Physics and Sport

physicsworld.com Volume 25 No 7 July 2012

PHYSICS AND SPORT The principles behind success HEAT EXCHANGER: Surface-to-surface radiation from the outside shell to the pipe walls transfers heat energy to a molten salt that then transports it to a turbine.

Verify and optimize your designs with COMSOL Multiphysics.® Multiphysics tools let you build simulations that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs. The key is the ability to include all physical e ects that exist in the real world. Order a free CD containing 700 multiphysics presentations at www.comsol.com/confcd

Product Suite

COMSOL Multiphysics MECHANICAL MULTIPURPOSE LiveLink™ for Pro/ENGINEER® Heat Transfer Module Optimization Module LiveLink™ for Creo™ Parametric FLUID Structural Mechanics Module Material Library LiveLink™ for Inventor® CFD Module Nonlinear Structural Materials Module Particle Tracing Module LiveLink™ for AutoCAD® Pipe Flow Module Geomechanics Module LiveLink™ for MATLAB® Microﬂ uidics Module Acoustics Module INTERFACING Subsurface Flow Module CAD Import Module ELECTRICAL File Import for CATIA® V5 CHEMICAL AC/DC Module LiveLink™ for SolidWorks® Chemical Reaction Engineering Module RF Module LiveLink™ for SpaceClaim® Batteries & Fuel Cells Module MEMS Module Electrodeposition Module Plasma Module Corrosion Module

© Copyright 2012. COMSOL, COMSOL Multiphysics and LiveLink are either registered trademarks or trademarks of COMSOL AB. AutoCAD and Inventor are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. LiveLink for AutoCAD and LiveLink for Inventor are not afﬁ liated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by Autodesk, Inc., and/or its afﬁ liates and/or subsidiaries. MATLAB is a registered trademark of The Mathworks, Inc. Pro/ENGINEER and Creo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other countries. SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. CATIA is a registered trademark of Dassault Systémes. SpaceClaim is a registered trademark of SpaceClaim Corporation. physicsworld.com Contents: July 2012

Quanta 3 Frontiers 4 Putting the shine on spin quantum memories ● Combing the spectra of exoplanets ● Floating drops and vapour clouds ● Why harlequin mantis shrimp pack a punch ● iStockphoto/Chris BernardiStockphoto/Chris Invisibility-cloak array emerges from the shadows News & Analysis 6 Pressure rises for UK and US to move to open access ● NuSTAR X-ray telescope takes off ● Plastic Logic pulls out of e-reader manufacturing ● Strathclyde welcomes Fraunhofer lab ● SpaceX supplies the International Space Station ● US nuclear boss quits ● SuperB laser plan for Rome lab ● UK closes Hawaiian telescopes ● Japan’s KEKB facility eyes super upgrade ● Square Kilometre Array adopts dual site

In theory – skateboarders and physics 19 Comment 15 Physics and sport Forum 17 An impaired cosmic vision Paul Nandra Critical Point 19 Sporting knowledge Robert P Crease iStockphoto/AlanMardi Feedback 20 Geoengineering, energy politics and green economics, plus comments from physicsworld.com on the amazing harlequin mantis shrimp Physics and sport The fastest man on no legs 22 Oscar Pistorius, also known as the “blade runner”, is the poster boy of sports Comic turn – the Great Physics Games 52 prostheses with his two J-shaped leg attachments. James Poskett explains the science behind these and other anatomical additions that are helping disabled athletes to excel Material advantage? 26 On the cover In sports it is hard to say objectively how much a special piece of equipment Physics and sport 22–34 enhances performance or some rule change decreases it – that is, unless you use (clockwise from top left: Shutterstock/ mast3r; iStockphoto/technotr; iStockphoto/ a method like the one described here by Steve Haake technotr; iStockphoto/Bob Thomas; iStockphoto/MichaelSvoboda; iStockphoto/ Balance, angular momentum and sport 31 technotr; Randy Faris/Corbis) Elite gymnasts, divers and long jumpers are not the only people who use simple physics principles to perform amazing balancing acts. Roland Ennos describes how they – and we – do it Reviews 36 Keeping the lights on after 2100 ● The puzzles of quantum field theory ● Web life: Engineering Sport

Physics World is published monthly as 12 issues per annual Careers 42 volume by IOP Publishing Ltd, Temple Circus, Temple Way, Technology for life Giulia Thompson ● Once a physicist: Crispin Duenas Bristol BS1 6HG, UK

United States Postal Identification Statement Recruitment 45 Physics World (ISSN 0953-8585) is published monthly by IOP Publishing Ltd, Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK. Air freight and mailing in the USA by Publications Expediting, Lateral Thoughts 52 Inc., 200 Meacham Ave, Elmont NY 11003. Periodicals postage at Jamaica NY 11431. The Great Physics Games Kate Oliver US Postmaster: send address changes to Physics World, American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502

Physics World July 2012 1 Reassuring when you Up to 20 times quieter can’t hear it running than others in its class

Discover more at www.edwardsvacuum.com/nXDS

nXDS - forthe heightenedgreat new shape performance of and reliabilityhigh performance with lower dry costvacuum of ownership pumping Vacuum science... product solution.

Untitled-2 1 22/06/2012 13:37 physicsworld.com Quanta

For the record Seen and heard Experiencing the accident convinced when his vehicle was stolen. Curiously, me that the best way to make nuclear NASA though, the driver did not report the theft plants safe is not to rely on them, but of the truck to the local police, with his rather to get rid of them phone later having been found in a fast- Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan food restaurant. The mystery deepens. quoted in the New York Times Kan, who has a degree in applied physics from Alien hunter retires the Tokyo Institute of Technology, says that the “Often the aliens of science fiction prospect of losing Tokyo made him realize that say more about us than they do about nuclear power is too risky. themselves,” declared astronomer Jill Tarter, director of research at the The president just called to say Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, congrats. Caller ID was blocked, so at To infin-knity and beyond California. Tarter was speaking after first I thought it was a telemarketer NASA has revealed its faith in British announcing in late May that she would Entrepreneur and former physicist Elon Musk knitwear after the US space agency be retiring as SETI director, using the writing on Twitter launched a space-faring rubber chicken opportunity to take aim at Hollywood and Musk, who founded the space company SpaceX, in a meteorological balloon to catch the its portrayal of aliens. “We should look at celebrated in late May as the company launched recent solar eclipse. Sue Drage from films such as Men in Black III, Prometheus its first rocket to the International Space Station. Rugby had the honour of knitting a and Battleship as great entertainment jumper for Camilla the rubber chicken and metaphors for our own fears, but we I have a leftover bottle of champagne – the mascot of NASA’s Solar Dynamics should not consider them harbingers of Observatory. The 62-year-old housewife alien visitation,” she noted. Tarter also had from Christmas, but I haven’t yet put was recommended to the space agency by some words of warning for Cambridge it in the fridge. the BBC after she took part in a charity theorist Stephen Hawking: “While Sir [sic] Theorist Peter Higgs speaking at the Festival of “knitathon” in her home town. Yet with Stephen Hawking warned that alien life Ideas in Bristol in May only a couple of photos of Camilla to go might try to conquer or colonize Earth, I Higgs was asked how he would celebrate if on, it wasn’t all plain sailing as it took respectfully disagree.” Maybe she knows conclusive evidence for the Higgs boson is found Drage three attempts to complete the suit. something we don’t about the Queen’s at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, as is widely “The only way I could get it right was to next Birthday Honours. expected to happen later this year. go and buy a rubber chicken,” she told the BBC. You will be relieved to know that A ringing endorsement NASA is a shuttlecock they’re hitting Camilla survived the two-hour flight and, In what seemed like according to its Twitter account, was back an impeccably well- back and forth in time to bag some photos of last month’s IBM Research timed research finding, Former astronaut Neil Armstrong speaking to transit of Venus. researchers at the Royal the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia Society of Chemistry, the Armstrong, who rarely gives interviews, bemoans Lost and found University of Warwick in the UK and IBM that Congress and the White House are Still on balloons, there were more Research in Zurich released an image constantly at odds over the future direction of questions than answers in late May when in late May of a new molecule they had the space agency. it emerged that a NASA stratospheric synthesized that had an uncanny likeness balloon had gone missing – only to be to the five rings reminiscent of an event A female Brian Cox is the Holy Grail found in a truck at a car wash three happening in London this month (no Radio presenter Ian Peacock quoted in days later. The NASA-funded EBEX prizes for guessing which one). Given the the Guardian experiment is designed to measure the resemblance, the press were all over it: Peacock was commenting on plans to get more intensity and polarization of the cosmic- “Scientists create smallest ever version academics, and in particular women, to present microwave-background radiation when of Olympics logo” screamed a headline TV shows on science, adding that good it launches from Antarctica in October. in the Daily Mail. However, the team, led communicators should not worry about their peers. However, after leaving the University by David Fox from Warwick, had already of Minnesota, the balloon mysteriously synthesized the compound, which is Lovely new baby. Its parents must be failed to arrive on schedule at NASA’s dubbed Olympicene and has the chemical Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in formula C19H12, back in 2011. What the very proud Palestine, Texas. After a three-day search, researchers did that was new was to make Nobel laureate Eric Cornell quoted on the truck was finally tracked down to a car an image of Olympicene with the help of AlphaGalileo wash in Hutchins, Texas, around 150 km an atomic force microscope at the IBM Cornell was remarking on the new results from from Palestine. Researchers were relieved labs. “We are pleased with the level of a team of researchers at the University of that the seal on the trailer remained intact coverage,” Fox told Physics World. But Innsbruck in Austria, which announced in May so nobody had ventured into the cargo and given that the International Olympic that it had made the first ever Bose–Einstein damaged the equipment. The driver of Committee can be rather protective of its condensate of erbium atoms. the truck later revealed that he had been image rights, will the scientists be forced staying at a motel in Hutchins for the night to change the compound’s name?

Physics World July 2012 3 physicsworld.com Frontiers In brief New spin on quantum memories DNA tiles pave the way A pioneering technique for engineering complex transfer it to a more accessible qubit to be nanoscale structures from a set of DNA “tiles” quickly processed, before returning it to has been developed by researchers in the US. the safety of isolation. Element Six Element While nanoscale structures have been fashioned The advantage of using nuclear spin to before from individual strands of DNA using store quantum information is that it is per- the “DNA origami” method developed in 2006, haps the most isolated system in a solid. it is expensive and time-consuming. In the The information can be stored in the spin new technique, single strands are folded into state of the nucleus – whether it is pointing 150 × 150 nm tiles that are mixed together in an up or down with respect to an applied mag- environment where each tile is only attracted to netic field, for example. one other complementary tile, depending on its The new silicon memory was made by an base sequence. This allows researchers to create international team led by Mike Thewalt of the different shapes – letters, smiley faces and Shiny memories Qubits can be stored in a diamond. Simon Fraser University in Canada using astronomical signs – through the selection of the nuclear spin of a phosphorus-31 nucleus sequences, which are controlled by their local Two independent teams of physicists embedded in silicon. The diamond memory interactions (Nature 485 623). have created nuclear-spin-based quan- was created at Harvard University in the tum memories that push the limits of how US by Mikhail Lukin and his international ‘Seabed carpet’ to harness wave energy long quantum information can be stored team. Their device uses a carbon-13 nuclear A synthetic “seabed carpet” that mimics the in solid-state devices. One device – based spin near an NV in diamond. Silicon-28 wave-damping effect of a muddy seafloor could on a doped crystal of ultrapure silicon-28 and carbon-12 were chosen because both be used to extract energy from waves passing – is able to store data for more than 3 min, nuclei have zero nuclear spin and therefore over it, according to an engineer in the US. when cooled to a temperature of below will not interact with the phosphorus-31 The idea is to make a viscoelastic sheet that 2 K. The other memory – based on nitro- and carbon-13 nuclear spins, respectively. would be placed over a network of vertically gen vacancies (NVs) in an isotopically pure Both schemes use electron spin as a oriented springs and generators on the coastal carbon-12 diamond crystal – achieved a qubit that can be manipulated externally to seafloor. The flexible carpet responds just like shorter storage time of 1.4 s, but did so at exchange quantum information. In the sili- mud: as waves pass overhead, they induce room temperature. con memory, the electron spin is associated dynamic ripples in its sprung surface, and these These results could prove insights into with the phosphorus atom itself, whereas perturbations can be used to generate electricity. how quantum information (qubits) can the diamond memory uses an electron Modelling the interaction of ocean waves with best be stored and manipulated. For a from the NV. In both cases the connection the proposed carpet shows that the system could qubit to maintain its quantum nature and between electron and nuclear spin comes easily absorb 50% of incident wave energy over not “decohere”, it must be isolated from its via the “hyperfine interaction” between short distances of about 10 m. The carpet – surroundings. But to manipulate quantum the spin magnetic moments of the electron which has not yet been built – could also be used information, a qubit must be controlled and nucleus. The result is a tiny splitting to protect coastal areas against strong waves externally – which ultimately leads to deco- of electron energy levels, which affects and provide safe areas for boats in stormy seas herence. One solution is to first store the how the material absorbs and emits light (Proc. R. Soc. A 10.1098/rspa.2012.0193). information in a very isolated qubit, then (Science 336 1283, 1280).

Tuna carry isotopes to California colleagues in Germany and Spain, along Pacific bluefin tuna off the California coast Combing for planets with ESO scientists, used the comb to have been found to contain levels of radioactive calibrate HARPS over two test runs car- caesium isotopes that are around 10 times A method that uses laser frequency combs ried out in November 2010 and January higher than expected. Researchers from the to calibrate astronomical spectrographs 2011. The comb delivers a series of equally US believe that the fish ingested the caesium to unprecedented accuracies has been spaced spectral lines that act as a “fre- following a discharge of radioactive material into developed by European researchers. They quency ruler” against which the light emit- the ocean near the earthquake- and tsunami- tested the comb on the European South- ted from distant stars can be measured. In damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant ern Observatory’s (ESO) High Accuracy the technique, two fibres send light to the in March 2011. They found caesium-134 and Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph – one guiding the calibration caesium-137 in 15 two-year-old Pacific bluefin spectrograph at the La Silla Observatory in light and the other the starlight. The emerg- tuna. Although the total caesium concentrations Chile. The added accuracy that this method ing light is detected by a CCD camera and a in the post-Fukushima fish were higher than allows could help in the search for Earth- very high-resolution spectrum is seen. before, the levels were low compared with sized exoplanets by detecting their tiny Although the comb can currently only be naturally occurring radioactive isotopes, and influence on the motions of their compan- used for a few days at a time, more dura- an order of magnitude less than the Japanese ion stars. Currently, the best spectrographs, ble combs should be ready for use in a safety limit of about 400 Bq/kg dry weight for such as HARPS, are not precise enough to year’s time as they are being developed by human consumption (PNAS 109 9483). detect the tiny shifts in the wavelength of Menlo – a spin-off company from the Max starlight that could be caused by an Earth- Plank Institute. The combs could also help Read these articles in full and sign up for free sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star. astronomers to design a new generation of e-mail news alerts at physicsworld.com Tobias Wilken of the Max Planck Insti- more accurate and stable spectrographs tute for Quantum Optics in Munich and (Nature 485 611).

4 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Frontiers

Innovation Cloak-on-a-chip comes out of the shadows

An invisibility-cloak array that is made up of more than 25 000 individual minuscule cloaks and

Baptiste Darbois-Texier and Keyvan Piroird operates in the visible frequency range has been built by researchers in the US. Individual cloaks could be used as biosensors, and the entire array could thus be used to study on-chip light manipulation. While researchers have often used metamaterials to create cloaks, a simpler way might be to use a structure, such as an optical fibre, that guides optical waves by total internal reflection, also known as an “optical waveguide”. Indeed, Vera Smolyaninova at Towson University, US, and colleagues did precisely this for the first time in 2009, by placing a gold-coated lens on top of a gold-coated glass slide, where the area between the two surfaces acted as the waveguide – light travelled around the space Levitating drops and winged clouds where the two surfaces touched. These cloaks, If you are wondering what the ethereal image above is showing, you are in fact looking at levitating drops of the researchers realized, could be used to slow liquid oxygen, known as “Leidenfrost drops”, floating above glass plates at room temperature. The the light down, or even stop it, creating what Leidenfrost effect – named after the 18th-century German researcher Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost – is seen is known as a “trapped rainbow”. The trapped when a liquid comes into contact with a surface that is at a significantly higher temperature than the liquid’s rainbow is created as different wavelengths of boiling point, producing an insulating layer of vapour that keeps the drop from evaporating rapidly. As there is light –in other words, different colours – are no contact between the drop and the surface, the friction of the system is reduced dramatically, which makes stopped at slightly different radii within the lens. the drops highly mobile and difficult to control. The images are part of a study conducted by David Quéré and Now the team has made thousands of these colleagues at École Polytechnique near Paris, where they show that it is possible to control a paramagnetic lenses – each about 30 µm in diameter – that liquid drop using a magnetic field. The team looked into the forces that drive liquid-oxygen drops and created are laid out together on a gold sheet. Each methods to control the motion of the drops. The top image shows the magnet below the glass plate and a microlens bends light around itself, effectively “cloud” above the liquid-oxygen drop, which is at –183 °C. Water vapour in the air around the drop hiding the area it contains. The cloak array was condenses, forming these clouds that sometimes reveal the ambient air flows. The haze seen within the built using a commercially available microlens close-up drop images (below) is caused by ice crystals. array that was coated with a gold film 30 nm thick. This was placed, gold-side down, onto a force, air bubbles are trapped between the gold-coated glass slide and a laser beam was Super shrimp secrets club and the creature’s shell, which then col- directed into the array to test the performance of lapse to create regions of great local stress. the cloaks at different angles. A colourful shrimp that can smash through The shrimp can repeat this process thou- One of the main aims of this study was to see aquarium glass, without doing any signifi- sands of times without damaging its club. how multiple cloaks “interfere” with each other. cant damage to its pair of “dactyl” clubs, is James Weaver of Harvard University, The array worked well when light was shone along sure to make researchers take notice. Scien- US, and colleagues used X-ray and micros- the rows of microcloaks, but if it was shone at an tists in the US now say the harlequin mantis copy techniques to study the structure and angle to the array or if there were any symmetry shrimp can generate the enormous force composition of the shrimps’ club and found flaws in the design, shadows seemed to appear, in its clubs, which are normally used by the that the striking face of the club is made of revealing any imperfections. This apparent shrimp to crack open tough shellfish, thanks a 60 µm thick layer of very hard calcium- disadvantage could be put to good use as it to a combination of materials with very dif- phosphate ceramic material. Behind this offers a way of checking for cloak imperfections. ferent properties. Indeed, their measure- are much thicker layers of fibres made from Another application could be in the field of ments reveal that the clubs have a much a much more elastic material that is com- biosensors that use fluorescence spectroscopy higher specific strength and toughness than monly found in shrimps’ exoskeletons. The – identifying substances based on the amount any synthetic composite material – a finding club is held together at the edges by a third of light absorbed and then emitted by them. that could lead to stronger materials, includ- structure made from chitosan fibres. Researchers could do “spectroscopy-on-a-chip” ing those for use in body armour. The team believes that it is the layered and simultaneously examine fluorescence Measuring just 3–18 cm in length, the “helicoidal” structure that gives the club its at thousands of points. “You could test for harlequin mantis shrimp can accelerate its extreme resistance to fracturing. Any crack multiple genetic conditions in a person’s DNA by clubs to reach speeds in excess of 80 km/hr, propagating through the material would attaching different dyes to different conditions,” allowing it to deliver an instantaneous force have to continually change direction – mak- says Smolyaninova (New J. Phys. 14 053029). of more than 700 N. In addition to this blunt ing fracture unlikely (Science 336 1275).

Physics World July 2012 5 physicsworld.com News & Analysis UK should lead on open access A new report commissioned by the UK government says that all research journals should be free for anyone to read – but the transition will come at a price, as Hamish Johnston reports

The UK should lead the way in trans- of papers met this criterion in 2010 forming scientific publishing from a and a clear policy would have to be “reader pays” model to an “author put in place to decide who pays for pays” model. That is the main con- what – and what to do if foreign fund- clusion of a 140-page report released ing agencies refuse to pay their share. last month by an independent work- David Willetts, the UK’s minister

ing group of academics, publishers, iStockphoto/ardaguldogan for universities and science, says the librarians and representatives from report will shape the government’s learned societies. Led by the British forthcoming policy on open-access sociologist Janet Finch, the 15-strong journals. “Opening up access to pub- working group included Steven Hall, licly funded research findings is a key managing director of IOP Publish- commitment for this government,” ing, which publishes Physics World. he says. “It would foster innovation, Commissioned by the UK gov- drive growth and open up a new area ernment, the report notes that of academic discovery.” the Internet has had a profound cessing charge (APC) before a paper Click to read David Hoole, marketing director impact on how scientists access is published. Switching to open of Nature Publishing Group, which peer-reviewed research papers, with The report calls on UK research access could cost publishes the Nature suite of jour- nearly all articles now being avail- councils to “establish more effec- the UK up to £60m nals, says that the company “wel- able online. However, many journals tive and flexible arrangements to per year. comes the balanced approach of the are subscription-based, which means meet the cost of publishing in open- Finch report, and its recognition of that they can be accessed only by access and hybrid journals”. Based the need for a mixed economy, of researchers working at institutions on an APC of about £1750, the group licensing subscription content, self- that have taken out a subscription or believes that a move to open access archiving and open-access publica- by those who are willing to pay a one- would cost the UK an additional tion”. However, Hoole warns that the off fee to access individual articles £38m per year. The report also says small number of papers published on a pay-per-view basis. that the UK government must spend in highly selective journals such as Some researchers therefore feel an extra £10m per year to extend its Nature will require APCs higher than that subscription-based journals current licences on reader-pays jour- those acknowledged in the report. are preventing the results of govern- nals to provide wider access to this Timothy Gowers, a mathematician ment-funded research from being material in the higher-education and at the University of Cambridge who more widely disseminated, arguing health sectors, with publishers also is involved in a boycott of the pub- that it should be freely accessible providing “walk in” access at public lisher Elsevier, told Physics World in the public domain – a view that libraries at no charge. that while he welcomes the general the report describes as both “com- A further £3–5m per year, the direction suggested by the report, he pelling” and “fundamentally unan- report argues, would need to be does not think it sufficiently acknow- swerable”. Proponents of this “open spent on open repositories of sci- ledges the “very large” profits that he access” model say it would not only entific reports that have not been says publishers make. “I would have benefit researchers in smaller uni- subject to peer review. Such reposi- liked to have seen a bolder report versities and poorer nations that tories, it suggests, could contain that also recommended taking steps cannot afford subscriptions, but also work done at a university or institute to move to a cheaper system that cov- help inventors and small businesses – or done UK-wide in a specific disci- The challenge ers the costs of publishers but signifi- by giving non-academics access to pline. The report also cites a one-off will be to cantly reduces their profits,” he says. scientific and technical knowledge. transition cost of £5m, putting the Any move to open access will also The challenge in making the tran- total cost of the move to full open decide who affect learned societies such as the sition to full open-access publishing access at about £50–60m per year. should pay the Royal Society, the Institute of Phys- will be to decide who should pay the This, it says, is “modest” compared cost of running ics and the Royal Society of Chemis- not-insubstantial cost of running with the £10.4bn that the UK govern- peer review, try, all of which publish journals on peer-review systems, publishing the ment spends every year on research. a not-for-profit basis. “With more papers, and maintaining and upgrad- One challenge facing the UK publishing than two-thirds of the Institute’s ing the complex online systems that is how to apportion APCs when papers and charit able projects funded by the underpin most modern journals. The research is published by an inter- maintaining gift-aided profits from IOP Publish- Finch group has come down firmly in national collaboration that includes ing, it’s crucial to us that the shift is support of the “author pays” model, one or more UK-based scientists. the complex managed carefully,” says IOP Presi- whereby scientists pay an article pro- According to the report, about 46% online systems dent Peter Knight.

