task forces, as well as opinions. librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. tory (Forum on History of Physics), Patricia Mooney* Executive Officer (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), David Ernst Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville (Forum on International Physics), Philip “Bo” Ham- * Members of the APS Executive Board ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– (on leave) mer* (Forum on Physics and Society), Steven Rolston dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Membership Department, American Physical Society, Treasurer (Laser Science), Leonard Feldman* (Materials), Akif the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Joseph Serene*, Georgetown University Balantekin (Nuclear), John Jaros* (Particles & Fields), correspondence regarding APS News should be direct- [email protected]. Ronald Ruth (Physics of Beams), David Hammer APS NEWS June 2007 • 

Washington Dispatch APS and Yale Honor J. Willard Gibbs A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

ISSUE: Science Research Budgets

Congress has begun consideration of the President’s Budget Re- quest for Fiscal Year 2008, which begins October 1. While no ap- propriations bills have been marked up as of press time, the House and Senate have sent positive signals for science research funding through their respective Budget Resolutions.

The Budget Resolution, which sets non-binding spending goals and contains a cap for federal discretionary spending, provided fund- ing for the $1.2 billion in increases requested by the President for the Department of Energy Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technol- ogy. It provided an additional $450 million for scientific research and education. The “Sense of the House” section of the Resolution states that the “resolution will put us on the path toward doubling funding for the National Science Foundation, basic research in the physical sciences across all agencies, and collaborative research partnerships; and toward achieving energy independence through the development of clean and sustainable alternative energy tech- nologies.”

In its original form, the Senate Budget Resolution did not provide sufficient funding for the President’s requested increases for DOE Science, NSF, and the NIST Labs. Senators Bingaman (D-NM) Photo by Michael Marsland/Yale University Office of Public Affairs and Alexander (R-TN) offered an amendment to provide an addi- J. Willard Gibbs served as Professor of Mathematical Physics at Yale from 1871 until his death in 1903, during which time he made fundamental contributions to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. To honor Gibbs, Yale was among tion $1 billion for the requested increases and other science and the original set of physics historic sites chosen by the APS Historic Sites Committee in 2005. For scheduling reasons, math education and research measures. The amendment passed however, the plaque presentation ceremony was not held until this year. On April 20, members of the Yale Physics de- overwhelmingly by a 97-1 vote. Conferees are reconciling the differ- partment and guests gathered in Sloane Physics Laboratory to celebrate the occasion. Standing, left to right, are Yale ences between the House and Senate resolutions. Physics Chair R. Shankar, APS Editor-in-Chief Gene Sprouse, and Yale Provost Andrew D. Hamilton, who is explaining the impact that Gibbs had on Yale and on science. Listening intently are the Chair of the APS Historic Sites Committee, The House began marking up its appropriations bills in May; the John Rigden (seated at left) and J. Willard Gibbs himself (perched on the easel). After the ceremony, the audience was Senate will do so in June. See http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy08.htm treated to a lecture on Gibbs by Yale historian of science emeritus Martin J. Klein, the first recipient of the APS Pais Prize for history of physics. to track the progress. 888 Efficiency is Key to Resolution of Energy Crisis While many energy discussions were already generating a sixth of the that they don’t need central heating ISSUE: Nuclear Forensics Study focus on finding new sources of world’s electricity in 2005, and are set systems, even in cold climates. And The APS Panel on Public Affairs and the AAAS have established a energy, a lot can be done to use the to provide an even greater proportion scientists have developed a design study group on nuclear forensics technology and techniques. The energy we have more efficiently, said of our electricity supply. “The revo- that collects sunlight and transmits it chair is Michael May, Emeritus Director of Lawrence Livermore speakers in an April Meeting ses- lution already happened, sorry if you farther into a room, lighting up areas National Lab and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. Other sion. In many cases, more efficient missed it,” said Lovins. These small, that would otherwise be dark without members of the group include Al Carnesale, Phil Coyle, Jay Davis, technology is already available and low-carbon decentralized generating electric lights, resulting in significant Bill Dorland, Bill Dunlop, Steve Fetter, Alex Glaser, Ian Hutcheon, cost-effective. plants involve less financial risk than electricity savings, Glicksman said. Don Kerr, Francis Slakey, & Benn Tannenbaum. The first panel Amory Lovins, an energy expert large central thermal power stations, From an economic standpoint, it meeting will be held this summer, with the report scheduled to be and founder of the Rocky Mountain and can be financed mainly by pri- makes sense to build efficient build- completed early next year. Institute, described several existing vate investment. ings, he said. But builders don’t have 888 efficient technologies. We could save Another speaker in the session, billions of dollars per year by invest- Leon Glicksman of MIT, said that an incentive to do so because they ISSUE: Nuclear Workforce Study ing in these technologies, he said. In more efficient buildings could save don’t pay the energy bills, and con- fact, it would cost less to use efficient significant amounts of energy. Build- sumers don’t know enough about The APS Panel on Public Affairs has established a study group to technology to save energy than to ings use almost 40% of the country’s energy efficiency. examine the status of the United States Nuclear Workforce. Sekazi Glicksman said that architects Mtingwa, from MIT, will chair the study. Other members of the group produce and deliver energy, he said. energy, and about two-thirds of the include Ruth Howes, William Magwood, Darlene Hoffman, Andrew Vehicles use 70% of US oil, said electricity. In fact, given how much have to be trained to design more Klein, Lynne Fairobent, Allen Sessoms, Marc Ross, and Carol Ber- Lovins. New advanced ultralight ma- energy is used indoors, buildings efficient structures. To help them, rigan. The first panel meeting is scheduled to be held this summer, terials such as carbon fiber thermo- probably have more of an impact he and colleagues have developed a with site visits planned for August and September. A report is slated plastic composites that are already than transportation, said Glicksman. computer program that simulates the to be completed early next year. available could lead to significantly Many discussions about energy heating, lighting, and cooling require- 888 more efficient automobiles. If manu- issues focus on the supply side, but ments for a given building design. facturers built cars out of such mate- we need to have a more balanced ap- In addition to building new struc- ISSUE: Science Education and School Boards rials, said Lovins, you could have an proach, devoting more effort to sav- tures that are more energy efficient, ultra-light hybrid SUV that gets 67 ing energy and using it efficiently, he sometimes simple fixes can save a lot Congressional and Executive Branch Science Fellows will have the miles per gallon. The car would be as said. of energy in existing buildings, said opportunity to attend a workshop on how to get involved with school big, comfortable, and safe as today’s Glicksman has worked on ways Glicksman. For instance, they found boards, July 16th at the AAAS. The workshop will provide materials SUVs. Such a car would not cost to design buildings that are more ef- on how school boards function, how members are elected or se- that at MIT about half of the fume much more to produce, and would ficient. Buildings usually last a long lected, and how scientists can become effective participants. Those pay for itself in saved oil in less than time and are difficult to retrofit, so hoods in the chemistry building were interested in attending the workshop should contact Francis Slakey being left open at night, which wast- at [email protected]. two years, he said. “Think of this as it’s important to build them efficient- finding a Saudi Arabia under De- ly, he said. ed a lot of energy. 