April 2007 Volume 16, No. 4

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APS NEWS New Series on Versatility in Physics A Publication of the American Physical Society • www.aps.org/publications/apsnews debuts on page 5

New Research in Particle, Nuclear and APS Panel Report Assesses Nuclear Waste Storage Issues Astrophysics Featured at April Meeting Approximately 54,000 tons storage site is that it could “relieve The latest research results LBL Director Steven Chu of spent nuclear fuel are stored at impediments to the growth of in particle, nuclear, plasma, will discuss the role played by operating nuclear power plants and nuclear power,” the report says. A and astrophysics will be physicists in the development several decommissioned power consolidated site would decouple the featured at the upcoming of clean energy sources. plants throughout the country. private sector nuclear power plant 2007 APS April Meeting, to Shamit Kachru (Stanford) The APS Panel on Public Affairs operators from uncertainties inherent be held April 14-17, 2007 in will look at how string (POPA) has recently released a in the federal long-term spent fuel Jacksonville, Florida. Among theory addresses the idea that report assessing some of the issues management program, the report the many notable speakers on many universes might exist involved in developing one or more notes. “The assurance that spent fuel the program are 2006 physics simultaneously, each with its consolidated interim storage sites can be removed from a reactor to a Nobelists John Mather own fundamental “constants.” where this nuclear waste could be storage site may reduce the difficulty (NASA) and George Smoot Jacqueline Hewitt (MIT) will stored until a permanent repository in siting new plants,” the report says. (Lawrence Berkeley National speak about the early “dark at Yucca Mountain is opened. The study group determined that Laboratory), who will discuss (University of Texas) will age” in the universe; James Current storage facilities at there are no technical barriers to their prize-winning work on the describe the amazing properties Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute reactor sites were not meant to be long-term safe and secure interim cosmic microwave background. of electrons moving about in a for Space Studies) will discuss permanent, but the schedule for storage either at nuclear reactor In addition, there will be a wide two-dimensional graphene sheet. global warming and its possible opening Yucca Mountain continues sites or at a consolidated site. “The variety of sessions devoted to Gerald Gabrielse (Harvard) will side effects; and Steven Vigdor to slip. The federal government is safety and security risks associated education, national security, discuss his new measurement of (Indiana) will report on recent incurring increasing liability costs with storage of spent fuel are not energy research, and other social the electron’s magnetic moment, proton spin results from the the longer spent fuel remains at appreciably different whether the issues. which resulted in a new value for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider reactor sites, and there is concern fuel is stored at plant sites or in one Three plenary sessions (A1, the fine structure constant. David (RHIC). that continuing to store spent fuel or more consolidated facilities,” the Q1, W1) will spotlight eminent Spergel (Princeton) will review Putting a Spin on the Pro- at power plants will make it more report states. speakers holding forth on the the implications for cosmology ton. The Relativistic Heavy Ion difficult to find sites for new nuclear Even if Yucca Mountain opens as leading topics of the day. Francis of the WMAP mission, which Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven power plants and to build them. scheduled in 2017, it will take several Everitt (Stanford) will present new provided recently such a fine National Laboratory has been tak- Recently, appropriations com- decades to move all the currently results form the Gravity Probe map of the cosmic microwave mittees in Congress have suggested stored spent fuel to the site. Interim B mission. Allan MacDonald background. APRIL MEETING continued on page 6 building one or more consolidated storage, either at reactors or at one or interim storage sites for the spent more consolidated sites, will still be Four New Sites Added to Teacher Education Program fuel. The POPA Nuclear Energy necessary, the study group reports. PhysTEC, the APS-led pro- ideas throughout the community tial request for proposals for ex- Study Group examined issues as- The study group also found that gram to improve teacher educa- and work toward transforming pansion sites in October 2006, it sociated with the centralized interim there is sufficient storage capacity tion, has announced the addition physics departments to re-en- received 45 applications, many storage of spent nuclear fuel and has at current nuclear reactors to hold of four new sites. gage in the preparation of phys- more than expected. issued a technical and programmatic all spent fuel for the duration of the PhysTEC (Physics Teacher ics teachers. “Project management was assessment. plant licenses. Education Coalition) institutions The PhysTEC project is led by quite delighted and a bit over- “We found no major technical If Congress decides to develop a work to demonstrate and provide the APS, in partnership with the whelmed by the interest in this benefit to developing a consolidat- consolidated interim storage facility, models for increasing the number American Association of Physics program–clearly physics and ed interim storage site,” said John there will be challenges in selecting of highly qualified high school Teachers and the American Insti- physical science teacher educa- Ahearne, one of the study group co- and approving a site. However, physics teachers and improving tute of Physics. tion is gaining momentum among chairs. There may be some program- the study group suggests that these the quality of K-8 physical sci- Interest in the PhysTEC pro- institutions around the country,” matic benefits to a consolidated stor- siting challenges can be overcome ence teacher education. PhysTEC gram has been extremely high. said Ted Hodapp, APS Director age site, he said. by finding ways to make the facility also aims to spread best practice When PhysTEC sent out an ini- PHYSTEC continued on page 3 One advantage of a consolidated POPA continued on page 4 Named Lectureships Enhance Major Donation Launches New Math and Science Education Initiative March and April Meetings A donation of $125 million youth and it is now time for us to existing programs. One is training from ExxonMobil Foundation will act.” and incentive programs for AP Several named lectureships are and makes for a fitting and timely support a new program designed The NMSI will scale-up two and pre-AP courses. [The AP, or bringing distinguished speakers to lecture topic.” to help America regain its global DONATION continued on page 7 the APS March and April meetings In addition, two named APS leadership position in technological this year. lectureships are bringing four innovation by supporting programs The Henry Primakoff Lecture distinguished foreign scientists Who’s Got the Gavel? that improve math and science will be given at the 2007 April to speak at the March and April education. The new program, Meeting by John Wilkerson of meetings. The Beller Lectureship the National Math and Science the University of Washington. was endowed by Esther Hoffman Initiative (NMSI), was announced The Lectureship was established Beller for the purpose of bringing by ExxonMobil and leaders in in 1997 by the APS Council distinguished physicists from America’s education community and by colleagues of the late abroad as invited speakers at on March 9. Henry Primakoff to honor APS meetings. The Marshak The NMSI was created in his contributions to physics. Lectureship, endowed by Ruth response to the National Academies’ Wilkerson will speak about double Marshak in honor of her late 2005 report, Rising Above the beta decay, which had been a topic husband and former APS president, Gathering Storm, which called of particular interest to Primakoff, Robert Marshak, provides travel for improving American students’ who was the author, together support for physicists from a performance in math and science with the late Peter Rosen, of a developing country or from in order to ensure US global classic paper on the subject [ Rep. Eastern Europe invited to speak at competitiveness. Prog. Phys. 22, 121 (1959)]. Said APS meetings. In a press release announcing Wilkerson, “The Primakoff and For 2007, two Beller Lectures the creation of NMSI, Tom Luce, Rosen paper is one of the seminal were given at the March Meeting. CEO of the NMSI and former U.S. early papers on double beta-decay, Eliezer Rabinovici of Hebrew Assistant Secretary of Education for Photo by Ken Cole which I recall first reading as a University in Jerusalem, spoke Planning, Evaluation, and Policy From the picture, you might think that APS decides its presidency the same postdoc just starting to learn about on “SESAME, A Scientific way that teams are chosen in a sandlot baseball game. That is an illusion, Development, said, “The National weak interaction physics. With Collaboration In The Middle East: however. John Hopfield (right), who was President of APS in 2006, is handing Academies set forth a clear path the gavel, symbolic of the APS Presidency, to 2007 President Leo Kadanoff. the recent evidence that neutrinos Personal and Israeli Perspectives.” for the nation to improve math and The transfer took place at the APS Executive Board meeting in Ridge, NY in have mass, Primakoff’s work in Rabinovici was nominated by the science education for our country’s February, although Kadanoff had been President since January 1. this area has renewed relevance LECTURESHIPS cont. on page 6  • April 2007 APS NEWS

Members in the Media This Month in Physics History

“For 28 years, we’ve done what what we imagined we could have April 1911: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes we wanted to do, and there’s no rea- imagined.” begins his work on superconductivity. son to stay and generate more of the Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard same data. If people don’t believe us University, on what motivates scien- his year, 2007, the physics community cel- Keeping the mercury in a U-shaped tube with after all the results we’ve produced, tists, the Globe and Mail, February Tebrates the 20th anniversary of the “Woodstock wires at both ends, he passed a current through it then they never will.” 12, 2007 of Physics” conference on high temperature super- and measured resistance as he lowered the tempera- Robert Jahn, Princeton Univer- “Elegant laws of physics give conductors and the 50th anniversary of the BCS ture. At first, as the temperature dropped, the resis- sity, on the closing of Princeton’s you boring universes that don’t have theory of superconductivity. However, the story of tance also dropped slowly. Then, suddenly, at 4.19 engineering anomalies lab, which anything in them.” superconductivity begins in 1911, when Heike Ka- Kelvin, the resistance abruptly vanished. Onnes was studied paranormal phenomena, Joe Lykken, Fermilab, Wash- merlingh Onnes first discovered the phenomenon. shocked. This was not what anyone had predicted. The New York Times, February 10, ington Post Magazine, February Kamerlingh Onnes was born on September 21, At first Onnes didn’t believe what he saw; he 2007 18, 2007 1853, in Groningen, in the Netherlands. His father thought perhaps there was a short circuit or some owned a bricklaying business. Onnes entered the other problem with the apparatus. He and his team “I don’t believe in anything Bob “If we’re going to delay global University of Groningen in 1870, spent two years in repeated the experiment until finally Onnes became is doing, but I support his right