Volume I - Science

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Volume I - Science THE COLLECTED ORKS OF LEO SZILARD VOLUME I - SCIENCE Edited by Bernard T. Feld and Gertrud Weiss Szilar d with the assistance of Kathleen R. Winsor -I \t ( I ( {/ r Introductory Essays by Carl F . :Jrokart Bernard T. Feld Maurice Ooldhaber Aaron Noviok. Julius Ta.bin M. I . T. Press, Cambridge ,Mass. t I I II{ n ( 0 .!.;t-- Ct((cl L (r- u [ ( ~ A [1· {r I "1 (1 - ' ch ~Y. ,, • l It I I { . ( J L L· I u( I Jacques Honod Professor, College de France Director of Pasteur Institute Paris, France Carl H. Eckart Professor of Geophysics University of California, San Diego Bernard T. Feld Professor of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Boston, Hassachusetts Haurice Goldhaber Director, Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, Long Island, New York Aaron Novick Professor of Biology Institute of Molecular Biology University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Julius Tabin Patent Attorney Chicago, Illinois Gertrud Weiss Szilard, M. D. School of Medicine University of California, San Diego Kathleen R. Winsor Librarian University of California, San Diego TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 I ( l C { ForewoJl to Collected Works ( f') Preface ( --Oart_rud_ Weiss Szilard) rriculum Vitae by Leo Szilard (From Grant Application) ~ ~ )) '> tA.t..c( SECTION I. PU:BLISHED PAPERS IN PHYSICS tq• (..~ 1939 Bibliography A. Thermodynamics ,\ Introdu. ctory :&:~say by Carl H. Eokart ~ _ f-lr I/ c 1 -• B. Expel'imenta.l work with x-rays ~ ) :, , 0 ( c. Nuclear Physi s Introductory Es y by Maurice Goldhaber ~ f·- ;-:. J SECTION II. UNPUBLISHED PAPERS AND REPORTS IN PHYSICS, ETALLURGY AND ENGINEERING, \, (- Declassified documents from Manhatta.nProject) ( 1940- 1945J Bibliography I. Intro,ducyory EetJay b1 Bernard T. Feld I .I -'} - (, J J SJCTION III. PUBLISHED PAPERS IN BIOLOGY 1949 - 1964 Bibliography SECTION IV. PATJ!NTS, PATENT APPLICATIONS Al1D DISCLOSURES 192~- 1959 Bibliography Introductory Essay by Julius Tabin List of Illustrations Photographs Reproductions from Note Books Index MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY LABO RATO RY FOR N UCL EAR SCIEN CE CAMBRIDGE. M ASSACHUSETTS 02 1 3 9 Room 26-425 16 July 1969 Dr. Gertrud Szilard 2380 Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, California Dear Trude: We're in business! The Collected Scientific Works are scheduled to appear late this winter, certainly in time to be launched (in some ceremonial way) by the Press at the Washington meeting of the APS and National Academy in April. We still need to take care of the items circled in the Table (enclosed), by September if possible. What did you have in mind for the illustrations? Can you send me or Curly a few of your favorite photos of Leo, to be used in the book and on the jacket? A few typical (or atypical) notebook pages would be welcome. Can you have some photos made and send them along? Now to get at the next volume. Love, ~ B. T . Feld ;;. t j /~ '~. ----- 0 .})uo-{L ' t 7 I ·-·' Bibliography ~ 'A~ . Thenllo·dynamicsL '- U Intra due tory Essay ·by 9:0J.rl H~ :EJ.)kar·c . /.......n- Thq)orimen·Lal .tor~ v:i th X-rays ~~ Nucl -~.:n· Physic s ri Intro duo·~cn·y Esnay by ?lauricc Gol dhaber . I . UNPUBLISHED .PAPBRS AHD Rl:."POTI'l'S IJJ PIITSICS 9 1- H~'ThLLURGY; AlfD E!\TGI~ EJ3RDTG ( D-:>c lass:i.fi ed do cum en t8 :f:com Hunhutto.np1·o Ject) 19 40 - 1945 . I 1.. ..... · , ' ~/ \i\- -InI t:coductorv..., ~"lc~y by Bern2.rd T. Feld "'' P, ( '-'f'.L-•;~..<1..~.-j!.J . ____,__ l ~ / m. PU:BLISRJ!iJ) P APl~RS nr BIOLOGY . 