888 troit,” said Lovins in a press confer- Design techniques already ex- Energy efficient buildings and ence at the April Meeting. ist to save a lot of energy, he said. other ways of saving energy are Log on to the APS Public Affairs website (http:// A similar revolution is going on For instance, buildings with natural available, Glicksman said. “It’s re- www.aps.org/public_affairs) for more information. in electricity generation, he said. ventilation use about half as much ally a question of getting people to Clean, small, “micropower” plants energy. Houses can be designed so use these things.” JLab Experiment Pins Down π0 Lifetime A new measurement of the life- ment was carried out at the Thomas QCD, said PrimEx collaboration photons, one of which interacts with x10-17s. time of the neutral pion is twice as Jefferson National Accelerator Fa- member Liping Gan of the Univer- a photon from the beam to produce The PrimEx group was able to precise as previous measurements, cility by the PrimEx collaboration, sity of North Carolina, Wilming- a neutral pion. obtain a more precise measurement researchers from the PrimEx col- a group of over 70 researchers from ton. The pion then quickly decays than previous Primakoff experi- laboration reported at the APS April 21 institutions. Lawrence Cardman, Jefferson back into two photons. Using a sen- ments because the photon beam is Meeting. The new mean lifetime value, Lab’s Associate Director for Exper- sitive calorimeter, the researchers tagged so that the number and en- The result agrees with previous about 82 attoseconds, is more than imental Nuclear Physics comment- detected the energy and position of ergy of photons aimed at the target measurements and confirms our twice as precise as previous mea- ed that the neutral pion is a simple both of these decay photons. They nucleus can be tracked, and the understanding of fundamental sym- surements, Gasparian said. system that provides a good test of used these measurements to calcu- decay photons are measured by an metry breaking, said PrimEx col- The neutral pion, the lightest fundamental theory. He called the late the pion’s lifetime. advanced hybrid calorimeter. laboration spokesman Ashot Gas- quark-anti-quark meson, is made system the “positronium of QCD.” The PrimEx collaboration came More data from the PrimEx ex- parian of North Carolina A&T State up of a superposition an up, anti-up The JLab experiment produces up with a mean value of (8.2 ±0.24) periment remains to be analyzed, University. pair and a down, anti-down pair. pions using the Primakoff effect. x 10-17 s. The Particle Data Group’s and the collaboration expects to an- The new result is the most pre- The lifetime of the chargeless In this effect, a beam of photons Particle Physics Booklet’s value, nounce an even more precise value cise measurement of the neutral pion is one of the few quantities is aimed at a target nucleus. The based on the average of several for the neutral pion lifetime after pion lifetime to date. The experi- that can be calculated directly from nucleus generates a cloud of virtual previous experiments, is (8.4 ±0.6) completing that analysis.  • June 2007 APS NEWS Letters Can Simulations Really Teach Physics? I want to comment on the letter crossword puzzle, only to find that “Simulations Teach Real Physics” the answers have already been A Report from Siberia in the April 07 APS News by Hen- penciled in. The virtue of using By Kyler Kuehn derson Cole, and the Viewpoint by virtual experiments as a teaching Editor’s Note: While many cepted for publication. opened their homes to me, in- Alan Chodos in the February 07 tool in high schools should be lim- senior US scientists have culti- In addition to the crucial role viting me to participate in vari- APS News. The former states that ited to comparing the measured vated a variety of international that effective communication ous festivities, including various “events in a real laboratory happen results to the expected results, contacts, younger scientists may plays in the success of the sci- birthdays, New Year’s Day, and too fast to observe the physics,” not as a substitute for real phys- not have yet had the opportu- entific enterprise, another im- Christmas–which is celebrated so it is better to learn by using a ics. Teaching the fundamental nity to integrate such experi- portant value I experienced was not on December 25th, as in the physics simulation software pack- laws of physics in high schools ences into their professional or the sense of camaraderie among west, but on January 7th, in keep- age, and watch it in slow motion. requires observation and measure- personal lives. There follows the the researchers. They were even ing with the Eastern Orthodox He specifically mentioned -mea ment before simulation. Watching account of one early-career sci- willing to incorporate a young, calendar. The cultural center of suring the gravitational accelera- a current-carrying wire move in entist, detailing his observations foreign man barely out of col- Akademgorodok was known as tion constant g. a magnetic field is more instruc- as a researcher in a location far lege into the life of their com- “The House of Scientists”, where About 55 years ago, my high tive than just plugging the current removed from the experience of munity. Upon the completion of I was able to attend symphony or- school physics teacher devised an and field values into a simulation most physics students. chestra performances and engage experiment to measure g using a of the Lorentz Force Law. Can a In December of 1998, upon in other aspects of the social life ball bearing slowly rolling down force really be perpendicular to completing my Bachelor’s De- of the town. In particular, I was an improvised inclined plane (a both the current and the magnetic gree in Physics, I began a 3- quite popular with the “English 16-foot section of half-round rain field? Seeing it is better than read- month volunteer research posi- Club” that met at the House of gutter dusted with flour to show ing about it. Doing it is even bet- tion at the Hydrodynamics In- Scientists, whose members were the oscillating trajectory). Mea- ter. I recently gave small battery- stitute of the Siberian Branch of anxious to practice their English surements gave a value of g that powered DC electric motor kits the Russian Academy of Sciences with me and to learn as much was about 30% too low. More to every student in the AP physics in Akademgorodok, Russia. My as they could about life in the precise measurements confirmed class at my former high school. I research collaborators and I per- US. Furthermore, I distinctly re- this low value. My teacher and I can understand why students who formed calculations designed to member the selfless work of the decided that perhaps the “inertia” learn (memorize?) physics using predict the effects of shock waves members of some of the local of the rolling ball bearing slowed virtual physics experiments might from stellar explosions on the star churches, where I also assisted it down. I found a college calculus perform better on AP physics tests. formation rate in spiral galaxies. in the efforts to teach English book in the school library, and af- And I can understand the inherent This research culminated in a pre- language courses and to provide ter about a week of intense study, danger in exposing some students sentation of our findings at an in- humanitarian aid to hospitals, learned enough math to under- to electricity in the lab (These are ternational astronomy conference schools, and prisons throughout stand and calculate the rotational often the same ones who never the following year. the region. inertia of the ball bearing, and get learn AAA (Always Add Acid) in While these are the basic facts Photo courtesy of Kyler Kuehn The results of the research the accepted value of g. The en- the chemistry lab). But the original of my professional accomplish- Pictured here in wintry Siberia, Kyler Kuehn that I performed in Russia have joyment was in the quest for the basis for physics was to explain ments during my time in Russia, is now a PhD candidate at the University been superseded in the interven- answer, not learning it in a simula- real world phenomena using tools of California, Irvine. He also serves as the there was so much more that I International Student Affairs Officer for the ing years, and the focus of my tion. How can one appreciate a lab such as mathematics and reason- learned beyond simply the re- APS Forum on Graduate Student Affairs. scientific career has changed on electricity without recalling the ing. Viewing virtual experiments sults of a single research project. significantly, but the experi- acrid smell of an overheated Al- on a computer is no substitute for In particular, the relationships I a successful run of our computer ences I had in Akademgorodok len-Bradley resistor, or the sweet doing the real thing, even if the forged with the people there have simulation, the researchers with have stayed with me ever since aroma of ozone from sparks. equipment has to be improvised. been of much greater significance whom I worked would invariably I returned in February of 1999. I Doing physics lab experiments to me as I continue on in my sci- pause to celebrate, and invite ev- have not forgotten the quite beau- using canned software simulations Robert Shafer entific career and in my everyday eryone nearby to join them for a tiful daily walks through knee- is about as exciting as picking up a Los Alamos, NM life. tea break. Throughout my stay deep snow in -40 degree weather Of the many opportunities that there, I was likewise treated as (where the Fahrenheit and