6 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com News & Analysis

Publishing Support rises for public access to US-funded research

A petition calling for US govern- Free for all which scientific peer review disap- ment-funded research to be freely A petition to make pears. That is important to the sci- available online has been signed by US government- entists, but even more important for more than 27 000 people. Filed under funded research the public.” an initiative from the US govern- open access has Just how the Obama administra- ment’s Office of Public Engagement, been signed by more tion will react to the petition remains the petition calls for “free, timely than 27 000 people. unclear. However, it has already access over the Internet to jour- called on research-related govern- nal articles arising from taxpayer- ment agencies to develop their own funded research”. Having received public-access policies under the 2010 more than 25 000 signatories, the US America COMPETES Act. The government must now respond to the publishes several of its own jour- APS already makes all its publica- petition, which as Physics World went nals, thinks that the NIH mandate tions available free of charge online to press, it had yet to do. would not work for different types through public libraries that have The petition calls for all govern- of research. He is even more criti- signed up with it and to high schools. ment agencies that support research cal of legislation now in Congress “We also allow all authors to post to adopt the publication policy of the that would require public access their papers on their websites free of National Institutes of Health (NIH). within six months of publication. “It charge,” Lubell adds. Since 2007 researchers have been wouldn’t work in social science and Those behind Access2Research obliged to deposit papers that have mathematics, which have very little have no plans to relax. “We were come from NIH funding in the insti- grant funding and very long articles,” hopeful of success [with the peti- tutes’ PubMed archive within a year he says. “No one size fits all solutions. tion] but we were really surprised of publication. “The NIH policy is an I prefer working with a variety of by its speed,” says Heather Joseph, unqualified success,” claims Michael mechanisms for public access rather executive director of the Schol- Carroll of American University’s than one dissemination model.” arly Publishing and Academic Washington College of Law and an Michael Lubell, director of pub- Resources Coalition and an organ- organizer of the Access2Research lic affairs at the American Physical izer of Access2Research. “We want group, which is behind the peti- Society (APS), meanwhile, points to keep the pressure on and we plan tion. He says the NIH policy has not out that the scientific peer-review to gather signatures, push the story harmed any scientific publisher “so process is not cheap. “The voluntary out to the media and make sure that extending it ought to be a no-brainer”. work captures only a part of what allies in Congress are sponsoring But Frederick Dylla, executive goes on. Managing the review system public access to federal research.” director and chief executive of the is costly,” Lubell says. “What we are Peter Gwynne American Institute of Physics, which very concerned about is a model in Boston, MA

Astronomy tory that can obtain much deeper and crisper images than before”. NuSTAR is meant to work with X-ray telescope is primed for first measurements other telescopes already in space, including Chandra, so that the NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Tele- remnant material to understand how combined information will provide scope Array (NuSTAR) successfully stars and elements are created; and to the best and most complete picture took off from Kwajalein Atoll in the understand what powers the relativ- of some of the most energetic and Pacific Ocean last month. NuSTAR, istic particle jets streaming from the exotic objects in the universe. which is in orbit about 600 km above most extreme active galaxies hosting Paul Hertz, NASA’s astrophysics the Earth, is primed to hunt for VAFB/RandyBeaudoin supermassive black holes. NuSTAR division director, points out that the black holes and other celestial bod- will also be able to investigate the ori- $170m NuSTAR mission has taken ies, scanning the sky in the high- gins of cosmic rays, look at superno- just over four years from approval energy X-ray region. The craft’s vae and gamma-ray bursts, and study to launch, and uses technology 10 m long arm – which contains its the surface of the Sun. developed in some of NASA’s basic- main mirrors at the end – has now Shining bright The NuSTAR mission was first research programmes. “The result been unfurled, making the telescope The NuSTAR conceived by Fiona Harrison of the is a small telescope that will provide ready for measurements. spacecraft California Institute of Technology, world-class science in an important NuSTAR’s two-year primary mis- undergoes who is its principal investigator. She but relatively unexplored band of the sion has three main objectives: to preparations before says that astronomers will now be able spectrum,” he says. count the number of collapsed stars its successful launch to see “the hottest, densest and most Tushna Commissariat and black holes in different regions last month. energetic objects with a fundamen- ● See also “An impaired cosmic of the sky; to study young supernova- tally new, high-energy X-ray observa- vision” on p17

Physics World July 2012 7 News & Analysis physicsworld.com

Industry companies and the firm is optimis- tic that it can establish partnerships with device manufacturers to realize the full potential of the technology. Plastic Logic quits e-reader market Despite the apparent setback, Plastic Logic insists that its new A UK firm spun out from the Uni- strategy will let it gain greater bene- versity of Cambridge that sought to fit from its technology. “We’re very be a world leader in flexible organic excited about the future for Plas- electronic circuits and displays Logic Plastic tic Logic and the plastic electron- has pulled out of the competitive ics industry,” chief executive Indro e-reader market as it struggles to Mukerjee told Physics World. “A s a find a commercial outlet for its tech- result of the groundbreaking work nology. Plastic Logic announced in we’ve done, the plastic-electronics May that it is to close its development industry has now reached a level of facility in Mountain View, Califor- maturity where many alternative nia, with the loss of around 40 jobs. uses, such as large-area sensors, cir- An unspecified number of employ- cuitry and displays on smart cards, ees at the company’s offices in the are beginning to emerge.” UK, Germany and Russia are also Mukerjee adds that the use of their likely to be affected. technology across many businesses The company was founded in 2000 polymers are lighter, more flexible Lights out will lead to the long-term viability by physicists Henning Sirringhaus and – in principle – cheaper than UK spin-off firm of the plastic-electronics industry as and Richard Friend to exploit the inorganic conductors. Plastic Logic has well as more applications and devel- flexible-display technology they had Although Plastic Logic has report- announced it is to opments in the future. Indeed, the developed at the university’s Caven- edly raised more than $500m, it has pull out of UK government’s Technology Strat- dish Laboratory. This allowed them struggled to turn its technology into manufacturing egy Board has already said that Plas- to print transistors – made from marketable products. In 2010 it tried e-readers and will tic Logic will share in a £19m fund an organic semiconductor – onto a to introduce its own e-reader, called instead sell its to promote collaborative research flexible plastic substrate. Organic the Que, which was quickly aban- technology to in electronics and photonics, par- electronics technology uses carbon- doned in the face of stiff competition other firms. ticularly concerning ideas that have based polymers instead of the cop- from Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s not yet got specific applications in per and silicon that form the basis of Kindle. Plastic Logic instead plans recognized markets. traditional electronics. Conducting to license its technology to other Simon Perks

Applied research Tim Holt, who is the institute’s current chief executive, has been named executive director of Fraunhofer UK Research Ltd. He told Physics World Fraunhofer moves into the UK that the new Fraunhofer centre is expected to be operational by August Germany’s Fraunhofer Society The photonics centre in Glasgow with a founding director in place. has announced it is to open its first will begin with a handful of staff Holt adds that about two-thirds of research centre in the UK. The members in temporary offices but the initial start-up funding will come Fraunhofer Centre for Applied in 2014 will move into the univer- from Scottish partners such as Scot- Photonics will be based at the Uni- sity’s Technology and Innovation tish Enterprise, the Scottish Funding versity of Strathclyde in Glasgow Centre, which is currently being Council, the Scottish Government and will focus on “industry-relevant Universitybuilt. of Strathclyde By 2017 the centre will have and Strathclyde University, with the and industry-driven” laser research Focus on the future about 2000 m2 of space housing 50 rest from Fraunhofer. and technology. It will have a budget The new Fraunhofer staff members and 30 postgraduate Ambacher says that the new during the first five years of £8.8m. Centre for Applied research students. Fraunhofer centre will provide the The society has also founded Fraun- Photonics will be “Photonics activity is particularly UK and international industry part- hofer UK Research Ltd, which will based at the UK’s strong in the UK, and especially in ners with expertise, skills and facili- be based at the university and will University of Scotland,” says Oliver Ambacher, ties in photonics technologies, with co-ordinate any future UK-based Strathclyde. director of the Fraunhofer Insti- the focus being on optical sensors Fraunhofer research centres. tute for Applied Solid State Physics and sensor systems as well as optical Fraunhofer, with headquarters in in Freiburg, a partnering institute devices and systems. Key markets Munich, is Europe’s largest applied- of the new Glasgow centre. Ulrich will be healthcare, defence, environ- research organization. It has more Buller, senior vice-president and mental monitoring, energy, biopho- than 20 000 employees in Germany executive board member of the tonics, transport and IT. A number who work at 80 research institutes Fraunhofer Society, says that Strath- of firms, including Coherent Scot- around the country. In 1994 the clyde’s Institute of Photonics already land, M Squared Lasers, Edinburgh society established its first overseas has an excellent reputation for pho- Instruments, Honeywell, Thales and subsidiary, Fraunhofer USA, which tonics research and commercializa- Selex, have already indicated that now has eight institutes, and there tion. “Consequently, Fraunhofer has they want to collaborate with the are more than 20 other centres scat- been eager, for some time, to create new centre. tered across Europe, Asia, the Mid- a research centre in Glasgow in con- Ned Stafford dle East and South America. junction with Strathclyde,” he adds. Hamburg

8 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com News & Analysis

Space Sidebands

Dragon paves the way for new spaceflight era Euclid mission given go-ahead A European Space Agency (ESA) mission The success of the first private mis- Flying high to explore the mysteries of dark energy

sion to the International Space Sta- SpaceX’s Dragon NASA and dark matter has received final tion (ISS) has opened up a new era capsule successfully approval from its science programme in commercial spaceflight after returned to Earth in committee. Construction of the 7600m SpaceX’s Dragon capsule splashed late May after Euclid mission – one of two selected by down safely in the Pacific Ocean on delivering more than ESA last October as a part of its Cosmic 31 May. Launched from a SpaceX 450 kg of supplies to Vision 2015–2025 plan – can now begin, Falcon 9 rocket nine days earlier, the the International with launch slated for 2020. Approval capsule delivered more than 450 kg of Space Station. was granted after the committee entered supplies to the ISS before returning into an agreement with its member states to Earth loaded with waste from the for funding Euclid’s main instruments. station. The delivery was the start of a Earth orbit now that the US Space Euclid will use a 1.2 m diameter series of ISS supply missions over the Shuttle programme has ended. telescope, a camera and a spectrometer coming few years that should, if all Original plans had called for the to plot a 3D map of the distribution of goes well, see astronauts being car- Dragon capsule to fly by the ISS in more than two billion galaxies, out to ried to and from the station by 2015. its first venture, and to dock and redshifts of z ~ 2, and of the dark matter Physicist Elon Musk, founder and deliver cargo in its second flight. that surrounds them. Its view will stretch chief executive of SpaceX, says that NASA agreed last year to merge the across 10 billion light-years, revealing the flight will be recognized as a two missions because of the “incred- details of the universe’s structure and “significantly historical step forward ible progress” that the SpaceX team its expansion. in space travel – hopefully the first had made in preparing its craft for of many to come”. Those sentiments its journey to the ISS. The upgraded NASA to reuse spy telescopes are echoed by NASA administra- mission boasted several achieve- Two unused telescopes from the US tor Charles Bolden, who says he is ments, including attaching a special National Reconnaissance Office – part “counting on the inventiveness of module to the bottom of the Dragon of the country’s military spying system – American companies and American capsule that holds two solar arrays to have been donated to NASA. Designed workers to make the ISS and other generate the capsule’s power, as well to point downwards towards Earth, low-Earth-orbit destinations acces- as using the ISS’s 9.75 m robotic arm rather than outwards into space, the sible to all who have dreams of space to grab the Dragon capsule and pull instruments both have mirrors with a travel”. The mission was part of a US it into a docking position. diameter of 2.4 m– the same as that of strategy to rely on commercial craft Peter Gwynne the Hubble Space Telescope. The two to carry future astronauts into low Boston, MA instruments could help to revive NASA’s faltering science programme, much of Nuclear energy which faces sacrifice because of the increasing costs of Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA US nuclear regulator chief resigns is already developing a plan to use one of the telescopes to study dark energy, The chairman of the US Nuclear staff that Jaczko had “unilaterally and among other projects. Meanwhile, NASA Regulatory Commission (NRC), particle NRC illegally” stopped a safety-evaluation has saved another telescope – the physicist Gregory Jaczko, has announced report on the Yucca repository’s design, orbiting Galaxy Evolution Explorer – after he is to resign. Jaczko’s decision comes Hubert Bell, the NRC’s inspector funding for it ran out. NASA has lent it a year after congressional Republicans general, accused Jaczko of “using to the California Institute of Technology, objected to his leadership in phasing out forceful management techniques to which will cover its $1.2m annual the $10bn nuclear-waste repository in accomplish his objectives”, while noting operating costs. Yucca Mountain in Nevada, funding for that he had operated within the law. which was axed in 2011. His resignation In October 2011 Jaczko’s four fellow Japan restarts nuclear reactors will become effective when the Senate Stepping down commissioners – George Apostolakis, Barely a month after Japan switched approves his successor. The Obama Particle physicist William Magwood, William Ostendorff off its last operating nuclear reactor, administration has already nominated Gregory Jaczko has and Kristine Svinicki – wrote to the the Japanese government has allowed geologist Allison Macfarlane from resigned as White House saying Jaczko had caused two reactors in the western Japanese George Mason University for the position. chairman of the US “serious damage” to the NRC that could town of Ohi to be restarted. The decision The NRC has five commissioners who Nuclear Regulatory affect safety at US nuclear plants. was taken despite public opposition to regulate and license nuclear power, Commission. Svinicki – the only female commissioner, the use of nuclear power following the but the chairman has ultimate legal whose nomination for a new term as earthquake and tsunami that struck authority. Jaczko had spent seven years commissioner the Senate will take up the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power as a commissioner, including three as along with that of Macfarlane – also told plant in March 2011. The Kansai Electric chairman, with his term set to expire in Congress last December that Jaczko had Power Company will bring the reactors June 2013. “I have decided this is the created a working environment in which back online this month, claiming that the appropriate time to continue my efforts women felt especially threatened, a power they generate is needed to avert to ensure public safety in a different charge that he denies. a summer power crisis in Osaka, Japan’s forum,” he says. Peter Gwynne, second largest city. After allegations by commission Boston, MA

Physics World July 2012 9 News & Analysis physicsworld.com

Facilities 7250m of the core 7650m has been approved by the Italian government and it is hoped that much of the balance will be met by “in kind” dona- Rome looks to host X-ray laser tions of accelerator and detector components. Roberto Petronzio, Physicists developing a 7650m par- director of the Cabbibo Laboratory, ticle collider on the outskirts of DESY which is set up to host SuperB, says Rome known as SuperB now plan that the first collisions will not take to extend the machine’s scientific place before the end of 2017. reach by incorporating a free-elec- Like other physicists contacted tron laser (FEL) at short (or “hard”) by Physics World, Josef Feldhaus, X-ray wavelengths. They say that who is in charge of experiments on the roughly 775m addition, which the FLASH FEL at the DESY lab has yet to be approved, would allow in Hamburg, says he knows very lit- a wide range of research in materi- tle about the new Italian plans. “It als science, biology and medicine would be a great success for the Ital- to be carried out, in addition to the ian scientific community, but I ques- facility’s core studies on matter– tion whether the project will garner antimatter asymmetry. There are the necessary political support and currently about 20 FELs around the funding,” he says. world, which emit bursts of coher- now want to add an FEL by chop- Surprise addition Ferrario and colleagues drew up ent synchrotron radiation by pass- ping up the electron beam, so that The plans for SuperB the proposals to expand SuperB’s ing electrons through an oscillating for part of the time the linear accel- have been extended remit after a long-standing plan to magnetic field that makes them fol- erator feeds the rings and for the rest to include a free- turn a pilot X-ray FEL at Frascati low a sinusoidal path, but just two are it feeds an “undulator” to generate electron laser, into a full-scale facility fell through hard X-ray devices. X-rays. The researchers say this will similar to the one at last year as a result of disagreements Set to be built at the University of not compromise the performance of the DESY lab in over who would pay its running costs. Tor Vergata, SuperB will produce the particle collider. Hamburg (illustrated The pilot FEL had been built after beams of electrons and positrons Although a detailed cost analysis above). the Italian research ministry chose inside a linear accelerator to an will not be ready until October, Fer- the Elettra synchrotron facility in energy of 6.7 GeV before injecting rario estimates that the FEL will add Trieste – rather than Tor Vergata – them into two rings each more than about 750m to SuperB’s price tag, as the site for a full FEL. Elettra’s 1 km in circumference, where they with a further 725m needed to build facility, which operates at ultraviolet will then be collided to allow the experimental stations. Constructing wavelengths, won out because it was decay of particles such as B mesons. a comparable FEL from scratch, in cheaper, says Ferrario. Massimo Ferrario and colleagues contrast, would cost around 7200m, Edwin Cartlidge at the Frascati National Laboratory says Ferrario. Currently, some Rome

Astronomy the capacity of UK astronomers to carry out world-leading science,” says David Southwood, president UK to shut down two Hawaiian telescopes of the Royal Astronomical Society. “The UK needs to remain a credible The UK is to close two telescopes Closing down international partner with a decent in Hawaii – the United Kingdom The UK will retire the research infrastructure. Reduction Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and United Kingdom in access to astronomical observato- the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Infrared Telescope ries...puts this at risk.” (JCMT). The 15 m JCMT operates (pictured) and the JAC director Gary Davis, mean-

in the submillimetre waveband, James Clerk Maxwell Centre Astronomy Joint while, calls the closure “a very whereas its 3.8 m partner UKIRT is Telescope by 2014. serious setback”, adding that UK the largest infrared telescope in the astronomers will now have to go to northern hemisphere. The decision confirmed that they would with- other nations’ facilities. “It is inevit- to shut the facilities was made by draw funding from the JCMT, which able that the UK’s hard-won leader- the Science and Technology Facili- would place a larger financial burden ship in these two areas of astronomy ties Council (STFC), which said the on the UK.” The STFC will, how- will lapse,” he says. money saved will be used to help ever, continue to operate the Isaac What will happen to the tele- pay for the UK’s membership of the Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) scopes and their 40-strong staff is European Southern Observatory. in La Palma in the Canary Islands. currently unknown. One possibility “Although we had been able to Astronomers reacted with disap- is that another institution, such as fund the [telescopes] for longer than pointment to the decision to pull out the University of Hawaii, will seize originally anticipated, the current of the telescopes, which are run by ownership. The alternative is that financial situation meant that we the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC). when their science programmes are could no longer continue doing so,” “[Although] I am pleased the STFC complete – 2013 for UKIRT and STFC spokesman Terry O’Connor has found a solution that will allow 2014 for JCMT – the observatories told Physics World. “We also had to UK scientists to continue to use the will have to be demolished in accord- take into account that both the Neth- ING, the closure of these innova- ance with their lease. erlands and Canada had already tive facilities will further reduce Gemma Lavender