1949 - 1964 Bibliography \.::= -. ~dtteto-ry--Essa.yoy J a:c-q , c;;·:;- }:- c;mod - Introductory Essay by Ae.rvn Hovick --~ ftv. 1925 - 1959 Bi bliogra:phy · Introductor-y Essay _by Juli'l1s Tabin ~ - - -= IlJ.us'C:ra ti91·s Pho togre.p hs ·--:J Re'e-~-ro-ouct-ion.s_ fro m Note Books -- l .,_....l~ c: ~r;- -- ~ - Index -- ' Contents Part I Biographical N~tes ~... .._ ,rr ·h J, t 1 , u (tl, • • f "' f. :_..._ c/ _ - : [ 1.. ·,I • ' -}' . "curriculum Vitae~~- Leo Szilard :: r:.u L (_~ /··c: (j ~ l •,,,.) " . Part II ·Published Papers in Physics.) 192:5- lq:; q ·Bibliography +19'2-5'-1-9-39) ·rh e rmo dynamics B:9"Z-5--:1.9-2"9) H· Notes· on Szilard's Thermodynamic Papers, by Carl1\ Eckart · Experimenta l Work with X Rays in C'\rystals f.l-9-2-5-3:9-26 )· Nuclear Physics ~4-193 ~ ) -Leo - :Zi- l.:lr~ Nucl.ear Phy5:ics Papers, by Haurice Coldhaber ' Part III Papers and Reports in Physics, Het\,alurgy, and En8ineering Fi .tiC' --ICJ 4'-5- ..J Bibliography ~4~r~ :x.J.- '·'/ --' -D.octnnents Relating to the Hanhat tan Project, by Bernard T. Feld '1-':. t) Appendix: Reproductions from Notebooks Published Papers in Biology 1949 - /7t:.- ~ Part IV / ~ ~~ -/~ . Bibliography ~)·~ Novick -- - -· I / · Introductory Essay, by Aaron ,.-: -­:J I Appendix: Public Health Institute Proposal and Disclosures . 11'2 5- IC/-:>-7 Part V .Patents, Patent Applications, ./ . Bibliography (1923 1959) •., - V.._/ / · /·-- Introductory Essay, by Julius Tahin ~ -y, - ...., .... / · Index /2 I ( ol I. arun· Vol. ~5:! oremher 8 1974 dures h.td been 11 riuen ~1nd pr.h.: U<,,·d '\.. \,;i1 ' n The language of space in the four joint .ra1ning '..:";on\. l \1 ,1 tht f ~ II f t. l I • -.i 11 ..\ 4 ~..d i from A 1/g,•la Croomc LmergenC) rroCLdur..:s had ~et to he nne ~ \ ''" ttr d n "'· · p,.~L r- ... d .... i n~ Lt.-Coloncl Alc;-..eit Leonov, com­ worked out and there 11a\ further l~<~l cl ·n j'.t , ._ ., 1,, I cr, >~a • .t g ~~...tt manckr de\ignate of the So) UL crew pol is hing of the l.tnguagL to he c.lcllle: SC,J rLI \ ( ,Jd L J, tL ~')\ i, t d.tt,l. I! l\V ILl )"l lc Lr •• J . ..:,llcd for next summer's Apollo-SO)UL link­ thi~ had pro1ed much more of a rr,lb­ had th..: . , 1 •: r.llliP s ,, it I lll< h lilll s;~..l..nc.,s? up (the A">IP) announced a nice com­ lem than origin.tll) cn1 i'.tged (thnu ~·h early prol1l :n ~~ k promise on the question of ~pace iu lging from L..:onO\ ·s comp.:tent per­ Sl..yla :1 astron.lllt . groggy anJ commun1.:ations during the JOint pre­ formance, his English wa~ no longer a during their lir t v.ce · in the orbital sentation on A~rl' progress at the headache). Still to be fully sorted out ''ork~hor . wnuld dearly like to l..n 011 . Amsterdam International A ~ tronau­ v. as the ticklish question of the inter­ tical Congress. Last year it was not relation of the two control centre . Meda 1 gy known ''hat the language of pace There ~ceme d no clea r indication that would he. said Leonov; it had now an America n team of controllers \\ ..: arL .1gog to see 1\hct 1er our hint been decided that on the mi ion the would be sitting in at Baikonur next ( afltre. 2.t6. '13: 19731 tn.tt the l<.uyal Ru-. i:.tth \\oultl pe,tk L.:.ngli h a11tl the July. Sl ,ic:. \ p n .1c~ ·or he di~tributto of American Rm ian . In an emcrgcn y Both the Ruso,ians and t:tc Ameri­ meJ.tl, w;,~ ju~l " lr;fle !llwarJ-J,,ul..ing each team would re vert to its o~n cans assured que tioners that there 11as h;,, f.tllcn un fat!le grol<nd. It' m..:da l - language. It had not however been nothing to choose hctwccn the two time again n;:xt 1 cek and ~evcral fixed who would take overa ll command sides in terms of input to the engineer­ Fellows have toiJ L:\ th.:-~ 11 ill try and in a crisi . ing and other dcsign and operational persuaJc C uncil tu lool.. f nher afield The 'book' of operational proce- concepts. oncthclcss behind the this year. Radioactivity salted away and published'. from l.trgc , ,l ll1J1 lc'? 