to do warming, what we can do in a big Heidelberg from 1871 to 1873, and then returned to convinced that the surprising effect was indeed real. it.” hurry is energy efficiency: better Groningen, where he received his doctorate in phys- In late April 1911, he published his first paper, titled Will Happer, Princeton Uni- cars, better buildings, better indus- ics in 1879. “The resistance of pure mercury at he- versity, on Robert Jahn’s studies of try.” Onnes, known as “the gentleman of lium temperatures” in the Communica- paranormal phenomena, The New Arthur Rosenfeld, California absolute zero,” devoted his career to a tions from the Physical Laboratory at York Times, February 10, 2007 Energy Commission, Washington quest to reach lower and lower tempera- Leiden. He published a second paper “I get a huge range of questions. Post, February 17, 2007 tures and explore the behavior of matter in May, and in November 1911, Onnes Kids read up before they come here “It leads you to wonder whether at those extremely low temperatures. He published another paper entitled “On the and ask about Einstein and relativity. they kind of got lucky. But the fact began that quest in about 1882, when Sudden Change in the Rate at which Re- It’s very surprising.” remains that the patterns are tanta- he joined the faculty at Leiden Univer- sistance of Mercury Disappears.” Michael Cooke, Fermilab, on lizingly close to having the structure sity and started studying low tempera- Soon after finding the effect in mer- visitors to Fermilab, the Daily Her- that Penrose discovered in the mid- ture gases. A dedicated experimenter, cury, Onnes showed that tin and lead ald (suburban Chicago), February Heike Kamerlingh Onnes 70s.” his motto was “Door meten tot weten” also become superconducting at low tem- 12, 2007 Joshua Socolar, Duke Uni- (“Knowledge through measurement”). peratures. “You can’t buy a $20 phone versity, on a study that found that In 1898 Onnes’ rival, James Dewar, beat him in Though other physicists did not immediately without being offered an extended some medieval Islamic art exhibits the race to liquefy hydrogen. Onnes then moved grasp the importance of the discovery–a presenta- warranty. If you said ‘No’ every sin- sophisticated geometrical patterns, on to a new goal, liquefying helium, and this time, tion Onnes gave at a conference in 1912 generated gle time, you would save more than Reuters, February 26, 2007 Onnes beat Dewar in the race, producing the first little excitement–Onnes quickly recognized the enough in the long run to pay for the “Bubble chamber pictures have liquid helium in July 1908. Though he only liquefied commercial potential. He predicted that someday few repairs you actually need.” played an important role in convey- a tiny amount of helium at that time, the liquefaction superconducting wires would carry electricity to Joseph Ganem, Loyola College, ing science without oversimplifying of helium made it possible to cool other substances consumers, providing a cheap and almost unlimited Baltimore Sun, February 18, 2007 the fundamentals. It’s like, ‘What to such low temperatures. Onnes managed to cool supply of electricity. But Onnes was disappointed “It doesn’t feel like playing a you see is what you get.’ These pic- the liquid to about one degree above absolute zero, within a couple years when he discovered that a game; it doesn’t feel like chess; it tures are, in my mind, masterpieces at the time the coldest temperature ever achieved. supercurrent would be destroyed by even a small doesn’t feel like solving a puzzle; of nature’s abstract art.” Liquid helium was difficult to work with, so magnetic field. puzzles are invented by humans. In Vivek Sharma, UC San Diego, Onnes spent the next three years developing ap- In 1913 Onnes first used the term “supraconduc- physics, there’s a sense of discovery, San Diego Union-Tribune, March paratus for using and storing the liquid helium for tivity,” to describe the effect; later he changed it to and what it contains is far beyond 1, 2007 use in further studies. Rather than continuing on the “superconductivity.” By 1914 he had found another quest to reach lower and lower temperatures, Onnes interesting feature: he started a supercurrent flowing The Rocky Mountain News asked several March Meeting turned his attention to using the liquid helium to in a lead wire, and a year later, found that it was still attendees the following question: “What is it in day-to-day life that study the properties of matter near absolute zero. flowing, with no noticeable change. baffles you?” In the spring of 1911, Onnes began his studies of Onnes won the Nobel Prize in 1913, just two electrical conductivity of metals at low temperature. years after his incredible discovery. He was cited “Balancing my checkbook. We do so much math in our work that Physicists at the time knew that resistance generally for his work in low temperature physics, especially I’ve almost forgotten how to do the basic stuff, like trying to figure dropped as a sample was cooled, but they had no the liquefaction of helium, but not specifically for the tip at the restaurant last night. It was ridiculous. We had eight idea what happened when the temperature reached superconductivity. people there, and everybody pulled out their calculator.”–Mark Patty, the extreme lows near absolute zero. Some had hy- Having been in delicate health for much of his University of Missouri pothesized that resistance would continue dropping life, Onnes died in 1926. For decades after Onnes’ “I was helping my brother bleed the master cylinder on his truck. slowly, finally reaching zero when the temperature initial discovery, no one could explain how the ef- It should have been a simple problem to understand, but the solution reached zero. Others believed resistance would lev- fect worked. Onnes himself had believed that quan- was to take it to a garage and let them do it.”–Christopher Ashman, el off at some constant value. Still others, includ- tum mechanics would explain the effect, but he Naval Research Lab ing Lord Kelvin, believed that near absolute zero wasn’t able to produce a theory. Finally, in 1957, “I find myself being awkward and having difficulty in conversation electrons would essentially freeze into place and Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer came up with a and in dealing with people. . . . I laugh a lot. I find random things funny, resistance would become infinite. Onnes intended successful theory to explain superconductivity. In and I just start laughing out of nowhere. And people look at me like to resolve the question. 1986 Bednorz and Mueller discovered the first high I’m crazy. I enjoy laughing.”–Mary E. Mills, College of Wooster Believing that any impurities in a metal would temperature superconductors, a breakthrough that spoil his results, Onnes chose mercury for his stud- led to an explosion of further research and a nearly “I find it very interesting how cities work. There are a lot of people. ies because he could produce extremely pure sam- all-night conference at the APS March Meeting in And, from this, certain structures emerge. It somehow puzzles me ples of the metal. He had been working with gold at 1987 known as the “Woodstock of Physics.” Super- because it’s structure out of chaos, and you can see this everywhere.” the time as well, but selected mercury instead, a for- conductors are used today in levitating trains, MRI –Michael Buettner, University of Virginia tunate choice, since had he stuck with gold he would devices, in high energy physics, and in some electri- “The way people interact. People are impossible to understand.”– not have discovered superconductivity. cal power applications. Michael Garrett, University of Calgary

Series II, Vol. 16, No.4 For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Editor-in-Chief (Plasma), Scott Milner (Polymer Physics), Paul Wolf April 2007 American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Gene Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) (Ohio Section) APS NEWS © 2007 The American Physical Society Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least Past-President 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes, please John J. Hopfield*, Princeton University ADVISORS send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, General Councillors Representatives from Other Societies Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests Robert Austin, Christina Back, Elizabeth Beise, Wendell Fred Dylla, AIP; Harvey Leff, AAPT from subscribers for missing issues will be honored Hill, Evelyn Hu*, Ann Orel*, Arthur Ramirez, Richart Editor ...... Alan Chodos without charge only if received within 6 months of the Slusher*, International Advisors Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette issue’s actual date of publication. Periodical Postage Paid International Councillor Francisco Ramos Gómez, Mexican Physical Society Staff Writer...... Ernie Tretkoff at College Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Albrecht Wagner Melanie Campbell, Canadian Association of Physicists Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, Mem- Chair, Nominating Committee Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik bership Department, American Physical Society, One Margaret Murnane Staff Representatives Forefronts Editor...... Craig Davis Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Ken Cole, Proofreader...... Edward Lee Robert Eisenstein Special Assistant to the Executive Officer; Amy Flatten APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, ed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College APS COUNCIL 2006 Division, Forum and Section Councillors Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director monthly, except the August/September issue, by the Park, MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. President Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), P. Julienne (Atomic, of Education and Diversity; Michael Lubell, Director, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- Leo P. Kadanoff*, University of Chicago Molecular & Optical Physics) Robert Eisenberg (Bio- Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Chris- lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It con- Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- President-Elect logical), Charles S. Parmenter (Chemical), Richard M. tine Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael tains news of the Society and of its Divisions,Topical cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Martin (Computational), Moses H. Chan (Condensed Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information on abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Vice-President Matter Physics), James Brasseur (Fluid Dynamics), Peter meetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// Cherry Murray*, Lawrence Livermore National Labora- Zimmerman* (Forum on Education), Roger Stuewer committees and task forces, as well as opinions. librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. tory (Forum on History of Physics), Patricia Mooney* * Members of the APS Executive Board Executive Officer (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), David Ernst Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville (Forum on International Physics), Philip “Bo” Ham- ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– (on leave) mer* (Forum on Physics and Society), Steven Rolston dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Membership Department, American Physical Society, Treasurer (Laser Science), Leonard Feldman* (Materials), Akif the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Joseph Serene*, Georgetown University (emeritus) Balantekin (Nuclear), John Jaros* (Particles & Fields), correspondence regarding APS News should be direct- [email protected]. Ronald Ruth (Physics of Beams), David Hammer APS NEWS April 2007 • 