Celsius First Morehouse Physics Prize I had to learn from interactions a colleague even by researchers scales coincide) to reach the of- with my friends and colleagues outside our group and outside our fices of the Institute. I remember Goes to Byron Freelon there, the myriad cultural differ- particular Institute. I was able to the occasional signs of significant APS member Byron Freelon tory, where he developed a beam- ences between Russia and the learn first-hand about the numer- economic hardship in the region, has been awarded the first More- line-based molecular beam epi- US were often the most striking ous other experiments being per- such as when the local grocery house Physics Prize, which rec- taxy system at the Advanced Light experiences for me. For example, formed there, and to tour a signif- store ran out of the vast majority ognizes graduates of historically Source. Freelon is now a research many scientists in the US take icant number of laboratory facili- of its products and was unable to black colleges and universities scientist at the University of Cali- for granted the ability to com- ties. “Rank” or “prestige” did not restock. Even more so I remem- who have shown considerable fornia Berkeley in the group of municate their research findings seem to be of paramount impor- ber how patient and adaptable promise as physics researchers UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert to their peers, and to be able to tance; we were all simply scien- the community was in the face and teachers. The prize includes Birgeneau. Freelon is interested in understand the communication of tists working together to expand of such hardship. I recall with a cash award and a travel grant to various synchrotron techniques to others. That was not necessarily our knowledge. One of my favor- amazement the accomplishments give a colloquium at Morehouse study high-temperature supercon- the case with all of the research- ite experiences in Akademgoro- of my research group, despite the College. ductors and soft-matter systems. ers in Siberia. While every one dok was being given a tour of the fact that we all relied upon a sin- The National Society of Black In addition to synchrotron tech- of them had some formal train- particle accelerator at the Nuclear gle 286 computer that almost cer- Physicists established the More- niques, he is working on inelastic ing in English, I was the only Physics Institute by one of the tainly would have been discarded house Physics Prize through a neutron scattering. Freelon is also native speaker in the research senior scientists at the facility (I as obsolete in the US. But mostly financial gift by Walter and Shir- leading an international collabora- group–perhaps in the entire In- later learned that what had previ- I remember the opportunities af- ley Massey. Walter Massey is the tion to develop a pulsed-laser de- stitute. One of the most valuable ously seemed to be a random and forded to me to learn important president of Morehouse College. position facility at the Advanced ways that I was able to contribute unexplained dimming of lights new skills, to gain exposure to Freelon accepted the award Light Source synchrotron. He is a to the Institute’s work was simply throughout the town was caused some of the diverse members of at Morehouse College on April 5 member of the APS committee on by assisting in the translation and by the particle accelerator being the international scientific com- and gave a talk entitled “Probing careers. editing of papers to be submit- turned on). munity, and to learn about the High-Temperature Superconduc- “I attempt to dedicate every ted to English-language scientific Outside of the Institute, I goals, ideals, and lives of fellow tors with Layers and Light.” day to doing physics and thinking journals, so that they would have also experienced the welcom- scientists in a part of the world Freelon attended Prairie View about the status of blacks who do a much quicker review process ing spirit of the entire commu- that so few people from the US A&M University in Texas, and re- physics. It is deeply meaningful and a greater chance of being ac- nity of Akademgorodok. Families are able to see. ceived a PhD in physics from the to be honored by an organization NEW DATA continued from page 1 University of Minnesota in 2001. dedicated to these same concerns,” tion of bright stars and galaxies. want to concentrate on those spots, he said. This is the first known He worked as a postdoc at Law- said Freelon. “We see signals all over this suggested Kronberg. large diffuse patch that’s not asso- rence Berkeley National Labora- piece of sky,” said Kronberg in The new map revealed a large ciated with any galaxy, said Kro- a press conference at the April (about 9 million light years across) nberg. Correction Meeting. There are some patches region of magnetized plasma near They found another large dif- of what is probably Milky Way the Coma cluster, probably at the fuse source. This feature, which The institutional affiliation of Geraldo A. Barbosa, the author of foreground throughout much of distance of the Great Wall of gal- has never been seen before, could the International News column in the April APS News, was listed the mapped area, though the new axies. The magnetic field is about be a giant radio galaxy that had not incorrectly. His correct title is Adjunct Professor in the Department of view identifies some areas that are 0.3 micro gauss, about 1/10th the previously been observed because Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Northwestern Uni- relatively foreground-free. The strength of the Milky Way’s mag- it was obscured by other nearby versity. We thank David E. Taylor for bringing this to our attention. Planck CMB explorer, which will netic field. How that field is gener- sources of radio waves, said Kro- be launched later this year, might ated and maintained is not known, nberg. APS NEWS June 2007 • 

A Leading Lederman in Industry By Alaina G. Levine Editor’s Note: This is the second an interview and again told him at managerial career was right for him. away from ultrasound, which is now As a member of Alcoa’s execu- in a series of articles profiling people the start of the visit that there was “I went into management, partly be- a billion dollar business for GE. tive team, Frank participated in the trained in physics who have gone on no job for him. “But they must have cause I didn’t want this guy to con- In 1988, Frank left GE for Can- business decisions of the company. to make their mark in a variety of liked what they saw,” says Frank, trol my destiny; I wanted to do that ada-based Noranda, where he was Again, his physics came in handy, as careers. The first article appeared in “because they called a week later myself,” he says. Senior Vice President of Technol- it taught him what questions to ask in the April APS News. with an offer. My new boss, also a He was eventually promoted, and ogy, and then for Alcoa, the world’s order to identify the underlying prob- Looking back on a successful and physicist, said that he found room Frank’s interests and skills made him leading producer of aluminum and lem driving a particular situation. intellectually-stimulating career in for me, thanks to his losing a govern- an excellent leader at GE. He had a its products, where he served as the His greatest moment of satisfac- research management and technolo- ment contract.” passion for pursuing the best solution Vice President and Chief Technical tion as CTO came when he con- gy development spanning more than Frank started at GE as a physicist for a problem. “It means change, of- Officer for six years. vinced the CEO and key business 30 years, Frank Lederman, former where he conducted research in Frank asserts his physics PhD managers that they had to play a big- chief technology officer and vice different subjects, including ultra- was always an asset and never a li- ger role in deciding which technolo- president of Alcoa, doesn’t question sonic imaging. In fact, he was one ability. When you head a research gies get pursued and how they are his decision to choose industry over of the designers of GE’s first med- group, he says, “a PhD gives you managed. The technologies ranged academia. “After all,” he chortles, ical ultrasonic systems. He found credibility with recruiting, with from the design of alloys for an air- “another Lederman won the Nobel his work fascinating, with great directing research, and with gov- plane wing to “enabling technolo- Prize in my field.” He and famed physics content to it, and within a ernment and universities, espe- gies” such as the physical chemistry Fermilab physicist Leon Leder- year, Frank was given the oppor- cially when getting funding.” behind production processes. man are not related and have never tunity to coordinate a large study And as a manager in industry, “We formed a ‘virtual technology met. But the non-collision of Leon for the group vice president, who expertise in physics is almost a organization’” Frank recalls, “I gave and Frank never deterred the latter at the time was Jack Welch. The strategic necessity. “A physics up a lot of direct control over people, Lederman from pursuing his great chance to play such a role so fresh background gives you experience and I think I was respected for put- love of physics. out of