February 2014 • Vol. 23, No. 2

Profiles in Versatility: A Publication of the American Physical Society Olympics Special Edition www.aps.org/publications/apsnews See Page 3

APS Membership Boosted by Student Sign-ups The American Physical Society up for a free year of student mem- Physics Newsmakers of 2013 hit a new membership record in bership in the Society. APS Membership 2011-2014 2013 with students making up the In addition, the Society added 50,578 50,600 bulk of the growth. After complet- nearly 100 new early-career mem- Total ing its annual count, the APS mem- bers after a change in policy that Members The Envelope Please . . . bership department announced that extended membership discounts for 49,950 By Michael Lucibella the Society had reached 50,578 early-career members from three 49,300 members, an increase of 925 over to five years. “The change to five- Each year, APS News looks back last year, following a general five- year eligibility in the early career 48,650 at the headlines around the world year trend. “When we were able to category definitely helped.” Lettieri to see which physics news stories get up over 50,000 again, that was said. “That’s where a lot of our fo- 48,000 grabbed the most attention. They’re good news. That keeps us moving cus is going to be now, with stu- stories that the wider public paid in the right direction,” said Trish dents and early-career members.” 15,747 attention to and news that made a 16,000 Total Lettieri, the director of APS Mem- Student big splash. In roughly chronological 15,400 Members bership. “That’s where a lot of our focus order, the Top Ten Physics News- Students were one reason: The is going to be now, with students 14,800 makers of 2013 are: total number of student members and early-career members.” Exoplanets increased by 1,075 over last year. 14,200 2013 was another banner year Lettieri credited much of that 13,600 for the search for another Earth. In Courtesy of PHL@UPR Arecibo, NASA growth to enrollment stemming At the same time, the regular February astronomers announced from the annual Conferences for membership declined by 273 mem- 13,000 "Habitable world?" the discovery of Kepler-37b: With later, astronomers discovered the Undergraduate Women in Physics. bers, dropping from 23,138 in the Graphs are on di erent scales and a diameter just slightly larger than twin worlds of Kepler-62e and Undergraduate students who at- beginning of 2013 to 22,865 this show totals from January 2014 Earth’s moon, it’s the smallest exo- tended the conferences could sign MEMBERSHIP continued on page 6 planet discovered yet. Two months ENVELOPE continued on page 6

Bouchet Award Winner Followed a Parental Path to Science New APS Education Fellow Goes to Washington Luz Martinez-Miranda, this tion and reflection of light. The American Physical Society nounced the formation of the new policies. year’s recipient of the Edward A. “He actually went into the optics has selected its first fellow to send fellowship in September 2013. The “It’s exciting,” said Tyler Glem- Bouchet Award, always knew she part of physics,” Martinez-Miranda to the Department of Education as goal is to bring a PhD scientist into bo, the APS government relations wanted to go into science. She was said. “I think that…optics, which part of the new Science, Technol- specialist who helped set up the new born in Maryland, moved to Puer- is more visual and more associated ogy, Engineering, and Math program. “The Department of Edu- to Rico when she was five, and is with physical phenomena…made (STEM) Education Policy Fellow- cation is really the place to make now a professor of materials science it more attractive to me.” ship. Julia Mundy, who recently important systemic changes.” at the University of Maryland. When she went to college she defended her PhD thesis in applied Mundy will work with the de- The APS Bouchet Award recog- combined her parents’ love of physics, will go to the Department partment’s STEM lead, Camsie nizes a distinguished minority chemistry with her own love of of Education to work on science McAdams. Though specific plans physicist who has made significant physics. At the University of Puer- and math education policies. are still being finalized, she’ll like- contributions to physics research. to Rico she majored in physics and “I think it’s a great opportunity,” ly be working on new STEM initia- Martinez-Miranda will receive a minored in chemistry, which turned Mundy said. “There hasn’t been a tives at the department including stipend and travel out to be a pre- strong presence of scientists in the the STEM Innovation Network, Julia Mundy support to present a scient decision. By Department of Education so I’m STEM Innovation Hubs, the STEM lecture at the APS her sophomore really excited for the opportunity.” the Department of Education for Teachers Pathway Initiative, and March Meeting. year she knew she The APS and AIP jointly an- two years to consult on STEM FELLOW continued on page 7 Growing up, she wanted to explore assumed she would the experimental follow in her par- side of physics. ent’s footsteps. “I In addition, got interested in Martinez-Miranda In Memoriam: Fred Kavli (1927–2013) physics because I always had an eye By Alaina G. Levine passed away due to complications oil was discovered off the coast of was originally in- for the artistic, or from cancer. He was 86 years old. Norway and the country became terested in chemis- Photo courtesy of University of Maryland rather an ear. As an The story goes that Fred Kavli, rich with petrol. But his real pas- try,” Martinez-Mi- Luz Martinez-Miranda undergraduate, she industrialist, philanthropist and sion, says his colleagues, was sci- randa said. “My also studied piano physicist, would look up at the night ence and support of discovery. “He parents were chemists.” and graduated with a bachelor’s of in his native Norway as a child and said ‘if I ever get wealthy, I want She also credits her grandmoth- music from the Conservatorio de gaze at the stars that salted the skies. to leave it all to science to help pro- er with inspiring her career in sci- Música in Puerto Rico. Being so far north, he had unique duce a better future for mankind,’” ence. Her grandmother’s formal Once she finished her master’s visual access to the universe, with recalls Conn. education stopped at the third grade, in physics, also at the University of long, dark nights that included the And that’s just what he did. Af- but she always insisted Martinez- Puerto Rico, she left for the Mas- Northern Lights, which signifi- ter receiving a degree in applied Miranda’s mother go to college. sachusetts Institute of Technology cantly influenced his decision to physics from the Norwegian Insti- “This is something that I consider for her PhD. Upon arriving, she both study and support science. tute of Technology, Kavli emigrat- very important,” Martinez-Miranda found a number of researchers there “Physics meant everything to ed first to Canada and, after a year, said. “It’s because of that my moth- working with liquid crystals. Again, Fred,” says Robert W. Conn, Pres- Fred Kavli to the United States. Three years er went and studied chemistry.” her artistic side came out: she was ident and CEO of the Kavli Founda- later, in 1958, he launched Kavlico Her high school teacher’s some- taken by the intricate beauty of liq- tion and an APS Fellow. “It was his Kavli was probably already Corporation, which designed and what unorthodox way of teaching uid crystals she saw under a micro- love growing up. It was the under- hooked on innovation and entrepre- sold sensors for myriad industries physics first got her thinking about scope. pinning for everything he did.” neurship when as boy, he and his including the automobile, aero- physics as a career. Instead of focus- “Liquid crystals are very inter- On November 21, 2013, science, brother started selling wood bri- space, and home appliance sectors. ing on inclined planes or free-fall- and more specifically physics, lost quettes as car fuel. This was before ing balls, he delved into the refrac- BOUCHET continued on page 7 a great champion, when Kavli KAVLI continued on page 6 2 • February 2014

Members This Month in Physics History in the February 1932: James Chadwick’s Letter to Nature on the Neutron