Physicists Use Direct Line to Capitol Hill Washington Dispatch A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

ISSUE: Science Research Budgets The 109th Congress adjourned last December without passing appropriations bills for most federal programs. On February 14, 2007, four and a half months into Fiscal Year 2007 and with the 110th Congress in session, the Senate finally approved a Joint Resolution that will fund federal agencies through September 30. [Nine days earlier, the President had proposed his budget for the Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 08) that will begin on October 1]. The Joint Resolution, as originally conceived, was going to freeze all federal activities at their FY 06 levels. But after intense lobbying by the science community, congressional leaders agreed to make science one of the very few priorities that received special treatment in the Joint Resolution, providing significant increases for DOE, NIST and NSF Research and Related Activities, as indicated in the table below. Earlier in the fiscal year, Congress had appropriated funds for DOD, restoring some of the cuts, mostly for earmarks, that the White House had previously recommended . The President’s FY 08 Budget request continued the Administration’s commitment to the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) that proposes to double the aggregate funding for the NSF, the DOE Office of Science and NIST Scientific and Technical Research and Services (STRS) that includes the NIST laboratories and the Malcolm Baldrige Program. With FY 07 funding bills not yet having been enacted, Photo by Ken Cole the White House was forced to base its spending plan on the FY 07 presidential request. The three ACI A total of 1235 attendees made use of the bank of computer terminals set up accounts would grow by 7 percent compared to that request and even more compared to the appropriated at the March Meeting in Denver to contact their representatives in Congress. levels in the Joint Resolution, as indicated in the table. The President’s proposed cuts for the DOD research With the 2008 Fiscal Year budget cycle just beginning, it was an opportune account are largely the result of removing FY 07 earmarks, but even discounting the earmarks, the 6.1 moment for physicists to weigh in on the importance of funding for the (basic research) and 6.2 (applied research) still would not fare well. The FY 08 request would provide a physical sciences. The FY07 budget had just been passed, four and a half months late, a few weeks before (see Washington Dispatch column at left). 0.7 percent increase for the 6.1 program, significantly less than inflation, and a 2.7 percent decrease to the 6.2 program. For NASA science, the request would provide a very modest 0.9 percent relative to the FY 07 request, although comparisons are difficult to make because of re-definitions within the budget. PHYSTEC continued from page 1 of Education. contact for prospective teach- Account FY05($B) FY06($B) FY07($B) FY08 Request Hodapp attributes this inter- ers and a personal touch that ($B) % Change*** est in teacher preparation in part is essential to completing the DOE Office of Science 3.57* 3.47* 3.8 4.4 +15.8 to recent publicity about science program and establishing good DOE EERE 1.23 1.16 1.46 1.24 -15.6 education in America, which has teaching practice. NSF 5.48 5.59 5.92 6.43 +8.7 shown that American students Another program that has been NIST STRS 0.37* 0.38* 0.43 0.50 +16.4 perform poorly in science com- used successfully in many Phys- NIST ATP 0.14 0.08 0.08 0 -100 pared to students in many other TEC institutions is Learning As- DOD 6.1 1.49 1.46 1.56 1.43 -8.7 countries. Several reports in the sistants. Learning Assistant pro- DOD 6.2 4.79 4.95 5.33 4.36 -18.2 past few years, including the grams serve as a combination of NASA Science 5.50 5.25 5.25 5.52** NA National Academy of Sciences recruiting tool and early teaching * Adjusted for Congressionally Mandated Programs (or Earmarks). ** New budget structure; comparison with report Rising Above the Gather- experience where undergraduate previous years is not appropriate. *** % Change from FY07 request. ing Storm, have emphasized the students who have done well in For details of the FY07 budget process, go to http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy07.htm. For details on the need for improved science edu- an introductory physics course FY08 budget process, go to http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/fy08.htm. cation and recruitment of more are brought back in subsequent K-12 science teachers in order  terms to help facilitate learning. to retain our global competitive- These individuals also typically ISSUE: Panel on Public Affairs Update ness. Physics departments are simultaneously take a 1-credit At its February 2nd meeting, the APS Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) approved two charges for reports. starting to wake up to the need to course or seminar on instruction One will be an assessment of nuclear forensics technology and techniques, and the second will be a study produce more, better-trained sci- of the status of the United States nuclear workforce that will be chaired by Sekazi Mtingwa of MIT. Both and how people learn. “Since ev- ence teachers, said Hodapp. report committees will hold briefing sessions later this year. eryone teaches someone some- POPA is an APS standing committee that is charged with advising the Council and officers of the The 45 applications to Phys- thing in their lives, this can be Society in the formulation of APS positions on public policy issues that have a technical dimension of TEC were narrowed to 12 insti- a significant experience for any- interest to physicists. POPA also investigates the desirability of APS-sponsored expert studies on physics- tutions, and 11 of these submit- one,” said Hodapp. related topics of importance to society and helps to organize such studies ted a 10-page proposal. Four of Many PhysTEC schools also  these were selected to be funded. have Teacher Advisory Groups, The new PhysTEC sites are: which typically meet once a se- ISSUE: POPA Electricity Storage & Interim Nuclear Waste Storage Studies Cornell University; University At its February 2nd meeting, POPA approved the report on interim nuclear waste storage and a policy mester, to help departments in of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; supplement on electricity storage. Both can be accessed on the POPA Reports website at www.aps.org/ recruiting the next generation of Florida International University; policy/reports/popa-reports. physics majors as well as future and the University of Minnesota,  teachers, and provide a peer- Twin Cities. In addition to the mentoring network among the ISSUE: APS CO Reduction Study four schools just selected to join 2 teachers and faculty. At its February meeting, the APS Executive Board approved the establishment of an APS study PhysTEC, another new school, The PhysTEC project has committee to evaluate the R&D portfolio that would best transition the US to a carbon-reduced economy. Seattle Pacific University, joined worked with a number of institu- The study would focus on end-use energy efficiency. The APS Washington Office is currently pursuing PhysTEC last fall. possible chairs and members for the report committee. The report is expected to be completed by early tions over the past six years, in- PhysTEC institutions imple- 2009. cluding Ball State University, Cal ment several elements that the  Poly San Luis Obispo, Oregon project has come to recognize as State University, Seattle Pacific Log on to the APS Website (http://www.aps.org/policy) for more information. critical to the success of thriving programs. PhysTEC sites engage University, Towson University, Initial Employment is Focus of AIP Report in active recruiting that gives University of Arizona, Univer- sity of Arkansas, University of Where do new recipients of production in recent years, and more “Recent physics bachelor’s who students–especially those not physics degrees find their first jobs? of them are entering the job market, have entered the job market have typically considering teaching as Colorado at Boulder, Western In a February report, the statistical the survey found. After three years seen difficulties paralleling the a vocation–an authentic teach- Michigan University, and Xavier research center of the American of decline, the proportion of new strains in the US economy. However, ing experience, preferably early University of New Orleans. Proj- Institute of Physics surveys physics bachelor’s degree recipients increasing starting salaries, along with in their academic career. These ect sites have seen an average of physics bachelors, masters, and entering directly into the job market the apparent shift toward more new schools also offer physics content a twofold increase in physics and PhD recipients about their initial has stabilized in 2004. About 41% bachelor’s accepting STEM-related courses that model instructional physical science teachers gradu- employment. The report covers entered the job market directly, down positions, may reflect a change to a methods that prospective teach- ated, with many programs hav- those who received their degrees in from a high of about 52% in 2000. more positive initial employment ers could use in their classrooms. ing even more significant gains. 2003 and 2004. In 2003 and 2004, 37% of physics outlook for physics bachelor’s,” the Mentoring prospective and new Teachers have been evaluated The economy and other factors bachelors enrolled in graduate school report says. Over three-quarters of teachers throughout their un- with standardized measures and influence the initial employment in physics, and 22% continued their new physics bachelor’s were pleased dergraduate experience and into have scores consistent with those choices of physics degree recipients, education in other fields. with the career prospects available to their first years in the classroom in best-practice interactive learn- the report notes. “The US economy Those who enter the job market them, and 86% said they would still is also an important element of ing environments. has changed significantly from are employed in a variety of study physics if they had to do it over the PhysTEC program. In addition to the limited the strong, technology-propelled employment sectors: 14% are high again. The PhysTEC institutions use number of funded PhysTEC successes of the late 1990s,” the school teachers, 12% are working The proportion of new physics master teachers (called Teachers- schools, 70 universities have report says. “Echoes of these broad in a college or university, 7% enter PhDs accepting postdocs has risen in-Residence) to assist in many joined PTEC. PTEC, which grew economic changes can be seen in the active military service, and 56% are for the fourth straight year, to 66%. of the programmatic elements. out of the PhysTEC program, is initial post-degree status of physics employed in the private sector. Over Another 5% accept some other These individuals make and a larger association of physics and astronomy degree recipients of two-thirds of those employed in the temporary position, and 26% take maintain connections between departments dedicated to the im- all levels.” private sector are working in science, potentially permanent positions. The physics departments, schools of provement of K-12 physics and There has been a significant technology, engineering, or math remaining 3% were unemployed. education, and the local school physical science teacher prepara- increase in physics bachelor’s degree (STEM) positions. EMPLOYMENT continued on page 7 districts. They provide a “peer” tion.  • April 2007 APS NEWS Letters Open Access Unnecessary for Physicists It was interesting to read why a given up on all but two of them. I molecular biologist supports open have open access to all of them, but How I was Helped By Superman access [APS News, Back Page Feb- I have not taken the time to look. Al- By Geraldo A. Barbosa ruary 2007]. Interesting but unim- though it is good for archiving, open The title may lead you to expect tive. I called Coherent, explained anyway, it already belonged to the portant. He has no idea of how a access doesn’t work for current lit- physicist thinks. When I have an in- a cartoon story. Comical it may be, the problem, and asked them to pre- same government that was now in erature except for people who have but it happened in real life. I am one pare a replacement. They promised effect trying to tie its own hands teresting problem to solve, I like to a lot of time on their hands. Bill work on it myself and see how far I of the few people–perhaps the only to do everything as fast as possible. and charge itself an import fee. Hooker notes that someone has to can get. If I come up with an elegant person–ever rescued by Superman. I also explained the many Brazilian I begged his understanding, and pay for open access but only says solution, so much the better. I don’t In the late 1970s, I was a pro- bureaucratic steps necessary to per- again hit the same brick wall. want to first see what others have that half the costs comes from fees fessor of physics in Brazil, where form this exchange so they could In desperation, I demanded a done and become biased and per- paid by the authors. He never says I was building an optics laboratory help meet the requirements. written document. If I could not haps fall into the same pitfalls. The where the other half comes from. at a federal university. I had gradu- A few days later my phone leave customs with the box at that only time I access previous articles ated from the University of South- rang. An angry customs officer moment, then I would have to be is when the referee forces me to. ern California in Los Angeles, complained that a large box with released from any responsibility I used to get paper copies of five Frank Chen where lasers had already become my name on it had arrived, and in case that fragile tube cracked, journals. For lack of space, I have Los Angeles, CA common laboratory equipment. It that it was presently violating all leaking the rare krypton gas into was also quite common to encoun- applicable laws and import poli- the atmosphere where it might con- Simulations Teach Real Physics ter problems with these newly cre- cies. Coherent had just placed the tact innocent bystanders. I required ated marvels. The laser companies, new tube in a box and shipped it as that the document would detail my I would like to commend Alan while watching in simulated time, eager to please and increase their they would do in California–with- failed attempts to remove this com- Chodos for the column “The Vir- with graphs growing, gives a much clientele, always helped as much out any documentation. This was a plex piece of equipment from the tues of Virtual Experiments” in the better gut feeling for acceleration. as they could. They replaced defec- mortal sin against our bureaucracy. customs warehouse. February APS News. Among all Particle collisions and statistical tive tubes and fixed electronics at Apart from storage fees, the vol- Suddenly this became a deli- the good reasons he gave for do- mechanics are much better taught lightning speed. Just a telephone ume of supposed illegalities cre- cate situation for the officer–not an ing physics on a simulator I would on a simulator. The details of the call, and zap! All problems solved. ated a huge sum of taxes and fines expert on rare gases, I hoped. He like to emphasize the pedagogical. individual collisions can be seen Back in Brazil, inflation was to be paid. Collecting all possible called a few colleagues aside to Events in a real laboratory happen whereas in the lab the actual col- roaring and the bureaucracy cre- composure, I tried to explain the deliberate over the problem’s new too fast to observe the physics, so lision happens so fast that we only ated complex processes for the whole story and emphasized that dimensions. I recall glances alter- you learn lab techniques rather than observe the results. Mass ratios, siz- expenditure of any government this equipment actually belonged to nating between the laser-tube box the physics. I taught AP physics in es, spin, friction, drag, elasticity can funds. For overseas purchases, the the federal government. Deaf ears. and me, and nervous whispers. I a Blue Ribbon High School after I all be changed, easily, so the effects red tape was almost impossible to Insurmountable barriers. A serious heard one of them speak the words retired (part time, temp, since my can be seen right away. I admit that cut through. The simplest request offense had been committed. “Kryptonite” and “Superman.” PhD and years of practice did not the crashing of the carts and having could take more than a year to be Days passed. I tried phone calls, A few minutes later, the officer in qualify me as a Teacher) and the first them shoot off the runway is miss- approved through an exasperating technical consultations, legal sup- charge emerged and told me that as thing I did was to put a leading phys- ing. As Chodos points out, simu- rigamarole of form-filling, stamps, port, but found no sign of a breach a special exception they were go- ics software package on the server. I lation teaches electric flow more signatures, and various other for- in the steel chain around this prob- ing to liberate my equipment, and was later told that, since this pack- effectively than the lab. The fasci- malistic delays designed to fore- lem. Even worse, although the ad- would I please take it away as soon age was available to any student, it nation of drawing a spark from the stall expenditures–preferably until dress was at the university, it was as possible? received far more hits than any other Van de Graaff cannot be overlooked, the resquestor changed careers or my name on the box. The problem So, do you know anyone else package in the school system. The nor other dramatic demo effects, but died of old age. Even replacing would crash directly on my head. who was ever rescued by a super- ability to assemble pieces and forces does looking at a computer mother- an item under warranty could take I decided to try face to face ne- hero? Got yourself in a tight spot? and watch the interaction unfold in board teach you any physics? more than a year, and required the gotiation. I went to customs to talk Blocked by bureaucratic red tape? slow motion animation, was irresist- The present generation has been same expedition through all the red to the officer involved. The expla- Call me: I have a friend who can ible. brought up on computer games and tape a fertile mind could dream up. nation was simple and, I thought, help you. Consider even the first experiment so they just see this as another game In my lab a new Coherent-brand persuasive: there was no purchase, Geraldo Barbosa is a professor of usually done in the lab: measuring g but one with realistic interactions. krypton laser tube proved defec- it was only a replacement. And physics at Northwestern University. by dropping a weight. I teach g as Slow compared to the games, but being approximately 20 miles per infinitely more acceptable than the hour per second, so in 2 seconds the slowness in the lab in which, para- dropped weight is going 40 miles per doxically, the main event happens hour, too fast for the human eye to too fast to be seen. observe. On the other hand, watch- ing the weight fall on a simulator, The Lighter Side of Science surrounded by virtual instruments Henderson Cole showing “real” time and distances Danbury, CT Footnotin’ Frenzy POPA continued from page 1 By Michael Berube more attractive environmentally and Policy and Advocacy page of the Editor’s Note: Michael Berube ‘incompleteness’ and ‘uncertainty’.” Wilson. GET IT? So don’t mess with economically to the host community. APS web site. teaches literature and cultural As you might imagine, this my reading of Kuhn. Any of you.” It would be necessary to make sure In addition to the nuclear waste studies at Penn State University. He remark made me violently angry. There were a few moments of a consolidated interim site and the storage report, the APS Panel on is the author of the recently published Yanking the bottle of pinot grigio silence, punctuated only by some Yucca Mountain repository proceed Public Affairs is conducting research tome What’s Liberal About the from the ice bucket to my right, I nervous clattering of silverware. in a complementary way, in a manner on advancing electricity storage Liberal Arts? Until January, he also smashed it on the edge of the table, Then a conservatively-dressed man consistent with current Federal technologies. The POPA Committee maintained an eponymous blog. stood up, and said, “All right, man. in his early fifties got up from a table strategies for long-term nuclear waste on Energy and Environment has In this excerpt from an October I know all about those readers. fifteen or twenty feet away. “People management, the study reports. The recently released a policy supplement 2005 entry, he waxes ironical about And I’m as pissed off about sloppy like you,” he said, trying to stare Yucca Mountain site must not be on this issue. authorial footnotes and the ongoing appropriations of Kuhn as anyone. me down, “read Kuhn backwards delayed by an interim site, and it The supplement describes prom- tension between science and the But let me say one thing.” by means of Feyerabend’s Against would be necessary to assure the ising energy storage technologies humanities as it relates to Thomas At this point I had drawn the Method, and as a result, you make public that an interim site would not and R& D opportunities for develop- Kuhn. alarmed attention of all the diners- him out to be some kind of Age of become permanent, the report says. ing these technologies. The six tech- Even though footnotin’ is and-drinkers in the place, not least Aquarius irrationalist who thinks If the Yucca Mountain repository nologies are pumped hydropower, hard work, it’s not all tedium and because I was waving the broken that scientists run from paradigm to is not delayed significantly beyond its compressed air energy storage, bat- Googling and visits to the stacks. Not bottle around and making random paradigm for no damn reason.” Then currently scheduled opening, there is teries, flywheels, superconducting at all! Some of footnotin’ involves stabbing motions. “I’ll put my he tossed his napkin across the table. no economic benefit to a consolidated magnetic energy storage, and elec- real argumentin’, just in a tinier font reading of Kuhn up against anyone’s. “And if you want to deny it, I suggest interim storage site, the study finds. trochemical capacitors. at the back of the book. Anyone’s, do you hear me? DO YOU we step outside.” “There are no compelling cost savings Electricity storage technologies The last time I got together with HEAR ME? I’m serious, man–I Fortunately for that guy, the to the Federal government associated have the potential to reduce the need my editor, on a weekday evening in don’t just go on about ‘paradigm’ maitre d’ intervened at just that with consolidated interim storage,” for reserve power plants, cut the a midtown restaurant in New York, this and ‘incommensurability’ that, moment, imploring me to “settle the report states. If, however, Yucca cost of power failures, and enable he flagged the opening pages of people. I can take Kuhn’s examples this peacefully,” preferably with a Mountain is significantly delayed, renewable energy, the supplement the chapter on my postmodernism about phlogiston and X-rays, and footnote to the sixth chapter. And Congress would need to request an says. The committee concludes that seminar and said, “You might want to I can extrapolate them to Charles cooler heads prevailed. independent review to determine the Department of Energy should watch the mention of Kuhn–because, Messier’s late-eighteenth century Addendum: If you want to read whether a consolidated interim consider broadening its existing as you know, there are any number of catalog of stellar objects, or the early the actual footnote, with Berube’s storage site would be economically program for electricity storage readers out there who are really tired controversy over the determination take on humanistic interpretations attractive, the report says. technologies, while balancing basic of humanities professors citing Kuhn of the Hubble constant, or the 1965 of Kuhn, you can find it online here: The full report is available online research, demonstration projects, and getting him wrong. Likewise discovery of the cosmic microwave http://www.michaelberube.com/ under “Reports and Studies” on the and regulatory incentives. with Gödel and Heisenberg on background radiation by Penzias and index.php/weblog/footnotin_frenzy/ APS NEWS April 2007 • 