school was “very unusual,” in taking big complex problems ting the company first, with a struc- Yet, when he graduated with his recalls Frank. Management must and breaking them down into ture that is more global for a global PhD in both theoretical and experi- have seen something in him. bite-size pieces. And you have company.” mental solid state physics (he had As an outcome of the study, to recognize what you have done Although he is retired, Frank two thesis advisors) from the Uni- a multi-million dollar project was ten when others are most resistant to already,” Frank says. “You need to Lederman still stays involved in versity of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- formed, and Frank took a leader- it,” he says. “But that’s what leaders look at the toughest parts of a project technology management as a mem- paign in 1975, the future did not look ship role. It was his “character to be do; they make changes. I remember first, to see if it can be done. Physics ber of the Board of Directors of Cray so rosy. in the center of the project,” he says. one thesis advisor telling me that you is outstanding for that. It is systems Inc. (a global supercomputer leader), “There were only four or five Essentially, Frank was systems engi- can’t change the course of a river by thinking.” and as an emeritus member of the jobs in industry for physicists,” says neer for the project. “It was my job paddling downstream.” As CTO, Frank was account- Industrial Research Institute, which Frank. “I assumed I would end up in to make sure the whole thing was “Change” certainly describes able for the “technical health” of the consists of past and present CTOs. academia, but I was lucky enough to successful, with all the pieces work- Frank’s career. GE gave him lots of company. He was responsible for re- He also volunteers his time on sev- get the chance to interview with in- ing together.” opportunities, and he had eight dif- search, development, and engineer- eral university advisory boards. dustry as well.” This melding of physics and ferent jobs for the 12 years of his ing at the corporate laboratories and For students and colleagues in- Although he liked both, Frank management suited him well. “I tenure. The longer he remained in at the business units, which oversaw terested in a career in technology became more intrigued with indus- had to play the role of the honeybee industry, the more he realized this product lines. His job was to ensure management, the physicist suggests try. “The environment I saw was going from flower to flower cross- was where he wanted to stay. But that the technological strategy and “getting exposure to a lot of different fast-paced and exciting,” he recalls. pollinating ideas,” Frank recalls. “I he was still occasionally tempted by the technology of the company’s things, and developing a vision for “Many of my interview discussions like working at the interfaces where the sirens of academic physics. In products and processes were all run- using your unique abilities to follow were interrupted with colleagues things come together, so it is natural one example, while working on the ning smoothly. your passion.” And the quintessen- bringing new results or theories. for me to gravitate to this kind of ultrasound projects, he was offered For a physicist, the job was a tial academic subject upon which to They were working on real-world, work.” the opportunity to collaborate with blast. “Physicists deal with a broad build a triumphant technology man- practical problems, but with plenty Like any good physicist, Frank a certain medical doctor and write range of technologies, including bio- agement career? There’s no ques- of hard science.” excelled in observation, data col- a review article on the science of ul- technology, nanotechnology, metal- tion, Frank says. “Physics is the right He had applied to General Elec- lection, decision-making, and prob- trasound technology. His alternative lurgy, etc., so physics is the perfect science. I wouldn’t pick another.” tric, and they wrote to him that there lem-solving. And so it was that in choice was to be promoted to a high- platform for designing and leading a were no positions available. Some observing a colleague’s frustrated at- er position at the company. He chose company’s technological strategy,” Copyright, 2007, Alaina G. time later, they invited him back for tempts to lead, Frank decided that a the latter, even though it took him says Frank. Levine MiniBooNE Results Inconsistent with Existence of “Sterile” Neutrino One neutrino anomaly has been differences in mass lead to telltale ticles, including many muon neutri- observed after a 30-meter distance, weeks before the official announce- resolved while another has sprung up, interference effects. If, indeed, neu- nos. The MiniBooNE detector was while the earlier Fermilab experi- ment. according to results from the Mini- trinos oscillate–as seems to be the placed 500 meters away. Although ment used 500 MeV neutrinos de- Upon doing so, they found no BooNE experiment at Fermilab. The case per experimental results from muon neutrinos might oscillate into tected after a distance of 500 meters. telltale oscillation signature, con- results were officially announced the Japan’s Super-Kamiokande collabo- electron neutrinos, over the short run The trick is to discriminate be- tradicting the LSND findings from week before the APS April Meeting ration announced in 1998–then they from the fixed target to the detector, tween the few rare events in which 1995. So MiniBooNE’s results rule in Jacksonville, Florida, and there are not the massless particles as- an electron neutrino strikes a neu- out a fourth sterile neutrino, thereby were several papers on the topic pre- sumed by the Standard Model. tron in a huge bath of mineral oil, verifying the current Standard Mod- sented at the conference. About 10 years ago, the Liq- thereby creating a telltale signa- el with its three low-mass neutrino MiniBooNE is short for Mini uid Scintillator Neutrino Detector ture–an electron plus a slow-mov- species. Booster Neutrino Experiment, an (LSND) experiment at Los Ala- ing proton–and the much more However, a new anomaly pre- international collaboration involv- mos National Laboratory threw common event in which a muon sented itself. There were some elec- ing 77 physicists from 17 different an unexpected wrinkle into the neutrino strikes a proton to make tron neutrino events detected at low institutions in the US and the United mix: the possibility of a fourth a muon and a proton. LSND saw neutrino energies, and this tiny sub- Kingdom. Its much-anticipated find- “sterile” neutrino that would only a small but statistically significant set of data remains a mystery. More ings indicate that only three low- interact through gravity. The level (the team argued) number of elec- experiments are planned to explore mass neutrino species exist: electron, of observed oscillations suggested tron neutrino events. this anomaly, this time using a beam Image courtesy of Fermilab muon and tau neutrinos. This in turn very different values for neutrino According to Heather Ray of anti-neutrinos. seems to rule out two-way neutrino masses than those inferred from Photodetector array of Los Alamos, when analyz- Project spokesperson Janet oscillations involving a hypothetical prior studies of solar neutrinos and the scientists expected very few os- ing MiniBooNE’s data, they took a Conrad (Columbia University) fourth species of low-mass neutrino. other accelerator-based experiments. cillations to occur. “blind box” approach, meaning that said that the MiniBooNE data are Several experiments had previ- MiniBooNE was conceived to test The LSND and Fermilab detec- as they were collecting the neutrino robust and that, while some new ously shown that neutrinos regularly the results of the LSND experiment. tor both looked for electron neutri- data, they didn’t even look at any of physical effect cannot be ruled out, transform from one species to an- For the experiment, protons nos. Fermilab tried to approximate the data in the region of interest: the the low energy data do not undo other. Oscillating neutrinos are com- from Fermilab’s booster accelerator the same ratio of source-detector region where they would expect to the new assertion that the earlier prised of three different waves that smashed into a fixed target, creat- distance to neutrino energy, thereby see the same signature of oscillations LSND results cannot be explained combine in different ways as they ing a swarm of mesons, which very setting the amount of likely oscilla- as LSND. They didn’t “unblind” the by the existence of a fourth neu- travel through space. Small physical quickly decayed into secondary par- tion. LSND used 30 MeV neutrinos data and open the box until three trino type.  • June 2007 APS NEWS

My Heart Belongs to Gravity New Fermilab Data Favor Light Higgs