Media mong the many scientists who witnessed the severe conditions of his internment meant that for Afamous Trinity test on July 16, 1945, was a years afterward, he had difficulty digesting fats. He “My wife Naomi and I enjoy ton Post, January 2, 2014. modest British physicist named James Chadwick. was also broke. Rutherford found a part-time teach- spending as much time as possible While many physicists contributed to this remark- ing position for him, and when Rutherford suc- in the mountains, hiking and fly “To be clear, there was essen- able achievement, it was Chadwick’s discovery of ceeded J. J. Thomson as head of Cambridge’s famed the neutron in 1932 that made atom-splitting–and Cavendish Laboratory, Chadwick opted to follow fishing, so hanging out with Inte- tially zero reason to believe that the nuclear bomb–a very real prospect in the first his mentor, working on experiments on artificial rior Secretary Sally Jewell, an avid they were going to find any evi- place. nuclear disintegration to earn his PhD in 1921. outdoors person, in the national dence for time travelers, but since Born in Cheshire, England to a family of modest Two years earlier, Rutherford had discovered the parks, national forests and wilder- it didn’t exactly cost a lot of mon- means, Chadwick relied on scholarships to pursue proton, but in his subsequent experiments, the atom- ness areas would be outstanding.” ey to perform the study I’m all in physics at Victoria University in Man- ic number consistently was less than Ernest Moniz, the Department favor of it.” chester, walking the four miles to the atomic mass. This couldn’t be due of Energy, The Washington Post, Sean Carroll, Caltech, on the campus every day. He graduated with to the number of electrons, so Ruth- December 17, 2013. online search for time travellers, top honors, co-authoring his first pa- erford hypothesized that there was CNN.com, January 3, 2014. per with Ernest B. Rutherford. Chad- another type of particle in the atomic “We know that it cannot be the wick earned his master’s degree in nucleus–one with mass but no charge. final word because it cannot even “This wasn’t a major research 1912, and then won a scholarship to By 1925, physicists had proposed describe why a universe of matter push….This was typing things into study beta radiation in Berlin under nuclear spin to explain the Zeeman survived if the Big Bang produced search engines. Billions of dollars Hans Geiger. effect (shifts in atomic energy levels essentially equal amounts of anti- are spent on time travel movies and When World War I broke out, Gei- in a magnetic field), but it didn’t seem matter and matter that should then books and stuff like that. This prob- ger reported for active duty, and to fit the prevailing model for the have annihilated as the universe ably costs less than a dollar to check warned Chadwick to return to England atomic nucleus, believed to contain cooled.” on it.” as soon as possible. Chadwick tried, just protons and electrons. Gerald Gabrielse, Harvard Uni- Robert Nemiroff, Michigan but by then international travel had Chadwick replicated a German versity, on his recent experiment Tech University, on his online become too difficult. He was briefly James Chadwick experiment in which polonium struck that measured the spherical nature search for any evidence of time arrested and spent ten days in jail, a beryllium target, and the unusual of the electron, The Boston Globe, travellers, The Associated Press, falsely accused of having uttered treasonous state- form of radiation produced provided evidence of a December 19, 2013. January 6, 2014. ments. The laboratory orchestrated his release and new kind of chargeless particle. Encouraged, Chad- he returned to work in Berlin–a decision he would wick devoted all his energy to further experiments, “That reflects the zeitgeist.… “There are not many things in soon regret. often working through the night, and his efforts paid As the war progressed, all British citizens were off within weeks. Everyone knows there is something our daily lives that we know to 1% sent to a prison camp called Ruhleben, including In February 1932, he submitted a letter to Nature big happening, and they’re trying accuracy. I now know the size of Chadwick. It was a former racing track, and the detailing his experimental results as evidence for find out what it is.” the universe better than I know the prisoners were housed in the stables, six men to a the existence of a neutron. He followed with a sec- Terry Sejnowski, the Salk Insti- size of my house. Twenty years ago cell, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Food was ond paper in May, providing more of the technical tute, on the popularity of courses astronomers were arguing about scarce, and the first winter in the camp was espe- details. The discovery was quickly championed by teaching biologically inspired al- estimates that differed by up to cially brutal: Chadwick had been rounded up with Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, and Chadwick gorithms, The New York Times, 50%. Five years ago, we’d refined just the clothes on his worked with Maurice December 29, 2013. that uncertainty to 5%; a year ago back, not sufficient for Goldhaber to measure it was 2%. One percent accuracy the harsh German win- the mass of the neu- “I had this huge to-do list with will be the standard for a long time ters. “I can remember tron, and concluded over a thousand things on it, and I to come.” the agony when my the neutron is a nucle- found I wasn’t looking at it very David Schlegel, Lawrence feet began to thaw out ar particle rather than often because whenever I did, I just Berkeley National Laboratory, on about 11 AM,” he later a proton-electron pair. got this depressing feeling of being recent measurements of the dis- recalled. The ongoing eco- overwhelmed by my failure to ac- tances between galaxies, BBC- There were a hand- nomic depression complish stuff….I learned that if I News.com, January 9, 2014. ful of other scientists, meant tight funds for want Max to do something in De- like Chadwick, and scientific research, cember, I should think about De- “It’s like there are 1,000 differ- they were given per- even at the Cavendish cember Max as a different person.” ent particles emerging from all the mission to set up a lab. Chadwick wanted Max Tegmark, the Massachu- wormholes, but in fact they’re all crude laboratory in one to build a cyclotron so of the abandoned bar- the lab could keep setts Institute of Technology, on the same particle you sent in the Sir Ernest Rutherford's laboratory, early 20th century prioritizing his new year’s resolu- beginning….You just have all these racks in the camp. pace with the cutting- tions, The Wall Street Journal, temporary copies emerging from They traded for chemicals and built their own equip- edge nuclear physics now being done in the US, but January 1, 2014. and going back into these worm- ment from whatever materials were at hand. Chad- Rutherford was old school, and didn’t want to invest wick once fashioned a makeshift magnet, coiling in one, believing bulky, expensive equipment wasn’t holes.” the salvaged copper wire by hand one sweltering necessary to do good science. Frustrated, Chadwick “Quantum computers are ex- Mark Wilde, Louisiana State summer evening. He found that toothpaste with left in 1935 for the far less prestigious University tremely delicate, so if you don’t University, on how a theoretical thorium powder was mildly radioactive, and also of Liverpool to take over an old laboratory so out- protect them from their environ- time machine could also clone ob- explored the photochemical reaction of carbon mon- of-date it still used direct current. He won the Nobel ment, then the computation will be jects, FoxNews.com, January 13, oxide and chlorine. Prize that same year, and used part of the prize useless.” 2014. After the war ended in November 1918, Chad- money to finance a cyclotron, relying on grants and Daniel Lidar, University of wick returned to Manchester to recuperate at his donated materials to make up the difference. By MEMBERS continued on page 7 Southern California, The Washing- parents’ house. He was physically weak, and the CHADWICK continued on page 3

Series II, Vol. 23, No. 2 APS COUNCIL 2014 Chair, Nominating Committee Staff Representatives February 2014 Paul L. McEuen Tracy Alinger, Director, Information Services (College President Park), Mark Doyle, Director, Journal Information © 2014 The American Physical Society Malcolm R. Beasley*, Stanford University Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Systems (Ridge), Amy Flatten, Director of International Robert Jaffe Affairs; Terri Gaier, Director of Meetings, Barbara Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 President-Elect Hicks, Associate Publisher, Ted Hodapp, Director of Editor•...... David Voss Samuel H. Aronson*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Division, Forum and Section Councilors Education and Diversity; Trish Lettieri, Director of (Retired) Miriam Forman (Astrophysics), Thomas Gallagher Membership, Darlene Logan, Director of Development, Staff Science Writer ...... Michael Lucibella (Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics), Jose Onuchic Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Vice President Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson (Biological), Amy Mullin (Chemical), Frances Hellman* Editorial Director; Christine Giaccone, Director, Journal Homer A. Neal*, University of Michigan (Condensed Matter Physics), Steven Gottlieb (Compu- Operations; Michael Stephens, Controller and Assistant Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik tational), James Wallace (Fluid Dynamics), Gay Stewart Treasurer Executive Officer (Forum on Education), Eric Sorte, (Forum on Graduate Proofreader...... Edward Lee Kate P. Kirby*, Harvard Smithsonian (retired) Student Affairs), TBD (Forum on History of Physics), Administrator for Governing Committees APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publica- Gregory Meisner* (Forum on Industrial and Applied Ken Cole Treasurer/Publisher monthly, except the August/September issue, by the tion delivered by Periodical Mail Postage Paid at Col- Physics), TBD (Forum on International Physics), Lowell Joseph W. Serene*, Georgetown University (Emeritus) * Members of the APS Executive Board American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- lege Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Brown (Forum on Physics and Society), Anthony John- lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains son* (Laser Science), James Chelikowsky (Materials), Editor in Chief news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, For address changes, please send both the old and new David McIntyre (Northwest Section), TBD (Nuclear), Gene D. Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) Sections, and Forums; advance information on meetings addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing label from Philip Michael Tuts (Particles & Fields), TBD (Physics of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- a recent issue. Changes can be emailed to membership@ of Beams), Vincent Chan* (Plasma), Mark Ediger (Poly- Past-President tees and task forces, as well as opinions. aps.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS mer Physics), Nan Phiney (California Section) Michael S. Turner*, University of Chicago News, Membership Department, American Physical Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- ADVISORS (Non-Voting) General Councilors ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- 3844. Representatives from other Societies Haiyan Gao*, Marcelo Gleiser, Nadya Mason, Pierre dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Fred Dylla, AIP; Gay Stewart, AAPT Meystre*, Keivan G. Stassun* the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All cor- respondence regarding APS News should be directed to: International Advisor International Councilors Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Kenneth Ragan, Canadian Association of Physicists Marcia Barbosa, Annick Suzor-Weiner*, Kiyoshi, Ueda MD 20740-3844, Email: [email protected]. February 2014 • 3