1\nJ, e1cn if Lhi~ " .'\ y.:ar ago la\t Do: cL·mb..:r 1 11 a' J anal)~i~ i, at 1·ari.tnc..: 1\llh the real StR- Rde rring to the artie!..: "Fruit~ Mo'<.:ow to attend the \i\th l'ug­ objcct of the cxer..:ise, ,,·nn't the un­ of a Fau ·tian bargain" (Nature, 251, in wa"h conference. And while I was succc,,ful arrlicanh sioux? 274: 1974) it appears that the nitcd there I was invited to talk to a writers' Yours faithful!~ . States propose te t in 1980 for the club about molecular biology, about t:' '\. S:-.IITH storing of radioactive waste so as to my work. One of thc~c writers said, Deparrment of Boran y, stop dumping it- as do the UK. USSR ' ow what practical consequences does University of Adelaide, and other nations-in the ocean. The this •have?' So 1 said. 'A~ far as T can Adelaide, South Ausrralia 500 1 Gaman autho riti c~ cern to be ahead sec it has no practical utility whatever of them, as for several years now. low - but of course if you had a~kcd me ILLL reactor? and moderately radioactive waste ha~ that about nuclear physics in the StR ,-Although apposite .tnd allusi1·e been stored in a !.alt mine close to 1930s I would have told you the same a lliterations arc alway ~ amu ing and Hannover hy the Gcsclbchaft fi.ir And then the Russian ~aiel, appropriate as .tcron~ ms. lnstitut Strahlcn-und Umwcltfor\c:hung ov.ned thing.' 'Well in that case, wouldn't it be better Lauc-Langevin still atisiics many of by the Federal Gcrman Republic.
Recommended publications
  • 2005 Annual Report American Physical Society
    1 2005 Annual Report American Physical Society APS 20052 APS OFFICERS 2006 APS OFFICERS PRESIDENT: PRESIDENT: Marvin L. Cohen John J. Hopfield University of California, Berkeley Princeton University PRESIDENT ELECT: PRESIDENT ELECT: John N. Bahcall Leo P. Kadanoff Institue for Advanced Study, Princeton University of Chicago VICE PRESIDENT: VICE PRESIDENT: John J. Hopfield Arthur Bienenstock Princeton University Stanford University PAST PRESIDENT: PAST PRESIDENT: Helen R. Quinn Marvin L. Cohen Stanford University, (SLAC) University of California, Berkeley EXECUTIVE OFFICER: EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Judy R. Franz Judy R. Franz University of Alabama, Huntsville University of Alabama, Huntsville TREASURER: TREASURER: Thomas McIlrath Thomas McIlrath University of Maryland (Emeritus) University of Maryland (Emeritus) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Martin Blume Martin Blume Brookhaven National Laboratory (Emeritus) Brookhaven National Laboratory (Emeritus) PHOTO CREDITS: Cover (l-r): 1Diffraction patterns of a GaN quantum dot particle—UCLA; Spring-8/Riken, Japan; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab, SLAC & UC Davis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 085503 (2005) 2TESLA 9-cell 1.3 GHz SRF cavities from ACCEL Corp. in Germany for ILC. (Courtesy Fermilab Visual Media Service 3G0 detector studying strange quarks in the proton—Jefferson Lab 4Sections of a resistive magnet (Florida-Bitter magnet) from NHMFL at Talahassee LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT APS IN 2005 3 2005 was a very special year for the physics community and the American Physical Society. Declared the World Year of Physics by the United Nations, the year provided a unique opportunity for the international physics community to reach out to the general public while celebrating the centennial of Einstein’s “miraculous year.” The year started with an international Launching Conference in Paris, France that brought together more than 500 students from around the world to interact with leading physicists.
    [Show full text]
  • Leo Szilard in Physics and Information By
    Leo Szilard in Physics and Information by Richard L. Garwin IBM Fellow Emeritus IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 www.fas.org/RLG/ Email: [email protected] Presented in the invited APS session R17 “The Many Worlds of Leo Szilard” Savannah, Georgia April 7, 2014 at 11:21 AM _04/07/2014 Leo Szilard in Physics and Information.doc 1 Abstract: The excellent biography1 by William Lanouette, ``Genius in the Shadows,'' tells it the way it was, incredible though it may seem. The 1972 ``Collected Works of Leo Szilard: Scientific Papers,'' Bernard T. Feld and Gertrud W. Szilard, Editors, gives the source material both published and unpublished. Szilard's path-breaking but initially little-noticed 1929 paper, ``On the Decrease of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings'' spawned much subsequent research. It connected what we now call a bit of information with a quantity k ln 2 of entropy, and showed that the process of acquiring, exploiting, and resetting this information in a one-molecule engine must dissipate at least kT ln 2 of energy at temperature T. His 1925 paper, ``On the Extension of Phenomenological Thermodynamics to Fluctuation Phenomena,'' showed that fluctuations were consistent with and predicted from equilibrium thermodynamics and did not depend on atomistic theories. His work on physics and technology, demonstrated an astonishing range of interest, ingenuity, foresight, and practical sense. I illustrate this with several of his fundamental contributions to nuclear physics, to the neutron chain reaction and to nuclear reactors, and also to electromagnetic pumping of liquid metals.
    [Show full text]
  • Physics Newsletter 2019
    Harvard University Department of Physics Newsletter FALL 2019 A Microscopic Look At Quantum Materials it takes many physicists to solve quantum many-body problems CONTENTS Letter from the Chair ............................................................................................................1 Letter from the Chair ON THE COVER: An experiment-theory collaboration PHYSICS DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS at Harvard investigates possible Letters from our Readers.. ..................................................................................................2 Dear friends of Harvard Physics, While Prof. Prentiss has been in our department since 1991 (she was theories for how quantum spins (red the second female physicist to be awarded tenure at Harvard), our and blue spheres) in a periodic The sixth issue of our annual Faculty Promotion ............................................................................................................... 3 next article features a faculty member who joined our department potential landscape interact with one Physics Newsletter is here! In Memoriam ........................................................................................................................ 4 only two years ago, Professor Roxanne Guenette (pp. 22-26). another to give rise to intriguing and Please peruse it to find out about potentially useful emergent Current Progress in Mathematical Physics: the comings and goings in our On page 27, Clare Ploucha offers a brief introduction to the Harvard phenomena. This is an artist’s
    [Show full text]
  • History of Physics Newsletter Volume VII, No. 3, Aug. 1998 Forum Chair
    History of Physics Newsletter Volume VII, No. 3, Aug. 1998 Forum Chair From the Editor Forum News APS & AIP News Book Review Reports Forum Chair Urges APS Centennial Participation The American Physical Society celebrates its 100th anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia, at an expanded six-day meeting from March 20-26, 1999, which will be jointly sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers. This will be the largest meeting of physicists ever held, and the APS Forum on the History of Physics will play a central role in making it a truly memorable event. The 20th century has been the Century of Physics. The startling discoveries of X-rays, radioactivity, and the electron at the end of the 19th century opened up vast new territories for exploration and analysis. Quantum theory and relativity theory, whose consequences are far from exhausted today, formed the bedrock for subsequent developments in atomic and molecular physics, nuclear and particle physics, solid state physics, and all other domains of physics, which shaped the world in which we live in times of both peace and war. A large historical wall chart exhibiting these developments, to which members of the Forum contributed their expertise, will be on display in Atlanta. Also on display will be the well-known Einstein exhibit prepared some years ago by the American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics. Two program sessions arranged by the Forum at the Atlanta Centennial Meeting also will explore these historic 20th-century developments. The first, chaired by Ruth H. Howes (Ball State University), will consist of the following speakers and topics: John D.