10 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com News & Analysis

involve replacing all the titanium- nitride-coated beampipes. The new Supercharging Japan’s atom smasher beampipes will contain “antecham- bers” that are structured in such The KEKB collider in Japan is halfway through a major revamp that a way that the synchrotron radiation from the accelerated electrons may help to explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the enters these chambers. According universe, as Michael Banks reports to SuperKEKB project manager Masanori Yamauchi, the problem Lying around 50 km north-east of with the previous set-up was that Tokyo, Tsukuba is only a short 45 min KEK synchrotron radiation from the elec- train ride from Japan’s bustling capi- trons interfered with the beam as it tal. Climbing out of Tsukuba’s cav- travelled, limiting the luminosity of ernous underground central station the machine. it is not immediately obvious why SuperKEKB’s electron beam this city is such a hotbed of Japanese will have an energy of 7 GeV, with science. In fact, Tsukuba was spe- the positron beam being 4 GeV. To cifically founded in the 1960s as an increase the number of collision international science city to attract events, physicists intend to ramp up the best minds to live and work there. the current of the electron ring from Today there are around 3000 for- 1.2 A to 2.6 A and the positron ring eign students and researchers from from 1.6 A to 3.6 A. The rate will as many as 90 countries living in the also be boosted by reducing the size city and its success in attracting top of the electron and positron beams research is marked by the presence Powering up more matter than antimatter. from the width of a human hair to the of the headquarters of the Japa- Japan’s High Energy KEKB has already stamped its thickness of a few atomic layers, giv- nese space agency, JAXA, and the Accelerator mark on particle physics. In 1972, ing a luminosity of 8 × 1035 cm–2 s–1 National Institute for Materials Sci- Research while at Nagoya University, Makoto – some 50 times what was possible ence. Indeed, more than 250 hi-tech Organization is Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa at KEKB. “We are currently mak- companies, including Hamamatsu, revamping its KEKB formulated a 3 × 3 matrix that ing good progress and should be on Hitatchi and Intel, have R&D opera- “B factory” to describes how the strange quark target to hit the 2014 commissioning tions based at research parks around produce around and down quark inside a kaon can date,” says Yamauchi. the city. 50 times more switch to and fro into their antipar- Also being upgraded is the BELLE But Tsukuba is also a special place collisions. ticles and, in doing so, occasionally detector (now called BELLE-II) to for high-energy physics, being home break CP symmetry (Progr. Theor. handle the huge increase in the col- to Japan’s premier particle-physics Phys. 49 652). Moreover, the mixing lision rate and survive the radiation lab – the High Energy Accelera- in the matrix implied the existence damage caused by the flux. Key to tor Research Organization (known of new quarks – the charm, bottom this design is the inner vertex detec- as KEK). KEK’s main facility is and top. It was for this theory that in tor, which will have four layers of con- the 3 km-circumference KEKB 2008 Kobayashi and Maskawa were ventional silicon strips as well as two electron–positron collider, which awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, layers made out of a relatively new consists of two circular accelera- which they shared with fellow Japa- material called depleted P-channel tors – one carrying electrons and nese physicist Yoichiro Nambu, after field effect transistor (DEPFET). the other positrons. These particles their theory was proved at KEKB as This material, it is hoped, will make are smashed together at the BELLE well as at the PEP-II collider based the detector much better at pin- detector, allowing physicists to study at what is now the SLAC National pointing where particles decay. Out- their remnants. Accelerator Laboratory. side the vertex detector is another Known as a “B factory”, KEKB However, CP violation as pre- detector, made from 2.5 m-long has created more than a billion dicted by Kobayashi and Maskawa’s quartz plates, that separates muons B mesons and their antimatter theory is still around 10 orders of from kaons. It works by detecting counterparts anti-B mesons since it magnitude too small to account for the Cerenkov radiation – flashes was switched on in 1999. The facil- the asymmetry between matter and of light that occur when a charged ity has led to major progress in our antimatter in the universe. There particle travels faster than the speed understanding of charge–parity must, therefore, be so-far-undiscov- of light in its medium – emitted by (CP) violation – the slight asymme- ered particles and processes that the particles. try between the decay of such par- account for this discrepancy and that “There are many new technolo- ticles – and revealed several exotic is what SuperKEKB will be hoping gies that are involved in the new new particles. The lab is now half- We are to figure out. detector,” says Peter Križan from way through an ambitious upgrade to currently Ljubljana University and the J Ste- give KEKB a much higher collision making good Looking for more fan Institute in Slovenia, who is rate as well as to improve the BELLE More than 400 scientists from 15 spokesperson for BELLE-II. “In all, detector. Known as SuperKEKB, progress and different countries are involved this is going to give us a much bet- the upgraded accelerator is designed should be in the SuperKEKB upgrade plan. ter resolution instrument – one that to pump out far more B mesons on target to Costing around 7300m, construc- will not only complement CERN’s (around 50 billion pairs), as well as hit the 2014 tion began on SuperKEKB in April Large Hadron Collider, but also be other particles such as D mesons and 2011, one month after the Japanese able to find new particles and study tau leptons that could shed further commissioning government gave the go-ahead. their effect much better than was light on why the universe contains far date A major part of the upgrade will possible before.”

Physics World July 2012 11 News & Analysis physicsworld.com SKA’s double site splits opinion The decision to build the world’s biggest radio telescope – the Square Kilometre Array – on two separate sites in Africa and Australasia has been praised by many. Jon Cartwright examines whether dual sites will hamper science prospects

Two sites are better than one: that ders had expected to come out on is the consensus among the five vot- top, the SSAC’s report, which was ing members of the SKA Organisa- leaked to the press in March this tion on the location of the world’s Durrani Matin year, favoured South Africa. The biggest radio telescope. Before the clinching factors were the coun- votes were cast on 25 May, the wide- try’s “significantly better” proposed spread expectation had been that array of antennas, and its existing the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) power grid, which would lower the would be hosted in either Africa or cost of the SKA’s estimated 110 MW in Australasia. As it turned out, the power consumption, needed to run voters plumped for both. the array and the supercomputer to Double the site, double the prides churn through data. Yet it was a close left intact. After an escalating bid- call: on a scale of 0 to 20, which was ding war that has lasted almost a derived from votes of SSAC mem- decade, neither Africa nor Australa- bers, there was less than one point sia will be able to boast a lion’s share Outback science will be able to survey the sky 10 000 difference between the South Afri- of the 71.5bn telescope. Come 2024, The Australian times faster than any existing radio can and Australian proposals (10.40 when the telescope is slated for com- Square Kilometre telescope, at a sensitivity 50 times versus 9.60). pletion, Africa will host most of the Array Pathfinder, greater. To put the latter figure in As a result of this near-tie, the SKA mid-frequency dishes, which provide currently being built perspective, it means that SKA would Organisation formed a Site Options high sensitivity, while Australasia in Murchison, be able to detect an airport radar on Working Group (SOWG) on 4 April will host the equally important low- Western Australia, a planet 50 light-years away – assum- to see if a dual site would be possible. frequency antennas, which provide a will now form part of ing that there are alien civilizations The SOWG had to consider the two broad field of view. But some observ- the SKA project. within that distance, of course. phases of the SKA’s construction. ers have been left wondering if it will But SKA is not only being built Phase one, which is due to begin in be possible to have a dual site without to search for extraterrestrial life. 2016, will see 10–15% of the low- subtracting from SKA’s design goals. Astronomers have a host of other frequency (0.07–0.45 GHz) antennas “I am troubled by this decision topics they would like to explore, and mid-frequency (0.45–10 GHz) to split the bid,” says Dale Frail, including the origin of cosmic mag- dishes being built. Phase two, due to an astronomer at the US’s National netism, possible deviations from start in 2018, involves the addition of Radio Astronomy Observatory Einstein’s general theory of relativ- mid-frequency aperture arrays and (NRAO) in Socorro. Frail, who is ity and the nature of dark energy. the remaining dishes and antennas. not associated with the SKA Organ- “This is one of the great astronomy The SOWG’s report found that for isation, refers to the “first photon” projects for this century, without any phase two a dual site had “no identi- problem, namely that a big chunk doubt,” says Paul Alexander, a UK fied scientific advantage” over a sin- of any observatory’s construction director of the SKA Organisation. gle site. For phase one, however, the budget must be spent on site-specific “It’s consistently been ranked by the report noted that a dual site had “a dis- infrastructure and personnel before astronomy community in Europe as tinct scientific advantage” because the first data can be collected. “So one of the two massively important of precursor telescopes already the issue for me is that SKA will now projects” – the other being the Euro- being built in the two countries. split this infrastructure cost among pean Extremely Large Telescope, a In South Africa this is MeerKAT, two sites,” he says. “As there is a complementary, optical-infrared an array of radio receivers being finite amount of money, I fear that telescope that will be built in Chile. built in the Northern Cape. In Aus- the remaining dollars will just build tralia, the precursor is the Australian less scientific capability.” Raising the stakes Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder With such high expectations, it is no (ASKAP), a smaller array being built Data deluge wonder that countries have expressed in the country’s mid-west. Together, Certainly, the planned scientific a strong interest in the facility. Ini- the SOWG report concluded, these capability is unprecedented. SKA tially, bids to host the telescope came precursors offered 7300m worth of will consist of more than 3000 receiv- from South Africa (backed by eight ready infrastructure to give phase ers fanning out from a central, dense This is one other African countries), Australia one a kick-start. zone over thousands of kilometres, (backed by New Zealand), Brazil It was this temptation that led making up a total collecting area of of the great (backed by Argentina) and China. the five non-bidding members of 1 km2. So much information will be astronomy Having shortlisted the South Afri- the SKA Organisation – Canada, collected that the combined signals projects for can and Australian proposals for the China, Italy, the Netherlands and from these receivers will deliver data this century, site in 2006, the SKA Organisation the UK – to vote for a dual site, shar- 100 times faster than the current formed a SKA Site Advisory Com- ing the receivers between Africa global Internet traffic. But once the without any mittee (SSAC) to evaluate each. and Australasia (see box). The deci- numbers are crunched, astronomers doubt Although the Australian bid- sion initially saw mixed responses

12 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com News & Analysis

from the bidders. Australia’s science Phase one Phase two and research minister Chris Evans dubbed it “outstanding”, saying that Frequency Number Site Frequency Number Site “sharing the project means research- (GHz) (GHz) ers will get the best possible results by Low-frequency 0.07–0.45 50 Australasia Low-frequency 0.07–0.45 250 Australasia capitalizing on the respective infra- antenna antenna structure and strengths of both sites”. stations stations However, South Africa’s minister of science and technology, Naledi Mid-frequency 0.45–3 190 (+64) Africa Mid-frequency 0.45–10 3000 Africa Pandor, called the decision “unex- dishes dishes pected”, adding that her project team Mid-frequency 0.45–3 60 (+36) Australasia Mid-frequency 0.4–1.4 250 Africa would nonetheless “accept the com- survey dishes aperture arrays promise in the interest of science”. Speaking later to Physics World, This table shows the intended number, frequency and location of the receivers that will make up the giant Pandor says that the science itself Square Kilometre Array. The figures in brackets refer to the additional receivers in South Africa’s MeerKAT and will not be compromised. “It’s a Australia’s ASKAP precursor telescopes, which are already being built. compromise in the sense of it being a joint decision,” she says. “We were connected across the Indian Ocean decision for a dual site but points always told the search was for a sin- because each site functions at differ- out that the 100° separation in lon- gle site, and both bidders had worked ent frequencies. Nevertheless, there gitude between the two sites means on that basis.” If they had known a are some construction jobs that will the amount of sky simultaneously dual site was an option, she adds, have to double up, explains Joseph observable will be reduced to about they might have bid differently. Lazio, chair of SKA’s Science Work- 15%. This will not hinder studies of Some observers have suggested ing Group. These include mapping slowly changing astrophysical phe- the dual-site decision should not out existing power and network nomena, such as neutral hydrogen, have been unexpected; it would cables and hiring additional staff. since observations using the Aus- have been difficult to let down either The SOWG report estimates that tralasian site could (if necessary) side after what had become a fierce the additional cost for phase one be followed up at the African site contest. In the early stages the bid- will be about 8% of the SKA budget. several hours later. But the split site ders had emphasized their sites’ However, the report could only haz- could be inconvenient for broadband scientific benefits – for Australia its ard a guess at the toll on phase two, studies of transient phenomena, radio-quietness in the barren and stating that the dominant costs for particularly pulsars. sparsely populated outback, and for instruments and infrastructure for The rapid pulses of these celestial South Africa its existing infrastruc- a single or dual site “appear” to be lighthouses are of interest to astron- ture. Later, it turned bitter. Evans, the same “to first order” (i.e. to one omers because they are potentially for instance, complained the SKA significant figure). a way of testing general relativity Organisation was being swayed by a Brian Schmidt, an astronomer at further. Radio astronomer Andrew “sympathy for doing more in Africa”. the Australian National University Lyne at the University of Manches- In response, Pandor lambasted who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize ter in the UK says that although Evans’s outworn “Afro-pessimism”. for Physics for finding evidence that limited observable-sky overlap will “Looking from inside, the deci- the universe’s expansion is acceler- not affect such timing (the mid- and sion was not too surprising,” says ating, thinks the additional cost for low-frequency observations can be Raffaella Morganti from the Nether- phase two could be about 30% of done separately), certain studies of lands Institute for Radio Astronomy the SKA budget. “[That figure] has pulsar radio-emission physics might and a member of the European SKA been murmured by people I think require both sites at the same time. science working group. “I am sure should know,” he says. “It’s due “As long as there is some common- there has been a political component because the existing infrastructure view area of sky at every declination, – how can this be avoided in such a is not adequate. And so we will have appropriate scheduling would allow big and expensive project?”. Fred to have beefed-up Internet, beefed- these experiments to be conducted Chaffee, a former director of the up power, beefed-up computational satisfactorily,” he says. optical Gemini Observatory, which facilities. These things are easier to Chris Carilli, another radio also runs from two separate sites, put in one site than double up.” astronomer based at the US’s NRAO in Hawaii and Chile, agrees. “Such However, Michiel van Haarlem, in Socorro, remains sanguine about decisions, especially such complex interim director general of the SKA the choice, “They made a decision ones, are rarely based purely on the Organisation, says he does not know they had to make.” He thinks the scientific merits, and I feel certain where the 30% figure comes from. use of the MeerKAT and ASKAP that SKA was no exception,” he says. “It is hard to judge the absolute cost precursor arrays will bring forward of SKA,” he adds. “The numbers... the completion of phase one, and not More cost are targets, and it remains to be seen leave the radio-astronomy commu- The dual site will not mean any what we can do.” nity “drifting for another five years”. physical link has to be made between It will also encourage other coun- Africa and Australasia. Although A line in the sand tries to decide whether they want the receivers will have to be con- Nevertheless, the sheer fact that the in, he says. Currently, the US is not nected with fibre optics in each telescope has two locations could All spread out a member. “The most important continent to perform radio interfer- affect the scientific capability, albeit Artist’s impression point is that a line has been drawn

ometry – a technique that combines in a minor way. Phil Charles, former of the planned SKA ProductionsAstronomy SKA/TDP/DRAO/Swinburne in the sand,” Carilli adds. “It’s ‘fish the receivers into one great “virtual” director of the South African Astro- low-frequency or cut bait’ time for the rest of the receiver – they will not have to be nomical Observatory, supports the aperture arrays. international community.”

Physics World July 2012 13 NANONICS IMAGING Ltd.

The MultiView AFM-Raman Series The Next Evolution In SPM Your Research Your Choice

Why Compromise? Choose any Raman conﬁgured to your speciﬁcations with AFM integration at the highest quality

™ AFM-Raman collage of a state of the art transistor. The Nanonics MultiView Series gives ultimate ﬂexibility Colors show the distribution of strained silicon. True On-Line AFM-Raman • Proven TERS • Multiprobe Capabilities

Visit us at Visit us at July 23-27 July 29 - August 2 Paris Phoenix, AZ Booth #19 Booth #734

NANONICS Har Hotzvim Hi Tech Park www.nanonics.co.il Toll Free Number: IMAGING Ltd. Jerusalem, Israel [email protected] 1-866-220-6828 physicsworld.com Comment Physics and sport Physics World Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6HG, UK Simple physics principles lie behind much sporting success Tel: +44 (0)117 929 7481 E-mail: [email protected] Ernest Rutherford used to enjoy “noisy and appalling” golf at Cambridge with his Web: physicsworld.com Trinity College colleagues. Niels Bohr was a keen footballer who played in goal Twitter: @PhysicsWorld for the top Danish side Akademisk Boldklub in the early 1900s. Arthur Edding- Facebook: facebook.com/physicsworld ton was a passionate cyclist who coined the “Eddington number”, E, which is the Editor Matin Durrani number of days on which you have cycled at least E miles. (He reached an incred- Associate Editor Dens Milne News Editor Michael Banks ible 84.) And, of course, CERN physicists are handily placed for a spot of Alpine Reviews and Careers Editor Margaret Harris hiking, climbing and skiing when their hunt for the Higgs has worn them down. Features Editor Louise Mayor Production Editor Kate Gardner Some physicists have even taken sport beyond merely a hobby and compete Web Editor Hamish Johnston at a professional level. Our “Once a physicist” column this month, for exam- Multimedia Projects Editor James Dacey ple, features Crispin Duenas, who studied physics at Web Reporter Tushna Commissariat the University of Toronto and will be representing Managing Editor Susan Curtis Canada in archery at this summer’s Olympic Games Marketing and Circulation Gemma Bailey Advertisement Sales Chris Thomas (p44). Other physicists to have appeared in the col-

Advertisement Production Mark Trimnell Shutterstock/mast3r umn in recent years include Jimmy Bartolotta and Diagram Artist Alison Tovey Art Director Andrew Giaquinto Nick Horvarth (both now professional basketball players), Al Powell (one of Europe’s top mountain Subscription information 2012 volume The subscription rate for institutions is £330 per annum for runners) and David Florence, who bagged silver for Great Britain in the single the magazine, £625 per annum for the archive. Single issues canoe slalom at the 2008 Olympics and will be competing again in London. are £30. Orders to: IOP Circulation Centre, CDS Global, Tower House, Lathkill Street, Sovereign Park, Market Harborough, But for some physicists, sport is more than just something they take part in Leicestershire LE16 9EF, UK (tel: +44 (0)845 4561511; – it is what they study too. This special issue of Physics World, for example, fax: +44 (0)1858 438428; e-mail: [email protected]). includes a feature by Steve Haake, director of the Centre for Sports Engineer- Physics World is available on an individual basis, worldwide, through membership of the Institute of Physics ing Research at Sheffield Hallam University. In his article (pp26–30), Haake looks at the effects of technology and rule change on sporting performance, Copyright © 2012 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors. All rights reserved. IOP Publishing Ltd permits focusing on sprinting, swimming and the javelin. (The design of the javelin single photocopying of single articles for private study or famously had to be tweaked in the mid-1980s as some athletes could throw it research, irrespective of where the copying is done. Multiple copying of contents or parts thereof without permission is in more than 90 m – enough to put the lives of those watching in a stadium at risk.) breach of copyright, except in the UK under the terms of the Haake, who also appears in a trio of Physics World videos about the physics of agreement between the CVCP and the CLA. Authorization of photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the internal or running, swimming and cycling, has developed something called the “perfor- personal use of specific clients, is granted by IOP Publishing mance improvement index”, or PII, which uses simple physics to compare the Ltd for libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) Transactional Reporting Service, relative improvement of top athletes in different sports over the last 100 years. provided that the base fee of $2.50 per copy is paid directly to Elsewhere in the issue, we look at the physics of the prosthetic devices that are CCC, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA leading disabled athletes to success (pp22–25). The most notable of these is the Bibliographic codes ISSN: 0953-8585 “Cheetah Flex-Foot” prosthesis – a J-shaped carbon-fibre leg – made famous by CODEN: PHWOEW the South African double below-the-knee amputee Oscar Pistorius. Incredibly, Printed in the UK by Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH the device has helped Pistorius to run the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m distances in almost the same time as the best able-bodied athletes. Finally, Roland Ennos from the University of Manchester explains how we all – sportspeople and non-sportspeople alike – are able to function in everyday The Institute of Physics life even though humans are among the world’s most unstable animals (pp31– 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7470 4800 34). The secret lies in the fact that we are unconscious masters of manipulating Fax: +44 (0)20 7470 4848 the law of conservation of angular momentum so that we can not only balance E-mail: [email protected] and walk, but also perform in demanding sports such as gymnastics, diving Web: www.iop.org and the long-jump. Sadly, as Ennos warns, understanding the law is one thing, emulating top sportspeople is quite another. Physics World is an award-winning magazine and website ● Neither this publication nor any of its contents are intended to imply any SIPAwards 2012: Best Use of Social Media association between the Institute of Physics or its affiliates and the Olympic or MemCom Awards 2012: Best Magazine – Professional Association or Royal College Paralympic Games or movements. Online Media Awards 2011: Best Specialist Site for Journalism SIPA UK Awards 2011: Best Editorial and Marketing The contents of this magazine, including the views expressed above, are the responsibility of the Editor. Collaboration They do not represent the views or policies of the Institute of Physics, except where explicitly stated.

Physics World July 2012 15 Untitled-2 1 25/06/2012 13:39 physicsworld.com Comment: Forum An impaired cosmic vision

mined any other way. Without an advanced The European Space Agency ESA X-ray observatory, our view of the universe recently picked a probe to Jupiter in the 2020s will be seriously incomplete. as its next large-class mission. Facing extinction? Paul Nandra says the decision So what went wrong? That is the question ATHENA scientists have been asking could devastate astronomy themselves ever since ESA’s decision and, arguably, we may never know. The report This is a golden age for astronomers who of the key body that recommended the look at the universe using X-ray telescopes. selection – ESA’s Space Science Advisory They have three major facilities to choose Committee – did not give any reasoning for from: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observa- why it selected JUICE. It was faced with tory; XMM-Newton, built by the European an almost impossible “apples-to-oranges” Space Agency (ESA); and Japan’s Suzaku comparison between a planetary explora- satellite. These missions have already Shelved The ATHENA X-ray mission has been axed. tion mission, an astrophysical observatory helped to solve a range of astrophysics and a fundamental-physics experiment. problems, such as resolving the X-ray going head to head for the launch slot in All were judged exciting, and worthy of background radiation into discrete sources, 2022: the New Gravitational-wave Obser- the 71bn price tag of an ESA large mis- mostly growing supermassive black holes, vatory (NGO), a next-generation X-ray sion, but an objective comparison between and providing new constraints on cosmic observatory called the Advanced Telescope the science is almost impossible given that expansion and dark energy using clusters for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA) they are so different. Rumours suggest of galaxies. They have also led to new ques- and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer that the final choice between ATHENA tions, such as how and why “feedback” (JUICE). ESA eventually plumped for and JUICE was made on the slimmest of from supermassive black holes affects the JUICE, with the two casualties being NGO margins. For the ATHENA team, it feels large-scale structure of the universe. and ATHENA. While it was always known almost as if we lost a billion-euro poker This enormous success has come not that two missions would go by the wayside, game on the turn of one card. only from dedicated X-ray studies of cos- ATHENA’s non-selection has left the There are some glimmers of hope. The mic sources, but also through high-energy astronomical community stunned. most promising suggestion is that ESA observatories working with space- and The grim reality is that there will now might pull back from the brutal “winner ground-based facilities that operate in most likely be no operating X-ray observa- takes all” approach of the Cosmic Vision other parts of the electromagnetic spec- tory in the 2020s, plans for which had been programme, which was always going to trum. This multi-wavelength approach has ongoing for more than 15 years. All of these result in two big losers. Instead, it is appar- become essential to modern astronomy efforts culminated in the ATHENA con- ently considering adopting a “cornerstone” and in fact about 20% of all publications cept – the last hope of realizing the needs approach for the large missions, defined in in astronomy now feature X-ray observa- of high-energy astronomy in the 2020s. advance and staying in the ESA programme tions prominently. ATHENA would have worked perfectly until they are ready to be implemented. Yet the feast of X-ray data we are cur- alongside the suite of major telescopes ATHENA now needs to be one of these rently enjoying only goes to emphasize planned at other wavebands in that time- cornerstones. This would allow the high- the famine we are about to face. Chandra, frame. These include the European energy astrophysics community to plan XMM and Suzaku have already exceeded Extremely Large Telescope in the optical sensibly for the future, and avoid the risk their expected lifetimes and could stop and near infrared, the James Webb Space we have now: years of work and millions of operating at any time. Some smaller X-ray Telescope in the near and mid infrared, the euros in technology developments ending probes are planned for the coming few Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre up being thrown away, and an entire branch years such as NASA’s NuSTAR (which Array in the sub-millimetre region, as well of science getting stranded in the process. was launched last month) as well as the as the Square Kilometre Array in the radio Unlike most areas of astronomy and Russian/German Spektrum-RG satellite. and the Cerenkov Telescope Array in high- astrophysics, X-ray observations are Japan’s ASTRO-H, with a launch date in energy gamma rays. completely dependent on space-based 2014, comes closest to fitting the bill of a That opportunity is now lost. In about observatories and the ATHENA team is multipurpose X-ray observatory, but it 10 years from now, astronomers’ vision will determined to fight for a place in the ESA has a nominal lifetime of only three years. be impaired in the X-ray region, with no programme for the next large-mission Moreover, all of these new missions are high-quality information obtainable about slot. Until ATHENA happens, we face the expected to stop operating by around 2020 astrophysics at high energies and high tem- prospect of suffering a decade of impaired and NASA and the Japanese space agency peratures. The large community of instru- cosmic vision. JAXA currently have no plans to launch ment builders, optics experts and scientists any X-ray observatory after that date. that would have realized and exploited Paul Nandra is a director at the And now ESA has no such plans either. ATHENA faces uncertainty and disarray. Max Planck Institute for This is a disaster not just for X-ray astron- Extraterrestrial Physics in Three’s a crowd omy, but for astronomy and astrophysics as Garching, Germany, and co-chair In early May ESA announced its first large a whole. X-ray observations make up a cru- of the ATHENA Study Team, e-mail mission as part of its 2015–2025 Cosmic cial part of the astronomer’s toolbox and [email protected] Vision programme. Three missions were provide information that cannot be deter-

Physics World July 2012 17 SOLVER Nano Atomic Force Microscope

Aﬀ ordable Universal Easy-to-use

www.ntmdt.com

Untitled-2 1 11/06/2012 15:12 physicsworld.com Comment: Robert P Crease Critical Point Sporting knowledge

When we say that athletes the science – involves knowing how abstract bodies move in abstract space and time. “know” the laws of physics, Movement and motion, in short, involve what we really mean, argues knowledge of different phenomena and are two entirely separate expertises. It would Robert P Crease, is that they be wrong to say that what is involved is

iStockphoto/Chris BernardiStockphoto/Chris implicit and explicit knowledge of the same know the laws of “physics” thing, or that an athlete or physicist knows what the other knows plus something else. “Skateboarders know some righteous physics, dude.” The critical point That lead sentence of an article in Science What troubles me is the urge to conflate News a few months ago summarized an the two expertises in a way that implies that experimental result by the Arizona State the one has priority over the other. It is yet University psychologist Michael McBeath. another manifestation of the problem, dis- McBeath and collaborators had asked sub- cussed by philosophers since ancient times, jects to say which inclined path a rolling of the relationship between theoretical ball would complete faster: a shorter one and practical knowledge. The French are with a constant slope, or a longer one with wise in having two words for “to know”: two steep slopes separated by a flat section. con naître, to know concretely in one’s Most subjects guessed the shorter, gentler Theory problem Do skateboarders know physics? bones and in practice; and savoir, proposi- path. Skateboarders, however, were more tional knowledge, theoretical knowledge or likely to say, correctly, that the ball would iar high-school gymnasium and started know-how. The French philosopher Mau- complete the longer path with steeper sec- out badly, missing six baskets in a row. “He rice Merleau-Ponty notably refers to the tions faster. The suggestion of the Science stopped, looking discomfited, and seemed ordinary – not just athletic – human body News article was that the skateboarders to be making an adjustment in his mind,” as a corps connaissant, or “knowing body”. thereby knew physics. recounted writer John McPhee. “Then he Conflating the senses of knowing – and I would say the remark is light-hearted went up for another jump shot from the giving priority to the theoretical sense over – except that I regularly encounter similar same spot and hit it cleanly. Four more shots the practical – simply reflects our adherence comments when reading about athletes, went in without a miss.” Bradley turned to to the ancient myth that true knowledge is dancers and performers. I once read a blog McPhee and announced “That basket is theoretical. We feel that knowledge is for- by an athletics coach that said “many of us about an inch and a half low.” Weeks later, mulated in rules and concepts, and that it already know physics but don’t know that the fastidious McPhee returned to the same can be codified in fully linguistic, situation- we know physics”, and to confirm this cited gymnasium with a stepladder and steel tape, independent terms; practical knowledge is examples involving levers and vectors. A climbed up and measured the basket. It was merely the conscious, instrumental appli- gymnast who once tried to instruct me in indeed one and one-eighth of an inch below cation of theoretical knowledge. The result trapeze moves (in vain, for I’m not much the required 12 feet. is to give a bias to theoretical knowledge, a of an athlete) meaning to be encouraging Kenneth Laws, emeritus professor of bias often manifested by the need to give rather than provocative, said “You know it physics at Dickinson College in Pennsyl- dignity to practical knowledge – putting a already – it’s just physics!” vania, has written books about the physics stamp of academic respectability on it – by Such remarks are often protected by of dance, analysing the often surprisingly asserting, even in a light-hearted way, that implicit or explicit quotation marks – complex and unexpected physics principles it is really theoretical knowledge, whether athletes “know” the laws of physics – to of classical ballet. “The dance studio is a implicitly or in disguise. inoculate against obsessive literalists like physics laboratory,” he declares. Even the I consider McBeath’s experiment – which me by suggesting that what is involved is movement of non-dancers can be used to approached its subjects in an abstract, not really knowing. So why do I still find illustrate physics principles, he says, point- third-person way – to simply illustrate how that maddening? ing out that when we jog, we don’t let our counterintuitive physics can be. If he and arms dangle but cock them at the elbows, his co-workers had put physicists and oth- Bodily coping reflecting simple laws of pendulum motion. ers on skateboards to see who could make Athletes are certainly movement experts. Laws, however, carefully avoids implying it to the bottom quickest, would there be Anyone competing in basketball, football, that this means we know such principles, anything interesting to report? javelin, shot-put, archery, pole-vault or ten- and explicitly denies that his research pro- The right way to express the results light- nis will seek to send themselves or various vides a “how to” for dancers. heartedly is not to say that athletes “know” objects into carefully anticipated traject- But performing trajectories is not ballis- the laws of physics, with the quotation ories. Rowers and swimmers, meanwhile, tics, swimming is not hydrodynamics and marks implying that real knowing is not will strive to move as swiftly and efficiently dancing is not mechanics. One discipline – involved. The right way would be to say that as possible through a liquid medium. the art – involves knowing the kinetic possi- athletes know the laws of “physics”. Athletes’ grasp of movement is even bilities of one’s own body in the world. This sometimes quantitative. The US basketball knowledge is largely self-instructive (aided Robert P Crease is chair of the Department of superstar Bill Bradley – later a US senator by coaches) and impossible without first- Philosophy, Stony Brook University, and historian and presidential candidate – once found person experience. We don’t learn to move at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, US, himself having to practise in an unfamil- by studying anatomy. The other discipline – e-mail [email protected]

Physics World July 2012 19 physicsworld.com

Comments from physicsworld.com close to one; however, I have had squids squirt “ink” right in my face as they threaten me with Feedback S Baron their parrot-like beaks. Letters to the editor can be sent to Physics World, Fungus Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6HG, UK, or to [email protected]. Please include your address and Well, it’s another surprise from this shrimp. As a telephone number. Letters should be no more than the article states, we already knew that it can see 500 words and may be edited. Comments on articles every part of the light spectrum. from physicsworld.com can be posted on the NoeHernandez767 website; an edited selection appears here What next – caviar body armour? sailor4528

Geo pros and cons Astounding. With a home planet like this, who Colin Baglin’s article “Fixing the climate” The harlequin mantis shrimp (above) packs a needs starships? Everything imaginable is (June pp16–17) has a lot going for it. I have powerful punch: a strike from one of its club- already here. long been a supporter of geoengineering like appendages can smash aquarium glass. dratman, US as a stopgap to cool the planet and thus Recently, a group of biophysicists in the US head off a possible crisis, and Baglin and Singapore figured out how they do it (see With a home planet like this, it makes you wonder correctly identifies the main problem p6). We thought this was pretty amazing, and what else is out there. with alternative solutions that focus on so did commenters on our website (“Secret of jstreip reducing greenhouse-gas emissions: super-power shrimp revealed”, 7 June). namely, governments are perfectly content with the rise of 10% in carbon-dioxide As a recreational tuna fisherman, I am sometimes (CO2) emissions that occurred in the warned not to touch any shrimp that looks years 2006–2010. Baglin also identifies anything like this one. The results are claimed to Read these comments in full and add your own at several of the problems connected with be a “nasty gashed thumb”. I have never been physicsworld.com unchecked greenhouse-gas emissions, including threats to food and water supplies, and the eventual flooding of of Washington palaeontologist Peter us not to try to mitigate the problem by coastal cities as a result of rising sea levels. D Ward details the mechanism for this adding other emissions, or initiating All of this sounds very familiar, and I in his book Under a Green Sky (2007 control activities. Instead, we should would agree that, if asked, most people Smithsonian) and suggests that our target stop doing those things that caused the would probably mention these same for CO2 concentration ought not to exceed problem in the first place. It might sound threats. However, these threats, although 450 ppm. Below this figure, he believes it attractive to “do a bit of geoengineering” real, are far from the whole story. Indeed, is likely that we are safe, since nothing in to give us time to sort ourselves out, but they are trivial compared with the real the fossil record suggests a greenhouse there are technical as well as political risks danger facing us: the extinction of possibly extinction occurring at these levels. Above associated with using geoengineering to 50% of all the species on Earth, including it, we are in unknown territory. limit the impact of climate change. us, that would be initiated by the shutdown To put this in perspective, we are at For example, if research shows that of the “thermohaline conveyor”. This is 390 ppm now, compared with 250 ppm in predicted temperature rises could be the part of the global ocean circulation pre-industrial times. That does not leave limited by geoengineering, it is likely that that oxygenates the oceans, preventing much room for manoeuvre. If we are to there will be pressure to go ahead. The them from turning stagnant and poisoning survive, then governments had better be a result, however, will be a corresponding the atmosphere with hydrogen sulphide. little less content with the current situation. reduction in pressure to limit emissions. The conveyor is driven by the temperature Jim Austin Stronger and stronger geoengineering difference between low and high latitudes. University of Keele, UK actions will then be needed in the future if Because climate change preferentially [email protected] emissions continue to grow. At some point, warms the polar regions, this temperature life on Earth will become dependent on the difference is being reduced, which in turn Baglin rightly recognizes some of the risks continued effectiveness of the increasingly threatens the stability of the conveyor. associated with using geoengineering potent human interventions. This is not an Therefore, any geoengineering project “fixes” to minimize risks of climate attractive way to tackle a problem involving should be concentrated at those change. But the problem has much wider so many complex interactions. high latitudes. implications than just limiting emissions John Chubb Thanks to the fossil record, of carbon dioxide and methane. As I Cheltenham, UK oceanographers and geologists have noted in a previous letter to Physics World [email protected] known for many years that most of (November 2009 p20), if the world the mass extinctions in the geological population continues to grow and we aim past were caused by the cessation of to provide people with fairer access to Energy politics the thermohaline conveyor. Forget world resources, then with the current the asteroid impact that wiped out the level of action it seems unrealistic to In his review of Tyler Hamilton’s book dinosaurs and shows up in an iridium layer expect climate-changing gas emissions to Mad Like Tesla (May pp44–45), Roger at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary be controlled within the timescale needed. Bridgman writes that “in energy supply, – that was just a one-off. Most extinction To the extent that the current situation obviously, companies cannot simply events were “greenhouse extinctions” and the rate of climate change are caused junk huge infrastructure investments in caused by excessive volcanism. University by the activities of humans, it is up to favour of something new, however good

20 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Feedback it might be”. But that is exactly what the use of biomass fuels and the use of Vedral misunderstands the position Angela Merkel’s administration has done these agricultural by-products as fuels in of most of the religious people I come in Germany with its anti-nuclear policy. cooking become even more attractive. across. Speaking as a religious person The consequence of shutting down the J Clifford Jones myself, I can say that the one thing that country’s nuclear power plants will be a University of Aberdeen, UK religion does not give us is certainty – significant increase in carbon-dioxide [email protected] unless it is the certainty that we do not emissions from electricity generation – know everything, should not rush to however damaging that might be – as new form judgments and that we are in the coal-fired stations are built. Religious philosophies mire of our shortcomings for most of the Evidently, politics has a logic detached time. Even the framework that religion from technical or economic reality. In his review of The Atheist’s Guide to provides for continually questioning Augustin McEvoy Reality by Alex Rosenberg (May pp42–43) those perplexities is uncertain and Epalinges, Switzerland Vlatko Vedral argues that Rosenberg’s challengeable within its own context. [email protected] “cold and clinical” philosophy misses what What religion does give us is the means is “magical” about science. To support of fostering our noble ideals to lead us to this view, he quotes a US naturalist, new and larger moral and spiritual truths Better than advertised John Burroughs, who wrote that “the final (where did I read something like that value of physical sciences is its capability before?). Its whole point is to enrich our In reading Sidney Perkowitz’s article to foster in us noble ideals, and to lead world view, giving us a really uplifting on innovative cookstoves (“Now we’re us to new and larger views of moral and feeling associated with the wonder and cooking”, June pp35–38) I was struck by spiritual truths”. Vedral also suggests that mystery of what lies just beyond our his description of a particular combustion by insisting that physics can answer all vision. The old-fashioned words for this device that uses “agricultural by-products questions, Rosenberg himself is, in some uncertainty and this sense of imagination such as corn cobs and bagasse (the residue sense, a religious person. and exploration are “doubt” and “hope”. from crushed sugar cane)”. The article Elsewhere in the review, however, Just which of these two authors, states that using such fuels in place of Vedral states that “it is precisely those Rosenberg or Vedral, is displaying the liquefied gas reduces fuel costs by 50%. who are unable to suspend judgment, who characteristics of a religious person? Or is In fact, materials such as corn cobs and cannot wait or are scared to live without a one just like a religious literalist and the bagasse can have negative financial value; definitive answer to every question, who other just like a religious liberal? that is, a cost is incurred by their disposal need some kind of religion to give them Lucy Harris if they are not put to use as fuel. Add to comfort”. While this may be true of a Salisbury, UK this the carbon credits accruing from proportion of literalist religious people, [email protected]

   Gaussian shaping  amplifiers  JANSSEN PRECISION ENGINEERING

PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MECHATRONIC SOLUTIONS IN AMBIENT, VACUUM AND CRYOGENIC ENVIRONMENT.

 WWW.JPE.NL                                                                        

Physics World July 2012 21 Physics and sport: Prostheses physicsworld.com The fastest man on no legs Prostheses remained unchanged for thousands of years, but that all changed once amputee athletes got involved in the design process. James Poskett explores the stories behind the elite sports prostheses we see today

James Poskett is a “You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you and Pistorius could begin training for events such as freelance science are able by the abilities you have.” Oscar Pistorius the 2011 IAAF World Championships and the 2012 writer based in takes this motto very seriously. Aged only 11 months, Olympic Games. Cambridge, UK, having been born without lower leg bones, Pistorius Prostheses have not always been particularly hi- specializing in the underwent a double below-the-knee amputation. tech. In fact, their history stretches back to before history of science, Since then, he has concentrated on his abilities rather even the original Games held in Olympia in 776 BC. e-mail james.poskett than his disabilities. As we go to press, Pistorius has A wooden prosthetic toe was discovered on the @cantab.net yet to secure a place in the South African Olympic mummified remains of an ancient Egyptian noble- team, which would allow him to be the first amputee woman dating back to 910 BC, while the Ancient sprinter in history to compete in the Olympic Games. Romans and Greeks are also known to have devel- What we do know is that his personal best of 45.07 s oped wooden and iron prostheses, often fitted to for the 400 m would have been good enough to earn replace limbs lost in battle. But despite this long his- him fifth place at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The tory, prostheses remained relatively similar for thou- current 400 m world record of 43.18 s, set by Michael sands of years. That all changed in the 1980s when Johnson in 1999, might look unobtainable for now, amputee athletes themselves began collaborating but advances in prosthetic-limb technology over the with physicists, doctors and engineers, and the mod- past 30 years have seriously levelled the playing field. ern sports prosthesis was born. From Pistorius’s two carbon-fibre legs (for which he is affectionately nicknamed “the fastest man on no Best foot forward: Flex-Foot legs”) to Paralympic cyclist Michael Teuber’s artifi- Pistorius’s “Cheetah Flex-Foot” prostheses, made by cial knee, sports prostheses are helping athletes to Icelandic company Össur, are the latest version of a excel, irrespective of disability. design developed in the early 1980s by a biomedical In fact, the effectiveness of sports prostheses engineer called Van Phillips. Originally intending caught the international athletics community by to pursue a career in broadcasting, Phillips’ involve- surprise. When Pistorius started running times ment in biomedicine can be traced back to the day comparable with able-bodied athletes, the Interna- in 1976 when he was water-skiing with friends and a tional Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) motorboat tore past him, severing his leg just above banned him from competing in the Beijing Olym- the ankle. Thankfully Phillips survived the accident, pics. In its 2008 judgement, the IAAF claimed that but he was left with a prosthetic limb that he found Pistorius required 25% less energy than able-bodied extremely frustrating. It was made of balsa wood, athletes to run at the same speed. But Pistorius, a which was light but was nothing like a human foot staunch defender of disabled sport, did not see why mechanically. In fact, it was not really so different he should be allowed to run only in the Paralympics from the wooden prosthesis found on the 3000-year- – and not the Olympics – if he could meet the quali- old Egyptian mummy. Phillips soon realized that fying time to run alongside able-bodied athletes. The the problem with his wooden foot was that it did not resulting legal and scientific wrangling was eventu- store and release energy like a normal human limb: ally brought to an end when the International Court he had literally lost the spring in his step. of Arbitration for Sport delivered its verdict: overall The prostheses at the time might have been okay Pistorius had no net advantage. The ban was reversed for walking, but they were no use for more athletic activities such as running or jumping. Phillips, not content to sit back and wait for the engineering world to catch up, took matters into his own hands. Van Phillips abandoned the faux-limb He switched degrees and enrolled in the biomedical- engineering programme at Northwestern University aesthetics, and gave the sporting in Illinois. After completing his degree, he started work as an engineer at the University of Utah, where world a prosthesis that could return he came up with the design that would become the precursor to the prostheses that Pistorius uses in the energy of each stride to the body sprint events. Phillips launched the Flex-Foot in 1984 and his of the leg-amputee athlete hard work soon paid off. In the 1988 Paralympic Games the US’s Dennis Oehler broke the Paralym-

22 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Prostheses Liao Yujie/Xinhua Press/Corbis Yujie/Xinhua Liao

Blade runner Oscar Pistorius runs at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea – the first time a double-amputee athlete competed against able-bodied opponents at a major championship.

Physics World July 2012 23 Physics and sport: Prostheses physicsworld.com

1 Pedal power Össur

Able-bodied cyclists naturally change their foot’s tilt when pedalling, to apply a constant efficient circular force. Until recently, the only below-the-knee cycling prostheses were low-tech and did not tilt, producing an awkward upward and downward motion. But Seth Astle designed the Cadence prosthesis (see image opposite) to move much more naturally and efficiently, with a foot that not only tilts but also stores energy in the downward stroke that is released J-shaped British athlete Jonnie Peacock wears a Flex-Foot Cheetah as the foot rises. prosthesis and will compete in this year’s Paralympic Games.

pic 100 m record by 1.5 s using the Flex-Foot. At Knee-jerk reaction: amputee cyclists 11.73 s he was only 1.81 s behind the able-bodied 1988 Cycling is another hugely popular sport but, for Olympic record. prosthetics designers, it has presented new set of The Flex-Foot is a J-shaped carbon-fibre leg pros- problems. The big challenge stems from the fact that thesis and its success has been a classic tale of putting efficient pedalling requires applying a force in a cir- existing knowledge of physics and materials to good cular motion, not just up and down. When an able- use. Whereas other designers had concentrated on bodied athlete pushes on the pedals, they tilt their life-like aesthetics, Phillips focused on getting that feet slightly in order to maintain the circular motion. spring back in the athlete’s step, turning to carbon Amputees have difficulty doing this as everyday fibre, which had been around in its modern form prostheses rarely pivot at the ankle. Introducing a since the 1950s. Other prosthetics designers were pivot is relatively easy, but the challenge for designers well aware that carbon fibre is strong and light, but is to give the amputee some way to control it. Phillips saw the utility of one of its lesser-known One of the most promising cycling prosthesis properties: it is anisotropic, meaning its properties designs emerged from the 2011 James Dyson Award. depend on the direction in which a force is applied to Seth Astle’s “Cadence” is a below-the-knee prosthe- it. Critically, carbon fibre’s elasticity varies depend- sis that pivots at the ankle. The really clever thing ing on whether a force is applied parallel or perpen- about this prosthesis is not the pivot but rather how Efficient dicular to the grain of the fibres. Phillips took this it is controlled. Between the artificial heel and the knowledge, abandoned the faux-limb aesthetics, and limb is an elasticated tube. As the amputee cyclist pedalling gave the sporting world a prosthesis that could return pushes down on the pedal at the top of the rotation, requires the energy of each stride to the body of the leg- the artificial foot pivots at the ankle with the toe applying a amputee athlete. moving upwards and the heel moving downwards. force in a The J-shape is key. At the microscopic scale, the This stretches the elasticated tube, storing energy. circular motion, carbon fibres are aligned parallel to the curve of the As the pedal moves towards the bottom of the rota- not just up J. This means that, at the top of the J, the Flex-Foot tion, the stored elastic energy is released. This pulls is very rigid because the force of the athlete’s down- the heel upwards and, with the pivot located at the and down, ward stride is parallel to the grain of the fibres. But ankle, brings the toe down again. In this way the toe but amputees then, through the curve of the J, the downward force pivots up in the first quarter of the rotation and is have difficulty is closer to being perpendicular to the fibres. As pulled back down again in the second quarter, just as doing this the athlete pushes down into their stride, the curve an able-bodied athlete would do when pedalling (fig- as everyday bends. The athlete then pushes off and the elastic ure 1). What is clever about all this is that it does not energy stored in the curve is released back into the require any special sensors: the build-up and release prostheses body through the rigid upper section of the J. From of elastic energy is enough to control the pivot of rarely pivot at Oehler in 1988 to Pistorius in 2012, the Flex-Foot the foot to ensure a constant circular motion for the ankle has allowed sprinters to spring off from every stride. amputee cyclists.

24 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Prostheses

2 Optical force sensor Seth Astle Seth laser light source

laser light deformable silicon layer

detector area

light-sensing photodiode

This small and flexible sensor could be used in future prostheses to create feedback loops, such as a joint becoming more rigid as it detects a greater force. In this sensor, with no shear force applied, the photodiode detects all of the laser’s light. But when a shear force is Whip around This award-winning prosthesis designed by Seth Astle applied (blue arrows), the detector is displaced laterally and detects less light. The resulting allows below-the-knee amputees to cycle efficiently, delivering force change in signal response can then be used to tell the prosthesis how to react. throughout each pedal rotation (see figure 1).

This technology should work well for below-the- ics afresh. In fact, Jeroen Missinne and colleagues knee amputees but for those missing a knee, cycling at Ghent University in Belgium have abandoned can prove an additional challenge. The circular electrical sensors and are instead working on opti- motion of pedalling requires a knee joint that can cal force sensors. These consist of three ultrathin pivot freely yet stay rigid enough to transmit force layers stacked one on top of another. The first layer to the pedals. To solve this problem, the latest pros- contains a laser light source, the second is a deform- thetic knees combine sensors, fluid mechanics and able sheet of silicon and the third contains a light- electromagnets. One such example, the Össur Rheo sensing photodiode. Together, they form a sheet only Knee, comprises a chamber filled with a semi-vis- 180 µm thick. The principle is simple: when the sen- cous fluid containing tiny iron particles. The joint is sor is unperturbed, the laser light source is perfectly formed from a number of metal blades hinged within aligned with the photodiode. As a shear stress is this chamber. The blades cut through the fluid rela- applied, however, the sheet of silicon deforms, caus- tively easily and so the joint pivots well. However, ing the laser-source and photodiode layers to become when sensors detect a force increase on the joint, the laterally displaced (figure 2). As this happens, the magnetic field in the chamber rises too. This causes photodiode captures less of the light emitted by the the tiny iron particles to align in the direction of the laser, and its electrical output changes in propor- field, forming chains and impeding the movement of tion to the stresses applied. This output can then be the blades through the fluid. So as the amputee ath- used to tune prosthetic limb responses just like in the lete pushes through the pedal, their knee becomes magnetic knee. slightly more rigid, just like in the human body. In addition to being an innovative use of laser technology, these optical sensors are exciting Sixth sense: the future of prostheses because they solve some of the big problems holding So what does the future hold for sports prostheses? current prostheses back. Being thin is really impor- Unfortunately, the “magnetic knee” technology thus tant but being flexible is more so. In the case of the far developed is rarely used by amputee cyclists. The optical force sensor, flexibility is built into the very principles behind it are certainly sound enough, but mechanism of sensing: it is the deformable middle the sensors required to monitor the forces within the layer that allows for the displacement of the laser knee are just not up to scratch. The current breed of and photodiode. Moreover, these sensors avoid electrical sensors are fine for recreational sport but some of the problems of electromagnetic interfer- they are not small or flexible enough to withstand an ence by measuring forces based on optics. We might elite cyclist belting around a velodrome at 65 km/h. not see them this year, but the future for amputee Electrical sensors are also troublesome because, athletes may lie in “smart” prostheses incorporat- within the media circus surrounding large sporting ing new optical sensors. Maybe even the Flex-Foot events, they are easily impeded by electromagnetic could benefit from a sensor-based feedback loop, a interference. The challenge for the future is clear: to bit like those present in the reflexes of the nervous develop a new type of sensor that is flexible, strong system? With the future looking bright for the devel- and avoids the problem of interference. opment of sports prostheses, there may come a day Much like the original Flex-Foot, the solution may when the “fastest man on no legs” is simply the fast- lie in looking at well-known materials and phys- est man on Earth. n

Physics World July 2012 25 Physics and sport: Elite performance physicsworld.com Material advantage? Sprinters are running faster than ever before, but why are javelin throwers not throwing further and swimmers not swimming faster? Steve Haake explains the effects of technology and rule change on sporting performance

Steve Haake is We can be seduced into thinking that the only director of the requirements for a good sporting performance are Centre for Sports sleek bikes, golden running shoes and hydrophobic Engineering swimsuits. I have often heard people say “It’s all Research at about the equipment these days.” But how much does Sheffield Hallam technology actually affect sport? We can test the lat- University, UK, est equipment in the lab, on a running track or in a e-mail s.j.haake@ shu.ac.uk wind tunnel to prove that one design is better than another. But to understand its effect on real performances, the proof is in the outcome – the results we see at tournaments throughout the years. If a sporting technology really does make a difference, then surely it will be visible in the results. One way of finding out how exactly technology affects sporting performance is to examine the physics involved. We can then try to quantify the effect of technology on sporting events – and find out whether it really is all about the equipment. don), or false-start disqualifications can mean that Results matter the results do not faithfully represent performance Many researchers – including me – start investigat- during that four-year period. ing sporting performance by looking at world records In 2010 Leon Foster, then a sports-engineering or Olympic results. The problem with world records, PhD student at Sheffield Hallam University in the though, is that there can be decades between results UK, used the mean of the top 25 performances in and they only ever improve, so you cannot tell if some each year going back to 1891 to look at the effects technology or intervention has made things worse in of technology on various sports. Foster used the top the gaps. Olympic results are marginally better data performance of 25 different athletes so that each because they occur (mostly) every four years. Olym- athlete was used only once. There are three advan- pic data, however, are very tournament specific; a tages of these data: they minimize the chance of out- windy or rainy day (very possible this year in Lon- liers, which could appear if only the best individual is studied; there are 120 or so consecutive years of At a Glance: Elite performance data; and they can reveal the deterioration as well as improvement in performance. What Foster found ● Sporting performance has improved over time because of population increase, was that from 1891 to 2010 the men’s 100 m sprint improved nutrition, coaching and access to facilities times have got faster by about 1 s (figure 1a), while ● In addition, there have been step-changes and blips in performance caused the men’s javelin has improved by 60 m (figure 1b). by new technologies, rule changes and more abstract causes such as the Figure 1c shows the best available data for swim- “Usain Bolt effect” ming – the average of the top three times in the ● The amount by which these steps and blips affect performance can be women’s 100 m freestyle from 1948 to 2010, which quantified using the “performance improvement index” (PII) has decreased by around 13 s over that period. Com- ● The PII can also be used to compare performances within and across sports, mon to all three sports are that performance tends and to predict in which events to look out for new world records to get better over time but also appears to be level- ling off; and that the First and Second World Wars

26 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Elite performance Bettmann/Corbis; Olivier Prevosto/Photo & Co./Corbis & Prevosto/Photo Olivier Bettmann/Corbis;

reduced performance dramatically. 100 m sprint Then and now A significant step forward in understanding the So, what of technological improvements specific to Olympian Arthur W general underlying improvement in these three sports running? There is an obvious step-change in the Sager in 1928 and (ignoring for now the blips and step-changes) came in statistics for the men’s 100 m in the mid-1970s. It is “new rules” World 2008 when Mark Denny, a professor of biomechan- caused by technology, but perhaps not the one you Record holder Jan Železný in 2003. ics at Stanford University in the US, examined the might have expected: it is down to the introduction of effects of population increase on running speeds in fully automated timing – and it lengthened recorded greyhounds, racehorses and humans. He started with running times by about 0.2 s. the principle that the larger a population, the likelier In previous years sprint times had been measured it is that exceptional performances will be found by by judges, who started their stopwatch when the pis- chance alone. He showed that although running per- tol fired and stopped it when the athlete crossed the formance increased as global population increased, finish line. However, the natural reaction time of the the performance of greyhounds and racehorses has human body meant that there was a delay between reached a plateau, which Denny put down to inten- the gun going off and the judge starting their stop- sive selective breeding having already produced the watch, while at the end of the race the judges could optimum performance qualities in these species. But be more accurate as they could anticipate when the performance of humans has not yet levelled off, an athlete would cross the finish line. Overall, this indicating that there is further improvement yet to be caused recorded times to be shorter than the sprint- seen. The effect of the First and Second World Wars ers’ actual times. seen in figure 1, then, was to decrease the popula- Fully automated timing does away with judge error tion available to compete (as well as the number of as it records the time between the bang of the starter competitions), so that performance declined. The pistol and the finish, using a light beam across the general improvements in nutrition, coaching, access finish line, to an accuracy of 0.01 s. Instrumented to facilities as well as population increase produce starting blocks are used so that a false start is reg- an underlying improvement that exists in all sports. istered if the athlete moves within 0.1 s of the pis-

Physics World July 2012 27 Physics and sport: Elite performance physicsworld.com

1 Essential evidence The average of the top 25 times for 1968 of 10.04 s stands out as an exception: it is shorter than that for 1967 or 1969 by 0.1 s. Looking in the record books, a 11.4 the most obvious explanation is that the Olympics First Second took place that year in Mexico City at a height of World World 11.2 War War around 2300 m above sea level. To understand the consequence of this it is useful to know that the drag 11.0 fully force on a body moving through a fluid of density ρ 2 automated at speed v is ρACdv /2, where A is the cross-sectional 10.8 timing area of the body presented to the air and Cd is the 10.6 drag coefficient of the athlete. The air density at “Usain Bolt” Mexico City’s altitude is about 80% that at sea level, time (s) effect 10.4 which means that the drag force would reduce pro- portionately, leading to a faster run. (Sprinters run 10.2 aerobically so they are relatively unaffected by the lowered oxygen levels of high altitude during the 10.0 Mexico 1968 race.) Although the Olympics was only one of the 9.8 competitions held in 1968, athletes trained and com- 1984 1916 1948 1980 2012 peted at altitude in preparation for it, so that of the b 100 top 25 performances, a third were at altitude, leading First Second to a distinct improvement in the 100 m performance World World 90 War War for the whole of 1968. There is also a sustained step-change in average 80 performance in the 100 m of 0.06 s in 2008 – the year when Jamaica’s Usain Bolt stormed onto the scene. rule 70 rule It is tempting to guess that this effect is all down to change change Usain Bolt’s extraordinary time of 9.69 s in Beijing, 1986 1992 60 but if his time is removed so that the average is taken of the remaining 24 athletes, then the step-change is

distance thrown (m) 50 almost the same. It appears, then, that these tremen- dous athletes suddenly competed at an even higher 40 level than before because of the dramatic performance of their peer Usain Bolt. 30 1984 1916 1948 1980 2012 Javelin throw c 68 The most obvious feature of the men’s javelin is the downward step-change in the mid-1980s. Around 66 this time, average distances thrown were more than 90 m, with one astounding throw of 104.8 m by Uwe 64 Hohn in 1984. However, there was an issue at the 62 time that made the event difficult to adjudicate: the javelin would seemingly float to the ground and land 60 flat, so that it was hard to tell whether the tip had time (s) 58 landed first – the main requirement in javelin com- swimsuit petitions. To solve this, the IAAF decided to change 56 ban the specifications of the javelin itself by moving its 54 centre of mass towards the tip by 4 cm. The effect of this was to keep the nose down, reduce lift while 52 polyurethane swimsuits it was in the air and force the javelin to land tip first 50 about 9 m shorter than previously. Given that throws 1948 1964 1980 1996 2012 over 100 m were potentially endangering spectators – with javelins being hurled almost the full length The average of the top 25 performances since 1891 ina () the men’s 100 m sprint and (b) of a sports stadium – this was seen as a success by javelin; (c) the average of the top three performances in the women’s 100 m freestyle swimming since 1948 (fewer data are available for this event). Features common to all of the IAAF. the sports are improved performance with time, with significant decreases in performance Following this rule change, alternative javelin during the two world wars. Within each sport, changes in altitude, mind set, equipment and designs appeared in the early 1990s with roughening rules have led to significant step-changes in performance. or dimples (similar to those on a golf ball) on the tail to change the drag characteristics. This helped improve performances and counter the previous rule tol being fired, which is deemed to be the limit of change, but ultimately a ban on these tail features human reactions. In fact, the International Associa- was imposed at the end of 1991 (just visible in fig- tion of Athletics Federations (IAAF) now adds on ure 1b). Performances have now levelled off at a top- 0.24 s to hand-timed 100 m results when comparing 25 average of around 84.5 m, which clearly falls short them with times measured electronically. of the distances achieved before the rule change.

28 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Elite performance REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier REUTERS/Jean-Paul Christophe Karaba/epa/Corbis Christophe

Performance enhancing The now outlawed tight-fitting full-body Speed demon Usain Bolt powered to his 100 m world record of 9.58 s at the 2009 World swimsuits used from 2008 to 2009 reduced the cross-sectional area Athletics Championships in Berlin, knocking 0.11 s off his previous world record, achieved at and the drag coefficient of the swimmer, leading to reduced drag the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. His record has not been beaten yet, but could it be one through the water and improved performances. to keep an eye on?

The authorities handled the issue of world records allows the swimmer to float higher and more hori- by having a “new rules” world record for throws after zontally in the water. the 1986 rule change and they even nullified some On 1 January 2010 FINA (the ruling body of swim- records between 1986 and 1991 rather than creat- ming) banned the full-body polyurethane swimsuits ing a new-new-rules world record in this period, – a feature clearly seen in the data. As a consequence when increasingly aerodynamic surfaces were being some records may not be broken for quite some time. used. The pre-rule-change world record of 104.8 m is Perhaps FINA should have created a “new rules” unlikely ever to be beaten. world record, as the IAAF did with the javelin.

100 m freestyle Quantifying performance Swimming went through a tricky period between One obvious problem with comparing performance 2008 and 2010: an unprecedented 25 and 47 world across events is that the units of measurement are dif- records were broken in 2008 and 2009, respectively, ferent, being either in metres or seconds, for example. with new technologies seen as the main cause. So The 100 m sprint time, for example, has decreased by although times in the women’s 100 m freestyle had about 10% in 120 years, while the javelin distance has gradually dropped by 12.6 s between 1948 and 2008, increased by 165%. But these numbers are not neces- there was a sudden fall in 2009. This coincided sarily valid comparisons. It is difficult to fairly com- with the introduction of full-body swimsuits with pare two performances within a single sport, let alone polyurethane panels. compare performances across different sports, or The formula for drag force, mentioned earlier, quantify the effects of technologies or rule changes. can be used to understand how the new swimsuits To tackle this dilemma, in 2009 I came up with the might have improved performance. They were rela- idea of the performance improvement index (PII). tively tight and reduced the cross-sectional area of This works on the principle of using simple equations the body, A, by pulling it into a more cylindrical to determine the useful work done in a performance. shape, thus reducing drag. Also, the polyurethane For instance, the performance measure in the pole- affected the way the water flowed over the body and effectively reduced Cd by reducing skin friction, as evident in the reduced size of the wake. A further It is difficult to fairly compare effect was on the dynamics of the human body itself: the stiff suits stopped the relatively soft tissues wob- performances across different sports, bling, which reduced any transient changes in A or Cd during the swimming action. A further claim is that or quantify the effects of rule changes the suit trapped air, which increases buoyancy and

Physics World July 2012 29 Physics and sport: Elite performance physicsworld.com

2 Performance quantified In running, the dominant retarding force is the ubiquitous drag force. The PII here – a ratio of work done (force × distance) for two events – simplifies 1.60 to the square of the inverse ratio of the times taken 2 women’s 100m swimming freestyle to run the race: (t1 /t2) . This assumes fixed air den- 1.55 sity and distance, and that the top-25 average ACd is a constant over time. As an example, the top-25 1.50 average of the men’s 100 m sprint in 1948 was 10.42 s. Comparing this with the average of 9.96 s in 2010 gives a PII of 1.10 (or a 10% increase). 1.45 The same PII equation can be used for swimming, where hydrodynamic drag is also the dominant 1.40 retarding force. In the women’s 100 m freestyle, the 12.4 s decrease between 1948 and 2010 equates to a PII of 1.52 (or a 52% increase). 1.35

men’s javelin One to watch 1.30 These PII equations can be used to compare performance change within or across sports and to quantify 1.25 the effect of technologies or any other effect visible in the data. For example, figure 2 compares the PII for the men’s 100 m sprint and javelin, and the wom- 1.20 en’s 100 m freestyle swimming, using the post-war

performance improvement index performances of 1948 as a baseline. 1.15 PII values for the 100 m sprint can be seen to have increased by around 10% by 2010, with fully auto- 1.10 mated timing causing a decrease of 2.8% in 1974. men’s 100m sprint The year 1968 saw a transient 2.2% improvement caused by performances at altitude, while the “Usain 1.05 Bolt effect” since 2008 has caused a boost of 1.4%. The 1986 javelin rule change – moving the centre of 1.00 mass – reduced performance by about 13%, while the 1991 rule change about aerodynamics further 0.95 reduced it by 2.4%. The 2010 ban on full-body poly- 1948 1956 1964 1972 1980 1988 1996 2004 2012 urethane swimsuits lowered the PII in the women’s 100 m freestyle by around 6.1%, showing the approxi- mate gain they must have given. There is also a steep The performance-improvement index for the men’s 100 m sprint and javelin, and the women’s 100 m freestyle swimming. The index for each sport, based on simple physics equations of rise of more than 10% between 1970 and 1976, which the work done by the athlete, allows a single performance to be compared with a baseline is likely caused by something that is less controversial performance – here, the mean top performances in each sport in 1948. This allows these days – the introduction of hats and goggles, and comparison between sports, getting around the fact that, for example, it does not make much the concept of shaving off body hair to reduce drag. sense to compare a 16 m improvement in javelin throw to a 0.5 s reduction in sprint time. So what can we expect this summer? Of the sports studied here, the javelin is the least likely to show significant improvement, as it appears to have reached a vault is the height of the bar, so an approximation to plateau. In swimming, there will be few world records the potential energy in the jump is mgh for an athlete in the sprint events because of the swimsuit ban. If of mass m. If we take a baseline performance h1 for there are any records in swimming, they are likely our comparison, then the height of any other jump h2 to be in the long-distance events where the suits had can be compared using less effect (possibly because their stiffness caused an work mgh increase in fatigue). ^ h2 = ^ h2 work mgh . The data point toward the men’s 100 m sprint being ^ h1 ^ h1 one event not to miss. The top-25 average coming If we use an average of the top 25 athletes, then the into 2012 is already consistently below 10 s, so expect average mass is not likely to change too much so that fast performances and extreme rivalry. Weather per- the PII is the ratio h2 /h1. For example, comparing mitting, of course. n the top-25 average performance in the pole vault in 2010 of 5.76 m to the 4.26 m average for 1948 gives an More about: Elite performance index of 1.23 (equating to an improvement of 23%). M W Denny 2008 Limits to running speed in dogs, horses For a throwing event such as the javelin, the PII and humans J. Exp. Biol. 211 3836 works out as d2 /d1, where a throw of distance d2 is L Foster, D James and S J Haake 2010 Understanding compared with a baseline performance d1. Compar- the influence of population size on athletic performance ing the top-25 average of the men’s javelin in 2010 Procedia Engineering 2 3183 of 84.78 m with that in 1948 of 68.81 m gives a PII of S Haake 2009 The impact of technology on sporting 1.35 (equating to an improvement of 35%). performance in Olympic sports J. Sports Sci. 27 1421

30 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Balance iStockphoto/microgen

Balance, angular momentum and sport

Roland Ennos describes how elite athletes and the rest of us use simple physics principles to perform amazing balancing acts

This summer the eyes of the sporting world will be Human beings are, of course, bipeds, and because Roland Ennos is a on London, where once again we will have the oppor- we stand straight-legged on relatively small feet, our biomechanic in the tunity to marvel at the almost superhuman feats of bodies act as inverted pendulums. This means that Faculty of Life the world’s greatest athletes. The strength and skill we are inherently unstable: if we lean over just a lit- Sciences at the of weightlifters and boxers, the speed of track stars, tle, we should topple over. Fortunately, when we are University of the ball skills of footballers and tennis players, and – standing quietly and undisturbed we can compensate Manchester, UK, perhaps most amazing of all – the balance and acro- for any small swaying movements that push us away e-mail roland.ennos @manchester.ac.uk batics of gymnasts and divers can, at times, almost from equilibrium by using our ankle and leg muscles. seem to defy the laws of motion. Understanding the mechanics of their actions provides a challenge to Balancing acts even the most thoughtful of physicists. To understand how this balancing mechanism works, But gymnasts, divers and other athletes are not suppose we regard the human body as a rigid object alone in doing nearly miraculous things with their with its centre of mass somewhere near our stom- bodies. In fact, most of us do it every day, simply by achs. If the centre of mass is deflected to the left, our standing upright and walking around. Even though reflexes will cause our left foot to press down harder the structure of the human body and our upright than the right. Similarly, if it is deflected forwards, stance means that we should be among the world’s our reflexes will cause our toes to press down harder most unstable animals, we manage in our daily lives than our heels. Doing this moves the so-called centre by manipulating the same basic physical law that elite of pressure – the spot at which the force would be athletes use to perform their magnificent acts – the concentrated if it acted at a single spot – even further law of conservation of angular momentum. out, producing a torque that pushes the body back

Physics World July 2012 31 Physics and sport: Balance physicsworld.com

Starting to walk since we would not be able to move the centre of pressure without falling off. Yet gymnasts and tightrope artists can balance on thin beams and wires, ballerinas can balance on just a single pointed shoe, maximum B C and even those of us without such talents can stand centre of swing toe off on tiptoe without falling over forwards or backwards pressure – despite the fact that the distance from the ball of our feet to the tip of our toes is just a few centimetres. To balance in these more challenging circumstances we have to use another method, one that A relies on the fact that our bodies are not really rigid swing heel objects but jointed structures. To understand how contact being jointed helps us keep our balance, try standing on the tips of your toes, and then allow yourself to tip stance toe off forwards. How did you stop yourself from falling flat D on your face? If you are like most people, the apparently puzzling answer is that you flexed at the hip, swing foot stance foot leaning your upper body further forward. How does this help you balance? The answer is related to the law of the conservation of angular momentum. To be more precise, pushing your upper body forward gives it forward angular momentum; however, since your toes cannot produce any torque direction of travel on the ground when you are on tiptoe and the total centre of pressure angular momentum of your body must be conserved, this means the lower part of your body must move backwards. The consequence is that your centre of centre of mass mass also moves slightly backwards until it is behind your toes once again. This gives gravity time to pull At first glance, the act of beginning to walk seems almost absurdly easy. Surely your body backwards before you have to straighten all we need to do is to raise one leg and plant it in front of us? But the truth is up again, reversing the effect. that if we did that, the force on the foot that remained on the ground – known This process becomes trickier as our support base as the “stance foot” – would produce a moment that pushed our body to the gets smaller – as we rise up further on our toes, for other side, and we would fall over. What we really do when we take our first example, or stand on just a single toe – and we have step is actually quite complicated. Initially – and counterintuively – we have to to rely on fast, precise reflexes to be successful. It is reduce the pressure on the stance foot, which moves the centre of pressure therefore not surprising that we have also developed backwards and towards the moving or “swing” foot (point B on the diagram). additional mechanisms for keeping our balance. In Moving the centre of pressure in this way causes our centre of mass to begin to extreme circumstances we may spin our arms for- move forwards and towards the stance foot; once this process has begun, we wards to stop ourselves toppling forwards, or back- then gradually shift the centre of pressure towards the stance foot (point C) until wards to stop ourselves falling backwards, in the the swing foot can be lifted and moved forwards (point D). But if you try thinking time-honoured comedy tradition of cartoon charac- about this while you are moving off from a standing start, it becomes almost ters or the Keystone Kops. Just like tilting the top impossible to actually move, and the balancing process becomes even more half of our bodies, the spinning of our arms produces complicated when you add arm motions (see Physics World January 2010 pp28– angular momentum in one direction, which causes 31). It is therefore no surprise that it takes toddlers weeks or even months to take our bodies to tilt in the other. their first steps after they have mastered standing up: they need to build up an unconscious pattern of muscle activation to perform the process automatically. Making it look easy Of course, flailing about in this fashion looks a bit silly, and is not very controlled, so competitive gym- into position. nasts use a more precise (but conceptually similar) This balance mechanism seems to be perfectly ade- technique to improve their side-to-side balance: they quate for most purposes and, in fact, when we start to hold their arms outwards like the balance pole of a walk, we also deliberately shift the centre of pressure tightrope walker. This increases the moment of iner- from one foot to the other to initiate the movement tia of their arms about the body, so that if they move (see box above). However, there are many occasions them asymmetrically, up and down, even by small when the simple mechanism of moving the centre distances, they can produce large torques to right of pressure simply cannot produce a strong enough their bodies. And because these arm movements are reaction to return us to equilibrium. For example, if vertical, they produce no horizontal reaction forces, we receive a sudden jolt, our ankle and leg muscles so the gymnasts’ bodies do not sway. Better still, the are just not stiff enough to shift the centre of pres- arm movements can even be disguised as graceful sure far enough away to produce an adequate restor- “arty” gestures. ing torque. And if our leg and ankle muscles were If gymnasts suffer an extreme loss of balance the only mechanism we had available for balancing, during their routine, they have one final desperate we would not be able to balance on narrow supports, manoeuvre they can perform: they raise one leg,

32 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Physics and sport: Balance

1 The “hitch-kick” technique iStockphoto/technotr

Long-jumpers keep both of their legs moving in a running motion during their jump (right) so that the net forward angular momentum in their lower body is not transferred to the upper body (which would cause them to pitch forwards). At the end of the jump, the athletes cease the running motion and bring their legs forward to meet the body, maximizing the distance of the jump (left). rotating it in the direction of fall, which causes their Long-jumpers face a particularly interesting balance body to tilt in the other direction. Whichever tech- problem: they need to keep their bodies upright as nique gymnasts use to balance, the key to success they fly through the air. This is a far from simple is to perform the corrective movements as early as task. As a long jumper takes off, the foot that strikes possible. The quicker their reactions are, the smaller the take-off board tends to produce a force point- the balancing movements they need to make and the ing upwards and slightly backwards, and thus acts better balanced and more controlled their perfor- behind the athlete’s centre of mass. The force there- mances will appear to the judges. fore tends to rotate their body forwards, so if they But gymnasts are not the only athletes who need did nothing to compensate for it, they might plough excellent balance. Tests on many different types of head-first into the landing pit. sports people – including judo experts and surfers To prevent this from happening, most elite jump- as well as gymnasts – by Thierry Paillard and col- ers use a technique called the “hitch-kick”: after leagues at the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour they leave the ground, they keep both legs moving in France – have shown that elite athletes have far in a running or cycling motion. This means that, better balance than other people. When balancing together, the two legs maintain a net forward angular on small seesaws, for instance, international-class momentum (figure 1), which prevents the upper body surfers need to move their centre of pressure much pitching forwards. The jumpers only stop hitch-kick- less than average surfers. Curiously, the differences ing at the end of the jump, when they contract their between the two groups were even greater when the stomach muscles to bring both legs forward to meet surfers were blindfolded: the international-class their body, so they hit the sand further forwards, thus surfers had to move their centres of pressure less maximizing the distance of the jump. than half as much as the local-level ones. This ability to balance without visual cues should enable expert Spins and somersaults surfers to stay on their surfboards better, even when For physicists and spectators alike, the most amaz- they are speeding down the middle of a wave. ing and counterintuitive uses of the law of conserva- There is even good evidence that balance plays a tion of angular momentum in sport are found in the crucial role in ball games, in which one might naively aerial gyrations of gymnasts and divers, who use the expect that endurance, strength or sport-specific law not only to stay upright, but also to roll, twist The most skills (such as shooting baskets or dribbling a foot- and spin in an apparently baffling fashion. The easi- amazing and ball) would be more important. But using the same est manoeuvres – both to carry out and to explain counterintuitive techniques, Paillard has shown that elite footballers – are the simple forward and backward somersaults uses of the law also have better balance than “Sunday league” qual- they perform in mid-air. To perform even a double ity players. A study by Robbie Wilson of the Uni- or triple somersault, the performer simply takes off of conservation versity of Queensland in Australia even showed that with their body extended and with a relatively slow of angular within a semi-professional football club, the relative forward or backward rotation. When they then pull momentum in ability of the players – as measured by the outcome their body into a “tuck” position, their moment of sport are found of one-on-one games – was more closely correlated inertia is reduced, and conservation of angular in the aerial with their ability in a balance task than their power momentum means they spin faster – just as ice skat- or endurance. ers do when they pull their arms in during spins, or as gyrations of If balancing when standing on the ground is tricky, the air in hurricanes does as it is drawn towards the gymnasts balancing when you are in mid-air is even worse. eye of the storm. The process requires energy input and divers

Physics World July 2012 33 Physics and sport: Balance physicsworld.com

2 Do the twist

abmove arms out c

untwist body

body twist body twisted

A gymnast rotating 180° while in the “straddle” position. move legs down The upper body is first twisted before the arms are moved outwards and the legs lowered and twisted round.

3 Arm movements their body, move their arms outwards to increase the moment of inertia of the upper body around its long twist axis axis, and twist back to bring their legs around – and reaction α all before catching the bars again but facing the other way. Many physicists will probably have noticed that this is exactly the same method that cats – which α = 5° = angle of often seem to make a guest appearance in lectures action body tilt on mechanics – can use to twist round to land upright even if they are dropped upside-down. action somersault axis Divers are capable of even more spectacular and somersault axis rapid spins, often performing two or three complete rotations around the long axis of their body before they hit the water. These spins are produced by a quite different mechanism compared with that used reaction by non-aquatic gymnasts. Although the diver starts spinning well after take-off, before that they have to jump off the board so that they are rotating forwards or backwards. To start spinning around the long axis of their body, they simply move their arms asymmetrically, raising one up above their head and lower- α Divers use asymmetric arm movements to develop ing the other down along their side (figure 3). This spins by precession. produces a torque that would tend to alter the axis of the body. Since they are already rotating around the hips, however, their body acts as a gyroscope, resist- from the athlete’s muscles, which pull body segments ing the tilt, and the torque instead causes the body to inwards with a strong centripetal force. At the end of precess, making it spin rapidly around its long axis. the somersault, all the performer has to do is to let The spin is only stopped just before entry into the their body straighten again, reducing their angular water, when the diver reverses their arm movements. velocity. This allows gymnasts to land without falling over and divers to enter the water head first and with Don’t try this at home the smallest of splashes. The take-home message is that as bipeds, we are The more complex aerial twists and spins that elite all unconscious masters of manipulating angular athletes can perform are even more spectacular and momentum. But while understanding the physics seem far more mysterious. Take the 180° rotation behind balance and angular momentum can help that gymnasts can accomplish in mid-air even after us better to appreciate the agility of footballers, the they have released their hold on the horizontal or grace of gymnasts and the aerial prowess of divers, uneven bars. This manoeuvre usually involves them it will not really help us to emulate them. Their feats moving into the “pike” position, where the legs are are the result of innate ability and years of training; held at a right angle in front of the body, or “strad- they repeat their movements endlessly to generate dle” position with their legs held out sideways as if automatic neuromuscular responses that make their they were doing the splits (figure 2). In these posi- reactions faster and more precise. So while non- tions, the gymnast can use the very high moment of sporty types can enjoy watching these feats of athlet- inertia of their legs around the long axis of the body ics live or on TV this summer, they should not try to keep their hips immobile as they twist their upper repeating them at home. It seems that all bipeds are body around. They then move their legs into line with equal, but some are more equal than others. n

34 Physics World July 2012 Physics world V2_Mise en page 1 18/05/2012 09:41 Page 1

Multilayer graphene-graphite 2-layer graphene Single layer graphene

2000 3000

-1 Image generated on HORIBA Scientific AIST-NT combined system AIST-NT Image generated on HORIBA Scientific Raman Shift (cm )

AFM-Raman & nano-Raman Our comprehensive range of AFM-Raman solutions combines Scanning Probe techniques like AFM, STM, shear force and SNOM with optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques like confocal Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence and photoluminescence to bring new dimensions to your vision of the nanoworld.

HORIBA Scientific partners with the leading SPM equipment manufacturers to offer fully integrated systems for simultaneous measurements of transparent samples, opaque samples, in air, liquid, vacuum or special environments.

email: [email protected] www.horiba.com/scientific physicsworld.com Reviews

Paul Michael Grant Keeping the lights on after 2100

physicist to someone concerned with energy and the environment. Determining the direction of the energy enterprise is not like creating the market behind the next iToy, iStockphoto/TommL where scientific and technical matters are paramount. With energy, science plays at best a 50% role, the remainder being driven by raw economics skewed by political and social perceptions. Realizing this was an epiphany indeed. Laughlin gives readers a great example of such an energy epiphany in his chapter on “Carbon fever”. Seven decades ago, Linus Pauling taught us the marvels of the 2s–2p hybridization of carbon’s outer shell, which lie behind all of the element’s subsequent manifestations, from life to locomotion. Laughlin points out that the economics and physics of energy production from loosely bound carbon – in whatever form it is found, whether mineral, gase- ous or organic – is overwhelmingly Bright-light city As the presidential election cam- mentally nonlinear physics problem, favourable compared with those Robert Laughlin’s paign hots up here in the US, it is the devil is always in the details. For- of other “alternatives”. Because of new book looks at inevitable that energy issues will tunately, Bob Laughlin is a details this simple fact, it is very likely that the options for loom large on the political agenda. kind of guy. His subtitle, “How we we humans will continue to oxidize fuelling our energy Being Americans, our focus will Will (Eventually) Solve the Energy pretty much every atom of available consumption. inevitably be local and short term, Crisis and Fuel the Civilization of number six we can find. although I admit to hoping that Tomorrow”, tells us who that devil is, Fortunately, there is a lot of min- Powering the maybe – just maybe – this time and that he or she resides within the eral and organic carbon around, and Future: How we Will around, politicians on both sides parenthetical remark “eventually”. this is likely to remain true at least for (Eventually) Solve will finally tell the public what they Through 11 chapters and accompa- a while. A problem may arise in deal- the Energy Crisis mean by “clean energy”. Right now, nying notes (which make up half of ing with the element’s greenhouse- and Fuel the I haven’t got a clue. the book’s total 224 pages), Laughlin gas form, carbon dioxide, although Civilization of Putting such limited optimism guides us through the jungle of the some economists have argued that Tomorrow aside, however, it is clear that energy energy economy: from coal to its the wealth created and banked by Robert B Laughlin strategies for the future will pose combustion; gas to gasoline (petrol); using fossil fuels to their limit could 2011 Basic Books challenges far beyond the next elec- fission dynamite to deuterium fusion; underwrite whatever climate-change $24.99hb 224pp tion (and the next, and the next…), the transport of energy by electrons adaptation technologies may be and not only for those of us living in and protons; the possible future gen- needed in the next century. Regard- North America. By the year 2100 our eration of electricity and fuels from less of your views on carbon dioxide planet’s population will exceed 10 waste substances such as manure and climate change, though, we are billion souls, all striving for a North and maize husks; and prospects for likely to run out of the useful forms American or European standard of exploiting sources of energy that of cheaply available carbon some- living, with its attendant thirst for stem from cosmic radiation or pres- time in the next 40–60 years. Then energy. This is a staggering (and sures from within the ocean depths. what? The first half of this book likely unsustainable) prospect, but it All of these processes are gov- provides some hints of the answers, is just this scenario that the Stanford erned by a “Jungle Law”, the title of and for that reason alone, it should University physicist and Nobel laur- Laughlin’s third chapter. This chap- be mandatory reading for the next eate Robert Laughlin addresses in ter resonated with me personally, as president of the US and their cabi- his book Powering the Future. it reflects my own metamorphosis net, and for those who follow – even As with any complex and funda- from an industrial basic-research if one or more of them does possess

36 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Reviews

a Nobel Prize for Physics. cial airline crash is approximately Laughlin’s “Inspiring mammoths” For readers who do not have twice that of the confirmed number chapter, fusion could indeed be the enough time for the entire book, of radiation-exposure deaths from energy of the future – but it will likely let alone Laughlin’s extensive end- every nuclear-plant disaster to date, remain so for a long time. notes (which, though great for including Chernobyl and Fukushima. Those of us who are person- physicists, can be tedious for non- As far as we know, the toll from the ally acquainted with Bob Laughlin specialists), I strongly recommend at latter remains zero (May pp25–28). know him as a colourful character. least perusing the chapter “Inspiring Concerns about running out of In New York, where I grew up, we mammoths”. The title is a Laughlin- “burnable” fission material – for would call him, warmly, a “wise guy”. euphemism for nuclear energy of any example uranium and thorium ore It is just this delightful attitude that origin, and in the chapter he explains – seem likewise overblown based makes his book so readable, and I that the chief economic barrier to a on Laughlin’s analysis, which also can think of no better way to illus- renaissance of nuclear-fission power covers issues of waste, reprocessing trate this than to quote his words in is the expanding availability of coal and “breeding” fissile material in the book’s closing sentences. After and natural-gas reserves worldwide. specialist reactors. Given the vast thoroughly exploring present and There are other hurdles too, but they amounts of uranium and thorium in foreseeable energy resources for are mostly political and environmen- the earth and the sea, the extension humanity, Laughlin ends with a tal in origin. The political argument of such supplies through deployment prosaic, but most profound, warn- against nuclear fission encompasses of the above technologies, and the ing that “The most terrible cosmic some sound concerns, such as weap- economic drivers that will come into explosion of all will occur if I show ons proliferation, and Laughlin sug- play with the soaring costs of exploit- up late again for dinner. It might be a gests that these should be addressed ing disappearing fossil reserves, my good idea to stop worrying about the by international enforcement, not “take home” message from Powering universe and hustle home.” just agreement. The environmental the Future is that uranium and tho- arguments, in contrast, essentially rium nuclei will probably be the Paul Michael Grant is head of W2AGZ stem from a lack of proper perspec- source of the parenthetical “even- Technologies, a private energy-consultancy tive. It is instructive to point out that tually” in the book’s subtitle. What company based in San Jose, California, the death toll from a single commer- about fusion? Well, judging from e-mail [email protected] Next month in Physics World Long road to the Higgs With the discovery of the Higgs boson seemingly imminent, why has the search for the particle – first predicted almost 50 years ago – been such a long and tortuous affair? CERN, for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration

Charged-particle beams Laser cooling and trapping techniques have revolutionized the field of atomic physics over the past quarter century, but they could have a similar effect on nanoscale science

Cosmic centenary The mysterious ionizing radiation detected on Earth became known as cosmic rays after Victor Hess’s famous hot-air-balloon flight of August 1912 showed that they must come from beyond our atmosphere

Plus News & Analysis, Forum, Critical Point, Feedback, Reviews, Careers and much more physicsworld.com

Physics World July 2012 37 Reviews physicsworld.com

Davide Castelvecchi and still is – unparalleled by that of any other scientific theory. However, as Steven Weinberg would later write, “it was not long before there was another collapse Those puzzling infinities in confidence”, when “shares in quantum field theory tumbled at the physics bourse”. The reasons went beyond people’s qualms about cooking the books in their calculations. The real problem came when physicists turned their attention to the weak interaction, and realized to their horror that this force resisted being renormalized at all. Instead, its infinities remained untamed – hence the puzzle referred to in the book’s title. Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo Library Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, researchers kept trying to fix quantum field theory and to expand it to include the weak force. It was during this period that theorists proposed ways to unify the electromagnetic and weak force, to apply gauge invariance to the weak force, and to show that this could be done while keeping the weak force short range, as experiment says it should be. The latter effort led to what is now known as the Higgs mechanism, and its saga rightfully occupies a substantial part of the book. But as long as infinities kept Search for answers Since it opened for business a cou- equations seemed unable to account popping up, all these efforts were The Higgs boson is ple of years back, CERN’s Large for such “self-interaction”. Theo- doomed. Some theorists, such as just one of the Hadron Collider (LHC) has been rists’ fears were confirmed in 1947 Lev Landau, proposed scrapping subjects covered in confirming the validity of the Stand- when Willis Lamb announced that the entire framework of quantum this historical ard Model of particle physics to ever- he had found a small deviation from field theory and focusing instead overview of quantum greater precision and accuracy. In the predictions of Dirac’s theory in only on the things one can actually field theory. the process, it has been causing ever- the hydrogen spectrum. observe: the inputs and outputs of greater frustration among theorists, Fortunately, the theoretical phys- particle collisions. This back-to- The Infinity Puzzle: many of whom had hoped that the ics community was full of creative basics approach led to ideas known Quantum Field collider would quickly uncover new sparks with plenty of time on their as quantum democracy and the boot- Theory and the Hunt physics. Given the Standard Model’s hands, as the Second World War and strap model, as well as ambitious for an Orderly current robust status, it is easy to for- the Manhattan Project had finished. proposals to abandon the notions of Universe get that during the 20th century, its Before the end of the 1940s, Rich- elementary particles and wavefunc- Frank Close the oretical bedrock – quantum field ard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, tions. Close’s account does not really 2011 Basic Books theory – was left for dead at least Shin’ichir¯o Tomonaga and Freeman delve into these alternative attempts, £16.99/$28.99hb twice by its own creators. Frank Dyson had created quantum elec- focusing instead on how even the 448pp Close’s book The Infinity Puzzle con- trodynamics, or QED, in its modern creators of the electroweak unified tains a timely reminder of these near- form. The new quantum field theory theory – which is now an integral part death experiences. modelled the interactions of the of the Standard Model – seemed to The first convincing quantum electron with its own field and also lose hope that quantum field theory description of a field, the reader with the sea of virtual particles that would survive. Weinberg’s paper learns, arrived in 1928, in the form pop in and out of existence in the of 1967 on electroweak symmetry of Paul Dirac’s theory of the electron vacuum, as required by the Heisen- breaking is now one of the most and of the electromagnetic interac- berg uncertainty principle. Whereas widely cited physics papers in history, tion. Dirac’s equations had some simple-minded calculations of these but it went practically unnoticed at indisputable successes: they fitted interactions gave paradoxical results the time of publication. For several spectroscopic data, explained pho- in which quantities added up to years, Close reminds us, no-one cited tons and quantum spin, and even infinity, QED made the infinities go it at all – not even Weinberg himself. foresaw the existence of the positron. away thanks to an accounting trick Everything changed in 1971, when But his theory seemed incomplete. called renormalization. Although Gerard ’t Hooft showed how to tame If a field is supposed to be a “thing” most theorists, beginning with Dirac the infinities of the electroweak inter- with a quantum life of its own, then it himself, saw renormalization as con- action. In one fell swoop, the Dutch- surely should interact with the elec- trived and probably wrong, QED’s man rescued years of work by many tron that generated it – yet Dirac’s agreement with experiment was – of his older colleagues, and put quan-

38 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Reviews

tum field theory back onto its feet. imagination. He interviewed virtu- people can share the prize each year. The day of ’t Hooft’s breakthrough is, ally all surviving protagonists and, For all its qualities, however, appropriately, what Close – a noted when possible, went back to their The Infinity Puzzle is hardly a safe science writer and a theoretical par- private letters and lecture notes. choice for beach reading. Its subject ticle physicist himself – chose as the The result is a much more nuanced is inherently weighty, and the read- opening scene of his book. As Close picture of history. For example, we er’s task is complicated by Close’s recounts, the subsequent “gauge- learn that Tom Kibble and John highly nonlinear style of narration. field revolution” included the devel- Ward may have had as much to do His story keeps bifurcating into opment of the theory of the strong with the development of the elec- rivulets and eddying backwards in force, called quantum chromody- troweak theory as Weinberg and his time; often, one wonders whether namics, and was crowned by some of fellow Nobel laureates Abdus Salam the author is recapitulating an ear- the most heroic experimental discov- and Sheldon Glashow. In Salam’s lier chapter or telling the same story eries in high-energy physics, culmi- case, in particular, the reader is left anew. One section contains no fewer nating in 1983 with the discovery of with the impression that the commit- than six repetitions of the sentence the W and Z bosons. tee rewarded a physicist widely seen “hardly anyone at the time believed Close deserves praise simply for as being of Nobel calibre, but that it that quarks were real” and varia- picking quantum field theory as the may have picked the wrong reason to tions thereof. Readers with a passing topic of a popular book. This is as do so. We also learn how, in the late interest in the Higgs will probably hard a topic as they come, and he 1960s, James “B J” Bjorken taught get more out of a smoother, more doesn’t cut too many corners when physicists how to demonstrate the focused and more accessible treat- it comes to conceptual depth. Just as existence of quarks – thus leaving ment, such as Ian Sample’s book important, though, is the fact that he his footprint on much of the experi- Massive (November 2010 pp42–43). does not hide the complexities of the mental particle physics that followed Serious physics-history buffs, on historical development of the theory. – but has yet to receive due recog- the other hand, will find The Infinity Scientists rarely, if ever, come out nition. Similarly, the Higgs mecha- Puzzle invaluable. Meanwhile, LHC with fully formed ideas, and Close nism and the Higgs boson were (as physicists are confident that they demonstrates how science proceeds Peter Higgs himself acknowledges) will finally settle the question of the through false starts, strokes of luck, the product of at least seven minds: existence of the Higgs boson by the missed opportunities and, as he puts Philip Anderson, Gerry Guralnik, end of 2012. If it does turn up, some it, “comedies of errors”. Carl Hagen, Tom Kibble, François people in Stockholm will likely be Close is especially diligent in Englert and the late Robert Brout as among the book’s most avid readers. investigating the priority of ideas well as Higgs. If and when the par- and in crediting researchers who ticle is found, this notorious issue Davide Castelvecchi is a freelance science may have been left behind, either by will no doubt make the Nobel com- writer based in Rome, e-mail castel@ the Nobel committee or by popular mittee’s life very hard, as only three nasw.org, Twitter @dcastelvecchi

Web life: Engineering Sport What topics does it cover? fans of all types will find it fascinating to read All of the world’s most popular sports, from track about the interplay between these two competing athletics to cricket, appear in at least one post, goals of sports engineering. but there are also a few entries on less widely known events such as the skeleton bobsled Can you give me a sample quote? and jai alai, a tennis-like game with its origins in From a post by Haake about running around the Spain’s Basque region. Other posts involve topics hills of Sheffield on a windy day: “The formula for such as aerodynamics that have applications drag force tells you that force is proportional to across multiple sports. One particularly popular the density of the air, the presented area of the entry, entitled “How far could Usain Bolt jump?”, runner, the drag coefficient of the runner and the calculates that if the Jamaican sprinter ever speed squared. So, all things being equal, if you decides to take up long-jumping, he might be double your speed, the drag force quadruples. able to beat the current record in his new event by For example, if you’re running at 10 km h–1 and URL: http://engineeringsport.co.uk an astonishing 1.55 m. you have an extra headwind of 1 km h–1 (i.e. 10%), then the drag force goes up by 21%. If the wind So what is the site about? Why should I visit? turns and it is now behind you, the drag force Engineering Sport is a multi-author blog launched According to Choppin, sports engineers “play drops by only 19%. This difference gets worse three years ago by members of the Sports on both teams”. On the one hand, they are as the wind speed increases. The only time you Engineering Research Group at the UK’s Sheffield heavily involved in efforts to improve athletes’ get respite of any sort is when the wind speed is Hallam University. It aims to provide a scientific performances – for example by contributing to the same as your running speed; in this case the perspective on current sporting events, and also the technological “arms race” that produces drag force is quadrupled when it’s against you, to explain how engineers influence the world of unsliceable golf balls, super-spin tennis rackets but reduces to zero when it is behind you (which sport. Its editor and most prolific contributor or hydrodynamic swimming suits. But they also happens more often than you might think on the is Simon Choppin, a researcher in the group use their understanding of the physics behind fells around Sheffield). So, yes, windy conditions who specializes in high-speed data and video such technologies to ensure that the rules of the are only ever a bad thing if you’re changing modelling. Other contributors include the physicist game keep pace with the changes. The result, direction a lot (such as fell running or running Steve Haake (see pp26–30), several Sheffield ideally, is that no competitor has an unfair around a track), and what you gain from the wind Hallam PhD students and a handful of guest advantage and the fundamentals of the sport behind you is never as much as you lose when it authors from outside the group. remain intact. This is pretty important, and sports is against you.”

Physics World July 2012 39 Reviews physicsworld.com

Between the lines

Sporting questions answered 25 °C, air has a density of around lattice type, its properties are still Is it easier to score with a penalty 1.185 kg m–3, but at 20 °C, the not fully understood. Despite our shot in football or in handball? density increases to 1.205 kg m–3. incomplete knowledge, though, it How much of an advantage did That may not sound like a big is still possible to make a number elite swimmers gain by wearing difference, and indeed even at a of interesting observations about –1

CC BY-SADeportesCC2.5 the (now-banned) one-piece velocity of 20 m s (a typical value sports played on icy surfaces. In the hydrophobic suits in competitions? for the “sprint finish” in many book’s first section, for example, And how can it be that headwinds cycling events) the corresponding Denny shows that speed skaters are bad news for runners and change in drag force amounts to must move their bodies in ways Track sense long-jumpers but good for discus around 1% of the total drag each that differ dramatically from those Why headwinds are throwers? The answers to these cyclist experiences. But as Barrow adopted by runners, thanks to the bad news for runners questions and many more can be repeatedly shows, small differences almost uniquely slippery nature of but good for discus found in 100 Essential Things You can have big effects on the record ice and the design of their skates. throwers is just one Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know book, and over the 4 km distance The pay-off is that the skaters are of the science About Sport, a timely if somewhat of the pursuit event, raising the air considerably speedier: the best of questions covered unoriginal book by the veteran temperature by 5 °C should knock them can achieve average speeds by 100 Essential science writer and University of about 1.5 s off the racers’ times. of more than 14 m s–1 over a 500 m Things You Didn’t Cambridge mathematician John With most (though not all) of the track – some 38% faster than Usain Know You Didn’t Barrow. Although the book will essays focused on Olympic events, Bolt over 100 m. As for snow, our Know About Sport. induce severe déjà vu among the book should prove popular understanding of its behaviour is, fans of Barrow’s writing – he has among spectators this summer. if anything, even less complete; as recycled its title, its format and at ● 2012 Bodley Head £10.00hb Denny puts it, “to a physicist, snow least one of its jokes from his 2008 320pp is ice with complications”. For the book 100 Essential Things You most part, Denny deals with such Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know – the Some like it cold complications by first creating counter-argument “if it ain’t broke, If the current burst of media “toy” models that ignore them, don’t fix it” is a compelling one. As attention on summertime sport then introducing sliding friction, with its predecessor, each of the leaves you, well, cold, then Gliding air resistance, athlete fatigue 100 “essentials” in Barrow’s latest for Gold: the Physics of Winter et al. to show how they affect the book is explained in the form of an Sports may be the perfect antidote. results of calculations. This is a easily digestible essay on some topic Written by the science writer and classic physics trick, but Denny is related to physics, mathematics or former theoretical physicist Mark careful not to push it into “assume both. A good example is #98 “Some Denny, the book begins with a short a spherical cow” territory. Physicist Like It Hot”, in which Barrow draws introduction to the surprisingly readers will also appreciate the on material from a post on the complicated physics of ice. At the book’s appendices, which include Engineering Sport blog (see p39) to time of writing, Denny reports that a “technical notes” section explain why trackside temperatures materials scientists had identified containing detailed derivations in the velodrome at the forthcoming at least 15 different forms of the of results presented earlier in Olympic Games will be kept at a stuff, and although nearly all of the book. cosy 25 °C. The key consideration, the ice on the Earth’s surface is of ● 2011 Johns Hopkins University Barrow observes, is air drag. At the relatively simple hexagonal- Press £15.50/$30.00pb 200pp

Take Physics World on holiday with you this year Free Physics World app

IOP membership required for full access to the app. If you’re not yet a member, visit www.iop.org to find out how to join.

40 Physics World July 2012 AgilentAD_4UHV_178x126_300 28-02-2012 14:37 Page 1

Technology Leadership. Agilent’s New 4UHV Ion Pump Controller The first true 4 channel ion pump controller for Ultra High Vacuum Agilent Technologies, as Varian Vacuum Products, invented the ion pump in 1957 and lead the UHV market in ion pump technology ever since. Now there’s more… the new Agilent 4UHV gives you the ability to operate 4 ion pumps all at once or just one at a time. This means ion pumps of any type in sizes from 20 to 500 l/s. www.agilent.com/chem/vacuum Toll Free: 00 800 234 234 00

FOCUS ON VACUUM August 2012 Bonus distribution for the next 12 months at key shows including: • CPS Fall 2012, China• E-MRS Fall 2012, Poland • Vacuum Expo 2012, UK• Vacuum 2012, Japan• AVS 2012, US • VTE – HiTech Expo 2012, Italy• APS March 2013, US • DPG Spring 2013, Germany• MRS Spring 2013, US•SVC 2013, US • E-MRS Spring 2013, France• Semiconductor 2013, UK Plus many more!

Deadline: 6 July 2012 To book your place, contact us on +44 (0)117 930 1026 physicsworld.com Careers

Technology Elekta for life The fight against cancer offers rewarding career opportunities for medical physicists as well as healthcare professionals, as Giulia Thompson describes

Most people have a friend, colleague or family member who has experienced cancer at some point in their life. Anyone who has supported someone through treatment knows that a wide variety of healthcare professionals are involved in helping those affected by the disease. Naturally, the most visible of these professionals are the clini- Advanced machines Giulia Thompson uses physics to design and test systems used in radiotherapy. cians, nurses, radiographers, life scientists and medical physicists who operate within the research and development cycle, from industry, medicine and archeology. the hospital environment. However, there defining product requirements and pro- I have very fond memories of my early are also many scientists and engineers viding input to new designs (for example by research. Bologna is my home town and is who design, develop and manufacture the computer modelling and prototype testing) famous for its medieval towers, its gourmet equipment and tools used in cancer treat- to the final phase, when intensive testing is food, its terracotta red-tiled roofs – and, ment. This is the area where I have chosen carried out in dedicated radiation bunkers of course, the university itself, which is to make my career. before the equipment is released for use. among the oldest academic institutions in I work at Elekta, a global company that the world. However, I was always aware that delivers clinical solutions for cancer care, Research and mobility to grow as a scientist I would need to experi- including image-guided radiation therapy, I received my undergraduate degree in phys- ence new research environments, ideally by stereotactic radiotherapy and radiosurgery, ics at the University of Bologna, Italy, where working abroad. So after I earned my Mas- in which beams of radiation are accurately I did my thesis project on gamma-ray spec- ter’s degree in medical physics, I applied focused in a 3D coordinate system to treat troscopy, using Monte Carlo techniques to for a Marie Curie Fellowship under the small target areas. The company has about model charge-trapping effects in semicon- EU’s Training and Mobility of Researchers 3300 staff, and every day at least 100 000 ductor detectors. But I had always been scheme. Winning this fellowship allowed patients at more than 5000 hospitals interested in applied radiation physics, and me to move to the UK, where I joined the around the world receive diagnosis, treat- after graduation I got involved in a research Department of Medical Physics and Bio- ment or follow-up care with the help of a project that used reactor-based neutron engineering at University College London. solution from Elekta. beams in cancer therapy. During this time I For my PhD in radiation physics, I The company’s corporate headquarters was part of a close-knit research group that worked on the design and experimental are located in Stockholm, Sweden, but I am studied applications of radiation physics in development of a novel imaging system based in Crawley, UK, which is the main for nuclear-medicine applications using a manufacturing site for Elekta’s radiother- Compton camera. It was the perfect project apy linear accelerators. My role there is I was always aware for me, combining my interests in radiation to lead the physics team that works in the detector technology, computer-simulation firm’s oncology product area, which cov- that to grow as a techniques and medical physics. This work ers both the hardware and software related was carried out in collaboration with Mid- to the linear accelerators used for patient dlesex Hospital and also with the high- treatment, and also the X-ray systems for scientist I would energy physics group at Imperial College patient imaging. This means that we help to London, since the prototype system used develop the systems that generate, monitor need to experience an electronic chip originally designed for and shape the beams used to treat patients, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Work- and we also contribute to development pro- new research ing with these different groups was a great jects for the cone-beam computed tomog- experience and gave me the opportunity to raphy unit that is used for image guidance. develop new technical knowledge, as well The physics team is involved throughout environments as to enhance my team work, task co-ordi-

42 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Careers

COOLFET®

nation and planning skills. the first patient was treated with Agility (at I enjoyed my PhD research, but after St James’s University Hospital in Leeds) spending quite a long time in academia, I was very special for me. felt ready for a change. I had always been While I am still very much involved with attracted by the idea of working in industry, the technical aspects of Elekta’s physics and I wanted to join a company where inno- programme, for the past two years I have Noise @ 0 pF: 670 eV FWHM (Si) vative technology and team work resulted also been the leader of the company’s UK ~76 electrons RMS in a real-life product. I applied for a posi- R&D physics team. This means that I am Noise Slope: 13 eV/pF with Low C FET tion with Elekta in 2000 and I was offered responsible for resource and task manage- iss 11.5 eV/pF with High Ciss FET a job in its development team. ment within a team of 14 people on a daily Fast Rise Time: 2.5 ns basis. In addition, I work on developing Career progression the skills and capabilities within the group FEATURES As a physicist working in R&D, I was – for example by introducing new com- • Thermoelectrically Cooled FET quickly given the opportunity to make use puter-modelling tools and experimental • 3 internal FETs to match detector of my experience with Monte Carlo mod- equipment, and by identifying appropriate • Lowest Noise and Noise Slope elling techniques, while also applying my training for staff. Finally, our group is still • AC or DC coupling to the detector knowledge of radiation physics and my expanding and I am actively involved in the • Both Energy and Timing outputs experimental skills to contribute to the recruitment process. • Optional input protection design of new oncology-related products. • Powered by AC adaptor These included an improved collimation Getting into the industry system for electron beams, which reduced I am often asked whether a PhD is neces- A250 the radiation dose outside the area being sary to work as an R&D physicist in the STATE-OF-THE-ART targeted for treatment, as well as different oncology industry. Looking at my own versions of X-ray beam-shaping devices experience, I think that my PhD certainly called multi-leaf collimators, which use a equipped me with many useful skills, and series of tungsten blades (“leaves”) that can most members of my current team also have move independently to generate irregular a PhD or Master’s degree in fields such as beam shapes. radiation physics, medical physics, nuclear As my experience level grew, I also or particle physics. Others have come from started to manage a number of physics test the fields of laser plasma physics, radio- programmes, in which new products are frequency physics and imaging detector thoroughly assessed before being released technology, while a few have a special- for clinical use. These assessments are done ized background in beam generation and to verify product safety and performance, accelerator technology. and to ensure compliance with the stringent However, there are also alternative routes requirements in the international standards into commercial R&D, including intern- External FET that regulate the medical-device industry. ships, industrial placements and appren- FET can be cooled Noise: <100 e- RMS (Room Temp.) Elekta has a very collaborative approach ticeships. These routes offer a “fast track” <20 e- RMS (Cooled FET) to R&D, which means that our products are not only to learning the practical aspects of Gain-Bandwidth fT>1.5 GHz developed together with customers work- the technical job, but also to understanding Power: 19 mW typical ing in research, university clinics and other how a large commercial organization oper- Slew rate: >475 V/µs institutions. For example, a few years ago ates. Indeed, Elekta has recently launched I co-supervised a PhD project at the Joint a two-year graduate programme, and is A111 Department of Physics of the Institute of planning to train about 10 physics and engi- Cancer Research and Royal Marsden neering graduates each year via a series of THE INDUSTRY STANDARD Hospital, where we investigated an alter- placements in departments spread across native system for patient imaging. Doing the key business processes of the company. projects like this allowed me to maintain The programme will include technical and contact with academic research and, later personal skills training, along with a sup- on, to become a senior research physicist port network of mentors and coaches. A Microchannel at Elekta. My studies in physics have allowed me Plate (MCP) Array I have worked on many great projects to pursue a very interesting career, work- Connected to Mul- over the years, but the one that stands out ing with innovative technology that helps tiple A111s for me is our latest beam-shaping device, people’s lives. The work environment at Agility. This device consists of 160 tungsten Elekta is also very good: the expertise of leaves that move independently at unprece- staff members is valued, I am surrounded dented speed, producing dose distributions by talented colleagues, and the company that accurately conform to the tumour’s really listens to customers and strives to volume while shortening the treatment provide what they need. There are more delivery time to as little as a couple of min- exciting developments on the horizon and I utes for patients with head and neck can- look forward to being a part of them. ® cers. I have been involved with the project AMPTEK Inc. since it began more than five years ago, and Giulia Thompson leads the R&D physics team at the moment in early April this year when Elekta, e-mail [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] www.amptek.com

Physics World July 2012 43 Careers physicsworld.com

Once a physicist: Crispin Duenas extremely educational more often than not. that I am one of the best archers in the world and However, early in my university life I was not great I am now able to compete at the highest level and at managing my time between studying, training do what others can only dream of doing. and competitions. I went through some rough Rolando Duenas Rolando times where I had to focus only on studying or run How – if at all – has your background in physics the risk of getting removed from my programme, helped you? but I learned my lessons and taught myself how My background in physics has been crucial in to study and live the “elite athlete” life at the my understanding of how my equipment works. same time. It helped that my professors and the Every bow has to be tuned to the archer using it, science faculty became very lenient with things and without tuning knowledge this task can seem like granting me permission to write my exams impossible to most. Knowing classical mechanics off-campus while I was away at a tournament or has helped me devise alternative methods of training – in fact, I wrote my final three exams in helping me tune my bow that other archers would Florida while I was at a training camp. I hold the not have thought about. My physics background University of Toronto in the highest of regards in has also helped me to understand why certain terms of their dedication and support to all of things happen to my arrow while it is in flight Crispin Duenas is a member of Canada’s their elite-level athletes. and how to detect whether any deviations were Olympic archery team equipment-related or caused by environment How did you get interested in archery? changes such as humidity or air pressure. What sparked your interest in physics? My interest in archery can be dated back to I had always been interested in science as a when I was a child and watched Robin Hood on You list The Big Bang Theory as one of your child – reading books about astronomy, trying TV. Obviously, I didn’t view it as a sport back favourite TV shows. Why? my own chemistry experiments, and so on – and then, but the act of shooting an arrow was very It’s a great show for unwinding. One thing that I had a high interest in mathematics as well, appealing to me and it was high on my “things I really admire about the show is the fact that so finding a science that could be explained to do in life” list. Fortunately, I had a teacher they use real equations on the whiteboards and using mathematics was the real hook for me. in elementary school who gave me a pamphlet chalkboards that are seen in the background. A When I actually started studying physics in high about his archery club when I mentioned a desire great example of this came when I was taking an school, I was like most teenagers: I didn’t really to try archery, and that’s how my career began. optics course in my fourth year at university, and understand it. But I still had a desire to try to I started with Saturday morning lessons, moved several equations that I had used in problem sets conquer it, as opposed to my peers who just on to competing at the local level, and one thing and tests appeared on the whiteboards in the neglected it, so that set me apart. led to another until now, when I am going to my show at the same time I was studying them. It just second Olympic Games. shows that the writers are vigilant about these Did you enjoy studying it at the University minor details. of Toronto? What has been the highlight of your archery Yes, I did. The programme was very well designed, career so far? Any plans for a future career outside archery? covering everything from classical mechanics The real highlight for me did not actually take Eventually I would like to become a high-school to the latest studies in quantum mechanics, place on an archery range. Instead, it came when physics teacher, and I have already taken steps relativity and string theory. The professors were I marched into the Olympic stadium in Beijing in towards applying to teachers’ college. However, I also experts in their fields, which made lectures 2008 at my first Games. That’s when it hit me have put this on hold until 2013. Careers and people

Spotlight on: David Jewitt and Luu began their award- reached the same conclusion about the Jewitt and Jane Luu winning hunt for objects beyond the orbit work he had performed with Luu, adding What happens when you of Neptune in 1986, when Jewitt was that it had triggered an “explosion” of win two major scientific working at the Massachusetts Institute of interest in planet formation and the prizes in a week? Ask Technology and Luu was a PhD student evolution of the outer solar system.