Goeppert-Mayer Awardee Loved High-School Physics By Michael Lucibella physics and I asked the high school gram started in atomic, molecular Diversity Corner This year, APS presented its teacher to give me more problems,” and optical physics.” Rey said. Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award to Rey said. “He borrowed a physics To compensate, Rey took a job Ana Maria Rey of the University book for me that I used to do more at NIST in nearby Gaithersburg, problems besides the ones assigned Maryland to get experience in this of Colorado. The award recog- APS Bridge Program student applications now being ac- nizes outstanding achievement by from the class.” field. There she worked on the cepted (Deadline: March 21, 2014) a woman physicist in the early She attended the Universidad theory of optical lattices and ultra- The APS Bridge Program provides 1-2 years of research experience, years of her career. The award is de los Andes in Bogota where she cold atoms. She received her PhD coursework, mentoring, and application coaching to students inter- named after German-American majored in physics. It was there in 2004. ested in pursuing a PhD in physics. African American, Hispanic and physicist Maria Goeppert-Mayer, also she met her husband, Juan. She did her postdoc work at the Native American students are strongly encouraged to apply. Students the second woman to win a Nobel After finishing, she decided to Harvard-Smithsonian Center for must be US citizens or permanent residents, and have received a travel abroad to continue her educa- Astrophysics. After three years bachelor’s degree in physics (or a related discipline) by summer 2014 prize in physics (after Marie Curie). tion. “I wanted to come to the there, she left for Colorado and is to be eligible. http://apsbridgeprogram.org/about/students.cfm In addition to a certificate hon- oring her achievement, Rey will United States to learn more,” Rey now a fellow at JILA and an as- Women in Physics (WIPHYS) Email Group receive a $2,500 stipend plus said. “At that time there was no sociate professor in the University The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) welcomes $4,000 in travel allowances to be graduate program in Colombia.” of Colorado’s physics department. you to join WIPHYS, its electronic mailing list. WIPHYS is sent week- used towards speaking at up to four Rey was named a MacArthur Fel- ly and includes funding, job, and professional development opportuni- US universities and at an APS low in 2013. ties for women. WIPHYS was “officially” started in January 1993, and meeting. As a theorist, she is noted for now has over 900 subscribers. Join here: http://www.aps.org/programs/ Rey is an atomic, molecular, and her willingness to work closely women/email-lists/wiphys.cfm optical physicist working at JILA with the experimentalists. “The groups are downstairs so you can Bridge Summer Meeting set for June 25-27, 2014, in and the University of Colorado. just go into the basement and talk College Park, MD Her research focuses on optically The APS Bridge Program Summer Meeting will bring together experts trapping alkaline atoms and polar to them,” Rey said. “This collabo- to discuss efforts to increase the number of underrepresented mi- molecules. This work could serve ration has been stronger in the last norities who receive PhDs in physics. This year’s meeting will focus as the basis for future atomic couple of years.” In addition to her on exploring and understanding the role of the MS degree in promot- clocks, as well as quantum simula- work, she also spends time raising ing underrepresented minorities in physics. Workshops, panel discus- tors, which are possible stepping- her four-year-old son Nicholas. sions and presentations will address topics including stones to quantum computers. Rey said that she was honored Ana Maria Rey She was born in Bogota, Colom- by the recognition of her work, and • establishing MS/PhD institutional relationships bia and has enjoyed physics since She set her sights on the Uni- was looking forward to using the • role of master's degrees for underrepresented minority students versity of Maryland and as luck Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award to • barriers to student advancement to the PhD she was young. “I love to be able • mentoring to write an equation, and nature would have it both she and her help advance her research. “There • non-cognitive admissions measures behaves as I predicted,” Rey said. husband were accepted into the are collaborators around the world, She liked solving these kinds of school. The two moved to the US in Europe especially, that are doing Who should attend: faculty, students, and administrators interested equations so much that in her teen in 1999. However, at that time, the experiments with alkaline atoms in increasing the number of underrepresented students pursuing PhDs years, she found herself needing university had limited options for and collaborating more closely with in physics. For more information, see apsbridgeprogram.org/confer- more from her physics class. the field she wanted to go into. them could be very interesting,” ences/summer14/index.cfm “I was in high school, I loved “When I graduated the formal pro- Rey said. Stay on top of the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics A new email list was created to share news, announcements, and deadlines related to the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics. To join the list, email [email protected] with the subject “Sub- scription to CUWiP email list”. Profiles In Versatility

2014 Katherine Weimer Award: Deadline is April 1 The Weimer award is open to any female plasma scientist who received her PhD within the ten-year period prior to April 1, 2014. Nominations Physicists in Sports Deserve a Gold Medal are active for one selection cycle (three years). The award, established by the APS Division of Plasma Physics, consists of $2,000 and funds By Alaina Levine for travel to the annual meeting where the award is to be presented. The recipient will be invited to give a talk at the Division’s annual With the Olympics starting this tential to be a pusher,” she explains, medaled at the America’s Cup, meeting. More details are available at: http://www.aps.org/programs/ month in Russia, one can’t help but “I could have done more with among other events. And in 2006, women/scholarships/katherineweimer.cfm think of the significant role physics bobsledding, but rugby had a hold he was part of two Canadian teams plays in orchestrating this enormous on me.” In the fall of 2013, she that trained for the Olympics, al- Network with other physicists on LinkedIn affair. From equipment design, to made the choice to concentrate on though he didn’t compete. Join the LinkedIn groups for Minorities in Physics (http://go.aps.org/ ticketing and scoring algorithms, to training for the 2016 Olympics, dur- Poirier received his bachelors in minoritiesinphysics) and Women in Physics (http://go.aps.org/wom- the science behind the movements ing which women’s rugby will physics from the Université de eninphysics) and start networking today! of the athletes themselves, the make its debut. But her immediate Moncton in 2003, and as he transi- Olympics presents a great teaching goal is to make the US team that tioned into graduate school at the moment. But while some may be will compete in the Women’s Rug- University of Calgary, he was look- keeping their eye on the physics of by World Cup this summer. ing for an avenue to combine his CHADWICK continued from page 2 the games, others are more excited two eclectic passions. “I knew I was July 1939, the machine was up and tion of uranium-235. After the war about the physicists who contribute uniquely qualified to study ice fric- running. ended, he returned to his old life in to the Games and beyond. tion as it relates to bobsledding,” Chadwick’s discovery made it England in 1946. Ida Bernstein is simultaneously he says. possible to create elements heavier In 1948, Chadwick opted to be- working on her PhD in theoretical His thesis dealt with a problem than uranium in the laboratory via come master of Gonville and Caius physics at Delaware State Univer- in bobsledding as it relates to the capture of slow neutrons and beta College, a position he held until his sity, and training for a spot on the safety of new tracks–“you really decay–a critical breakthrough for retirement in 1958. He died peace- US National Team in rugby. An don’t know how fast the athletes optical scientist with a NASA Fel- are going to go once they’re on it,” the eventual development of the fully in his sleep in 1974–a fitting lowship, she specializes in the he explains. So Poirier set out to nuclear bomb. The neutron proved end to the quiet man’s long, rich life. mathematics behind the use of dif- analyze the aerodynamic dragging to be an ideal “bullet” for penetrat- References: ferent frequencies of light to combat and ice friction coefficients and ing nuclei, thanks to its lack of Chadwick, J. (1932) “Possible Existence viruses. She chose her research field discovered that the coefficients charge. When World War II broke of a Neutron,” Nature 129 (3252): 312. so she could continue working on were lower than anything pub- out, Chadwick was vacationing with Chadwick, J. (1932) “The Existence of a Neutron,” Proceedings of the Royal Society A: it while on the road in training and Photo courtesy of Louis Poirier lished. “This was revolutionary his family in Sweden. This time, he Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sci- at competitions. As an algorithm data we detected,” he says. “Previ- returned to England immediately The need for speed. Physicists con- ences 136(830): 692. designer, “I can do my physics any- tribute their skills and passion to go ously published reports suggested and lent his scientific expertise to AIP Oral History transcript: http://www.aip. where in the world,” she says. faster, higher, stronger. the coefficient of friction was al- determining the nuclear cross-sec- org/history/ohilist/3974_1.html Bernstein has been a sports fan Another bobsledding/physics ways higher than 0.01 and we found and an athlete for much of her life. fanatic, Louis Poirier, not only com- it was half of that.” This suggests She ran 5km races in middle school peted on behalf of his native Can- that the sleds go faster down the Editor's note: The January 2014 "This Month in Phys- and as an undergraduate at Syra- ada, but he also represented bob- tracks than previously thought. He ics History" column in APS News recounted how Alan cuse, she played varsity soccer and sledders on national boards and shared his investigations with the Turing was convicted of criminal behavior in 1952 after track. In recent years Bernstein conducted research on ice friction International Bobsled and Skeleton admitting his homosexuality. Two years later he commit- focused on rugby and bobsled, with as it relates to bobsledding. “I’m a Federation, and his work will be ted suicide. On 24 December 2013, Turing was granted the objective of joining the US typical scrawny physicist,” he featured in the track designs for the a royal pardon by Queen Elizabeth II. Olympic Team. “I trained for bob- jokes. Yet while on Canada’s na- 2018 Olympics. sled for two years and had the po- tional bobsledding team, Poirier MEDAL continued on page 4 4 • February 2014 Controversy Continues Over Picking Nobel Winners Letters The naming of Nobel Prize win- Brout, longtime collaborator of En- case that stands out is that of Ray- Readers interested in submitting a letter to APS News should ners always raises the specter of glert, was not included and thus why mond Vahan Damadian, an Ameri- email [email protected] those who may have also contrib- only two were awarded the Prize. can medical practitioner and inven- uted but who were not included in The recent passing of Kenneth tor of the first magnetic resonance the award. This year’s physics prize Wilson (Physics Today, November scanning machine. Damadian was is no exception (APS News, Novem- 2013, page 65) reminds us of a the first to perform a full body scan Remembering the Bomb ber 2013, page 1). similar case regarding the 1982 of a human being in 1977 to diag- This year’s winners, François Noble Prize in Physics awarded to nose cancer. Damadian has received Jeremy Bernstein closes his No- clear tests in the atmosphere and Englert and Peter Higgs, developed Wilson for the development of the a multitude of awards for his dis- vember 2013 Back Page article elsewhere went into effect, an H- the theoretical mechanism for the renormalization group as applied to coveries. In 2003, the Nobel Prize “Learning to Love the Bomb” with bomb should be detonated every origin of mass of subatomic parti- critical points and phase transitions. in Physiology or Medicine was the sentence, “Perhaps there should year over the Pacific and all the cles. Others that proposed what is The names of Michael Fisher, Leo awarded jointly to Paul C. Lauterbur be one more explosion in the desert world’s heads of governments now known as the Higgs field were Kadanoff, and Benjamin Widom and Peter Mansfield for their dis- of Nevada to remind us.” This re- should be invited to watch it, for the late Robert Brout, Carl Hagen, come to mind as possible contribu- coveries concerning magnetic reso- minded me that the late Harold the same reason Bernstein gives, Gerald Guralnik, and Tom Kibble. tors. Surely, the three-person crite- nance imaging. Surely, there was Agnew, former director of Los “to remind us.” The prize is not awarded post- rion may have been used in this room here for a third winner. Alamos, made a similar suggestion. humously and may not be shared case. He suggested, I believe, that when Michael May among more than three people. No doubt, there are many more Moorad Alexanian the Limited Test Ban banning nu- Stanford, California These criteria may explain why cases of contention. However, a Wilmington, North Carolina Women and the Nobel Prize MEDAL continued from page 3 I read with great interest the ar- or two interactions with her. She was cipal experimentalist that made it all When Poirier finished his PhD mets, and has briefed the media on ticle in APS News, December 2013, a very impressive individual. Her real. There is a web story about her in 2011, he found a position at the the physics of concussions. When about women and Noble Prizes. One husband, Jerome, also at NRL did on the following link: http://narra- National Research Council of Can- one football helmet manufacturer person who should have been men- win the Nobel Prize for his develop- tive.ly/the-nonagenarians/isabella- ada–Oceans, Coastal, and River was sued by another over potential tioned is Isabella Karle, a chemist at ment of the “direct method” of ana- karles-curious-crystal-method/ Engineering, where he applies his patent infringement of a helmet de- the Naval Research Laboratory. I lyzing X-ray diffraction to determine knowledge to the study of sea ice. sign, Gay analyzed the evidence for have spent a career at NRL, although molecular structure. His work was Wallace Manheimer Although he retired from bobsled- the defendants. He discovered that in a very different field, and had one theoretical, but Isabella was the prin- Allendale, New Jersey ding in 2008, he still watches the previous comparisons of the two races and keeps up with the stats. helmet designs were shoddy. “Phys- Having a career in sports with a icists have a particular way of quan- Digital versus Analog physics degree is not limited to ath- tifying measurements,” he explains. In “Doing Science ‘Online’ (Let- showing the time by means of dis- phone record is analogue. Often letes. Adam Karnish, who received “The [plaintiffs] had done crude ters, APS News, November 2013) played digits rather than hands or contrasted with digital (sense 1). (of his BA in physics from Ithaca Col- measurements that I was able to David Lide credits the telegraph with a pointer. 3. of or relating to a finger a clock or watch) showing the time lege, has been playing golf since he demonstrate were not reproduc- the first “digital” communication. or fingers. by means of hands or a pointer was six years old. “It’s always been ible.” Gay conducted his own ex- Unfortunately, the only thing digital The telegraph is a form of ana- rather than displayed digits. a passion of mine,” he notes. He periments related to the two helmets about the telegraph is that it is oper- logue communication as defined by If the telegraph were true digital was on a championship team while in question and “we were able to ated by the fingers (digits) as defined Oxford and other dictionaries. Lord communication, I seriously doubt in high school. Today he is a Hand- show they just made minor cos- by the Oxford Dictionary: Rayleigh may have communicated that Rayleigh would have been the icap Research and Analysis Coor- metic changes to the helmet but Digital (adjective): 1. (of signals and collaborated using the telegraph, first to use it as such. dinator, where most of his work didn’t violate the design patent.” or data) expressed as series of the but he did not live to see the “Digital My doctoral research advisor draws on his scientific problem- digits 0 and 1, typically represented Age” in which we are now embed- frequently resorted to the Oxford solving abilities. He travels the Gay has additionally contributed to videos for UNL on the physics by values of a physical quantity such ded. Even the ciphers, such as Morse and other dictionaries for clarifica- country teaching methods for rating as voltage or magnetic polarization. Code, are analogue communications. tion. Spelling and grammar checks the difficulty of the courses and of gymnastics and the physics of track and field. Despite his passion Often contrasted with analog. Relat- As defined in theOxford Dictionary: often do not spot such word misuse. helps implement a handicap system ing to, using, or storing data or in- Analogue (adjective): relating to This is another differentiation that for sports, he doubts that knowledge for that specific location. Currently, formation in the form of digital sig- or using signals or information rep- is basic to understanding the physi- of science necessarily improves the he is working on how to improve nals: digital TV. A digital recording resented by a continuously variable cal world today. game playing. “It’s rare that my the pace of play and fix “traffic involving or relating to the use of physical quantity such as spatial physics insight helps a player do jams” on the course by taking a page computer technology: the digital position, voltage, etc.: analogue sig- Victor S. Alpher better,” he says. “My chief intel- from innovations in factory engi- revolution. 2. (of a clock or watch) nals the information on a gramo- Austin, Texas neering. “The way a player moves lectual interest is explaining [how through a course is the same way a things work], and figuring out how car moves through a plant,” he to explain it to a lay audience.” notes. Some physicist-athletes disagree Many of Karnish’s principal and are steadfast that their prowess tasks are related to handicapping, is directly influenced by their phys- which allows players to compete on ics familiarity. “I have instincts from Zero Gravity an equitable basis. He serves on the physics,” says Bernstein. “If I do USGA’s own handicap research something clever on the field, such the lighter side of science team, which involves “lots of cal- as getting the other player to use culus, statistics and stochastic pro- their own velocity against them, it’s By Michael Lucibella cess” analyses, he says. Addition- directly from being a physicist.” ally, “the USGA saw my strength Karnish agreed: “Physics has made in physics and mathematics and me a better golf player,” because it created a position for me to develop enables him to carefully scrutinize a global handicapping system,” he issues of trajectory, force and lift explains. “We are developing a stan- with every swing of his club. “Dur- dardized procedure so a handicap ing practice, I consciously think is portable from one course to the about these things.” next.” As for the future, the champion And then there’s Timothy Gay, physicists all want to keep incorpo- a professor of physics and astrono- rating sports in their careers. “I love my at the University of Nebraska- the game of golf, and I love the idea Lincoln (UNL), whose research expertise lies in polarized electron of improving it,” says Karnish. “The physics. But he also wears another game has changed in the last 15 hat–a football enthusiast. He wrote years and I like being where I am the book Football Physics: The Sci- to have a real-time effect in getting ence of The Game and produced a more people involved in the game.” series of edutainment videos about Alaina G. Levine is the author the subject which played during of Networking for Nerds (Wiley, UNL games and were eventually 2014) and President of Quantum picked up and distributed by NFL Success Solutions, a science career Films. and professional development con- Gay also consults for the indus- sulting enterprise. She can be con- try. He has worked with major tacted through www.alainalevine. sports equipment manufacturers to com, or followed on twitter @ help them improve padding in hel- AlainaGLevine February 2014 • 5

Historic Site: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center Education Corner On December 5, 2013 APS President- APS educational programs and publications Elect Sam Aronson (right) presented a plaque to David McQueeney, IBM Re- search vice president of Technical Strat- egy and Worldwide Operations, to recog- nize the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Save the date: 2014 PhysTEC Conference Center as an APS Historic Site. The word- The 2014 PhysTEC Conference will be held in Austin, Texas ing on the plaque reads as follows: “The on May 19-20 in conjunction with the UTeach Conference. The IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center PhysTEC Conference is the nation’s largest meeting dedicated has been home to numerous physicists to physics teacher education. who have produced seminal advances This year’s Conference theme is “Building Leadership” and the in many disciplines and fields of study. Conference features workshops, panel discussions, presentations Innovations discovered and developed by national leaders, and a contributed poster session. There will here include dynamic random access be a PhysTEC-UTeach joint plenary session by Arthur Levine (Woodrow Wilson Foundation). Other plenary speakers include memory (DRAM), field-effect transistor Nicole Gillespie (Knowles Science Teaching Foundation); David scaling laws, semiconductor superlattice E. Meltzer (Arizona State University); and Susan Singer (Na- structures, specialized lasers and thin- tional Science Foundation). film magnetic recording heads, as well as advances in optical communications and Registration will open in mid-February; the registration rate for electron microscopy.” attendees from PhysTEC member institutions is $150 and rate Photo by Charles Treppeda (IBM) for the non-member attendees is $295. Faculty from minority- serving institutions are eligible to apply for travel grants. Addi- tional Conference information can be found at: http://www.phys- tec.org/conferences/2014

ALPhA’s 2014 Laboratory Immersions Program INSIDE THE During the summer of 2014, the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA) will be offering a record number of sites for Beltway its popular “Laboratory Immersions”. The Immersions offer an opportunity for faculty and teaching staff to spend two to three full days, with expert colleagues on hand, learning the details of The American Dream Unwound! and Restored? a single experiment well enough to teach it with confidence. This year there are 14 sites offering a total of 28 different experiments, by Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs including new sites at Vanderbilt, Harvard, Sewanee, and the There’s nothing like six to nine sans, Scarborough exhorts the GOP porary American life in his recent- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. For details, including topics and inches of snow piling up on the leadership to push back against the ly published book, The Unwinding. registration, please visit www.advlab.org. Connecticut hills, with 40 mile per inflammatory rhetoric of the far It is eerily reminiscent in style and Interested in hosting a future Conference for Undergrad- hour winds and temperatures of five right and embrace pragmatic con- substance of John Dos Passos’ De- uate Women in Physics? Apply by February 15 to host below, to take the starch out of you– servative accommodation. And if pression era trilogy, U.S.A., which a site unless you live in Minneapolis, in Republican poobahs take his advice, occupied a prominent place in my Applications for future host institutions open in January 2014 for which case it’s like a day at a balmy I believe science–historically a bi- parents’ extensive library, and Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics to be hosted winter spa. partisan venture–could provide which I remember reading when I over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in mid-January So, faced with the prospect of them with an ideal opening gambit. was still in high school. of 2015. If you are interested in applying to host a conference, venturing outside and chilling my Saving an ailing Republican Packer, whom I first met sev- please visit http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/ body to the bone, I decided to catch Party is a serious matter. But saving eral years ago and saw again re- cuwip-host.cfm up on some books I’ve had on my an ailing nation is even more cru- cently, is an extraordinarily tal- reading list for a while. Curled up cial. And that is what Thomas Fried- ented writer with progressive New K-12 Statement Passed The American Physical Society calls upon local, state and fed- in an armchair, what I encountered man and Michael Mandelbaum leanings. His book, as New York eral policy makers, educators and schools to: was just as chilling. But evident in address in their 2011 book, That Times columnist David Brooks, a • provide every student access to high-quality science instruc- these gloomy snapshots of today Used to Be Us: How America Fell Republican, pointed out in a large- tion including physics and physical science concepts at all were rays of hope for the future, Behind in the World It Invented and ly positive review, is really about grade levels; and especially for science. How We Can Come Back. three unwindings: “the stagnation • provide the opportunity for all students to take at least one I started with Joe Scarborough’s It’s hard to summarize 356 pag- of middle-class wages and widening year of high-quality high school physics. beautifully written new book, The es in just a few sentences, but here inequality…the crushing recession Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, is the essence of their analysis and that began in 2008…[and] the un- Read more at http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/index.cfm How Republicans Once Mastered prescription for national recovery. raveling of the national fabric.” Politics–And Can Again. I’m a American exceptionalism–a term Although Packer doesn’t say so “Morning Joe” junky and rarely that finds its roots in Alexis de To- explicitly, science and technology Nuclear Physics Prize Reaches Fundraising Goal miss the MSNBC show that Scar- queville’s 19th century two-volume played a role in all three of those borough, a former conservative treatise, Democracy in America –is unwindings. Technology-enabled APS’s newest prize reached its More than 100 individuals and Republican House member, hosts not immutable, Friedman and Man- globalization and IT-driven work- fundraising goal in late October and organizations contributed to the on weekdays along with Mika delbaum assert. And without ad- force reductions helped produce the has selected its first recipient. The fundraising effort. The Division of Brzezinski, who provides a Demo- dressing four major challenges–glo- first. Complex mathematical algo- new Herman Feshbach Prize is Nuclear Physics raised over cratic counterpoint. balization, the IT revolution, deficits rithms known as derivatives helped awarded to physicists who have $200,000 to endow the prize. Scarborough’s message simply and debt, and energy and the envi- bring Wall Street to its knees and made important theoretical contri- “The response was very enthu- distilled is that Republicans have ronment–they say the United States led to Main Street’s great recession. butions to the field of nuclear phys- siastic,” said Gerald Miller of the lost their way. The party of Abra- is in the process of ceding its unique And the average person’s inability ics. University of Washington, the ham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, status in the world–a bad outcome to prosper in the modern techno- The Prize’s selection committee Prize’s fundraising committee chair. Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald for all nations, in their view. logical world helped fray the tradi- picked John Negele of the Massa- “I anticipated a three-year fundrais- Reagan has strayed from purposeful To recapture its exceptional po- tional American fabric. chusetts Institute of Technology for ing period, but it took only two pragmatism to ideological intransi- sition, they argue, America will But if you think about it, as his work on many-body theory and years.” gence, so much so that it is margin- have to draw on its historical capac- Friedman and Mandelbaum have the study of nucleons. Negele will Herman Feshbach worked at alizing its national appeal and pros- ity that de Toqueville termed ex- done, investments in research, edu- receive the prize and the $10,000 MIT’s physics department for more pects. That party once had a tent ceptional and sharply focus policies cation and infrastructure–along with award stipend at the 2014 April large enough to attract moderates and spending on three categories: the 21st-century policies they re- than fifty years, serving as its chair Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. like Nelson Rockefeller and con- education, infrastructure, and re- quire–can spawn a new era of for ten and directed its Center for “I feel honored and humbled,” servatives like Robert Taft, but search and development. They American exceptionalism. The re- Theoretical Physics from 1967 Negele said. “Although it is gratify- Scarborough asserts it has now be- could not have connected American sult won’t be a complete rewinding, through 1973. He contributed great- ing to have my research contribu- come so intolerant of moderation science to American success more but in the end, it could provide a tions appreciated by the nuclear ly to the understanding of nuclear that it is ceding the future of the vividly. renascence of the American dream. physics community, what makes reactions and the structure of nuclei, nation to liberalism embodied by Of course, to see that our nation As the second session of the this award especially meaningful and was an outspoken advocate for an ascendant Democratic left. and our political democracy are in 113th Congress begins its work, I to me is the fact that it was found- scientific freedom around the world. A one-party polity, which he sees trouble, you don’t have to read Scar- only hope that at least a few mem- ed in memory of Herman Feshbach. More information about the as a serious possibility absent Re- borough, or Friedman and Mandel- bers took some time during their He was a towering figure in our Feshbach Prize can be found on its publican redirection, poses an ex- baum. You simply have to look holiday break to reflect on the issues field and was a colleague and friend web page at http://www.aps.org/ istential threat to American democ- around you. And that is what George Scarborough, Friedman, Mandel- at MIT where we shared our passion programs/honors/prizes/feshbach. racy in his view. And in a Packer helps you do with a series baum, and Packer have illuminated for nuclear physics for 30 years.” cfm not-so-veiled warning to Tea Parti- of gripping narratives of contem- so poignantly. 6 • February 2014

MEMBERSHIP continued from page 1 All Sorted Out year. But the total number of mem- on by establishing a number of Physicists gather in mid-January bers living abroad, which makes up hyper-local regional groups for stu- to carry out the crucial task of about 23 percent of the total mem- dents and early career members so sorting abstracts for the 2014 bership, increased from 11,319 last they can network about career op- year to 11,492 this year. “A pri- April Meeting. Back Row: Laura tions outside of the usual academic Blecha (University of Maryland), mary concern I have is turning our early career members into regular path. “It’s going to be a slow process Tonia Venters (NASA Goddard), members,” Lettieri said. in building up the regular member Brock Russell (University of One of the strategies is to build count,” Lettieri said. “But we’re Maryland), Liz Hays (NASA God- a greater sense of community early moving in the right direction.” dard), Julie McEnery (NASA Goddard). Foreground: Sam Leitner (University of Maryland), Peter Polko, (University of Mary- land). Photo by Michael Lucibella KAVLI continued from page 1

ENVELOPE continued from page 1 When he sold the company in 2000 Case in point: the South Pole for $340 million, he established The Telescope (SPT), an early endeavor Kepler-62f, planets about the size sults of their first run. It should have team running the Antarctic neutrino Kavli Foundation to advance sci- of the Kavli Institute for Cosmo- of Earth, covered in liquid water been able to spot the signals seen detector, IceCube, announced that ence for the benefit of humanity and logical Physics at the University of oceans, and orbiting safely within by CDMS, but the fact that it didn’t they saw two neutrinos of such high promote increased public under- Chicago, which Turner heads. The their sun’s habitable zone. Then in has left physicists scratching their energy, more than a petaelectron- standing and support for scientists SPT examines cosmic microwave June another surprise: Astronomers heads. volt, that it’s almost impossible for and their work. background (CMB) radiation and using Earth-based telescopes dis- Omid Kokabee them to have originated in the Milky Since that time, the Foundation galactic evolution and structure. covered that the three planets orbit- Physicist and political prisoner Way Galaxy. In August, researchers has donated more than $200 million Since taking first light in 2007, the ing the star Gliese 667C were all Omid Kokabee released a letter in using data from IceCube’s surface and established 17 institutes at uni- within its habitable zone (largest April from jail stating the reason telescope has provided physicists detectors, IceTop, confirmed that, versities across the globe that focus number of such planets in the one the government of Iran has impris- with unique insight into the early as scientists had long suspected, on fundamental research in theo- solar system discovered so far). oned him is because he has stead- universe, including new knowledge supernovaes are among the main retical physics, astrophysics, nano- However, sad news came at the be- fastly refused to work on their weap- concerning stellar and galactic for- sources of the high-energy protons science, and neuroscience. It has ginning of June. The prolific Kepler ons programs. Kokabee is an mation and evolution, which has known as cosmic rays. also sponsored projects and pro- Telescope, which revolutionized the Iranian citizen who was studying at led to a better understanding of dark Ununpentium grams that bolster scientific endeav- planet-hunting field, suffered a ter- the University of Texas in Austin energy and stronger tests of infla- A new element joined the peri- ors, from special symposia at both minal malfunction, effectively end- when he was arrested at the Tehran tion. But the project never would odic table in August. An interna- the APS March Meeting and April ing its mission after only four years. airport in January of 2011 while have gotten off the ground, notes tional team of researchers created a Meeting, to the NIH Brain Research In the November issue of the Pro- visiting his family. Eventually he Turner, had it not been for the seed few short-lived atoms of ununpen- through Advancing Innovative Neu- ceedings of the National Academy was tried and sentenced to ten years money from the Kavli Foundation. tium (its temporary name) with rotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, of Sciences, scientists estimated that for “cooperation with a hostile gov- “We leveraged the gift from the atomic number 115 at the GSI to science journalism prizes and one in five sun-like stars in the gal- ernment.” In his letter from prison, Foundation to allow us to go after Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion travel fellowships. axy have planets in their habitable he said the Iranian government had a $40 million grant from the Na- Research in Germany by bombard- And then there are the Kavli zones, meaning statistically that asked him many times over the ing a film of americium with cal- tional Science Foundation,” which there could be an inhabited planet years to work for the military, but Prizes. Designed to parallel the No- resulted in the telescope being built, cium ions. The element was first bels, the Prizes are awarded every within 12 light-years of Earth. he refused, and that’s the real reason reported in 2003 by a group in Rus- he adds. “It enabled an incredible Planck Telescope for his incarceration. other year in Oslo in a partnership range of research on CMB and dis- sia, however the International Union of The Norwegian Academy of Sci- The European Space Agency Politics of Science of Pure and Applied Chemistry said coveries of clusters of galaxies.” released the final results from the Science and politics is a volatile ence and Letters, The Kavli Founda- Kavli is described as “extraor- they wouldn’t recognize the discov- tion, and The Norwegian Ministry Planck Space Telescope in March. mixture, and this year was particu- dinarily smart, disciplined and de- ery until an outside group confirmed of Education and Research. They The spacecraft took the most de- larly contentious. In April a leaked termined,” says Conn, which served it. That confirmation came this year, recognize scientists for their semi- tailed picture yet of the cosmic mi- draft of a Republican bill, the “High him well in his various pursuits. In and now researchers get to argue nal advances in astrophysics, nano- crowave background, and there Quality Research Act,” sparked 2008, when the economy tanked, about what to call it. science and neuroscience, and con- were still some surprises left. It turns outrage amongst scientists who saw and the Foundation’s assets de- Voyager 1 sist of $1 million for each of the out that the universe is a little bit its “national interest” clause as a creased in value, “Fred came in For the first time, a human-built scientific fields, according to the older (13.82 billion years old as op- everyday like a day trader to try to object left the bounds of the solar Kavli Prize website. “Fred was posed to 13.7 billion) and made up get the funds back up,” says Turner. system. In September 2013, NASA proud to say (in jest) that the Ka- of more dark matter than astrono- He was known for his frugality. The released its official statement that vli medal was 1 mm larger than the mers had previously thought. In Foundation, “a lean and mean ma- the Voyager 1 space probe had en- Nobel medal,” says Michael S. October, the agency announced that chine,” he adds, has a staff of only tered interstellar space. Launched Turner, APS Past President. after its successful mission, the ob- six and its headquarters are in a in 1977, the spacecraft visited Ju- For the people who knew Kavli, servatory would shut down for nondescript office plaza in Oxnard, piter and Saturn before setting its his actions as a zealous benefactor good. CA, by design. Kirby recalls hear- Higgs Boson course for the stars. It actually and advocate on behalf of basic re- passed through the heliopause, the search is not bewildering. “He be- ing that Kavli never flew first class: The Higgs boson continued to “He said ‘it’s such a waste of mon- make headlines a year after its dis- outermost edge of the solar wind, lieved that philanthropy is crucial- ey, which could be used to support covery. In March, CERN made an in August of 2012, but after several ly important to moving science science.’” But he did find pleasure announcement that with more than previous false positives, scientists forward,” says Conn, “and through in certain material outlets. “He twice as much data as in July 2012, needed more data to be sure. science, the world becomes a better Photo courtesy of IceCube Collaboration loved driving his Bentley,” says the research team was even more Space invaders: Data collected on neu- NIF place.” Turner with a laugh. convinced that the particle discov- trinos from space by the IceCube ex- In October, a rumor started “Fred was proud of the fact that As for the future of the Founda- ered was the Higgs boson. In Oc- periment. floating around that the National he was a physicist,” says Kate Kir- tion, Conn says that Kavli left a tober, Peter Higgs and François ploy by Congress to interfere with Ignition Facility had achieved igni- by, APS Executive Officer. “He re- Englert jointly won the Nobel Prize the grant-making authority of the tion, in which more energy is re- ally saw the value of physics and final surprise. “We knew Fred would for their fundamental contributions National Science Foundation. leased from a fusion reaction than was so concerned that physics leave money to the Kavli Founda- to the underlying theory. Though never introduced because was put in. Alas it was not to be. should receive the kind of support tion, but we didn’t know how Dark Matter of the outcry, elements of the bill After a mistaken BBC News article it needed. Through the established much,” he says with a chuckle. Apparently conflicting results resurfaced in November in the touched off a flurry of escalating institutes, he helped bring important In fact, “Fred left the entirety of dominated the ongoing search for House’s FIRST Act, which reautho- headlines on the Internet, reason researchers together to work on his estate to the Foundation. We dark matter this year. First in April, rizes funding for the NSF. That prevailed and it turned out that the fundamental problems. It’s wonder- expect in the next three to five years the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search legislation however has not been facility was still a long way from ful to see a Foundation focused on to be spending two to three times reported that after analyzing data passed. In the midst of this contro- its goal. The timing couldn’t have basic science.” what we’re spending now. The Ka- from their five-year run, they iden- versy, scores of federal scientists been worse. The article was pub- The Foundation’s gifts to the vli Foundation is here to stay and tified three signals that looked like had to walk away from their re- lished in the middle of the govern- Kavli institutes are almost always will continue to support science, dark-matter candidates. Though the search when the federal government ment shutdown, when there was no unrestricted, says Conn. The en- and now, at an even larger scale.” team was unwilling to say the results shut down for sixteen days in Oc- one at the lab to set the record dowments which support the insti- “Fred took sheer joy took in sup- amounted to a discovery, it seemed tober. straight. tutes, including the Kavli Institute porting basic research,” says Turn- tantalizing evidence of a relatively Particles from Space See also the top physics research for Theoretical Physics at UC San- er. “He realized what a gem he had light dark-matter particle. However, Earth is constantly pelted by a stories of 2013 published in the APS ta Barbara (the first established), in these institutes and that this in October, scientists at the Large menagerie of particles, and this year journals and highlighted by the provide about $400,000 annually in would be his greatest legacy. He Underground Xenon experiment in scientists identified some of their editors of Physics (http://physics. income, designed to seed research always spoke about the Kavli Insti- South Dakota released the null re- interstellar sources. In April, the aps.org/articles/v6/139) that otherwise might not be funded. tutes as his children.” February 2014 • 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS We Want your Nominations for Historic Sites Owing to technical difficulties, the Quantum-Bayesian coherence website for APS Historic Sites Christopher A. Fuchs and Rüdiger Schack suggestions did not retain any past This review explores some of the consequences and features nominations. of the quantum-Bayesian approach to quantum theory. This Please submit nominations, both approach contends that the difficulties in the foundations of new and previously submitted, via quantum theory arise from the difficulties in understanding the nature of probabilities. "Dutch-book" wager games are explored http://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/history/historicsites/nomination.cfm to illustrate the Bayesian view on probabilities, and to give a different underpinning for the Born rule for measurement prob- Nominations received before the end of February will be eligible to be abilities. A new view on the state-space structure of quantum considered in the 2014 cycle. mechanics arises from these considerations. http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.85.1693

http://rmp.aps.org Accepting Applications to Host a Conference for May 19-20, 2014 Undergraduate AT&T Executive Conference Center PhysTEC University of Texas at Austin Women in Physics Held in conjunction with Conference the UTeach Conference Deadline: February 15, 2014

TM

http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/cuwip-host.cfm Building Leadership

TM http://www.phystec.org/conferences/2014/

BOUCHET continued from page 1 esting materials,” Martinez-Miran- modify the interaction.” da said. “If you look at them in a Her work on the interaction of microscope, they’re visually very liquid crystals and nanoparticles is attractive.” helping to lay the groundwork for Program designed for students with undergraduate degrees in physics or The more she worked with the future generations of electronics crystals, the more her background and medicine. “It has applications related disciplines interested in pursuing doctoral studies in physics. African in experimental physics and chem- not only in biophysics, but also in Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans are especially istry came in handy. “I think that photovoltaics and many other encouraged to apply. the field of liquid crystals requires fields,” Martinez-Miranda said. [this combination] more than many One potential route is to use these other fields,” Martinez-Miranda Deadline: Questions? materials in display devices. said. March 21, 2014 Contact [email protected] She said that she’s also excited After receiving her doctorate, about a new collaboration with a she left for the West Coast to do her chemist in Chile, which pulled www.apsbridgeprogram.org/link/apply.cfm postdoc work at the University of Martinez-Miranda toward another California, Berkeley. “At MIT I was new direction. Up to this point, all working on just the basics of liquid of the materials she’s worked with crystals,” Martinez-Miranda said. have been monomeric, but now FELLOW continued from page 1 “At Berkeley they were looking at she’ll start exploring the potential it from the point of view of how the STEM Master Teacher Corps. “As a high school science teach- ment of Education has proven more applications of polymer liquid crys- liquid crystals interact with a sur- Mundy received her bachelor’s er, you’re immersed in science difficult. In September when the tals. She said she expects that the face….I went from being very ba- degree in physics and chemistry education policy,” Mundy said. “I other AAAS policy fellowships mechanical properties of polymers sic to applications.” and her masters in chemistry from was really interested after college could lead to entirely new applica- start up, the STEM Education She then spent a year as a visit- Harvard University in 2006. After in working as a teacher to provide Policy Fellow will join the rest of tions. that, she spent two years teaching high-level educational opportuni- ing professor at Kent State Univer- the cohort. She is also excited about the science through Teach for Ameri- ties to all students.” sity at their liquid crystal center. “Forty years ago APS was one chance to travel to different univer- ca, first in Baton Rouge with stu- The APS has been trying to es- While there, her research interests of the founding member societies sities and share her research as part dents who had been evacuated tablish such a fellowship at the started to evolve. She started work- of the AAAS fellowships, and once ing on thin films as well and when of the Bouchet lectureship. She has from New Orleans because of Hur- Department of Education for years. already put together a list of schools again APS is leading the way,” she took a position at the Univer- ricane Katrina, then in New Haven, The Society was one of the found- she hopes to visit, many of which Glembo said. “There has never sity of Maryland, she expanded Connecticut. She then attended ing partners of the AAAS Congres- have large Hispanic populations. been a fellow [of this kind] at the further into work on nanoparticles. Cornell for her doctorate in applied sional Fellowships in 1973, but In addition she is also planning to physics. placing individuals at the Depart- Department of Education.” “Studying nanoparticles is in a way very similar to doing a thin film lecture at the upcoming meeting for the Society for Advancement of MEMBERS continued from page 1 study,” she said. In the process, she moved back Chicanos and Native Americans in ‘‘That’s getting me back to a the Research Corporation for Sci- began to get very depressed about toward basic research and away Science (SACNAS). real love of my life….It gets me ence Advancement, The Associ- it all.” from finding immediate practical “The APS meetings are de- back to something I also feel pas- ated Press, January 14, 2014. Irene Beardsley, recalling her applications. “I am way [over] on scribed as general meetings, but sionate about.” 1978 ascent of the mountain An- the fundamental side,” Martinez- they are specific to [physics],” Robert Shelton, on leaving his “We were watching these napurna I in the Himalayas, The Miranda said. “I’m interested in Martinez-Miranda said. “The nice position as executive director of things [avalanches] go by…and San Jose Mercury News, January finding out how nanoparticles and thing about the SACNAS meeting the Fiesta Bowl to be president of we were running out of food. We 14, 2014. films interact and how can you is you get all of [the sciences].” 8 • February 2014

hen I heard that the APS was proposing fraction is due to chemical versus physical Wa new journal, Physical Review Ap- bonds? Could we pave highways that absorb plied, it seemed to me self-evident that the 50% CO2 by weight? What is the theoretical one thing we don’t need is more journals. New limit to the material’s strength? What other journals appear monthly, providing increasing Physical Review Applied: materials could be designed to sequester

amounts of noise (in the form of low-quality CO2? papers) that dilute important signals (high- Bridging an Artificial Gap These questions involve fascinating and quality science) made by serious researchers. By Troy Shinbrot important materials science. But currently the Moreover, there obviously are already strong separation between physics and engineering applied physics journals, and I didn’t feel that publications prevents physicists from even find- science would benefit from a fast-food philosophy: The pres- ing out about examples like this, except by chance. We need ence of a McDonalds is justification to put up a Burger King a forum for physicists to learn what the most current engi- next door. The natural question then is, what possessed me neering research is producing–and what physics is needed to become editor of Physical Review Applied? to solve pressing technological problems. The simple answer is that despite the excess of noise Example: Artificial ligaments are known to be greatly provided by what I call value-subtracting journals, there is inferior to natural ones because under repeated strain, the a very real and significant gap at the intersection of physics artificial materials plastically deform, leading to looseness and engineering that I believe needs to be filled, and as a in the joint–a completely unsatisfactory property for a knee consequence, many APS members doing important, valuable, ligament. I have another colleague who is taking advantage and frankly very beautiful research have no publishing home of the elegant idea that braids in an artificial ligament tight- for their work. en when stressed to prevent the unwanted fibers from stretch- Speaking for myself, I am trained as a mathematical ing at low stresses. This is a useful, beautiful, and totally physicist, but I work in biomedical engineering. I have pub- physical idea–one that again deserves a forum for both lished in both engineering and physics journals, and I have physicists and engineers to appreciate and build on. found that whichever category of journal I choose, colleagues Example: In recent years, three independent groups have from the other category seldom learn of that work. I am shown that absolutely identical materials, brought into sym- certainly not alone in this: I know many physicists whose metric contact and separated, spontaneously produce charg- research involves eminently applicable topics, and they es that grow with repeated contacts. The cause of this sym- consistently bring elegant and useful ideas to the verge of metry breaking is unknown, as is the mechanism for charge realization, but struggle to go further for want of industry transport in these insulating materials. The buildup of charg- contacts and engineering knowhow. Likewise, I work daily es is of practical importance because charging of identical with engineers who study useful and important problems that materials is believed to be associated with lightning in sand- are physics through and through, but who publish in journals storms as well as industrial dust explosions that kill dozens that are rarely read by physicists. of workers annually. So this problem involves both funda- I’ll give examples shortly, but coupled with these substan- mental physics and very practical implications. tive gaps are cultural and semantic gaps between physics and Yet only a handful of scientists are aware either that there engineering communities. Some of these lead to almost is a major hole in our understanding of basic charge transport comical misunderstandings, as when an engineering colleague mechanisms or that this hole has important implications discussed “dispersion” with me and I was baffled because I Photos by Thinkstock.com ranging from the geosciences to industry. In large part, I couldn’t understand what a relation between frequency and A new twist in knee repair. It is well known among skiers and would argue that problems of this kind aren’t recognized or wavelength had to do with dissolving pharmaceutical tablets. football players that the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can be torn. appreciated because research crossing the physics-engineer- I now know that engineers seldom deal with dispersion rela- This can be devastating, since the ACL literally holds the back of the ing divide has no publishing home. Contact charging is tions, and instead use dispersion and diffusion (almost) in- knee together. Conventional artificial replacements for the ACL discussed in one place, sandstorms in another, and indus- substantially underperform the original ligament, but a new approach terchangeably. uses interwoven fibers–like a braided rope–to achieve a more natu- trial hazards in yet a third. Moreover, an analysis of the On the other side, when I speak of “autonomous” systems, ral response. implications of contact charging for geosciences and for my bioengineering colleagues look at me with puzzlement industry would have a hard sell to get published in any one –because they are thinking of autonomous robots and would resonance in the 1930s to be developed into the first mag- of those three places. call my system “endogenous.” Similarly, to physicists “trans- netic resonance images in the 1970s. The same is true of This is only a small set of the examples that I happen to lation” results from linear motion, but to engineers this means Gorilla® Glass: universally used in cellphone and computer have encountered, but there are many more and we plan to bringing a technology to market–and a physicist could be displays today, this was developed using long-established publish papers in a wide range of topics (see http://journals. forgiven for thinking that “systems biology” describes how methods of physical chemistry in the 1960s, but wasn’t en- aps.org/prapplied/about). Based on these examples alone there systems of cells, organs or organisms interact, whereas in gineered into a device until the 1990s. We can’t predict what seems to me to be a compelling case for a journal that bridg- bioengineering it refers to (usually informatic) studies of how physical ideas will evolve into which engineering applications, es the artificial divide separating physics from engineering, genes and proteins regulate cell functions. but we can all agree that while a 30-year wait may have been It seems equally certain to me that providing such a journal More fundamentally, I have had several collaborations needed in times past for technology to catch up with science, can only strengthen both disciplines. Our goal is to provide with bioengineers that took off only after several hours of 30 years is too long to wait today. a publishing home for scientists and engineers whose work recalibrating our understanding. One example: I have been crosses that divide. Plus we intend to make better burgers. trained to reason by forward chaining–making a hypothesis "...there is a very real and significant gap at the intersec- Troy Shinbrot is Professor of and deriving results–while my bioengineering colleagues tion of physics and engineering that I believe needs to Biomedical Engineering at Rut- tend to work by backward chaining–observing a phenomenon be filled, and as a consequence, many APS members gers University and Editor of and dissecting it. And don’t even get me started discussing doing important, valuable, and frankly very beautiful Physical Review Applied. His “balance,” which engineers use to describe anything from research have no publishing home for their work." training is in mathematical phys- mass conservation to Newton’s second law. ics, with a PhD in nonlinear con- Despite this culture gap, physics-engineering collabora- trol, and his research involves tions that do take hold are enormously rewarding and produc- In the presence of this need, the distraction presented by soft matter and biological mor- tive. There is no shortage of examples. GPS is entirely based value-subtracting journals is unfortunate, but my interactions phogenesis. Shinbrot has a long- on physics, but has been introduced into our phones and cars with engineers have led to the most rewarding, valuable, and standing interest in scientific by electrical engineers. Robotic surgery has revolutionized downright fun collaborations that I have had, and I am con- ethics and engineering writing, both of which he teaches for delicate operations, and could not exist without major con- vinced that a journal bringing physics and engineering to- entering graduate students. gether will add value far beyond what we might anticipate tributions by physicists alongside mechanical, electrical, and References biological engineers. The same is true of high-resolution at first thought. Let me close with a small sampling of ex- R. Riman & V. Atakan, “Systems and methods for carbon capture tomography, confocal and convolution microscopy, and es- amples of problems to illustrate this point. and sequestration and compositions derived therefrom,” US Patent sentially every single part of a laptop computer, from mem- Example: A colleague of mine recently developed a ce- # 8,114,367 (2012). ory to processor to display to mouse to touch-screen. All of ramic that sequesters carbon dioxide–indeed, it doesn’t just V. I. Walters, A. L. Kwansa & J. W. Freeman, “Design and analy- these technologies have resulted from collaborations between do this passively, it uses carbon dioxide in a reaction to so- sis of braid-twist collagen scaffolds,” Connective Tissue Research, physics and engineering, and the pace of similar develop- lidify the ceramic. This is a terrific vision, right? But it was 53 (2012) 255-6. ments is certain to accelerate in the future. developed by a materials engineer, and in the ordinary course T. Shinbrot, T. S. Komatsu & Q. Zhao, “Spontaneous tribocharg- ing of similar materials,” Europhys. Lett. 83 (2008) 24004 1-4. This is the raison d’être of Physical Review Applied: to of events it would be published in an engineering journal to promote the publication of the highest quality papers at the be discovered, only eventually, by physicists for broader M. M. Apodaca, P. J. Wesson, K. J. M. Bishop, M. A. Ratner & B. A. Grzybowski, “Contact Electrification between identical materials,” intersection of physics and engineering, and to provide a research and analysis. Angew. Chemie 49 (2010) 946-9. forum for researchers at that intersection. There is a pressing These ceramics can sequester up to 20% of their mass in M. Sow, D. J. Lacks & R. M. Sankaran, “Dependence of contact need to fill the physics-engineering gap. It took more than CO2 and produce strengths superior to Portland cement. But electrification on the magnitude of strain in polymeric materials,” J. three decades for Isidor Rabi’s work on nuclear magnetic what allows this new material to attain this strength? What Appl. Phys. 112 (2012), 084909.

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