His Expert Opinion: Patents and Physics Make Great Partners

By Alaina G. Levine Editor’s Note: This column as an academic astrophysicist. Central District of California, and his vocation is preparing expert professionals who have been able is the first of a series that will While in graduate school at as Senior Litigation & Antitrust opinions and working on design to forge opportunities in which to profile people trained in physics the University of Colorado, he Counsel and Assistant Secretary around studies, which he joyfully do research without abandoning who have gone on to make their witnessed demonstrations against of Twentieth Century Fox Film refers to as an “intellectual feast”. IP prosecution. Albert Einstein, mark in a variety of careers. the Vietnam War and realized that Corporation. In providing opinions about the for example, was a patent clerk Physics departments have long his love of and skill in physics Today, he helps clients at the validity of patent claims, from before he became an academic argued that a major in physics could be channeled in a different forefront of scientific research. He examining the legitimacy of the physicist. Some of his most is excellent preparation not only way. is involved in a variety of aspects science to researching who is profound and significant papers for academia but for many other “I became intrigued by legal of the IP protection process. He the rightful owner of the patent, were produced while he was career opportunities as well. issues and the politics surrounding works with clients to evaluate and Rose draws upon his physics employed as an examiner in the In this series APS News will the war,” he says. “The draft took prepare their patent applications background. Design around work, Swiss Patent Office. illustrate the versatility of physics some friends and acquaintances, and handles all communications he says, is “where you get to To develop new skills and to with some real-life examples. and while I had a high number for them with the US Patent and really apply a crossover between partially satiate his appetite for Robert J. Rose has a passion for [in the draft lottery], I think the Trademark Office, including any scientific and legal knowledge so “doing” physics, Rose recently re- patents. As Managing Partner of draft made the war much more needed appeals. In addition, Rose you can come up with ideas for ceived a M.S. in Imaging Science Sheldon Mak Rose & Anderson, a personal.” often does extensive state-of-the- a client that make both practical from the Chester Carlson Center boutique intellectual property (IP) He took the LSAT and did art research. He is often asked and technological sense.” for Imaging Science at the Roch- law firm in Pasadena, California, well. He spoke with his advisor to ensure that there is no patent Rose cites a recent opinion ester Institute of Technology. His this physics-educated professional and decided to take a year off infringement, or to review the project in which he was involved. coursework included ultrasound has the opportunity to pursue his from graduate school to try law The client was an academic imaging and magnetic resonance passion on a daily basis. And the school. The advisor “thought institution. Within the univer- imaging, and his research project best part of his job is knowing that I was crazy and didn’t have sity, one researcher had se- was on a method for segmenting his physics background gives him very nice things to say about cured a patent, while another nerves in ultrasound images dur- the advantage to deliver superior lawyers,” Rose says. researcher at the same insti- ing guided anesthesia. service to his clients. Returning to the UA for his tution claimed he should be Today, Rose’s expertise lies at “Physics is perfect training legal education, Rose instantly credited as a co-inventor. Rose the intersection of physics and law, for law,” Rose says. “Law school found success. “I was good at interviewed both individuals, with patent litigation experience trains you how to think. You have law school,” he says. He recalls examined their research note- in such technologies as intra- a jump start on that training when how he and other law students books, and established the se- ocular lenses, magnetic resonance you have learned how to think who had training in physics quence of events that led to the imaging, computer graphics and like a physicist.” and other scientific disciplines innovation. His opinion was digital image warping, flight Furthermore, “as a physicist, excelled in their studies, while that both could be considered simulators, and amusement rides. we are always looking at things those with social science inventors. He is thrilled with his academic as a reductionist,” he says. “We backgrounds struggled with the Rose says opinion work, and professional decisions, are always asking of any physical logical nature of the subject. aside from the intellectual recognizing his physics education phenomenon: what underlies To this day, Rose stresses “the stimulation involved in ana- has made him a champion in his what we’re seeing, what’s the single most important class lyzing the problem at hand, industry. cause? This is a very good skill to you can take as an undergraduate science behind an innovation. is rewarding for another reason: “Physics is the premier base know as a lawyer.” in preparation for law school is He is quick to emphasize his the client appreciates it the most. discipline upon which to prepare Of course, he didn’t always symbolic logic,” he says. “The education in physics (as opposed “When preparing a patent, some for any professional or scientific know he wanted to be an attorney. more classes you take that require to other scientific disciplines) is clients may want the lowest price career. It is to the 21st Century His heart was set on physics from precise logical rigorous thinking, especially helpful in this respect. and not appreciate the value and what philosophy was in prior a young age. “It was the subject in the better you are prepared for “Physics training gives you the time you put into it,” says eras,” Rose declares. “It teaches high school I enjoyed most,” Rose law school, and life too.” very broad exposure to scientific Rose. “But with opinion work you the value of hard work, and recalls. “I had the opportunity to He easily graduated with high principles, so no matter what area they are already worried about it rewards that work with the keys work on holograms at a laboratory distinction, Order of the Coif, of science or technology we are something, so when you guide to science, logic, and life. What at the University of Miami and it and was an Associate Editor dealing with, I have information them through the patent thicket more could you want?” was like working with magic. I of the Arizona Law Review. to draw on,” Rose says. they’re very happy.” Alaina G. Levine directs the just wanted to continue.” After receiving his JD, Rose The work of a patent lawyer Although he has the chance to Professional Science Master’s He nurtured his enthusiasm was selected under the Attorney can also involve litigation, as well scrutinize cutting edge physics in Applied Science and Business in the desert, enrolling at General’s Honors Program to as licensing analysis, in which research, often before it is made at the University of Arizona, the University of Arizona in be a Trial Attorney with the a technology is identified and public, Rose does sometimes and is President and Founder of Tucson. When Rose received his Antitrust Division of the US patented, and the attorney tries miss being a researcher himself. Quantum Success Solutions. She Bachelor’s of Science in physics Department of Justice. Later he to identify potential licensing “I miss the joy of discovery, the can be reached through www. and astronomy in 1971, he was served as a Special Assistant opportunities for the innovation. ‘aha’ moment,” he says. alainalevine.com. certain he was destined for a career United States Attorney in the Rose’s favorite component of Of course, there are patent © 2007, Alaina G. Levine. Grave Concern About Earth Observing Satellites at Science Committee Hearing “Flying blind” was but one of 2006 and the end of the decade, lars since 2000. This disparity be- need, the nation’s Earth observa- the decadal survey’s recommen- the terms that House Science and the number of operating missions tween growing societal needs and tion satellite programs, once the dations.” The NOAA budget out- Technology Committee Chairman will decrease dramatically and the diminished resources must be cor- envy of the world, are in disar- look is mixed, Moore said, and Bart Gordon (D-TN) used at a number of operating sensors and rected.” The report’s “overarching ray.” After describing the difficult assessing it over the long term is February Congressional hearing instruments on NASA spacecraft, recommendation” is that the US choices that the NRC committee difficult because it “is far from to describe the nation’s rapidly most of which are well past their government, working in concert made in narrowing more than transparent.” deteriorating system of Earth ob- nominal lifetimes, will decrease with the private sector, academe, 100 suggested future mission First conceived in 2004, the re- serving satellites. Gordon’s as- by some 40 percent.” the public, and its international concepts into a far more limited port was conducted at the request sessment was shared by commit- One of the major problems partners, should renew its invest- set of recommended missions for of the NASA Office of Earth Sci- tee members on both sides of the highlighted at the hearing was ment in Earth observing systems the next decade, Moore explained ence, NOAA National Environ- aisle during this review of a Na- funding. Study co-chair Richard and restore its leadership in Earth that “the recommended NASA mental Satellite Data and Infor- tional Research Council report, Anthes, president of the Univer- science and applications. program can be accomplished by mation Service, and the USGS Earth Science and Applications sity Corporation for Atmospheric Also on hand at the hearing was restoring the Earth science budget Geography Division. The full text from Space: National Imperatives Research, testified that “while Anthes’ co-chair, Berrien Moore in real terms to the levels of the can be accessed at http://books. for the Next Decade and Beyond. societal applications have grown III, director of the Institute for the 1990s.” nap.edu/catalog/11820.html. “The United States’ extraor- ever-more dependent upon our Study of Earth, Oceans and Space Moore described NASA’s Courtesy of FYI, the American dinary foundation of global ob- Earth-observing fleet, the NASA at the University of New Hamp- out-year Earth science budgets Institute of Physics Bulletin of servations is at great risk,” the Earth science budget has declined shire.Moore told the committee as fundamentally flawed and “to- Science Policy News (http://aip. NRC report declared. “Between some 30% in constant-year dol- that “at a time of unprecedented tally inadequate to accomplish org/fyi)  • April 2007 APS NEWS

APRIL MEETING continued from page 1 ing a break from its experimental new report exploring this issue. predicted in 1969, known as the photon beam–interact and make year increases in radiation, the efforts to re-create the conditions Other talks will present programs Efimov effect. An entire session, a chargeless pion, which decays ultimate amount of ozone deple- of the early universe. During the to close the digital divide in B8, will be devoted to this into two photons. Measuring tion (and the resulting impact on past year, RHIC has been investi- Latin America (R9.1), South newly observed phenomenon. the photons provides lifetime species) is dependent primarily gating the origin of the proton’s Africa (R9.3), India (M10.3) and In the Efimov effect, two atoms information on the pions, with the on the total amount of energy spin, the property that gives the Pakistan (R9.4), and the building which usually repel each other ultimate goal of obtaining more dumped in the atmosphere. proton its internal magnetism. of a “Virtual Silk Highway” become attracted when a third information on the process of Physics Festivals and The origin of this spin remains (R9.2) that has brought about atom is introduced. The trio can chiral symmetry breaking. Ashot Fights. People in the general a mystery. The proton gets only fast communications networks then form an infinite number of Gasparian of North Carolina A&T population don’t often go in search about 25% of its total spin from to Afghanistan and eight Former “bound states,” or energy states State University will present the of science, so some physicists its quarks (which include not Soviet Republics. in which the atoms are stuck to latest results on PrimEx. (B2.1) are taking science to the people. only its three main “valence” Gravity Probe B. Stanford one another. Atoms entering the Putting Newton to the Brian Schwartz (Graduate Center quarks but also the quark-anti- University’s Francis Everitt will Ekimov state veer from their Test. Newton’s laws break down of CUNY) will describe the out- quark pairs that blink in and out outline the preliminary results chemical behavior; they behave at some point, giving way to comes of some creative science of existence inside the proton’s of the $750 million Gravity differently in the company of two quantum mechanics under some popularization efforts, includ- confines). The remaining 75% Probe B mission, possibly the other atoms. Grimm will describe circumstances and relativity at ing a city-wide science festival might come from the proton’s longest-running, most expensive his collaboration’s experimental others, and perhaps even yielding in New York last November and gluons, which hold together the single experiment in history. demonstration, which involved to some as yet unknown physi- hands-on physics demonstrations quarks and from orbital motions GP-B is a NASA mission first cesium atoms cooled to ultracold cal laws somewhere along the at a New York City street festi- of quarks and gluons in the pro- envisioned in the early 1960s and temperatures of just nanokelvins. way. But just where Newtonian val in June of 2006 (B5.2). Hugh ton. With help from the RIKEN launched in April 2004. It aims at Also speaking will be the physics crumbles isn’t clear. As Haskell (North Carolina School Institute in Japan, RHIC has directly measuring a subtle effect University of Colorado’s Chris a result, many researchers have of Science and Mathematics) is been converted part-time into the of Einstein’s general dedicated themselves to interested in a more rough and world’s only collider of proton relativity for the first time. tracking down the limits tumble physics educational ef- beams with spins that are “polar- The effect, called frame of classical dynamics. fort–he works with the National ized” or pointed in desired direc- dragging, is a distortion Several groups report Young Physicists’ Tournament tions. Nuclear physicists at RHIC of space caused by in session K12 on their (NYPT), which is modeled on are now studying the aftermath of Earth’s rotation around its efforts to put Newton to a Russian physics competition high-energy proton-proton colli- axis, which is expected to the test by searching for started in the 1970s, but is new sions to infer the role of gluons deflect the spinning axis unusual gravitational to the US. Groups of students in- and of orbital quark motion in of a gyroscope by such a effects at distances be- volved in the tournament tackle a building the proton spin. RHIC small angle that it would low a millimeter; mea- scientific question by developing collaborator Steven Vigdor of In- take more than a million suring the distance to a theoretical model to address it, diana University will present pre- years for the gyroscope the moon with millime- performing an experiment to test liminary experimental results on to turn in a full circle. ter precision via laser their theory, and ultimately de- these investigations. (W1.3) Following several more ranging; and testing to fending their work while critiqu- Ten Petabytes Per Year months of data analysis, Photo courtesy of NASA see if Newton’s sec- ing the research of other groups. More than a decade after phys- the GP-B team expects to Gravity Probe B satellite in space. ond law, F=ma, holds The top team in the bare-knuckle ics researchers created the World announce its final results by the Greene, who predicted with a when accelerations and forces physics competition goes on to Wide Web as a way of exchanging end of the year. coauthor that ultracold atomic are extremely small. There’s no battle students from 25 other na- data between far-flung research Northern (Galactic Pole) gases would be the ticket to sign that anyone has succeeded tions in the international stage institutions, high-energy phys- Exposure. Researchers have observing this elusive effect. in pinning down the precise lim- of the tournament. Haskell and ics continues to exert a profound combined data from the Arecibo Paulo Bedaque of the University its to Newtonian physics, but all colleagues believe the NYPT ul- influence on the evolution of the radio antenna in Puerto Rico and of Maryland will describe how the testing is helping to elimi- timately helps build both better Internet. Now, physicists want to the Dominion Radio Astrophysi- the Efimov effect at the scale of nate exotic theories that attempt physics students and better teach- ensure that fast Internet access cal Observatory interferometer the nucleus can provide insights to explain away things like dark ers (C10.1). is available to all collaborators, in Canada to produce a stunning into the theory of nuclear forces. matter. The experiments are also A Bit of Physics His- including those in developing view of the sky above the plane The Life of Pion. In efforts often the source of new records tory. Max Jammer (Bar-Ilan countries. With experiments at of our galaxy. In particular, the to better understand how the in precision measurements of University), a distinguished the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) image shows a surprising lack universe evolved into a place fundamental physical laws. physicist and author of nota- expected to produce about 10 pet- of correlation between the faint with distinct particles and Cosmic Causes of Terres- ble books about fundamental abytes of data each year for more radiation produced by particles forces, researchers at the U.S. trial Biodiversity. The diver- physical properties like mass than a decade, a newly developed accelerated in the magnetized Department of Energy’s Jefferson sity of creatures crawling, flying, and space, is the winner of high-speed “grid” network of 100 plasma of space and the distribu- Lab have been performing the and swimming across our planet the Abraham Pais Prize Lec- computing centers can transmit tion of bright stars and galaxies Primakoff Experiment (PrimEx). may stem in part from the motion tureship. Unable to attend the LHC data at an amazing rate of in the nearby universe. The work PrimEx is making new precision of the solar system through the ga- meeting himself, his paper, on 10 gigabits per second (an order also offers insights into the origin measurements of the lifetime of lactic plane because the radiation the subject of how our mod- of magnitude faster than the com- and nature of some cosmic rays, a short-lived subatomic object that reaches Earth varies as a re- ern concept of time came to munication rate between a laptop into how intergalactic ultra-high known as the chargeless pion, sult of our location in the galaxy. be (U6.2), will be read out at CPU and its own hard drive) be- energy cosmic rays might propa- which can be imagined in simplest The fact that episodes of large the session. How the standard tween the dozen fastest centers, gate, and provides a preview of terms as a quark-antiquark scale extinctions on the planet model of particle physics came and the speed is expected to in- the Galactic and extragalactic pair. Before it decays into other seem to match the 62 million year to be so standard will be the crease rapidly in future years. features that might contribute particles, the chargeless pion cycles of the solar system’s mo- subject of Michael Riordan’s Such high-speed networks, in to the cosmic microwave back- exists for only an attosecond, tion suggests that evolution may (UC Santa Cruz) talk in ses- turn, benefit the overall commu- ground (CMB) on scales to be a thousand times shorter than be driven by fluctuations in the sion E10. He contends that the nications infrastructure for re- imaged by the PLANCK CMB predicted by early particle theory. radiation that Earth receives. In crucial years were 1964-1979, search institutions even for proj- Explorer, which NASA and the Newer theories come closer to a series of papers (E11.6, E11.7, when a series of decisive ex- ects outside of physics. European Space Agency are this observed result by taking and E11.8), University of Kansas periments and incisive theo- However, physicists are jointly planning to launch later into account chiral symmetry researchers Bruce Lieberman, retical work came together. concerned that high-energy- this year. Philipp Kronberg (Los breaking, a phenomenon in Mikhail Medvedev and Adrian Other historical talks of in- physics collaborators in Alamos National Laboratory) which a configuration of nuclear Melott investigate several kinds terest concern such topics as developing nations might not have will present the images resulting particles and its mirror image of astrophysical radiation sources Albert Einstein’s trip to New access to the large bandwidths from the combined radio data, as do not always behave as mirror that affect life on Earth, general- York City in 1921 (R10.2), the needed to handle the huge well as other insights to come out images of one another even when izing their earlier computations Heisenberg uncertainty princi- amounts of data from the collider. of the project (H11.4). researchers perform identical to improve their insight into the ple, early photons in the early Presenters in two sessions (M10 New Atomic Effect. experiments on them. effect of the radiation on the at- universe (E10.5), and a histo- and R9) will discuss efforts to Recently, Rudolf Grimm of the In PrimEx, researchers aim a mosphere. Among other results, ry of arms control prepared by reduce this digital divide. Harvey University of Innsbruck and his photon beam at a nucleus, which they have found that the duration officials at the US State De- Newman of Caltech will present colleagues provided the first perpetually has a cloud of photons of the radiation exposure makes partment (R10.6). Session T6 an introduction to this problem experimental demonstration of around it. Two photons–one from very little difference. From mil- looks at Sputnik, the 1950s, as well as the findings of a major an atomic phenomenon, first the nucleus and another from the lisecond gamma ray bursts to 3- and the founding of NASA.

LECTURESHIPS continued from page 1 Forums on International Physics A Beller Lecture will be given atoms.” Marshak Lectureships had been (FIP) and Physics and Society at the April Meeting by Rudolf The 2007 Marshak Lecture awarded occasionally. They are Visit (FPS). Jian-Wei Pan of Heidelberg Grimm of the University of will be given at the April Meeting now annual events, administered APS University in Germany spoke Innsbruck. Grimm was nominated by Alberto Santoro of Brazil. He by the Committee on International News on Applications of Quantum by the Topical Group on Few- will speak on “Closing the Digital Scientific Affairs (CISA.) Each Online Teleportation. Pan was nominated Body Systems and Multiparticle Divide in Latin America.” Santoro year, CISA invites the APS by the Topical Group on Quantum Dynamics (GFB). His talk is titled was nominated by the Forum on Divisions, Topical Groups, and Information, Concepts and “Evidence for Efimov quantum International Physics. Forums to submit nominations of www.aps.org/publications/ apsnews Computation (GQI). states in an ultracold gas of cesium Until last year, the Beller and candidates for the lectureships. APS NEWS April 2007 • 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Now Appearing in RMP: Don’t Miss the American Physical M. Hildred Blewett Scholarship Recently Posted Reviews Society’s Job Fair! for Women Physicists and Colloquia You will find the following in the This scholarship has been established to enable women to online edition of Looking for the perfect job? Reviews of Modern Physics at return to physics research careers after having had to interrupt http://rmp.aps.org Looking for the ideal job candidate? those careers for family reasons. The scholarship consists of an Magnetic microtraps for Let an APS Job Fair do the work for you! award of up to $45,000. The applicant must currently be a legal ultracold atoms resident of the US or Canada. She must be currently in Canada József Fortágh and Claus Zimmermann APS April Meeting Job Fair or the US and must have an affiliation with a research-active Microtraps offer a number of educational institution or national lab. She must have completed April 15 -16, 2007 important advantages over con- Hyatt Regency Hotel work toward a PhD. ventional magnetic traps for con- Jacksonville, FL fining degenerate atomic -quan Applications are due June 1, 2007. Announcement of the tum gases. The tight confinement causes a higher vibrational split- award is expected to be made by August 1, 2007. ting between modes and the min- iature design makes it practical to Register today at: /www.physicstoday.org/jobs/ Details and online application can be found at http://www. integrate additional tools into the APSApril_jobfair.html aps.org/educ/cswp/blewett/index.cfm structure. . This article describes the prin- ciples of microtrap design and the For more information contact Alix Brice at 301- Contact: Sue Otwell in the APS office at [email protected] experimental considerations of microtrap construction. 209-3187 or at [email protected].

EMPLOYMENT continued from page 3 Call for Nominations The proportion accepting post- about half of new PhD recipients, or astronomy, most often in a field in potentially permanent positions. 2008 APS Excellence in docs generally rises when potentially are more likely than US citizens to closely related to the area in which Others are working in a variety of Education Award permanent positions are scarce and take postdocs, the survey found. they received their degree, while areas, including business, finance, Deadline: July 1, 2007 falls when conditions improve. Phys- New PhDs in more applied subfields only about one-quarter of those in and computer software and hardware. The award, which consists of ics PhDs usually have a low unem- are more likely to accept potentially potentially permanent positions are About half of those in potentially $5000 and a certificate citing the ployment rate, even in difficult eco- permanent positions. working in physics or astronomy. permanent positions said physics achievements of the recipients, nomic times, the report says. Most of those who accepted Engineering is the largest field was an appropriate background for was established to recognize Foreign citizens, who make up postdocs are working in physics of employment for physics PhDs their job. and honor a team or group of indi- DONATION continued from page 1 viduals (such as a collaboration), Advanced Placement program tutions are demonstrating that uni- in the College of Natural Science. people who used to work sepa- or exceptionally a single indi- enables high-school students to take versities can produce significant To make the program affordable, rately have come together,” said vidual, who has exhibited a sus- college level material and often to numbers of high school physics UTeach gives students access to Marder, who is also the chair of the tained commitment to excellence gain college credit for their work]. teachers, but there must be a com- scholarships and paid internships, APS Committee on Education. in physics education. The other is UTeach, a program at mitment by the institution toward and the first two introductory UTeach has implemented the Five copies of the nomination the University of Texas at Austin this effort. We have seen dramatic courses are free. UTeach employs practices that PhysTEC and PTEC packet should be submitted to the that has become a national model increases in the number of high eight full-time “master teachers,” promote to improve science teacher chair of the selection committee, for science teacher preparation. school physics teachers educated former secondary school teachers preparation. “What is special about Ken Krane, at the following The UTeach program has doubled at a number of institutions like who now teach the teacher prepara- UTeach is that we’ve taken a lot of address: the number of UT Austin students UT Austin (the home of UTeach) tion courses and organize field ex- good ideas and found ways to put Department of Physics receiving math and science teacher where significant changes to the periences. From the first semester them into practice,” said Marder. Weniger Hall 301 certification. program have been implemented.” of the program, UTeach students Physics majors at the University Oregon State University The University of Texas at Austin said Ted Hodapp, APS Director of engage in field experiences, teach- of Texas at Austin can enroll in the Corvallis, OR 97331-6507 is a member of the Physics Teacher Education. ing supervised lessons in public Physics Teaching Option, in which Electronic submissions will Education Coalition (PTEC), an UTeach now graduates over schools. they earn an undergraduate degree not be accepted. The deadline for association of physics departments 70 new math and science teachers One factor in the program’s suc- in physics and a Texas secondary nominations for the second award dedicated to the improvement of each year. Over 80 percent of cess is the significant collaboration teaching certification. UTeach now is July 1, 2007. Further informa- K-12 physics and physical science UTeach graduates are still teaching among the College of Natural Sci- graduates a few physics majors per tion may be obtained on the APS teacher preparation. PTEC grew out four years later, compared with ence, the College of Education, and year. Students who major in other web site at http://www.aps.org/ of the APS-led PhysTEC program only about 60 percent nationally. teachers from local schools, said subjects can receive certification programs/honors/awards/edu- for improving teacher preparation. Several elements have made Michael Marder, a professor of to teach physics, said Marder, but cation.cfm or by contacting the (see PhysTEC story on page 1). the UTeach program successful. physics and co-director of UTeach. “I really feel that a physics major chair of the selection committee at “Programs like UTeach and UTeach actively recruits students “The most important element in is the strongest person to teach [email protected]. those offered at other PTEC insti- by sending letters to every student UTeach is the fact that groups of physics.” Scientists and Engineers Get the Oscar for Improving Film Production and Preservation Each year, the Academy of more images of an object or scene, movies as well as scientific visual- and in which direction the objects in low, cyan (blue), and magenta (red). Motion Picture Arts and Sciences such as a landscape, prop, or hu- izations. One feature of this system an image are meant to move.” Using E-Film, these digital nega- awards its Scientific and Technical mane face. Then, a combination is the ability to store more than just FI+Z. Howard Preston, Presi- tives and additional information Achievement awards to the scien- of computer algorithms and art- the color information with each dent of Preston Cinema, using his about the colored digital negatives tists and engineers that have de- ist tools are applied to create a 3D experimental and theoretical physics could be recombined at a later date signed and developed technologies model. “The resulting model is of- background, has designed the Pres- to produce the same vibrant colors that contribute to the progress of the ten comparable to a laser scan of the ton Cinema Systems FI+Z wireless they had during the very first time film industry. These technical inno- object,” said Sullivan. “The system remote system. Up until the early the movie played. vations have been successfully used can help visual effects artists create 1990s, wireless devices used to re- Rosetta Process. Phil Feiner, in movies and have become the gold detailed models directly from a few motely control camera and lenses Jim Houston, Denis Leconte, and standard by which new technologies photographs, even for subjects such were unpredictable on a movie set Chris Bushman of Pacific Title and are judged. as babies or large-scale landscapes because they interfered with the Art Studio designed and developed This year’s 15 awards include which are impossible to scan using many communication devices such the Rosetta process to create film praise for film production and pres- traditional techniques.” as high-powered walkie-talkies master positives, which is an exact ervation. The awards were present- The software behind the making commonly found on movie sets. color copy of the film for archiving ed on Saturday February 10, 2007. of this creepy face (right) from Pi- FILM PRESERVATION AND from the original digital master files. Here is a sampling of some of this rates of the Caribbean won an Oscar ARCHIVING This process is unique because the year’s winners. this year. E-Film. Bill Feightner, the Exec- digital YCM (yellow, cyan, and ma- FILM PRODUCTION OpenEXR Software System. utive Vice President and Chief Tech- genta) positives are created directly

ILM Image-Based Model Sys- Florian Kainz, the computer graphics Image courtesy of Industrial Light and nology Officer at E-Film, designed from the film and not from a digital tem. Steve Sullivan, the Director principal engineer with the Research Magic (LM) and developed the E-Film process. version. of Research and Development at and Development group at ILM, “Wyvern” in Pirates of the When preserving film, the colors The black-and-white sepa- Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), designed and engineered the Open Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest of the film would break down over rations from this process have worked with a team of electrical EXR software system. OpenEXR pixel. “For example, in computer time. This made trying to keep a film a potential shelf life of more and computer engineers to design is a set of software libraries and a graphics, when you want to simu- perfectly intact very difficult. With than 1,500 years when properly and develop the ILM Image-based file format for storing digital images late motion blur that results from E-Film, each negative is separated stored. Model System. with very high fidelity, which is re- photographic moving objects,” said digitally into 4 different negatives: Courtesy of Inside Science This system starts with one or quired for creating visual effects in Kainz, “You need to know how fast one that is in black and white, yel- News Service  • April 2007 APS NEWS The Back Page f a rogue state or terrorist organization needed in Moscow for different aspects of design Iinsider support to acquire weapons-grade fissile and improvements to the company’s nuclear materials or additional expertise to design a nuclear The Human Dimension is Key safeguards equipment. This same safeguards device, where should it send its headhunter? The most equipment is utilized by the Department of probable place to find applicable scientific talent for to Controlling Proliferation of WMD Energy’s Materials Protection, Control and hire would be the former Soviet Union. Described Accounting (MPC&A) program to contain as a potential “Wal-Mart for terrorists” by one expert and account for weapons-grade materials in and “the greatest unmet threat to U.S. security” by a By Elizabeth Turpen the FSU. Collaboration between a California bipartisan U.S. Government commission in 2001, the biotech company and a team of former legacies of the cold war arms race–nuclear, chemical biological weapons scientists has yielded a and biological –continue to provide plenty of sleepless nights new vaccine for treatment of Hepatitis C, an increasing public for those of us focused on the sheer magnitude of unsecured health threat in Russia and globally. In an early iteration of materials and underemployed experts that could be used to programs, the Defense Department contracted a New York perpetrate catastrophic terrorism. Equally disturbing is the company to convert a factory producing nuclear-tipped consistent political rhetoric regarding the number one threat torpedoes in Kazakhstan to civilian production. This $3 million to U.S. security being at the “crossroads of technology and investment resulted in a cryogenic vessel production facility to international terrorism” without the corresponding political service the rapidly growing oil and gas industry in the region. will to effectively address the most plausible source. In In addition to providing sustainable employment to the lion’s addition, the proclivity to favor high-tech fixes over addressing share of workers at the former torpedo factory, this facility later the enduring human dimension of the problem remains an became the primary supplier of equipment for the cylinders outstanding liability for U.S. programs. requisite to DOE’s efforts to secure plutonium bearing fuel When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, roughly possibilities to improve these nonproliferation efforts gives assemblies in Kazakhstan upon closure of a breeder reactor. 20,000 weapons and stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium rise to the following conclusions: First, “Cooperative Threat Moreover, this case provides a concrete example of the and plutonium for an additional 40,000 weapons, as well as Reduction” is more than a group of programs to address “secondary” benefits of such efforts with respect to achieving an estimated 40,000 tons of chemical weapons and a robust supply-side concerns in the proliferation equation. If applied other foreign policy objectives in the course of addressing the biological capability, were spread over what would rapidly appropriately, Cooperative Threat Reduction can also address possible risk of know-how proliferation. Beyond sustainable evolve into 15 sovereign states spanning eleven time zones. the demand-side aspects of the equation. This is evidenced employment and providing products needed by a Department Moreover, tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and by the decisions on the part of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and of Energy nonproliferation program, the transfer of business technicians that comprised the backbone of the Soviets’ Belarus to forego nuclear weapons state status–respectively management skills, training in quality assurance and quality unconventional weapons programs went from relative riches the third, fifth and eighth largest nuclear weapons states upon control, and the positive economic impact on the region, this as an elite corps of patriots to highly skilled excess capacity independence–as a result of focused U.S. diplomatic efforts factory’s management became a vociferous agitator for the residing in bloated weapons complexes throughout the region. and promises of assistance. Second, without White House rule of law in an otherwise hostile business environment. In response to the rapidly evolving crisis, Congress passed the attention to getting the job done, these endeavors can fall In the Stimson Center’s survey of the U.S. Government Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Act. Colloquially known prey to pernicious bureaucratic behavior and a dysfunctional programs geared toward addressing the know-how proliferation as Nunn-Lugar after its authors former Senator Sam Nunn interagency process. Third, and most importantly, whereas threat, two shining examples not left to serendipity do exist. (D-GA) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), CTR provided weapons can be dismantled and materials controlled, the First, the Defense Department’s Biological Threat Reduction Defense Department funding and expertise to: 1) consolidate people cannot. Instead of approaching the human dimension Program has teamed with the Centers for Disease Control to and secure weapons of mass destruction in safe areas; 2) as a threat to be contained, it should be incorporated as part of leverage the scientific capacity of former biological weapons inventory and account for these weapons; 3) provide safe the strategy to address the demand-side of the equation. In this scientists in Central Asia and the South Caucasus to build a handling and safe disposition of these weapons as called for vein, U.S. industry and academe should be brought along as network for infectious disease surveillance across the region. by arms control agreements; and 4) offer assistance in finding partners to achieve sustainable rollback of WMD capabilities. Second, modeled after a program created in the mid 1990s to gainful employment for thousands of former Soviet scientists Each of these lessons is part of a comprehensive approach that promote economic diversification among the DoE laboratory with expert knowledge of weapons of mass destruction or their should be applied to future iterations of threat reduction efforts, complex, the Law Enforcement Targeted Initiative (LETI) delivery systems. whether those opportunities arise with respect to North Korea, is a partnership to promote development of civilian law The early momentum created by this effort laid the foundation Iran or other states with the scientific capabilities to achieve enforcement technologies by former Soviet WMD institutes. for a broad array of programs spawned by other U.S. agencies, nuclear status. Under this arrangement, law enforcement agencies, in Russia especially the Energy and State Departments, and, in some Despite global public opinion polls regarding declining and beyond, are the customers of Russian institutes R&D cases, pursued multilaterally by U.S. allies. In 1996, legislative U.S. popularity, America’s scientific and business acumen services. action in the form of the so-called Nunn-Lugar-Domenici bill is respected and coveted worldwide. This tool in our foreign A train is bearing down on the threat reduction activities explicitly recognized the terrorist threat and expanded and policy approach to reversing the proliferation tide is not being funded by the United States. Policymakers at the agencies enhanced threat reduction activities. At the 2002 Kananaskis used effectively. Never mind that oftentimes industry is leagues and many members of Congress are looking for an “exit Summit, other members of the G-8 committed themselves to ahead of federally-funded research and development efforts, strategy” from threat reduction engagement in the region. This match the United States’ commitment to CTR totaling $10 especially in the most innovative or ethically complicated is particularly true as Russia flaunts its petrodollar wealth, and billion over ten years, an agreement initially dubbed “10 plus 10 aspects of “high-tech,” and yet is regarded as an outsider or the escalating costs for the war in Iraq begin to squeeze all over 10.” More recently, Congress authorized CTR activities to peripheral to government policies in the day-to-day discussions other aspects of our national security budget. Unfortunately, extend beyond the territory of the former Soviet Union (FSU). inside the DC Beltway. The U.S. Government has yet to grasp an exit strategy that does not ensure an indigenous capacity to In over a dozen years of evolution and roughly $12 billion in the key point–and this is relevant to the cold war legacy as sustain the measures that the U.S. has so painstakingly put into U.S. security investments, these efforts can lay claim to the well as to combating terrorism more generally–“it’s about the place may render fifteen years and the expenditure of billions following achievements: deactivation of over 6,900 warheads, people, stupid.” Economic opportunity has a key role to play in of dollars moot. More frighteningly, a premature exit greatly including the entire arsenals from the former Soviet republics potentially reversing “rogue” states’ proliferation calculations increases the risk of WMD terrorism through the seepage of of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine; destruction of more than and offering opportunities to those thus far marginalized by materials or know-how to any well-endowed source willing 2,300 delivery systems; elimination of over 290 metric tons of globalization. to bid. highly enriched uranium; enhancements to security in transport With respect to the enduring threat of WMD proliferation As Sam Nunn repeatedly puts it: “We’re in a race between and storage as well as accountability for both weapons and from the FSU, however, this lesson remains vital. We have cooperation and catastrophe, and the threats are outrunning weapons materials; and engagement of approximately 71,000 consistently downgraded efforts to provide stable commercial our response.” Our response to the most likely source of scientists in civilian research. opportunities to the scientific capacity–due to the long-term materials or know-how that could contribute to catastrophic While the full roster of accomplishments is impressive, nature of such efforts and the fuzzy metrics which must be terrorism has been dangerously inadequate. Addressing the particularly in light of the lack of focused political commitment applied with respect to “conversion” of human capacity–in favor human dimension of the threat is not only the lynchpin to and relatively minuscule proportion of U.S. security of the more easily quantifiable aspects of dismantling weapons sustainability of these efforts, but represents underexploited investments to achieve progress, it remains wholly inadequate. and securing materials, despite the obvious issue that any potential to achieve a whole host of U.S. foreign policy interests. The U.S. Government has been whittling away at the risks progress made would be readily reversible without sustainable, Moreover, an opportunity exists to address public health, emanating from the cold war legacy for fifteen years, and civilian employment. In addition, with few exceptions, these energy, environmental and nonproliferation needs through depending on what aspect of the threat one is talking about and efforts have only in retrospect tried to address the need for more efficient leveraging of the scientific and technical talent what metric for progress one applies, we are still only about stable employment, not to mention the opportunity to address in the region of the former Soviet Union. Through innovative half way there. Why the slow pace to address the most obvious U.S. foreign policy objectives of economic development, engagement of U.S. industry and academe as partners in source of proliferation? Certainly sufficient blame might be laid integration into the global economy, and rule of law. Had we achieving U.S. policy goals, not only can we better address at the feet of fickle host governments, particularly in Russia. thought about the human dimension of proliferation as an proliferation challenges but also provide attractive incentives But a significant proportion of fault remains with the United opportunity rather than a risk and offered industry sufficient to induce a different calculation by states flirting with the States. The maverick, innovative approaches in the early years incentives to participate in creating sustainable commercial WMD option and reduce the risks of know-how proliferation of threat reduction that yielded rapid progress have long since job opportunities in these fledging democracies, we would be to the highest bidder. given way to turf battles between agencies, insufficient high- measurably farther along in advancing our nonproliferation Elizabeth Turpen is a Senior Associate and co-director of level attention to lay the foundation for more intensive and and many other vital national interests. the Cooperative Nonproliferation program at The Henry expeditious cooperation, and congressional and bureaucratic What has happened by accident in a handful of cases L. Stimson Center. She recently co-authored “Cooperative propensities for muddling through, despite the continued risk illustrates what is feasible by design. A high tech company Nonproliferation: Getting Further, Faster,” an in-depth of loose materials and unemployed weaponeers. based in Albuquerque, New Mexico works with a group assessment of U.S. nonproliferation programs in the former In-depth research regarding lessons learned and of highly skilled specialists at the General Physics Institute Soviet Union.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected]