Cornell Chemistry November 1995 Number 64
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Cornell Chemistry November 1995 Number 64 The Chairman's Notebook Science on the Silver Screen ne Friday morning last May at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry's annual meeting in Atlanta, nearly 900 scientists O dragged themselves out of bed for a plenary lecture at 8:15 a.m. Miles O'Brien, the keynote speaker, is the Cable News Network's lone science correspondent. Like many journalists who cover technological stories, O'Brien has no formal training in either mathematics or science. Once he discovered the secret to a successful story, however, those very news opportunities other reporters long ago eschewed quickly became his full-time job at CNN. His lecture was entitled 'The Geek Factor: ence that day in Atlanta, objecting to public with the excitement and passion Why Network Television Doesn't Cover O'Brien's characterization of the average only a top researcher or great teacher can Science." When conference organizers "Joe Six Pack" viewer, suggested that convey. marveled at the extraordinary turnout, CNN might have seriously underestimated O'Brien's lecture in Atlanta was full of O'Brien wryly observed that if you call its audience. Not so, O'Brien roared back. surprises. He showed videotapes of scientists by a derogatory name they will Whether they prefer cabernet, chardonnay, technology stories recently covered by always show up to find out why. Appar- Chivas, or Coors, viewers want to see CNN, some probing the underlying issues ently it goes with being an experimentalist. scientific stories on television with a clear, in depth over several minutes, which He explained that three ingredients are colorful message. seemed remarkably long. When asked required to create a good science piece for If television is the principal medium by where CNN science stories come from, he television. First, as he put it, "It must which Americans get their scientific explained that he meets scientists wherever appeal to Joe Six Pack." Basic science or background on complex public policy he travels and gets ideas directly from the curiosity-driven research simply doesn't debates, O'Brien's discouraging analysis people and projects he encounters. connect with the wider audience of indicates how badly scientists have failed So ask a reporter to lunch. Better yet, nonscientists. The environment makes in getting their message across clearly. We invite one to speak at your next confer- natural story material, as does disaster- who teach and do research at Cornell and ence. Introduce your guest to some based science such as seismology or the other American research universities share colleagues and let them talk about chemis- chemistry of high explosives, as the World doubly in this lapse. We have neglected, try for a while. Now more than ever, with Trade Center and Oklahoma City bomb- first of all, to educate our nonscientist the media and other opinion makers ings demonstrate. Even good technology students in the method and practice of shaping debate on science and public stories, it seems, must contain some science, preferring instead to design our policy, it may very well be both your inherent entertainment value. Second, courses for younger clones of ourselves. professional and civic duty to do so. high-quality color pictures or appealing Second, we have for too long opted out of —Bruce Ganem visual images hold the audience's atten- presenting and explaining what we do in tion. O'Brien pointed out that efforts to our scientific research and why those his issue of Cornell Chemistry cover scientific stories using uninteresting research projects are important. T introduces our new masthead, a drawing graphics or stock footage from a station's The CNN reporter also chided his of the south entrance of Baker Lab. The video files usually fail. Finally, a success- audience for failing to communicate with plaza and south entrance are familiar to ful story needs an exciting, if not passion- ordinary people. At Cornell, for example, every Cornell chemist, having years past ate, scientific spokesperson at its core. A we ask our university news service and supplanted the larger front entrance as determined environmentalist or an public affairs personnel to interview Baker's "main" doorway. The artist is Milly Acharya, an Ithaca resident who adventurous scientific explorer makes a scientists and report on their activities— works as a cataloger in the John M. Olin great subject. No nerds or geeks need ironically, to stand in for busy scientists Graduate Library at Cornell. She has apply, thank you. and explain to the public what scientists written and illustrated a youth's version of No wonder networks don't report much can explain best of all. Scientists thus an Indian epic, which will be published in about science. One member of the audi- forfeit their opportunity to galvanize the New Delhi. Department News ANONYMOUS DONORS CORNELL CHEMISTRY RANKS FUND DEBYE AMONG NATION'S TOP PROFESSORSHIP GRADUATE PROGRAMS by Jeanette Knapp for