University of California the astronomers David looking for a new research project. At Jewitt and Jane Luu. On the end of August 1992 they finally found Movers and shakers

MIT 29 May the pair learned their first Kuiper-belt object (KBO), Materials scientist Mildred Dresselhaus that they had been awarded which they named “Smiley” after the of MIT has won the $1m 2012 Kavli Prize this year’s Shaw Prize master spy in John le Carré’s novels. in Nanoscience for her work on phonons, for Astronomy for their Subsequent observations carried out electron–phonon interactions and thermal discovery of the Kuiper by Jewitt, Luu and others showed that transport in nanostructures. belt of small, icy objects “Smiley” (later officially designated Sylvia McLain of the University of in the outer solar system. 1992 QB1) has plenty of company, with Oxford, UK, has won the B T M Willis Then, barely two days later, their work more than 1000 KBOs now known to Prize for her studies of the interactions was honoured again, when the Kavli exist. Among them is the Pluto-sized body between molecules in cell membranes, Foundation announced that Jewitt and Luu known as Eris, which Brown discovered using neutron-scattering techniques. – together with a third astronomer, Michael in 2005. Astronomer Xander Tielens of Leiden Brown – had also won one of its major Jewitt, who is now an astronomer at the University has won the Netherlands’ awards, the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. University of California, Los Angeles, told highest scientific honour, a Spinoza Both honours carry a cash prize of $1m, to Physics World that it was “very flattering” prize, for his research on large, complex be divided equally among the winners. that two independent prize committees molecules found in interstellar space.

44 Physics World July 2012 physicsworld.com Recruitment Advertising Tel +44 (0)117 930 1264 www.brightrecruits.com Physics World Fax +44 (0)117 930 1178 IOP Publishing E-mail [email protected] Recruitment Temple Circus, Temple Way Bristol BS1 6BE

The place for physicists and engineers to ﬁnd Jobs, Studentships, Courses, Calls for Proposals and Announcements

Physics Product Manager, Crawley £45,000 – £55,000 per annum plus bonus & excellent benefits.

As part of a key recruitment drive in response to significant business growth, Elekta (www.elekta.com) is seeking a Physics Product Manager to join our Business Line Development team in Crawley.

Role • Product Manager with responsibility to support the Linac Beam Generation and QA portfolio. • Perform all product management duties on assigned products in order to maximise their profitability throughout their life-cycle and to promote assigned products in order to increase market share in accordance with company goals and objectives. • Provide Physics support for the Product Management team as required. • To generate the ongoing strategy for the designated product portfolio that enables the business to meet its goals and objectives. Experience • Degree level or equivalent in Medical Physics or related subject. • Experience in Radiation Therapy Medical Physics. • Previous product management and/or sales and marketing experience in the medical field is preferred. • Excellent skills in verbal and written communication. • Must be a good motivator and be able to interact and communicate well with all levels of the business. • Must be able to use Microsoft Office applications. This role involves some domestic and international travel. For a full job description please apply today and quote your salary expectations. For further details please apply today by sending your CV to [email protected] and quote ‘Physics Product Manager’. Elekta (www.elekta.com) is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated state of the art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.

Physics World July 2012 45 In radiotherapy MAASTRO is one of the leaders in physics, biological and translational research, both nationally in the Netherlands and internationally. THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM Research successes in the lab or physics are translated to the clinic and are often applied here in clinical trials for the first time worldwide. This enables MAASTRO to improve the concept of individualized radiotherapy. Decision support systems developed by the research department of Knowledge MSc in Physics and Technology Engineering help physicians to choose the best treatment for each individual patient. of Nuclear Reactors Physics research is performed on a wide range of topics in radiotherapy. Many of the topics are related to improving patient imaging by conducting Contact: Dr Paul Norman, research into PET-CT imaging, ultrasound imaging, novel CT imaging and School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, small animal pre-clinical imaging. Other topics include brachytherapy Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT dose calculations and particle beam radiotherapy. The research facilities Email: [email protected] Phone: 0121 414 4660 include clinical linear accelerators, treatment planning systems, a small http://www.ph.bham.ac.uk/prospective/postgrad/pgptnr.htm animal radiotherapy system, CT and PET-CT scanners, ultrasound imaging equipment, various devices for measuring radiation dose, simulation software l One year taught postgrad MSc. Next year starts 24/09/2012. for dose calculations and imaging, and an electronic brachytherapy source. Course structure refined over the 50 years the MSc has run. Several times a year MAASTRO has new positions for PhDs and l Fully integrated labs and tutorials every week to bring together Postdocs. At this moment MAASTRO has an open position for a PhD- the wide range of subjects and provide practical and written student in multi-modality imaging combined with precision radiotherapy for small animals and a Postdoc position in Modeling of Dose Distributions and examples and guidance in person. Biological Outcome in Particle Therapy. Examples of other vacancies that l Study courses on Reactor Systems, Reactor Physics and have been recently posted are: Kinetics, Radiation Transport, Thermal Hydraulics, Reactor l Postdoc position in Modeling of Dose Distributions and Biological Materials and more. PhD programs also possible. Outcome in Particle Therapy. l Summer project, usually taken in industry and in many cases Connecting motivated jobseekersl PhD with student high-profilein Dose Guided Radiation employersTherapy with time-resolved 4D has led to employment. portal imaging. Connecting motivated jobseekersl Sponsored with high-profileby all the major players employers in the nuclear industry. l (Bio) medical engineer or Medical Doctor with an interest for clinical research in molecular imaging of tumor hypoxia. PLACES/FUNDING CURRENTLY AVAILABLE l (Bio) medical engineer, Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or equivalent, with an interest for advanced imaging and Reachimage analysis. an international audience Reach an l Postdoc on Medical Technology Assessment for a project on the cost- Reach an international audience effectiveness of Particle Reachtherapy an international audience l PhD student in preclinical research focused on the relation between mitochondrialinternational DNA, Cancer & Radiation sensitivity audience If you are interested in a research position at MAASTRO, please feel free Lancaster University, currently ranked as to send an open application to [email protected] or fill in an Reach an international audience a top 10 UK University and consistently application form on our website www.maastro.nl -> werken bij maastro -> ranked in the top one per cent of Universities open application. Reach an international audience in global rankings, invites applications for the following:

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS Join us on Twitter for the Join us on LinkedIn Experimental Officer latest physics and engineering Join us on Twitter for the (NanofabricationJoin us on Specialist) LinkedIn latestfor physics the and latest engineering Salary: £38,140 - £44,166 p.a. Ref: A414 positions You will be an experienced and enthusiastic nanofabrication specialist positions with experiencefor in clean roomthe processing latest and development of photonic physics and and electronic nanostructures and devices. We are expanding in this area building on top ranking achievement in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise,physics recent appointments and and substantial investment in new clean room facilities as part of a newly formed Quantum engineering positions Technology Centre. Any area of experience in nanotechnology will be consideredengineering but preference is given for expertise positions in dry plasma etching, plasma deposition and electron beam lithography as this will utilise and www.twitter.com/brightrecruits build upon our existing research strengths and infrastructure. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Prof. A. Krier, www.twitter.com/brightrecruits ([email protected].) Closing date: 20 August. To apply, access further information or register for email job alerts please visit our website. www.hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk

46 Physics World July 2012 Associate Research Fellow (Ref: R11277/P43353) College of Engineering, Mathematics Shaped by the past, creating the future and Physical Sciences Functional Materials D EPARTMENT OF P HYSICS £24,520 - £27,578 per annum ECTURER IN XPERIMENTAL ONDENSED L E C The College wishes to recruit an Associate Research Fellow to support the work of MATTER PHYSICS - 1751 Dr Geoff Nash in the development of new electromagnetic structures. This EPSRC funded post is available from 1st November 2012 to 31st October 2014. The aim LECTURER IN COMPUTATIONAL CONDENSED of this exciting new project is to investigate novel photonic and plasmonic MATTER PHYSICS -1752 structures which can be integrated onto the emitting facet of Salary: £37,012 - £44,166 pa laser diodes to control their properties. The project is in collaboration with Prof. John Rarity and Dr Martin Cryan at the University of Bristol. Two Lectureship posts are available: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics (Ref 1751) and Computational Condensed Matter Physics (Ref 1752). The successful applicant will focus on the development of structures in the Applications for the experimental position are welcome from candidates that mid-infrared wavelength range, and the post will involve the setting-up of a laser have research experience that is aligned with the existing experimental based measurement system and the design, fabrication, characterisation and strengths in the Centre for Materials Physics. For the computational position, modelling of different structures. particular consideration will be given to candidates who have an excellent The successful applicant will be able to present information on research progress programme of international research in the area of developing and applying and outcomes, communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronic structure techniques to the Physics of Materials. Candidates must electronically and prepare proposals and applications to external bodies. be able to demonstrate outstanding research potential in areas that will enhance the Centre for Materials Physics in Durham. Applicants will possess a relevant PhD and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work The applicants must provide strong evidence for world-class research with published work in leading international peer-reviewed journals and academic within established research programmes. The ideal applicant will have experience leadership. Candidates will be expected to teach Physics at both of electromagnetic modelling and optical characterisation techniques. undergraduate and postgraduate level. The full range of necessary skills and experience can be found Informal enquiries are welcome in confidence with Prof. Damian in the Job Description and Person Specification document Hampshire. http://www.admin.ex.ac.uk/personnel/jobs/P43353.pdf Closing date: 10 August 2012 Ref: 1751 & 1752 Interviews are expected to take place in July of 2012. The closing date for completed applications is 11 July 2012. Further details of the post and an application form are available on our website (http://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/) For further information please contact Dr Geoff Nash, email: or telephone 0191 334 6499; fax 0191 334 6504 [email protected] or telephone (01392) 725867. Please complete an application form, equal opportunities form, your CV, covering letter and the details of three referees to Dr Geoff Nash, email: [email protected] quoting the reference number R11277/P43353 in any correspondence. To download the application and equal opportunities form please follow the below links; European http://www.admin.ex.ac.uk/personnel/jobs/app_form.rtf XFEL SEIZE THE CHANCE http://www.admin.ex.ac.uk/personnel/jobs/EO_form.rtf European XFEL is a is a multi-national non-profit company that is currently The University of Exeter is an equal opportunity employer which is building an X-ray free-electron laser facility that will open up new areas of ‘Positive About Disabled People’: if you have a disability, you should scientific research. When this facility is completed in 2015, its ultrashort mention this in your application. Whilst all applicants will be judged on X-ray flashes and unique research opportunities will attract scientists from all merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently over the world to conduct ground-breaking experiments. We are a rapidly underrepresented in the workforce. growing team made of people from more than 20 countries. Join us now! EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES Find out more about our exciting opportunities for scientists, engineers and graduate students. Help develop X-ray instrumentation and other systems. Help create a research facility of superlatives that will provide X-rays of unique quality for cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry, the life sciences and materials science. WORKING AT EUROPEAN XFEL English is the working language. We offer salary and benefits similar to those of public service organisations in Germany, a free-of-charge company pension scheme, generous relocation package and support, international allowance for non-German candidates hired from abroad, training opportunities etc. JOIN OUR NETWORK 2 PhD Studentships with time in Singapore Join our network of international research institutions, programmes and The University of Liverpool in partnership with A*STAR, the leading collaborations. Discuss problems and solutions with colleagues from all over research institute in Singapore, is offering two exciting PhD the world. studentship opportunities for October 2012 start. One studentship COME TO HAMBURG relates to Thin film materials for GaN-on-silicon technology and Economically and culturally, Hamburg is the centre of Northern Germany. With the second to Soft matter fluid dynamics. The successful its long history in trade, Hamburg has always been an outward-looking city applicants will have the opportunity to spend up to 2 years in and one of Germany’s gateways to the world. Work and live in Hamburg, one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in Europe! Singapore. Requirements: a relevant science or engineering degree (a high 2:1 or above); UK/EU residents; highly motivated. European XFEL GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Ring 19, 22761 Hamburg, Germany Mailing address: Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany CLOSING DATE: 31/7/2012 For more information: www.xfel.eu www.liv.ac.uk/engineering/studentships/astarprojects/

Physics World July 2012 47 Laboratory Head The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent United Nations organization headquartered in Vienna, Austria, with more than 150 Member States and a staff of 2300, serving as the global focal point for international cooperation in the safe and peaceful use of nuclear technology, is seeking a Laboratory Head for its Physics Section. This individual will be: (1) a team leader ensuring the efficient and effective development and implementation of the Nuclear Spectrometry and Applications Laboratory’s (NSAL) research, training and service activities; (2) a scientific leader of the NSAL’s research and development activities; (3) a manager of human resources and key activities of the NSAL; (4) an advisor to the Head of the Physics Section and the Director of the Division in programmatic, scientific and technical matters.

The successful candidate should have at the minimum: l PhD in nuclear physics or a closely related field l Minimum of 10 years of postdoctorate experience in experimental nuclear physics research and in the development of nuclear instrumentation or radiation detectors l Strong publication record in peer reviewed journals and at international conference l Experience with accelerator-based experiments, specifically experiments at synchrotrons and/or experiments at ion beam accelerators. To apply for this position, please submit an on-line application at http://www.iaea.org/About/Jobs before August 17th 2012, selecting vacancy notice no. 2012/0697. Benefits: The IAEA offers a stimulating multicultural working environment. The post offers: tax free remuneration; diplomatic status; rental subsidy; 6 weeks annual leave; medical insurance coverage; a staff retirement plan; full coverage of removal expenses for staff member, family, and personal effects; additional allowance for installation expenses; assistance with finding housing and schools in the local area; financial assistance with the education of dependent children; and paid travel to the home country for the staff member and family every other year.

Our Goal: to facilitate the safe contribution of nuclear technologies to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world, while ensuring that no technology or material under our oversight or provided with our assistance is used to further any military purpose.

School of Engineering and Physical Sciences Selex Galileo Chair in Laser Device Physics and Engineering Salary on the Professorial Scale (minimum £54,283) We require a senior member of academic staff, to drive forward important research activities in Laser Device Physics and Engineering, as part of a Strategic Alliance between Heriot-Watt University and Selex Galileo. The Chair will be pivotal to the success of this partnership. You must have the knowledge, drive and breadth of vision to provide the leadership necessary for the achievement of high impact research in laser device physics and engineering. You must therefore have a research record consistent with the level of appointment, evidenced by quality research publications and by a track record in securing research grant/contract awards. With research interests that will help to further cement the relationship between Heriot- Watt and Selex Galileo, speciﬁ cally in novel solid state lasers and their applications, you will also be expected to develop broader research interests independent of Selex Galileo’s requirements.

In addition to research activity, you will be expected to contribute fully w to all aspects of School activity, in particular the Physics Bachelors and

Masters teaching programmes. In suitable circumstances, there may be the www opportunity for linked academic appointments. w Download an application pack from our website www.hw.ac.uk/jobs or

contact the Human Resources Ofﬁ ce, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 w 4AS tel 0131 451 3022 (24 hours) or email [email protected] quoting Ref: 99/12. Closing date: 31 August 2012.

Heriot-Watt University is a Charity registered in Scotland, SC000278

From software engineers to administrators, from fire fighters to

health and safety ofﬁcers – every kind of thinking is welcome here. Take your career somewhere special. Take part ce r Distinctly Ambitious rn.ch/caree www.hw.ac.uk

163769c (CERN) A5 Portrait.indd 1 07/11/2011 14:57 GraduateCareers October 2012 Target the best candidates for your graduate vacancy Contact Rebecca Massingham today to find out how to get your vacancy noticed.

E-mail [email protected] Tel +44 (0) 117 930 1027

Physics World July 2012 49 Make a difference

As one of the UK’s most successful and progressive engineering companies, our people and products make a real difference to the world in which we live. From jet engines and wind turbine manufacturing, to dentistry and brain surgery, we solve tough engineering and scientiﬁc problems.

Part of Renishaw’s ongoing success is due to our commitment to invest in the training and development of our people through structured career and development programmes. We offer a competitive salary and excellent beneﬁts package. Please see our website for a full list of over 100 UK based Engineering and Scientiﬁc opportunities. The majority of these roles are based in South Gloucestershire, within easy reach of Bristol, Bath, Stroud, Swindon and The Cotswolds

Join a global company that encourages personal achievement.

Field Application Specialist – Europe Senior Optoelectronics Engineer (based in Glasgow) Senior Production Engineer Mechanical Engineer Software Engineer Project Coordinator UK and Rest of World Sales Manager Senior Optical Design Engineer (Spectroscopy division)

Apply online through the Renishaw website www.renishaw.com/careers Alternatively, please contact us on 01453 524524 to request an application form

Renishaw MAD advert Engineer MAY 2012.indd 1 5/14/2012 2:55:42 PM

You don’t just want a teacher. You want a physics teacher. Someone that loves physics.

Find out how to target more than Rebecca Massingham 23,000 passionate physicists. Tel: +44 (0) 117 930 1027 E-mail: [email protected]

50 Physics World July 2012 Multi-Physics Finite Element Analysis The Easy Way!

Model all your Partial Differential Equations systems with a single package. No modules to buy.

One software tool takes you  from mathematical description  to numerical solution  to graphical output.

Imagine being able to type in your partial differential equations system, add a description of the problem domain, and instantly convert this problem specification into a sophisticated finite element model, including:  Automatic mesh construction  Dynamic timestep control  Dynamic Adaptive mesh refinement  Arbitrary Lagrange/Eulerian moving mesh

Well, you don’t have to just imagine. That’s what FlexPDE will do for you!

FlexPDE 6 is a scripted finite element model builder for partial differential equations.  Linear or Nonlinear  1D, 2D or 3D plus time or eigenvalues.  Unlimited number of variables  Unlimited equation complexity  $1995 complete  Academic and quantity discounts available

Now with support for multi-core computers and complex and vector variables, FlexPDE 6 is more than ever the indispensable tool for scientists and engineers.

www.pdesolutions.com Phone: +1-509-891-0160 PDE Solutions Inc [email protected] FAX: +1-509-891-0239 Problem Solving Environments Since 1995

Untitled-1 1 18/2/10 09:25:28 Lateral Thoughts: Kate Oliver physicsworld.com The Great Physics Games

The physicists slouch proudly into the arena, each hoping to bring home a medal – any medal, whether Fields, Nobel or chocolate wrapped in shiny foil – for their respective disciplines. In ragged lines they stand at the opening ceremony, hands placed roughly on their

chests, chins raised as they sing such rousing anthems as iStockphoto/AlanMardi “God Save the Standard Model”, “The Equation-Span- gled Whiteboard” and “Hymn to the Euler Identity”. Sleek, sinewy particle physicists and astronomers – fresh from their mountain laboratories and observatories – stand shoulder to shoulder with harassed, wild-eyed climate scientists and pale, clean-room-suited nanotechnologists. They are all united by their fixation upon the sacred flame, as the last of the graduate students who have relayed it to the stadium chucks it into the ceremonial waste-paper basket. In deference to tradition, the flame is still fuelled by burnt copies of Nature and Science – despite objections from a vocal minor- ity, who feel that flaming open-access articles would be A cynical until all but three entrants either drop out or decapi- more in keeping with the true spirit of the thing. onlooker might tate themselves, competitors will also have the option of Meanwhile, somewhere in the audience, a chocolate- facing only minimum-threshold hurdles to publication. smeared child stares, awestruck, at the chubby quan- wonder how The downside of this rule change is that the winners’ tum theorist who holds the world record for the number far we have podium now stretches as far as Sidcup and, after nor- of equations named after her. Their eyes meet, and a come from the malization, the medals are the size of a lentil. moment of understanding passes between them. How In the relay event, the fusion-power researchers look many other children will be inspired to take up a pro- original spirit to provide a strong performance as usual, thanks to pelling pencil and wrestle with trigonometric identities of physics, all the practice they get in passing the buck for why before these games are over? which pitted we don’t have a working fusion plant yet. However, the Excitation builds among the spectators as the motley man against particle-accelerator guys have also put up some great clump of physicists undergoes fission, and each daughter qualification times recently, especially when running mob sets out for the specialized arena where competitors primordial around like Leidenfrost-levitated droplets looking will test their mettle. There are too many events occur- nature for superconducting-cable ruptures. Early reports of ring to name or care about them all, but perhaps we can record-breaking times by neutrino researchers will, take a flying visit around this intellectual smorgasbord. no doubt, be explained by finding a loose wire in their The first stop is the aquatic centre, where the vast stopwatches at some point next week. pool (normally kept as the international prototype unit Watching this incredible spectacle, a cynical onlooker of volume, but specially released from its French vault might wonder how far we have come from the original for the occasion) hosts attempts at watery excellence. spirit of physics, which pitted man against primordial The best swimming times are made by the freestylers nature. Once we sought to solve things faster, to attain who, after splashing along at a leisurely pace, make up higher levels of precision and to place even stronger limi- their speed by clambering out and settling on the pool- tations on the nature of reality. Now we aspire to spend side with a notebook to redefine the concepts of space, every hour of the day working on one specific task, fun- time and, indeed, victory. However, the 200 m butterfly- nelling our time, energy and cash into challenges we effect calculation is the gambler’s favourite: since the have made up. Just think what else we could have bought jury is out on whether it is possible to predict the winner, with the money poured into the games! For every super- the odds are excellent and it is definitely worth a flutter. collider built and operated for just a few weeks before The teams making synchronized grant applications are being turned into a little-used underground roller-skat- perhaps a more niche interest, yet it would be hard not ing rink, how many deprived youngsters could have been to admire their graceful flexibility as they brandish dis- given a regular few hours on a supercomputer? ciplinary buzzwords in perfect unison. For sheer irony, In the end, fans of the physics games counter that it is though, viewers should watch the divers, who produce not about the spectacle, the cost or even the mathletes high-level papers, full of elaborate conclusions, and themselves. The true purpose of this extravaganza – then exit with the smallest media splash possible. in which ordinary human beings demonstrate how far Outside on the athletic fields, tickets for the tenure- evolutionary fluke, compounded by years of myopic track events have, as ever, been much sought after. Of skill-honing, can get them – is to show what our species particular note are the peer-reviewing hurdles, where can achieve. After all, aren’t these the very intellectual each scientist must make a mad dash to the submission achievements that make us more than overexcited pri- deadline, breaking through cavils about methodology mates jumping up and down in designer shell-suits? and knee-high piles of previous work. This year will be the first to feature the controversial new ‘‘many-paths’’ Kate Oliver is the communications, marketing and events manager interpretation of the event. Instead of a single high- for University College London Engineering, e-mail kate.oliver@ quality hurdle route, where the bars are raised steadily schrodingerskitten.co.uk

52 Physics World July 2012 Untitled-2 1 15/06/2012 09:44 Untitled-1 1 22/06/2012 09:39