April 2001 NEWS Volume 10, No. 4 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews NMD, National Security Issues Featured Phase I CPU Report to be at 2001 April Meeting in Washington Discussed at Attendees of the 2001 APS April include a talk on how the news me- Meeting, which returns to Wash- dia cover science by David April Meeting ington, DC, this year, should arrive Kestenbaum, a self-described “es- The first phase of a new Na- just in time to catch the last of the caped physicist who is hiding out tional Research Council report of cherry blossom season in between at National Public Radio,” and a lec- the Committee on the Physics of scheduled sessions and special ture on entangled photons for the Universe (CPU) will be the events. The conference will run quantum information by the Uni- topic of discussion during a spe- April 28 through May 1, and will versity of Illinois’ Paul Kwiat. Other cial Sunday evening session at the feature the latest results in nuclear scheduled topics include imaging APS April Meeting in Washing- physics, astrophysics, chemical the cosmic background wave back- ton, DC. The session is intended physics, particles and fields, com- ground, searching for extra to begin the process of collect- putational physics, plasma physics, dimensions, CP violation in B me- ing input from the scientific the physics of beams, and physics sons, neutrino oscillations, and the community on some of the is- history, among other subdisci- amplification of atoms and light in The White House and (inset) some of its famous fictional sues outlined in the draft report, plines. The April Meeting will also Bose-Einstein condensates. For a denizens, the cast of West Wing. and members of the CPU will be noteworthy for a number of ses- complete list of plenary speakers be present to respond to ques- sions devoted to science policy and topics, see http://www.aps.org/ particle and astrophysics and the Renaissance West A, tions and hear comments on issues, including national missile de- meet/APR01/ physics of beams, will be: Saturday at 2:30 the content of the report. There fense (NMD), balancing scientific Sessions A1, G1 and P1, Session C4 on B Physics and CP Session C10 on Lepton Proper- will also be time for open discus- freedom with national security in- Grand Central Ballroom North/ Violation, sponsored by the Division ties, also sponsored by DPF and sion of future projects to realize terests, and climate change. Central, Renaissance Hotel. of Particles and Fields, will feature also taking place Saturday at 2:30 the science opportunities. Along with the standard array talks on the latest results from the B- (in Renaissance Room 3) will have Chaired by Michael Turner of of technical sessions, the meeting CP Violation, Muon G-2, factories. The results from Belle will four talks on various aspects of the RHIC Results, and Fermilab and the University of will feature three sessions of ple- be presented by Kay Kinoshita of the recently announced measure- Chicago, the CPU was established Neutrinos nary lectures on a broad range of University of Cincinnati, while those ment of the muons’s magnetic early last year. The Phase I report topics of general interest to the sci- Among the many sessions de- from Babar will be reviewed by David moment, which conflicts at the to be presented at the April Meet- entific community. Highlights voted to the latest results in nuclear, Kirkby of Stanford. See APRIL MEETING on page 6 ing summarizes the science and discusses the most timely oppor- tunities in a rapidly developing Peaceful Transfer of Power NAS Publishes Survey of and very active area of research, according to Turner. “Physics in a New Era” The second phase of the Ed. Note: This story was written for around the country, who worked for committee’s task is to evaluate and APS News by Jordan Raddick. two years to produce the report. “What prioritize projects that address sci- “There is an awful lot of exciting we try to do with these reports is to ence at the intersection of physics stuff going on in physics,” said Tho- identify and articulate the consensus and astronomy. The committee mas Appelquist of Yale University, of the community,” said Donald has also been asked to address chairperson of the committee that Shapero, director of the Board of the issue of inter-agency coopera- wrote “Physics in a New Era,” a re- Physics and Astronomy at the NAS. tion and possible barriers to it, port just published by the National The committee met with the heads since many of the projects in this Academy of Sciences (NAS) as a de- of federal funding agencies, and interdisciplinary area will likely be cennial “State of Physics” address. The sought advice from APS members. funded by more than one agency. Session M1, Grand