    [Show full text]
  • Faces & Places
    CERN Courier September 2011 Faces & Places F a c i l i t i e s CERN AMS-02 control centre begins operations A month after the successful installation of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) on the International Space Station (ISS), the AMS Payload Operation and Control Centre (POCC) began operation from a specially constructed building on CERN’s Prévessin site on 24 June. The POCC will control AMS-02 for its entire lifetime. Data-taking started soon after AMS-02 was installed on the ISS on 19 May, when the spectrometer began detecting cosmic rays at a rate of about 50 million a day. With the detector operational, the AMS team was able Charles Bolden, centre, with Sam Ting, Bolden together with Claude Nicollier, left, to transfer the POCC successfully from the right, and Saul Gonzalez, at the AMS POCC. Switzerland’s first astronaut. Johnson Space Center in Houston to the new building at CERN. in space, another ensures that data are the last flight of the NASA space shuttle The experiment is controlled from the properly processed by a cluster of computers Endeavour (CERN Courier July/August POCC round the clock. Each subsystem has at CERN, before distribution to regional 2011 p23). While at CERN, Bolden, who a dedicated monitor desk and each is devoted centres for specific, detector-related analysis had piloted the space shuttle Discovery to data flow and to the command function – and calibration. into orbit with the Hubble telescope in the the only position that can issue commands The POCC started operation at CERN payload bay, had a chance encounter with to be uploaded to AMS-02 from NASA’s a day after a visit by Charles Bolden, a an old acquaintance, Claude Nicollier, Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
    [Show full text]
  • Os Físicos Brasileiros E Os Prêmios Nobel De Física (PNF) De 1957, 1979, 1980, 1984 E 1988
    SEARA DA CIÊNCIA CURIOSIDADES DA FÍSICA José Maria Bassalo Os Físicos Brasileiros e os Prêmios Nobel de Física (PNF) de 1957, 1979, 1980, 1984 e 1988. O PNF de 1957 foi concedido aos físicos sino-norte-americanos Chen Ning Yang (n.1922) e Tsung- Dao Lee (n.1926) pela descoberta da quebra da paridade nas interações fracas. O PNF de 1979, foi outorgado aos físicos, os norte-americanos Steven Weinberg (n.1933) e Sheldon Lee Glashow (n.1932) e o paquistanês Abdus Salam (1926-1996) pelo desenvolvimento da Teoria Eletrofraca que unificou as interações eletromagnética e fraca. O PNF de 1980 foi atribuído aos físicos norte- americanos James Watson Cronin (n.1931) e Val Logsdon Fitch (n.1923) pela descoberta da violação da simetria carga-paridade (CP). O PNF de 1984 foi recebido pelo físico italiano Carlo Rubbia (n.1934) e pelo engenheiro e físico holandês Simon van der Meer (n.1925) pela descoberta das partículas mediadoras da interação fraca. E o PNF de 1988, foi partilhado pelos físicos norte-americanos Leon Max Lederman (n.1922), Melvin Schwartz (1932-2006) e Jack Steinberger (n.1921) (de origem alemã) por desenvolverem o método de feixes de neutrinos e pela conseqüente descoberta do neutrino do múon ( ). Neste verbete, vou destacar os trabalhos de físicos estrangeiros e brasileiros que se relacionaram, diretamente ou indiretamente, com esses Prêmios. Em verbetes desta série, vimos como ocorreu a descoberta e a explicação do fenômeno físico chamado de radioatividade. Como essa explicação é importante para entender o significado do PNF/1957, façamos um pequeno resumo dessa explicação, principalmente a da “radioatividade beta ( )”.
    [Show full text]
  • PERSPECTIVES in AMERICAN HISTORY by Leo Szilard Edited By
    OFFPRINT FROM PERSPECTIVES IN AMERICAN HISTORY VOLUME II • 1968 Reminiscences by Leo Szilard edited by Gertrud Weiss Szilard and Kathleen R. Windsor REMINISCENCES* by LEO SZILARD edited by Gertrud Weiss Szilard and Kathleen R. Winsor [EDITORs' NOTE: Leo Szilard at various times considered writing his own biography, but he never did. He had a sense of history, however, and care­ fully preserved, in folde~s marked "History," all correspondence and other documents which he thought to be of historical signiftcance. In 1951, when he seriously contemplated writing the history of the Manhattan Project, he organized the pertinent documents into ten folders, by different topics and time periods. The documents which are appended here come largely from this collection which Szilard selected himself. He also drafted an outline for his memoirs. During a period of serious illness in 1960, which kept him in the hospital for a year, he used a tape recorder-which had been put into his sick room for the purpose of an oral history project-to dictate instead the first draft of The Voice of the Dolphins and Other Stories (New York, 1961), a whimsical history of the future twenty-five years, which seemed vastly more important to him than the history of the past quarter century. However, at times he enjoyed giving interviews to interested visitors. On a few such occasions his wife switched on his tape recorder. What follows is an exact transcription of parts of these tapes, with editing limited to the minimum necessary to change spoken to written English. These highly personal, pungent, and incisive comments by a leading par­ ticipant in three great episodes in recent American history-the migration of intellectuals from Hitler's Europe to America; the development of a nuclear chain reaction; and the effort to prevent the use of atomic bombs and to estab­ lish civilian control of atomic energy-are published here by courtesy of Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Challenge of Neutrinos by Christine Sutton
    The challenge of neutrinos by Christine Sutton Neutrino pioneers - left to right, Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli., Rudolf Peierls. (Photo MP Niels Bohr Library) Earlier this year, a team of physicists working at Los Alamos claimed a possible sighting of neutrino oscillations (June, page 13). However even before the claim appeared in the scientific literature, newspaper reports had leaked the possible findings and their implications. Detecting particles which can pass unhindered through the Earth provides the ultimate physics challenge. Neutrinos have always captivated public imagination and make compelling reading. In the wake of the latest neutrino episode, Oxford physi­ cist and science writer Christine Sutton looks back on the short but volatile history of the neutrino and its attendant publicity. strangers to controversy, for they beta-decay electrons varies continu­ With the availability of high were in a sense born amidst it, and ously up to a maximum, with peaks energy neutrino beams in the as recent work on neutrino oscilla­ ("lines") at only a few energies. And 1970s, physicists eagerly tions demonstrates they continue to he was able to explain how the scoured each new batch of data fuel debate. This is of course largely photographic technique could "fake" for signs of exciting new physics. to do with the fact that neutrinos have lines through its great sensitivity to But few initial 'sightings' proved no electric charge and experience small changes in intensity. to be of substance. One of the only the weak nuclear force, making The First World War interrupted major problems faced by such them supremely difficult to detect.
    [Show full text]
  • January 1998 Communication, APS Centennial Are Sessler’S Top Priorities in 1998
    Education Outreach A P S N E W S Insert JANUARY1998 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 7, NO 1 APS NewsTry the enhanced APS News-online: [http://www.aps.org/apsnews] Langer Chosen as APS Vice- Shuttle Physics President in 1997 Election embers of The view, page 2). M American Physi- In other election re- cal Society have elected sults, Daniel Kleppner of James S. Langer, a profes- the Massachusetts Insti- sor of physics at the tute of Technology was University of California, elected as chair-elect of Santa Barbara, to be the the Nominating Com- Society’s next vice-presi- mittee, which will be dent. Langer’s term chaired by Wick Haxton begins on January 1 , (University of Washing- when he will succeed ton) in 1998. The Jerome Friedman (Massa- Nominating Committee chusetts Institute of selects the slate of candi- Technology), who will dates for vice-president, become president-elect. general councillors, and Langer will become APS president in its own chair-elect. Its choices are then 2000. The 1998 president is Andrew Sessler voted on by the APS membership. Beverly (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) (see inter- K. Berger (Oakland University), Cynthia McIntyre (George Mason University), Roberto Peccei (University of California, Life APS member, Roger K. Crouch, a payload specialist aboard the 83rd flight of the Los Angeles), and Helen Quinn (Stanford United States Space Shuttle, Columbia, volunteered to take with him an APS paperweight Inside Linear Accelerator Center) were elected commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the electron and 50 year anniversary of the News as general councillors. transistor.
    [Show full text]
  • Leo Szilard Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0z09n7k3 No online items Leo Szilard Papers Mandeville Special Collections Library Mandeville Special Collections Library The UCSD Libraries 9500 Gilman Drive University of California, San Diego La Jolla, California 92093-0175 Phone: (858) 534-2533 Fax: (858) 534-5950 URL: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/ Copyright 2005 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Leo Szilard Papers MSS 0032 1 Descriptive Summary Creator: Szilard, Leo Title: Leo Szilard Papers, Date (inclusive): 1898-1998 Extent: 47.30 linear feet(112 archives boxes, 1 records carton, 2 card file boxes, 18 oversize folders) Abstract: Papers of a nuclear physicist, biologist, and advocate of global arms control. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1898, Szilard moved to Berlin in 1919, where he studied engineering and physics and received his doctorate under Max von Laue at the University of Berlin. He migrated to England in 1933 where he made important discoveries relating to the nuclear chain-reaction. After moving to the United States in the late 1930s, he worked on the Manhattan Project and made significant contributions to the development of the atomic bomb. After World War II he concentrated on the field of biology and became one of the world's leading advocates of global cooperation and arms control. He was associated with many universities, including Oxford, Columbia, and Chicago. In 1951 he married Dr. Gertrude Weiss. In 1963 he became a fellow of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He died in San Diego, California, in 1964. The majority of the materials in the Szilard papers date from the late 1930s to the early 1960s -- the period following Szilard's move to the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • May 2002 NEWS Volume 11, No
    May 2002 NEWS Volume 11, No. 5 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews Latest Research in BECs, MgB2, March Meeting Prize and Among March Meeting Highlights Awards Recipients The biggest physics meeting of that the interactions that are the hancing the conductivity in that re- the year, the APS March Meeting, essence of superconductivity, the gion, inducing a metallic state and was held March 18-22, 2002 in In- pairing of electrons brought about producing superconductivity. diana at the Indianapolis by the interactions between elec- A field-effect setup helped to Convention Center. An estimated trons and concerted flexings boost the superconducting tran- 5000 talks were delivered. (phonons) in the material lattice, sition temperature in a crystal of The March Meeting is tradi- are potentially twice as strong in carbon-60 molecules up to 117 K tionally a showcase for important LiBC than in MgB, especially if holes last year. fundamental physics as well as the (the momentary vacancies left be- Terahertz Imaging: A New In- kind of practical research that hind by departed electrons) can be spection Technologyechnology. shows up — five, ten, or even 20 injected into the sample by a “field- Physicists are still discovering years later — in the productive la- effect” process. useful regions in the rainbow spec- bor-saving devices we take for This is a common procedure in trum of electromagnetic radiation. Photo credit: MediaWright, Inc. Photography and Video MediaWright, Photo credit: granted. transistors, where a gate electrode One such region is the realm Front row (l to r): Jim Eisenstein (research advisor for Kathryn Todd); Kathryn This year’s conference was no forces holes into a channel between of terahertz radiation, electro- Todd, Deborah S.
    [Show full text]
  • From Clockwork to Crapshoot: a History of Physics
    From Clockwork to Crapshoot a history of physics From Clockwork to Crapshoot a history of physics Roger G. Newton The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts • London, England • 2007 Copyright © 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Newton, Roger G. From clockwork to crapshoot : a history of physics / Roger G. Newton p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978–0–674–02337–6 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0–674–02337–4 (alk. paper) 1. Physics—History. I. Title. QC7.N398 2007 530.09—dc22 2007043583 To Ruth, Julie, Rachel, Paul, Lily, Eden, Isabella, Daniel, and Benjamin Preface This book is a survey of the history of physics, together with the as- sociated astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry, from the begin- nings of science to the present. I pay particular attention to the change from a deterministic view of nature to one dominated by probabilities, from viewing the universe as running like clockwork to seeing it as a crapshoot. Written for the general scientifically inter- ested reader rather than for professional scientists, the book presents, whenever needed, brief explanations of the scientific issues involved, biographical thumbnail sketches of the protagonists, and descrip- tions of the changing instruments that enabled scientists to discover ever new facts begging to be understood and to test their theories. As does any history of science, it runs the risk of overemphasizing the role of major innovators while ignoring what Thomas Kuhn called “normal science.”To recognize a new experimental or observa- tional fact as a discovery demanding an explanation by a new theory takes a community of knowledgeable and active participants, most of whom remain anonymous.
    [Show full text]