Communique he fortunes of war The Cornell Chemistry Department was brought Nobel laureate ranked sixth in the nation by the National Peter J. W. Debye, one of the Research Council of the National world's most distinguished Academy of Sciences in its comprehensive chemists, to Cornell. More than evaluation of graduate faculty and 50 years after that arrival, a programs. The four-year study, entitled group of anonymous donors has "Research-Doctorate Programs in the given more than $ 1 million United States," was released in mid- toward a professorship in his September and assesses the scholarly honor. Peter Joseph William programs at 274 private and public Debye (1884-1966) was a institutions. theoretical physical chemist The survey, used both by prospective from Maastricht. Holland. He students and granting agencies, polled was awarded the 1936 Nobel more than 8,000 faculty members on the Prize in chemistry for his overall caliber, educational effectiveness, contributions to the study of and change in program quality over the molecular structures through previous five years. Criteria include the investigation of dipole moments scholarly qualifications of the faculty, and the diffraction of x-rays and time to degree, and percentages of women electrons in gases. The same and minorities in a program. year he became director of the The University of California at Berkeley was ranked first in the nation, followed by Peter J. W. Debye Max Planck Institute in Berlin, where advanced research the California Institute of Technology, facilities were built for him. Harvard and Stanford Universities, the He traveled to Cornell to deliver the 1939 Baker lectures, but when Hitler invaded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Holland, Debye refused to take up German citizenship and was declared an enemy alien. and Cornell. The Nazis immediately confiscated his laboratory and new home in Berlin. Debye "This is great news," said Bruce Ganem, accepted Cornell's offer of the chairmanship of the Department of Chemistry in 1940. chairman of the Department of Chemistry. and his family joined him in Ithaca. His son Peter Debye PhD '44. and his grandsons "Over the years the top rankings haven't Norwig '65 and Nordulf PhD '70, eventually became Cornell graduates. changed very much," he explained. The late Albert Laubengayer remembered his colleague as an "understanding and "We've always been considered one the effective chairman, very good at stripping aside red tape and getting to the core of a best departments in the country, and it's problem." That was the essence of his scientific genius. Professors Henri Sack and gratifying that the latest poll reflects the Benjamin Widom wrote, "He knew that physical phenomena must have simple progress we've made in our programs." explanations; he took complexity to be lack of understanding. To recognize the The previous NRC/NAS survey, essentials, to express them clearly and pictorially, and then to pursue their consequences conducted in 1982, ranked Cornell's with superb technical facility was Debye's style." graduate chemistry program 1 lth overall. Peter Debye was intrigued by practical problems, particularly problems in industrial Cornell University also ranked sixth in chemistry. His theoretical grasp of mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, the strength of its entire graduate program. statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanics enabled him to demonstrate the The Department of Materials Science and artificiality of the boundary between physics and chemistry. And he is remembered as a Engineering, a collaborator with the superb teacher who used unforgettable illustrations and analogies to enliven his lectures. Department of Chemistry in the Materials "Those who heard them," his colleagues remembered, "can no longer think of density Science Center, ranked third among fluctuations without seeing the tiny stick he asked us to imagine thrown into the medium material science programs in the nation to measure spatial correlations, and we cannot think of a dipole without seeing a cigar." and was the highest-ranked science Generations of Debye's students at Cornell, among them the founders of the Debye program in the university. fund, have by now achieved distinction in their own right in the field of chemistry. Students, colleagues, and admirers of Professor Debye are invited to make gifts to the Debye Professorship Fund in the Department of Chemistry to honor this remarkable scientist and teacher. Practicing Chemist ACS HONORS CORNELL SUMMIT TECHNOLOGY CHEMISTS by Bruce Ganem ver since the light-focusing Three members of the Department of E properties of glass were first Chemistry have been honored by the discovered, humans have been American Chemical Society with presti- grinding lenses to improve their gious national awards for 1996. The vision. Now a pioneering discovery awards were announced in the September by a Cornell chemistry alumnus—a 25 issue of Chemical & Engineering laser beam focused directly on the News, the official publication of the ACS.