Ballroom report profiles the frontiers of Ameri- “We got a lot of substantive and NC, Renaissance Hotel can physics research and outlines thoughtful responses [from APS recommendations for physics policy. members],” Appelquist said. The For more information on the It is now available from NAS, and will committee reviewed physics re- CPU study, see http:// www.nas.edu/bpa/projects/cpu. Alan Chodos/APS be officially introduced at a press con- search, and evaluated how physics Outgoing APS President James S. Langer (left) hands the gavel to new Presi- ference this month in Washington, DC. has changed over the past ten years. dent George H. Trilling at the start of the Executive Board meeting in February. The physics overview committee The report focused on four comprised of 14 physicists from See NAS SURVEY on page 2 HIGHLIGHTS AIP Report Finds Academic Jobs for Physicists Are On the Rise Frozen Light: the Tip of the Iceberg The academic job market over the heads the AIP division and co-authored to retirement each year. Czujko specu- increasing turnover rates for several 5 By Marlan O. Scully and last two years is characterized by in- the 2000 report. lates that part of the reason for this years,” says Czujko. George R. Welch creases in the number of vacancies and Among the report’s most notable may be that faculty retirement “is of- As a result of higher retirement retirements, with corresponding in- findings is that the turnover and retire- ten a multi-step process, with many rates and job turnovers, the num- creases in the number of new hires and ment rates for physics faculty are on members reducing their status to part- bers of new hires and recruitments recruitments, according to the 2000 the rise; in fact, the retirement rate is time for several years before finally have also increased, the report con- Academic Workforce Report, re- currently higher than 3% for the first retiring completely.” cludes. In 2000, US physics leased recently by the American time (it never rose above 2.6% through- Turnover rates were also higher departments hired an estimated 329 Institute of Physics (AIP). AIP’s Divi- out the 1990s), and is expected to among tenured and tenure-track fac- tenured and tenure-track faculty sion of Employment and Education continue to increase slowly due to the ulty during the 1999 academic year members, a substantial increase from Statistics has been tracking the aca- increasing age of the physics faculty. than in previous years. The report the 1998 estimate of 264 tenured or demic workforce every two years Degree-granting physics departments found that 388 faculty members left tenure-track positions. The overall since 1986. “A sizeable percentage in the US employed an estimated 8375 their tenure or tenure-track posi- percentage of physics departments Call for Nomination of PhD physicists work in academia, full-time equivalent physicists during tions, for a total turnover rate of hiring for such positions increased The George E. Valley Jr. 7 Prize of the APS is looking and hence this sector is a good indi- the spring of 2000, but even with the 7.3%. “To the extent that increases as well, from about one-fourth in for nominations. cator of the health of the entire higher retirement rate, there are fewer in turnover rates are caused by ag- 1996 and 1998 to 35% in 2000. All Deadline: July 2, 2001 discipline,” says Roman Czujko, who than 250 physics positions vacated due ing faculty, we may continue to see See AIP REPORT on page 3 2 April 2001 NEWS NAS Survey, from page 1 This Month in Physics History “frontiers” of physics research – April 1946: First Concept of Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer quantum manipulation, complex systems, the structure of the uni- Since its humble origins verse, and fundamental symmetries. nearly 100 years ago, mass In particular, the report concluded spectrometry has become a that new tools and techniques have virtually ubiquitous research revolutionized astrophysics and cos- tool, with scores of scientific mology. “We are in the middle of a breakthroughs, including the golden age in that field,” Appelquist said. discovery of isotopes, the ex- However, one of the biggest Thomas Appelquist act determination of atomic changes in the way physics is done in weights, the characterization the last ten years has come from the should be paid to physics education, of elements, and characteriza- ease of electronic communication. “The from elementary to graduate school. tion of molecular structure. In Los Alamos archive and e-mail have “Undergraduate education is badly in fact, it is arguably one of the speeded up scientific communication need of revamping and improvement,” most important types of com- tremendously,” Shapero said. In Feb- Appelquist said.