Experiments at Fermilab have single top quarks via a weak-force said. This value, slightly lower than placed new constraints on the mass process. Top quarks are usually previous limits, puts the Higgs po- of the Higgs particle that suggest produced in top-antitop pairs by a tentially within reach of the Teva- that it might be within reach of the strong force process. The DZero tron. The Higgs boson is the only Tevatron. Tevatron scientists have collaboration at Fermilab identified particle predicted by the standard also detected rare processes and about 60 single top events out of bil- model that has not yet been detect- tightened constraints on some ex- lions of collisions. ed. otic particles. These are among the The rate of single top production Ulrich Heintz of Boston Univer- many results from the Tevatron pre- places constraints on the parameter sented at the April Meeting. V_tb, which is related to the prob- sity described Tevatron searches for The Tevatron smashes together ability of a top quark decaying into a some exotic particles and new phys- protons and antiprotons with com- bottom quark. The Tevatron single- ics beyond the standard model. No bined energies near 1.96 TeV. Kevin top data limit V_tb to lie between such particles have been observed, Lannon of Ohio State University about .68 and 1. This provides strong but the Tevatron research has put said in a press conference that the evidence that only the six known some limits on several possibilities. Tevatron is now generating data at types of quarks exist, said Lannon. They have excluded squarks and its highest rate ever. The key to suc- Continued data analysis will con- gluinos below about 300 to 400 GeV, cess is sophisticated data analysis, strain V_tb further. “This is not the and placed limits on neutralinos and he said. end of the story for single tops. It’s non-standard Higgs particles, said Among the recent results Lannon just the beginning,” said Lannon. Heintz. Tevatron searches have also described is a new measurement of Another April Meeting speaker, placed mass limits on other exotic the top quark mass. The Tevatron Gerald Blazey of Northern Illinois particles, including leptoquarks, ex- scientists report a top quark mass University, said that the latest mea- of 170.9 GeV, with 1% uncertainty. surement of the W mass and the top cited gravitons, massive non-stan- This measurement gives indirect in- mass favor a light Higgs. The new dard W and Z bosons, and excited Photo by Ed Lee formation on the mass of the Higgs W mass (80.4 GeV), along with the electrons, said Heintz. However, If Todo Todorsky ever falls off a tall building, he has only to glance at particle, said Lannon. new top quark mass, constrains the new physics might be soon found at his left shoulder to remind himself of the gravity of the situation. As a high-school physics teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, Todorsky finds the Lannon also discussed evidence Higgs mass to be less than 144 GeV, energy scales of around a few TeV, tattoo a perfect vehicle for show and tell. He was photographed dur- for the extremely rare production of with 95 percent confidence, Blazey he suggested. ing the Teachers’ Day that took place during the APS April Meeting in Jacksonville. NSF continued from page 1 PROBE continued from page 1 ject to research funding being harder for this woman to apply for Education Programs for the cen- entific data.” Einstein predicted compare that data with Einstein’s coupled to education or outreach a research grant, NSF was actually ter. These programs include work- that geodetic warping around Earth predictions. But the instrumentation efforts. Mildred Dresselhaus of being counterproductive. shops for high school teachers that would cause the spin axes of each and associated technologies didn’t MIT says she has heard from Some scientists may be con- include lab tours, talks by scien- gyroscope to shift by 6.606 arc-sec- exist at the time. many scientists who are unhappy fused because the guidelines don’t tists about their current research, onds per year, or 0.0018 degrees. It has taken several decades for with the broader impacts require- specify what activities a researcher and hands-on activities that relate But frame-dragging is a much ti- science to advance sufficiently to ments, and who feel they should has to do or how much effort is ex- to the high school curriculum. The nier effect; the prediction is that the make GP-B feasible. For instance, be funded based on the quality of pected. Furthermore, the criterion center also has developed nano- twisting of Earth’s local spacetime they needed wobble-free gyroscopes; their research, not for outreach. may not be applied consistently by science classes for undergraduates would cause the spin axis to shift one way to measure the geodetic ef- Many physicists feel they don’t different reviewers, said Orel. and mentoring and career advice by 0.039 arc-seconds per year, or fect is through the perturbative influ- have the expertise to do outreach Greg Miller of UC Davis, who programs for graduate students. 0.000011 degrees. It is much harder ence of massive bodies on nearby activities, she adds. She thinks applied for NSF funding recently, Plisch says that most scientists at to measure accurately–particularly gyroscopes. This was achieved by education and outreach should be also said that the criterion is too the center are supportive of the since the “signal” indicating relativ- creating the world’s smoothest, encouraged, but shouldn’t be a re- vague. “I think it’s too open- end- education efforts. Those scientists istic effects of gravity around Earth most perfect spheres, only surpassed quirement for research funding. ed. I don’t know how to craft a who want to participate can do so, must be extracted from a bunch of in their perfect roundness by very Some scientists, especially good answer,” he said. He felt the and they are happy to work within background noise. This is where dense neutron stars. those applying for their first criterion was encouraging scien- a well-run established program, the biggest delays have occurred in The four GP-B gyroscopes are grants, find the broader impacts tists to do things that would actu- says Plisch. Those few scientists terms of analyzing the data. electrostatically held in a small requirement confusing and bur- ally slow down the research, such who don’t want to participate in First, the initial in-flight verifica- case, spun up to speeds of 4000 rpm densome. Given the low success as having undergraduates work in education and outreach aren’t tion phase of the project took twice by puffs of gas. The gas is then re- rate for scientists applying for a lab. forced to do so, she said. “I want as long as expected. Then, as the moved, creating a vacuum. Covered their first grant, Dresselhaus says The requirements are delib- people who are excited about be- experiment was with niobium and that these beginning professors are erately nonspecific in order to ing part of this.” Plisch has con- running, com- reposing at a tem- overstretched trying to survive. encourage creativity, explained ducted surveys that show that the puter reboots in perature of just a They feel they have to do every- Eisenstein. Center’s education programs are response to ran- few Kelvin, the thing possible to get a grant, and Orel said that better mentoring effective. “Everyone gets some- dom radiation balls are rotating they think that they must devote might help young scientists under- thing out of it,” said Plisch. strikes meant superconductors, significant time and energy to ad- stand what’s expected. Also, Orel Large research centers have there were inter- and as such they dressing the broader impacts cri- said she has been part of a panel the resources to set up these ruptions in the develop a tiny terion. Dresselhaus describes this that reviews NSF proposals. Re- kinds of programs, but individ- data streams. Image courtesy of NASA/Stanford magnetic signa- situation as “punitive.” searchers beginning their careers ual scientists with smaller re- The GP- ture which can Broader impacts doesn’t have could learn a lot by sitting on these search grants may not be skilled B scientists also overlooked a tiny be read out to fix the sphere’s instan- to be burdensome, said Eisenstein. panels, she said. at planning and carrying out an electrostatic “patch” effect in the taneous orientation. There are a variety of things one Cooper suggests that one way effective educational activity. gyroscopes. These patches can GP-B scientists also needed very can do, and NSF does not expect to make it easier for scientists to Orel said she thinks that educa- cause the gyroscope to “wobble” a sensitive and precise sensors capable individual researchers to move fulfill the broader impacts require- tional activities are best left to bit as it spins, much like a football of measuring an effect on a par with mountains. “I think you can make ment would be to have established large organizations that have the that isn’t thrown in a perfect spiral. observing an object roughly the a good faith effort to do reason- education or outreach programs resources to do educational proj- The scientists were able to model width of a human hair from about a able things without a tremendous that individual scientists could ects. and predict that wobble. What they mile away. The distortion of space effort,” he said. join. This way, scientists would Individual scientists should be didn’t expect was that the pattern caused by Earth’s rotation around its Cooper also didn’t think the re- not have to develop their own able to focus on pure research, would subtly shift over time. They axis should only deflect the spinning quirements were onerous. He said outreach project, which might or and NSF is the only funding accounted for electrostatic patches axis of the gyroscope by the tiniest that almost every scientist should might not be effective. For exam- agency dedicated to funding pure on the rotor, said Everitt, but forgot of angles–so small that it would take be able to participate to some ex- ple, Cooper has started a program research, said Orel. about the housing. more than a million years for the gy- tent in outreach activities. called TheoryNet, which brings Others, including Eisenstein, Those same electrostatic patches roscope to turn in a full circle. The But some researchers do have theoretical physicists to talk with argue that broader impacts activ- also caused small torques in the gy- invention and subsequent develop- trouble with the criterion. Ann high school classes. Scientists ities are something most scien- roscopes’ spin axes, and the resulting ment of Superconducting-Quantum Orel of UC Davis gave an example could participate in such programs tists can and should do, and that slight changes in orientation could be Interference-Device-(SQUID)- of a woman she knew who was ap- to do their broader impacts. it’s appropriate that an education mistaken for the relativity “signal” based sensors made it possible to plying for her first NSF grant. This NSF grants that support large or outreach effort be related to that GP-B is designed to measure. measure those tiny magnetic varia- woman, said Orel, was contribut- research centers often provide for the research project. Gravity Probe B was first con- tions. ing to diversity simply by being a extensive outreach projects. For Cooper says that being a re- ceived in 1959 by two scientists Other necessary advancements woman in physics, but the broader instance, the Center for Nanoscale sponsible citizen is part of the named George Pugh and Leonard included the Global Positioning impacts criterion had her so con- Systems at Cornell University, duty of being a scientist. “If sci- Schiff to precisely measure the dis- System and a suspension system fused and distressed because she which is supported by NSF, de- entists don’t do outreach, there placement angles of the spin axes of capable of keeping the gyroscopes’ didn’t know what she had to do. votes about 10% of its budget to won’t be a next generation,” he four different gyroscopes in space spinning rotors from making contact “She’s already doing outreach by broader impacts activities, accord- said. “This country is going to over the course of a year and then with the walls. existing,” said Orel. By making it ing to Monica Plisch, Director of have a real crisis.” APS NEWS June 2007 • 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The following two amendments are to be voted on by APS Now Appearing in RMP: members in the upcoming Society election. In each case, we Last Call for Nominations Recently Posted Reviews present the language as it now exists, the motion that has es- and Colloquia tablished current practice, and the proposed amendment that is You will find the following in the intended to update the Constitution to reflect current practice. Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach online edition of Reviews of Modern Physics at Deadline: July 1, 2007 http://rmp.aps.org CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT I Dissipation‑induced instabilities Regarding Appointees to Unit Nominating Committees Details at www.aps.org/programs/honors/awards/nicholson.cfm in finite dimensions The APS Committee on the Constitution and Bylaws has discussed and R. Krechetnikov and J. E. recommended the following amendment to update the Constitution to re- • • • • • • • • • • • Marsden flect current practice. This amendment relates to a task assigned by the Dissipation is usually thought of Constitution to the Council that was delegated to the Executive Officer in LeRoy Apker Award as a stabilizing effect. However, there 1995 by voice resolution. are circumstances in which exactly the for Undergraduate Research opposite happens: dissipation leads to AMENDMENT I: Council Appointees to Unit Nominating Deadline: June 20, 2007 destabilization. This article analyzes Committees how andwhen this happens, bringing together various disparate threads in The current Constitution contains language requiring the Council to ap- Details at www.aps.org/programs/honors/awards/apker.cfm point one member to the nominating committee for each APS unit: theliterature. It presents many illus- trative examples and identifies open ARTICLE VIII-Divisions, Topical Groups, and Forums problems requiring further study. 3. Nominating Committee. The Division, Topical Group, or Forum Nominating Committee shall include one member of the Division, Topical Group, or Forum appointed by the Council. EQUITY continued from page 1 ARTICLE IX - Sections Workshop attendees participated off for family reasons, Drago point- career and a family. “We’re adver- 2 .Nominating Committee. The Section Nominating Committee shall include one member of the Division, Topical Group, or Forum in an interactive theater performance ed out. tising jobs that are, frankly, anti- appointed by the Council. by the University of Michigan Cen- To address this problem, better quated,” she said. We shouldn’t be q q q q q q q q ter for Research on Learning and family leave policies are needed, encouraging people to trade family Teaching (CRLT) players. The and they must apply to men as well and children for careers in science The following resolution was made and passed in 1995 to delegate this sketch, “faculty meeting” showed as women, speakers said. Women and technology, she said. task to the Executive Officer and is still currently being practiced. some of the subtle biases and often will be more willing to take advan- From a federal perspective, a April, 23 1995 unnoticed behaviors that make it tage of family leave benefits if they science and technology workforce Motion: That the Council delegates to the Executive Officer the difficult for women to succeed. see men also taking time off for is essential to the economy, Dehmer responsibility to appoint a member of the Nominating Committee of each of the APS Units After listening to presenta- family. said. The S&T workforce must rep- Action: Passed unanimously tions and participating in break-out Workshop participants also dis- resent the whole population, not q q q q q q q q groups, workshop participants came cussed ways to recruit, hire, and alienate large portions of the popu- up with recommendations for in- retain more women faculty. These lation, she said. PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: creasing the number of women in included broadening the search, Judith Sunley, Executive Officer ARTICLE VIII - Divisions, Topical Groups, and Forums physics. Department chairs were making sure the search committee of NSF’s Directorate for Mathemat- 3. Nominating Committee. The Division, Topical Group, or Forum asked to take at least two recom- isn’t overlooking good women or ical and Physical Science, also said Nominating Committee shall include one member of the Division, Topical mendations back to their depart- minority candidates, and encourag- that the funding agencies can play Group, or Forum appointed by the Executive Officer. ments and implement them. A web- ing women to apply. an important role. She pointed out ARTICLE IX - Sections site will be set up for them to report Particular attention needs to be that there have been successful pro- 2. Nominating Committee. The Section Nominating Committee shall their progress. paid to the dual career couple prob- grams such as NSF’s ADVANCE, include one member appointed by the Executive Officer. Throughout the meeting, speak- lem, said several speakers. Female which provides grants for programs A complete copy of the APS Constitution can be found on the “About ers and participants addressed the scientists are likely to be married to to increase the participation of APS” section of the APS website at: www.aps.org/about/governance/con- causes for the low numbers of wom- male scientists, and both members women in academic science and en- stitution.cfm en in physics and made recommen- of the couple need to be able to find gineering careers. dations for improving the situation. suitable employment. To attract fe- Several workshop participants Many of the recommendations were male faculty members, universities expressed the concern that the dif- aimed at creating a more welcom- need to have a plan to for handling ficulty of applying for funding is de- ing climate for all physics students these situations. Often these arrange- terring young people from scientific CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT II and young professors, including ments benefit the university and the careers, as they see young assistant Regarding Approval of Unit Meeting Time and Place women. couple, so the dual career problem professors having to spend a lot of Virginia Valian of Hunter Col- can be turned into a “dual career their time applying for funding. The APS Committee on the Constitution and Bylaws has discussed and lege attributed the slow progress of opportunity,” said Sherry Yennello Working in break-out groups, recommended the following amendment to update the Constitution to re- women to the many subtle biases of Texas A&M University. Many participants made several recom- flect current practice. This amendment relates to a task assigned by the against them. We all hold mental universities are already developing mendations for funding agencies. Constitution to the Executive Board that was delegated to the Executive schemas (essentially stereotypes) of policies for hiring couples. These recommendations included Officer in 1999 by voice resolution. men as capable, independent, and Physics departments also need finding ways to fund child care so AMENDMENT II: Executive Board approval for time and decisive, while we view women as to increase the number of female scientists with children can travel to place of unit meetings The current Constitution contains language re- caring, nurturing, and emotional. undergraduate physics majors. Bar- conferences, finding ways to reduce quiring the Executive Board to approve the time and place of APS unit We also hold schemas about the bara Whitten of Colorado College the pressure on assistant professors meetings: qualities of a good scientist, she said that the undergraduate level is applying for funding, encouraging ARTICLE VIII-Divisions, Topical Groups, and Forums said. These schemas influence the where the biggest leak in the pipe- young professors to meet program 3. Meetings. The times and places of the Meetings of a Division, way people evaluate male and fe- line comes in, and the undergradu- officers, and encouraging the use of Topical Group, or Forum require approval of the Executive Board. male job candidates, Valian said. ate level is usually the last chance no-cost extensions to grants or other ARTICLE IX - Sections She cited several recent studies to recruit new students to physics. existing policies to allow scientists 2. Meetings. The times and places of Section Meetings require showing this to be the case. Whitten suggested that to recruit to take time off for family reasons. approval of the Executive Board. There is no silver bullet to fixing more majors, including more wom- APS Executive Officer Judy q q q q q q q q these problems, she said. Gender en, departments should focus on Franz mentioned several success- This task was delegated to the Executive Officer by a voice vote of the schemas are ubiquitous, persistent, introductory courses and create an ful programs of the APS Committee Executive Board. and resist change, so we have to be attractive curriculum that includes on the Status of Women in Physics, May 20, 1999: constantly working to counter them, contemporary topics. Departments such as site visits to departments Motion: To delegate to the Executive Officer the ability to ap- she said. can also be friendlier towards un- to help them assess and improve prove the time and place of unit meetings and report back to the Several speakers focused on the dergraduates by creating student the climate for women, lists of best Executive board what has been done. biases against care-giving that tends lounges, encouraging cooperative practices, and professional skills de- Action: Passed unanimously to harm women’s careers. Mary Ann group work, hosting social events, velopment workshops for women. q q q q q q q q Mason of the University of Califor- and making departmental seminars Franz asked the department chairs PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: nia, Berkeley and Robert Drago accessible to undergraduates, she to go back to their departments and ARTICLE VIII-Divisions, Topical Groups, and Forums of Penn State University both pre- said. speak up about these issues that af- 4. Meetings. The times and places of the Meetings of a Division, Topi- sented evidence showing that bias Funding agencies are also con- fect women. “If you can create an cal Group, or Forum require approval of the Executive Officer. against care-giving in the academic cerned about the low numbers of atmosphere where everyone is val- workplace slows women’s career women in physics. Patricia Dehmer, ued and treated with dignity, you ARTICLE IX - Sections 3. Meetings. The times and places of Section Meetings require the ap- progress. Furthermore, more wom- Associate Director of Science for will have a female-friendly depart- proval of the Executive Officer. en than men report having missed Basic Energy Sciences and acting ment,” she said. important events in their children’s Deputy for Programs in the DOE In concluding remarks, Bienen- A complete copy of the APS Constitution can be found on the “About lives or limited the number of chil- Office of Science, said that the ca- stock said we’ve seen enormous APS” section of the APS website at: www.aps.org/about/governance/con- stitution.cfm . dren they have in order to achieve reer path of an academic scientist is change in the situation of women in success in their careers. Women unattractive to today’s workforce, in physics over the past 50 years. He often fear they won’t be taken seri- which both men and women work, urged participants to continue work- ously as scientists if they take time and people want to have both a ing towards more improvement.  • June 2007 APS NEWS The Back Page here is that odd sinking feeling when you realize ton for 16 years, I thought the JASON report would end Tyou’ve let an investigative journalist into your life. the program. I didn’t even bother to collect any of the “I You can say what you want to her, but whatever anybody Believe in Isomers” campaign buttons some of the Sandia else says about you is out of your control. Sharon Wein- The Strange Tale of the Hafnium National Labs people were handing out, because I didn’t berger entered my life almost by accident. While I was believe. working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bomb: A Personal Narrative In 2001, with a new president and secretary of defense, I attended a talk by Steve Younger, then the director of less interested in taking scientific advice if it conflicted the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, on the future of By Peter D. Zimmerman with a desired outcome, DARPA stepped in with two large US nuclear weapons. And I asked Steve what he thought programs, SIER, or Stimulated Isomer Energy Release, about the DARPA “hafnium bomb” project. and HIPP, the Hafnium Isomer Production Panel. Heading with Enrico Fermi in 1939. Fermi had turned to the Navy to He brushed past the question, but Sharon came up to me the effort was an early believer in isomers, C. Martin Stickley, fund research in making explosives using the newly discovered afterwards to ask “what’s a hafnium bomb?” As she tells the along with Ehsan Khan of Energy, who always seemed to pop story in her book Imaginary Weapons, I was fairly mischievous process of uranium fission. Hooper is remembered for dismiss- up whenever any strange forms of New Energy were reported. and just said “call me.” The next day we had coffee in one of the ing Fermi, allegedly with a racist slur. Fortunately, they had recruited William Herrmannsfeldt of Senate’s many coffee shops, and I began the story. *** SLAC to the HIPP. Bill sought to do from the inside of the iso- More than eight years on it’s a little hard to remember just I had no ambition to become the Stanford Hooper of haf- meric world what I had tried to do from the outside: Find out if exactly how the peculiar properties of the hafnium-178m2 nium. it made sense, and if it did not, kill it. isomeric state, and plans to exploit it, came to my attention. I I wanted to know that if I opposed funding for hafnium, my Sharon tells the story of Bill’s efforts, and the help I tried to seem to remember a discussion in the fall of 1998 in my office instinct that it was a quantitative impossibility was correct. To give him, in her book. At about this time in the story, she walked at the Institute for Defense Analyses with people from Sandia get the best possible physics analysis I turned to the JASON into my life. Because I wanted to stop the waste of money, and National Laboratories. But perhaps not. In any event, the 25 consulting group, a self-perpetuating “club” of some of the top also the assault on arms control treaties, I agreed to talk. Why January, 1999 issue of Physical Review Letters was what really US scientists who work largely for the Department of Defense not? I wasn’t talking about anything that was classified. A rather triggered things. (Pun intended.) In that article, University of on very tough, and very important scientific questions. The misguided State Department had been snookered into putting Texas at Dallas (UTD) physicist Carl Collins reported that he State Department research budget had neither the size nor the isomer weapons on the arms export control list (arguing that had stimulated decays of the isomer via bombardment with X- elasticity of the DOD budget, but we were able to provide a while they were presently impossible, it had taken less than rays from a second-hand dental X-ray machine. token payment, and JASON agreed to do the work. seven years to go from the discovery of nuclear fission to Hiro- Bohdan Balko (also at IDA) and I considered whether shima, so just as with pigeon research, we must stay ahead we should write a “comment” in rebuttal, pointing out the of Other Powers), but I knew that wouldn’t pass the giggle obvious failings in the Collins paper’s theory and data anal- test. ysis. We decided against the idea, and I mostly forgot about When you tell a reporter a story, you become a “source.” hafnium. In any event, I had not been able to discern any But reporters need several sources, and so I knew that Sha- actual decay rate enhancement in Collins’s report. There ron would find others. She would certainly talk to people were almost as many lines “suppressed” by the X-ray beam like Stickley and the Sandia group who probably weren’t as “enhanced.” The difference spectrum looked mostly like happy with what I had done. They would be “sources” too, noise. and only Sharon Weinberger would get to sort out what she I was in my last few weeks of waiting for White House thought was the truth, writing only what she chose. Hence security clearance to start a new job as chief scientific advi- the sinking feeling. sor of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) Hafnium became the subject of the cover article of a when I received an offer to be briefed by an official of the Washington Post Sunday Magazine few months later, com- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on hafnium research. plete with a cover photo of Collins, and a screen shot of Because I had not yet started my new job, protocol declared the isomer hand grenade. That got the House and Senate that the briefing be on DIA’s turf, and not ACDA’s, and so I appropriators in the game, and within months the law for- crossed the Potomac. bade DOD to spend its money on isomers. I thought we What I heard was extraordinary: DARPA had gone to had killed the hafnium bomb with laughter. Victory for the work on isomers in a big way, despite the fact that there was good guys? Well, not exactly. DOE supported the work a six or seven order of magnitude gap between real nuclear A slide used to promote the Hafnium bomb with Stickley apparently getting funds that way. A TRig- theory and the claimed experimental results. The Russians had gered Isomer Proof experiment, TRIP, was scheduled and shown “interest” in isomers, and, most serious of all, they were Washington bureaucracy works in strange ways. I was im- apparently was conducted at the synchrotron light source at likely to be far ahead of the US. There was, you see, a mysteri- mediately asked what stake the arms control groups at State had Brookhaven although all reviewers recommended against the ous “enigma site” in Russia, the purpose of which we did not in a fight over whether or not DARPA was to be allowed to experiment. Many of the critics were invited to critique the ex- know, but intelligence indicated it was both big and expensive. waste $40 million on what my instincts said was very bad sci- perimental plans on the condition that if Pat McDaniel’s TRIP And if the Russians were spending hidden research funds, and ence. But we did have a reason to get involved: the proponents showed triggering and our suggestions were followed, we would were interested in isomers, then the enigma site was probably of isomer weapons suggested that–although the energy release agree that triggering was real; my contribution was to suggest their isomer R&D facility. derived from excited states of nuclei–because the mechanism some target-out/target-in procedures and taking data from ordi- (In retrospect, that part of the briefing was of a piece with did not involve either fission or fusion, an isomer bomb would nary hafnium, all under the usual computer controls so that the some more recently declassified British military intelligence not be a nuclear weapon. That would mean it could be tested experimenters were effectively blindfolded and couldn’t tune papers. Commenting on the sad state of UK research on carrier even under the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, their instruments to maximize any signal from the isomer. All pigeons after World War II, the War Office Intelligence Sec- and could even be tested in the atmosphere, despite the 1963 my suggestions were rejected. tion warned “Pigeon research will not stand still. If we do not Limited Test Ban Treaty. Did “TRIP” become “Stumble-Fall?” Did McDaniel ever experiment, other powers will. ” Our lawyers, of course, said that was nonsense. But it ap- show that isomer triggering occurred? I have no idea, because Among the more interesting weaponizations of pigeons was peared that the only way State could enter the fray was to alert the results have never been published. Perhaps they have been a plan to have kamikaze anti-anti-aircraft pigeons carry explo- the rest of the government that the 178m2Hf isomer could not be trapped in the government’s highest level of classification: sives. These birds would crash into searchlights, destroying used in any kind of weapon because the physics prevented it. I TS/E, Top Secret/Embarrassing. Surely they showed no pros- them to protect bombers overhead.) was allowed to contract with JASON, and asked some pointed pects for a weapon, because even Carl Collins conceded that The Pentagon had seemingly estimated that a five pound questions which included: he needed 11 keV photons to trigger the isomer, and that only hand grenade powered by a hafnium explosive could deliver • What is the proposed physical mechanism by which Col- one photon in 600 would interact leaving a net energy deficit of a two kiloton kick. Neither the briefer, Fred Ambrose, nor his lins claims the decay rate is enhanced? several MeV per trigger. colleague, Dr. Eliot Lehman, could explain just how the laws of • Is this mechanism in accord with the known principles of But this is Washington. Last summer Ehsan Khan circulated physics were to be violated quite so grossly. nuclear and atomic physics? a strange letter to the remains of the HIPP warning them not to Other things they didn’t explain included how a soldier was • Have Collins and his co-workers actually demonstrated an talk to Sharon and to inform him if she contacted them. Khan supposed to hold a hafnium grenade, given that it would be enhanced decay rate of 178Hf? wrote “[T]his is really important.” And he added that TRIP had fiercely radioactive, at least thousands of curies, or how any- • Is it likely that 178Hf isomeric nuclei can be produced in been so successful that an Independent Evaluation Board had body was supposed to be able to throw a five pound ball far useful quantities within the next 20 years? By what mecha- recommended further “exploratory research,” which he defined enough to survive a two kiloton blast. Later others were to scale nism? as “high risk/high payoff” with only the “most seasoned and that back to two tons, but I still don’t know how the grenadier • Is it likely that mechanisms to cause the near-simultaneous outstanding individuals” selected by DOE/DOD allowed to be was going to come out alive, even if his throwing arm weren’t de-excitation of large numbers of 178Hf isomers will become engaged. No such category as “exploratory research” appears roasted. practical in the next 20 years? in DOD’s budget documents. We’ll never know about TRIP if Only a month after I started at ACDA it was folded The answer to all of my questions was “no.” Collins’s exper- they don’t publish, and if the research has been classified TS/E into the State Department. Ambassador Avis T. Bohlen iment was unequivocally dismissed. The question of an explo- there will never be a paper. became assistant secretary of state for arms control, and sive was pretty thoroughly undermined by pointing out that the So it almost worked out. I let an investigative reporter have I became her science adviser. I also had the job of run- enormous background of photons from the normal decay of the a crack at me, and wound up being featured in a news maga- ning the research budget for the three State Department isomer was great enough to ensure a preinitiation fizzle and so zine and a book. However much money is wasted on “hafnium bureaus which housed most of the people from ACDA. the inevitable maximum yield would approach zero, but would bombs,” former presidential science adviser Jack Gibbons, *** scatter thousands of curies of isomer. And there was no known whom I admire greatly, called me a hero in his review of Imagi- Stanford Hooper may be the most important two-star admi- mechanism for producing an exponentiating reaction except the nary Weapons in Physics Today. That’s good enough. ral you’ve never heard of. He is the father of electronics in the vague hope that one of the photons released in the stimulated Peter D. Zimmerman is Chair of Science and Security and US Navy. He won the Navy Cross in the First World War as decay of the isomer would be exactly the right energy to stimu- Director of the Centre for Science & Security Studies at King’s well, and in the late 1930s headed the U.S. Navy’s Technical late another decay. One of the pro-isomer scientists suggested College London. He was the last chief scientist of the US Arms that he could mix the hafnium with another (unknown) element Division. Control and Disarmament Agency, science adviser for arms which would provide the necessary photons. But if Hooper’s name rings any bells at all with modern control in the State Department, and chief scientist of the Sen- Rather naively for somebody who had worked in Washing- physicists, it is because of a brief and largely fruitless meeting ate Foreign Relations Committee. APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected]