A P S N E W S APRIL 1999 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 8, NO. 4 [Try the enhanced APS News-online: [http://www.aps.org/apsnews] APSCelebrate News APS a Century 100 of years Physics Mass Media Fellows Reflect on Style and Internship Experience Substance Characterize wo physics graduate students spent zines,” she says, referring to the over- to receive posi- T several months last year learning simplification of scientific concepts tive feedback APS Centennial the ropes of communicating science that usually occurs. “I had to get used from readers on to the public, behind the scenes at a to presenting research in slang, but it’s many of her pub- Celebration national magazine and a major news better for people to read very simple lished stories. She network. Nellie Andreeva, a graduate science texts than to skip anything is continuing to he APS celebrated its 100th student in physics at the University of related to science as boring.” write for Business Tanniversary with both style and Maine in Orono, spent last summer at Her first major feature for the maga- Week even substance last month in Atlanta, Business Week magazine in New York. zine was an article on the phenomenon though her intern- Aziza Baccouche Georgia, drawing nearly 10,000 Zohra Aziza Baccouche of Hampton of “six degrees of separation,” a math- ship has officially ended. scientists from all over the world to University served her fellowship at ematical study showing that everyone After receiving a BS degree in phys- make it the largest physics meeting CNN’s Science and Technology unit in on the planet is connected through six ics from the College of William and of all time. Atlanta, Georgia, last fall. people or less. She subsequently wrote Mary in 1995, Baccouche went on to Subsequent issues of APS News, Andreeva received MS degrees in numerous articles on such topics as la earn an MS degree last year from beginning with May and continuing both physics and TV and radio journal- Niña and its possible economic effects; Hampton University. She is currently through December, will feature ism from Sofia University in Bulgaria a temperature detector for frozen pursuing her PhD in physics at the detailed coverage of technical and in 1993, and began her graduate stud- foods; micro-engines; a mathematical University of Maryland, College Park, nontechnical highlights, plenary ies at the University of Maine last year. model that could relieve congestion working on a numerical calculation of lectures, special events, and much, She has long been interested in com- and cut delays at US airports; geneti- the energy spectrum, wave functions much more. A selected sampling of bining her interest in physics with cally engineered peas; and a and decay widths of heavy B and D future content is outlined below. journalism. She spent six years as a self-cleaning coating which uses natu- mesons. She hopes to pursue a career Scientific Highlights: producer, writer and director of TV ral ultraviolet light to break down dirt in science communication after com- Short features highlighting latest shows for Bulgarian National Television, on floors, walls and cars. pleting her PhD because of what she research results in atomic, molecu- and has had two prior internships: one Andreeva notes that although the perceives as a “growing need” for bet- lar and optical physics, lasers, at the BBC in London, England, and magazine calls its section “Science and ter communication between scientists, materials physics, astrophysics, bio- another at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, Technology,” most of the stories that the media, and the general public. logical physics, plasma physics and organized by the University of Dela- are published relate to technology or Baccouche held several prior me- many more. ware. applied scientific research. There is dia-related internships before joining Andreeva’s time at Business Week very little published on basic scientific the APS program, most with radio or Nontechnical Highlights: gave her the chance to work closely research, although “this is understand- television formats. So she had some • The future of science policy with professional science writers and able because of the business preparation for the fast-paced environ- • History of physics in the national to learn more about what it takes to orientation of the magazine,” she says. ment of CNN’s Science News unit, defense communicate science to the public. On the whole Andreeva is apprecia- which is solely responsible for produc- • Women in physics “Science news is often presented too tive of the support she received during ing daily science packages for the • Impact of immigration on U.S. effectively in popular news maga- her internship. And she was gratified Continued on page 5 physics • Renewable energy Inside… Special Events: INTERNATIONAL NEWS • Fernbank Museum Gala NEWS • International reception and banquet Yale Olympics Show Students That • Nobel Laureate luncheon/exhibit Physics Can Be Fun ...... 2 About one hundred high school students opening gathered in New Haven for the first Yale Physics Dakar Workshop Fosters Research • Adventures at the Physics Festival Olympiad. APS Resolution Urges Amending Data Collaborations in Africa Regular features in each issue will Access Law ...... 2 include monthly columns featuring APS The APS Executive Board approved a cientists from the US, Europe and research collaborations between units, as well as the first 100 years of resolution affirming that government agencies should rely only on scientific results that have Sten African countries — Cameroon, scientists in Africa and their US and APS history, culled from the popular been peer reviewed when establishing federal Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, European counterparts, and to Centennial exhibit. There will also be regulations and policies. Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, and promote regional scientific monthly profiles spotlighting many of FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT: Teaching the South Africa — gathered in Dakar, cooperation in Africa. the artists and performers featured at Science Behind the Magic ...... 3 Magician Bob Friedhoffer tells all. Senegal, December 14-18, 1998, for The workshop was jointly spon- the Physics Festival, such as: the International Workshop On Continued on page 6 Prominent Physicists of the 20th Century .. 3 • Bob Friedhoffer, science magician (see Spectroscopy and CD-ROM photo collection of noteable physicists. page 3) Applications. Its IN BRIEF ...... 6 • Ken Laws and the “Physics of Dance” Clinton Names Fermi Award Winners; Online purpose was to • Felice Frankel, science photographer Heisenberg Exhibit; National Science and highlight recent Technology Week To Be Held in April. extraordinaire developments in • Robert Greenler, intrepid explorer of OPINION spectroscopy, Arctic phenomena APS Views ...... 4 with particular • “Man-on-the-street” interview with David Hafemeister reviews the history of the emphasis on basic Forum on Physics and Society. “Albert Einstein” atomic and Letters ...... 4 • “Mr. Magnet” (a.k.a. Paul Turner) molecular DEPARTMENTS spectroscopy and Zero Gravity ...... 5 Centennial Bulletin Factals “Our Favorite Net Myth” applications in medicine, • Number of printed abstracts = 8,783 Quoteworthy Science ...... 5 • Number of pages = 2,080 Announcements ...... 7 agriculture and Call for Prize and Award Nominations; Now environmental (Part I - 896; Part II - 1,184) Appearing in RMP; Physics in the 20th Century monitoring. It was • Weight of Centennial BAPS about 10 The Back Page ...... 8 also intended to pounds Dennis Matthews (extreme left) and Kennedy Reed (extreme right) Authorship credit—Eugen Tarnow discusses stimulate interest • Three 18-wheeler semis hauled them results of a recent survey of junior physicists with hospital staff members during visit to Yoff Hospital in Dakar to to Atlanta on authorship credit. in developing discuss interests in medical applications of lasers. APS News April 1999 Yale Olympics Shows Students That Physics Can Be Fun

onstructing an electromagnet, vector with complicated experiments or ideas,” C navigation, and applying the said Beausang. “Instead, our plan was to principle of superposition were among give them tasks that they could complete the challenges tackled by the with a limited knowledge of physics, a approximately one hundred high school modicum of common sense, and a bit of students who attended the first ever Yale team work.” Physics Olympics on October 17, 1998, One of the outdoor events required at Yale University, in New Haven, students to determine how large an over- Connecticut. Jointly sponsored by Yale’s hang they could make by stacking 10 physics department and Wright Nuclear bricks on top of each other. A second Structure Laboratory, the event focused outdoor event focused on vector navi- on experimental measurements using gation. The teams followed a series of simple fundamental physics principles, directions all over a grass quadrangle, unlike the more familiar International equipped with a meter stick, a piece of Physics Olympiad, which emphasizes paper, a pencil, but no protractor. The theoretical concepts and problem teams were required to measure the dis- solving. tance to the center of the circle after “If young people see that physics can completing a complex pathway. be fun, if they can be hosted in a univer- In an event based on the principle of Photo from http://wnsl.physics.yale.edu/events/olympics/facts.html Professor D. Alan Bromley with the “Gold” Medal Winners: Team Beam from Guilford High sity atmosphere for even a day, then superposition, team members were con- School, CT. perhaps they can be successfully encour- nected by a piece of fishing line, which aged to continue to study an important was threaded through eyebolts and “perpetual trophy”, a model of a carbon event. Participating students were unani- and nationally vital subject,” said orga- wooden poles. Three team members atom constructed from a light guide and mously positive in their assessment of nizer Cornelius W. Beausang of the moved along defined paths at constant some ball bearings by the Yale Physics the Olympics. concept behind the event. “Even if not, speeds, with specified amplitudes and Department Gibbs Machine Shop. Indi- “I was very much impressed by the they may go away with an enhanced ap- periods. The fourth member moved in vidual “gold”, “silver” and “bronze” tremendous amount of fun the students, preciation of the role of physics in daily such a way as to keep the string under medals (actually brass, stainless steel, and the teachers, and indeed our own faculty life.” A professor of physics at Yale, he has tension, achieving the superposition of copper) were awarded to the top three had during the day, and by the ingenuity organized similar events at the University the other team members’ triangular wave teams overall. All participants received a of the students, who in a number of cases of Liverpool in England for several previ- motions. Students also measured the lift- T-shirt and mug commemorating the Continued on page 5 ous years. The Yale Olympics was held ing force of a helium-filled balloon using simultaneously with the Liverpool Physics elastic bands, a meter stick, some string, Olympics and a third event in Australia and a selection of known masses. APS Resolution Urges Amending hosted by the University of Perth. By far the most attractive activity was The Yale Physics Olympics consisted the “Faraday Pickup,” in which students of five events—two of which were held were asked to construct an electromag- Data Access Law outdoors—for teams of high school stu- net from two nails, five meters of ast fall, as Congress put the finishing touches on 4,000 pages of omnibus appropriations, dents consisting of four students per un-insulated wire, two meters of electri- L Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) inserted a rider that requires Federal agencies to ensure that team. Each activity was an experiment cal tape, and two AAA batteries. The all data obtained under a federal grant be made available to the public under the Freedom of or measurement based on fundamental winning team picked up 80 paper clips, Information Act (FOIA). Shelby’s action stemmed from a refusal by the Harvard School of physics ideas (forces, waves, magnets, significantly more than the physics de- Public Health to release data that the Environmental Protection Agency had used in propos- etc.), which students completed as a partment faculty had managed the day ing stricter air-quality standards two years ago. The new law, spelled out in OMB Circular team within 30 minutes. The results were before when testing the event. A-110, has prompted many scientists to react with alarm,. They view it as a threat to aca- compared to the correct answer, as de- The overall winning team hailed from demic freedom, although Congress insists the intent is to keep federal agencies from fined by the judges, to determine team Guilford High School in Connecticut, with rulemaking based on unpublished junk science. Ironically, more than a decade ago, the rankings for each event. “The idea was one of the two teams from St. Joseph burning issue was just the opposite—government restriction on data dissemination. That not to intimidate the students, who of- High School in Trumbull, CT, placing a threat prompted the APS Council in 1983 and again in 1988 to issue strong statements ten had only just started to study physics, close second. The grand prize was a large opposing constraints on communication “by exemptions to FOIA or any other means,” except when national security was concerned. Taking cognizance of those statements, but responding to the potential dangers created by the breadth of the Shelby language, the APS

APS COUNCIL 1999 Executive Board adopted a measured resolution at its February meeting. The Board affirmed that government agencies should rely only on scientific results that have been peer re- President APS News Jerome Friedman*, Massachusetts Institute of Technology viewed and subjected to fair and open appraisal when establishing federal regulations and President-Elect Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 James S. Langer*, University of California, Santa Barbara policies. The Board also called for amending the Shelby language to define its scope more Series II, Vol. 8, No. 4 April 1999 Vice-President narrowly. The full text of the APS resolution follows. © 1999 The American Physical Society George H. Trilling*, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Executive Officer Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville (on leave) The Executive Board of the American Physical Society affirms that govern- Editor ...... Barrett H. Ripin Treasurer Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) ment agencies in establishing federal regulations and policies should rely only on Editor-in-Chief scientific results that have been peer reviewed and subjected to fair and open Production ...... Alicia Chang Martin Blume*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Copy Editing ...... Danita Boonchaisri Past-President appraisal. To the extent that Section 101(h) of Division A of Public Law 105-277 Andrew M. Sessler*, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, (Title III of H.R. 105-4104, the Treasury and General Government Appropria- monthly, except the August/September issue, by the Ameri- General Councillors tions Act of 1999) addresses that issue, the APS Executive Board endorses its can Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Daniel Auerbach, Beverly Berger, Philip Bucksbaum, L. Craig MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains news of the Davis, S. James Gates*, Donald Hamann*, Leon Lederman, intent. Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, Sections and Cynthia McIntyre, Roberto Peccei, Paul Peercy*, Helen Quinn, Forums; advance information on meetings of the Society; Susan Seestrom*, James Trefil, Virginia Trimble*, Ronald However, the APS Executive Board believes that the language contained in and reports to the Society by its committees and task Walsworth, Sau Lan Wu the Public Law is too broad and will lead to a number of unintended conse- forces, as well as opinions. Chair, Nominating Committee quences that are extremely harmful to American interests. Specifically, by directing Michael Turner Letters to the editor are welcomed from the membership. the Office of Management and Budget to amend Circular A-110 “to require Fed- Letters must be signed and should include an address and Chair, Panel on Public Affairs daytime telephone number. 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2 April 1999 APS News FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT Prominent Physicists of the 20th Teaching the Science Behind the Magic Century: A CD-ROM Photo Collection t’s lunchtime in the Georgia Pacific to the practice. “I was able to do things IBuilding Auditorium in downtown other kids couldn’t, and learn secrets that he APS has developed a collection Atlanta, and magician Bob Friedhoffer the average person didn’t know.” His Prominent Physicists of the 20th Century Tof portraits of late physicists for the The American Physical Society (a.k.a. “The Madman of Magic”) is high school science classes made him APS centennial. The collection was demonstrating the principle of air realize that science made much of magic initiated both to provide a pictorial history pressure by trapping water in a plastic work, and he began his lifelong explora- of distinguished physicists throughout the tumbler with a postcard over the top. As tion of the scientific principles behind the last century and to help illustrate talks Celebrate he subsequently explains to his illusions. given by speakers included in the APS a audience, the postcard creates a vacuum Friedhoffer earned his BA in account- Centennial Speakers booklet. The within the glass, which holds the water ing from the University of Miami in Florida approximately 200 portraits of late Century in place as the glass is turned upside in 1970 and worked as an accountant for physicists selected for the collection have of down. A slight twist of the glass allows several years before going into magic full- been compiled on CD-ROM. The collection Physics air into the vacuum, and the water spills time. “This was the era when society gave is indexed alphabetically and includes 1899-1999 out. birth and death dates, in addition to a That’s the scien- short description of the subject’s contribution to physics. tific principle. The How were the names chosen? The selection was done by a committee magician’s secret be- I realized that magic is empowerment. chaired by APS past President Andrew Sessler, consisting also of physicist- hind the “trick”: the Bob Friedhoffer historians Stephen Brush, Gerald Holton, and Spencer Weart. They chose glass has a hole “The Madman of Magic” names that were likely to be mentioned in lectures on 20th century physics. drilled in the bottom “““ But there were two important limitations. which the magician First, the committee did not include anyone who died before 1900, covers with his fin- although it included a few physicists (such as Boltzmann and Roentgen) ger, until he is ready whose most important contributions, while made before 1900, had a major to break the vacuum impact on 20th century physics. Second, it excluded persons still alive at and release the wa- the end of 1997. Thus you will not find pictures of Galileo, Newton, or ter. It’s a simple Maxwell; nor, will you find entries in the current generation of active illusion, and one that outstanding physicists. On the other hand, it interpreted the term “physicist” can be easily and broadly, including several mathematicians, astronomers, chemists and earth cheaply assembled scientists whose work is widely known and highly valued in the physics using materials community. found in the home. A third constraint was that the photo collection had to fit on a single And it’s just one of CD-ROM. Thus it could not include every physicist recommended by one hundreds of magical of the several groups consulted for suggestions. The selection committee tricks and illusions used its judgment to eliminate many names. While we are confident that Magic Tricks, Science Facts Tricks, Magic Friedhoffer employs all the persons included do in fact belong in this collection, it would be to demonstrate the surprising if we did not receive complaints about some of the many scientific principles omissions. We are especially interested in learning how you found the CD- behind the magic, ROM useful and what changes would make it more so. and hopefully to The production of this CD-ROM was made possible by the resources communicate some- and cooperation of the staff of the AIP Niels Bohr Library and the Center thing of the magic for History of Physics at the American Center for Physics in College Park, behind science in

Photo by Timothy White from Timothy Photo by Maryland, including the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives photograph collection. the process. Please note that the images may only be used for projection at lectures; His willingness to permission to reproduce them in publications or in any other form must be reveal the sleight of hand behind his illu- everyone of my age group permission requested from the copyright owner, indicated in the credit line for each sions is a markedly different approach to drop out and do whatever we photo. The Center for History of Physics, owns the world rights to many of from other magicians. “Often magicians wanted,” he says of his decision to leave these photos. try to mystify their audience and leave accounting. His accounting experience The CD-ROM collection was produced with the assistance of Erika almost everything unexplained,” says served him well, however, in successfully Ridgway, Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins, Kim Quigley and other APS staff Brian Schwartz, a professor at Brooklyn running his own small business. Eventu- members, and Stephen Norton, a graduate student in the History and College who has worked with ally Friedhoffer’s interest in science led Philosophy of Science Program at the University of Maryland, College Friedhoffer repeatedly in education and him to pursue graduate studies, complet- Park. learning environments. “Bob uses magic ing his MA in the history and philosophy The information on the CD-ROM is in pdf format (reader included) and to capture the students’ imagination, but of science from the City University of will run on Windows 95, NT, 3.1, 3.11 or later versions, Macintosh, and then shows them the basic principles New York in 1993. Unix systems. It will be available for purchase at meetings of the Society behind the magic and how they can use Always on the lookout for new mate- throughout 1999. these principles for similar demonstrations rial, Friedhoffer is currently working with before parents, teachers and their peers.” fellow magician Mark Salem, star of the Alfvén, Hannes Olaf Gösta Einstein, Albert Langevin, Paul Richardson, Owen Williams Employing magic to teach children and off-Broadway show “Mind Games,” on Alvarez, Luis Walter Ellis, Robert A., Jr. Langmuir, Irving Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad Anderson, Carl David Fairbank, William Martin von Laue, Max Rossi, Bruno the general populace about science is illusions involving biomechanics. For ex- Appleton, Edward Victor Fermi, Enrico Lawrence, Ernest Orlando Rutherford, Ernest Aston, Francis William Feynman, Richard Phillips Leavitt, Henrietta Swan Sabine, Wallace Clement becoming increasingly popular. “The last ample, at the turn of the century there Ayrton, Hertha Fowler, William Alfred Lehmann, Inge Sakharov, Andrei Dmitrievich nine years have seen an emphasis on was a woman named Lou Hurst, known Bainbridge, Kenneth T. Franck, James Lemaître, Georges Salam, Abdus Bardeen, John Frank, Ilya Mikhailovich Libby, Willard Frank Schiff, Leonard Issac children’s science/magic shows in as the “Georgia Magnet,” who weighed Barkla, Charles Glover Frank, Philipp Livingston, M. Stanley Schrödinger, Erwin Becquerel, Antoine-Henri Franklin, Rosalind Elsie London, Fritz Wolfgang Schwarzschild, Martin schools, museums and libraries,” says a mere 100 pounds, yet the strongest Bell, John Stewart Frenkel Yakov Ilyich Lonsdale, Kathleen Schwinger, Julian Seymour Friedhoffer, who has performed in ev- men were unable to lift her, largely due Bhabha, Homi Jehangir Frisch, Otto Robert Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon Segrè, Emilio Gino Bitter, Francis Fukui, Kenichi Lyman, Theodore Serber, Robert ery imaginable venue, including the to her intuitive grasp of basic biomechan- Blackett, Patrick Maynard Stuart Gabor, Dennis Mach, Ernst Shockley, William Blau, Marietta Gamow, George Marconi, Guglielmo Siegbahn, Karl Manne Georg White House (for President Carter), At- ics. Hurst eventually went to college to Bloch, Felix Geiger, Hans Wilhelm Marshak, Robert Eugene Slater, John Clarke lantic City revues, corporate trade shows, study physics to better understand the Blodgett, Katharine Burr Gibbs, Josiah Willard Matthias, Bernd Teo Sommerfeld, Arnold Bogolyubov, Nikolai Nikolaevich Göppert-Mayer, Maria McMillan, Edwin Mattison Spitzer, Lyman, Jr. universities, night clubs and comedy science behind her ability. Bohm, David Goudsmit, Samuel Abraham Meitner, Lise Stark, Johannes Bohr, Niels Henrik David Grad, Harold Michelson, Albert Abraham Stern, Otto clubs, youth centers, churches and even In addition to his performances, Boltzman, Ludwig E. Hahn, Otto Millikan, Robert Andrews Street, Jabez Curry private homes, as well as making numer- Friedhoffer is the author of more than 25 Born, Max Hale, George Ellery Minkowski, Hermann Strutt, John William Rayleigh Bose, Satyendra Nath Heisenberg, Werner Karl von Mises, Richard Szilard, Leo ous TV appearances. The AAPT has books for children about science and Bouchet, Edward Alexander Hertz, Gustav Ludwig Moseley, Henry Gwyn-Jeffreys Tamm, Igor Yevgenyevich Bragg, William Henry Hess, Victor Franz Mott, Nevill Francis Thomas, Llewellyn invited him to conduct a workshop at its magic. His last four books have focused Bragg, William Lawrence de Hevesy, George Mulliken, Robert Sanderson Thomson, George Paget annual meeting next year to show sci- on creating physics labs from products Brattain, Walter Houser Hilbert, David von Neumann, John Thomson, Joseph John Breit, Gregory Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot Nier, Alfred Otto Carl Tomonaga, Sin-itiro ence teachers how to perform some basic found in the supermarket, the home, and Bridgman, Percy Williams Hofstadter, Robert L. Noether, Amalie Emmy Tuve, Merle Anthony Brillouin, Léon Nicolas Houtermans, Fritz Georg Occhialini, Giuseppe Uhlenbeck, George Eugene tricks for classroom use, and he was re- in hardware and housewares stores, em- Chadwick, James Hubble, Edwin Powell Onsager, Lars Urey, Harold Clayton cently appointed an adjunct professor at phasizing the physical principles Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan Imes, Elmer Samuel Oppenheimer, J. Robert Van de Graaff, Robert J. Chapman, Sydney Ioffe, Abram F. Patterson, Clair Cameron Van Hove, Léon the University of Vermont’s Graduate underlying common household gadgets. Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich Jensen, Johannes Hans Daniel Paul, Wolfgang Van Vleck, John H. Cockcroft, John Douglas Joliot, Frédéric Pauli, Wolfgang Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton School of Education. He has also designed five magic/science Compton, Arthur Holly Joliot-Curie, Irène Pauling, Linus Carl Weyl, K.H. Herman Friedhoffer first became interested in sets through Educational Design of New Condon, Edward Uhler Kamerlingh-Onnes, Heike Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Wick, Gian-Carlo Crookes, William Kapitza, Pyotr Peierls, Rudolf E. Wideröe, Rolf magic as a child, when he received his York City, and is working on an additional Curie, Pierre von Kármán, Théodore Perey, Marguerite Catherine Wien, Wilhelm Curie, Marie Sklodowska Kastler, Alfred Perrin, Jean Baptiste Wiener, Norbert first magic kit. It continued well into high kit focusing on the magic of Ancient Egypt. Davisson, Clinton Joseph Kemble, Edward Crawford Planck, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Wigner, Eugene Paul school and beyond, further fueled by his DeBroglie, Louis Victor Kerst, Donald William Pockels, Agnes Wood, Robert Williams Want to know more? You can contact Debye, Petrus Klein, Oskar Benjamin Poincaré, Jules Henri Wu, Chien-Shiung admiration for Don Herbert (television’s Dicke, Robert Henry Kramers, Hendrik A. Powell, Cecil Frank Yukawa, Hideki “Mr. Wizard”), whom he still cites as one Bob Friedhoffer regarding performances, Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice Kurchatov, Igor Prandtl, Ludwig Zeeman, Pieter books, or science and magic kits at 212- Du Mond, Jesse William Monroe Kusch, Polykarp Purcell, Edward Mills Zel’dovich, Yakov B. of his heroes. “I realized that magic was Eddington, Arthur Stanley Land, Edwin Herbert Rabi, Isidor Isaac Zernike, Fritz empowerment,” he says of his devotion 794-9654, or via email at Ehrenfest, Paul Landau, Lev Davidovich Rainwater, Leo James Zwicky, Fritz [email protected]. Ehrenfest-Afanassjeva, T.A. Landé, Alfred Raman, Chandrasekhara

3 APS News April 1999 OPINION APS VIEWS LETTERS

Oh, Canada! History of the APS Forum on I was a little confused by the reference to Canada in Francis Slakey’s January 1999 “Zero Gravity” article in APS News: “Choose your candidate and volunteer a few hours a week of Physics and Society your time. If you like it, you’ll have gotten the experience you need to compete for a policy by David Hafemeister job in Washington. If you hate it, move to Canada.” Perhaps he’s suggesting that politics is friendlier in Canada? I’m not sure that’s true. Or is it that people who don’t like the democratic hysics is a major component of many to shut down the ses- process would be happier in Canada, where he imagines there isn’t any such thing? It does P of society’s difficult issues: nuclear arms sion. Threatened sound rather like the old right-wing reply to any criticism of the U.S. government: “If you and their proliferation, energy shortages and with police action, don’t like it, move to Russia.” I doubt there are many Canadians who would appreciate their energy impacts, climate change, and technical they eventually qui- country being offered as the alternative (or opposite) to democratic politics. innovation. Because physics principles eted down, and the Chris Paul, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada underlie so many of these societal issues and details of lasers in space were duly quanti- because physics offers a way to quantify fied and debated. The more interesting Francis Slakey Responds: some aspects of them, APS members should papers in FPS symposia frequently are pub- Let me assure you that I have the utmost respect for the country that was kind enough be encouraged to understand, analyze and lished in Physics and Society, the forum’s to serve as a training ground for Doug Flutie. My country boasts “Give me your tired, your debate them. That’s precisely why the APS official newsletter, which serves to keep FPS poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” — but Canada truly lives the words. formed the Forum on Physics and Society members informed of current topics, and also A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Meeting (FPS). To those of us who have been long provides a useful outlet for physicists who involved in FPS affairs, it seems but yesterday have some viable data or theory to publish. I prepared my talk for DPF99, created transparencies, and looked forward to giving a talk that we attended the organizing meeting at The newsletter publishes a wide variety of which would highlight a physics puzzle and which, I hoped, would stimulate some interest the 1972 APS San Francisco meeting. As the letters on both popular and unpopular top- in the subject on the part of experimentalists. Then I checked to see which day and which APS celebrates its Centennial by looking back ics, even when the editorial board disagrees room my talk was scheduled for. It wasn’t. As I soon learned, contributed abstracts by many over its first hundred years, it is fitting that sharply with the viewpoints expressed. With other members were not scheduled either. Just during the past year I rejoined the APS. Years the FPS also looks back at its own the passage of time the contents have shifted ago, in the 60’s and 70’s, when I first joined the APS, I remember that all members were accomplishments, and looks ahead at the from more general commentary to the more allowed to present a 10-minute talk at any meeting. Recently, I rejoined the APS and have direction of its future activities. technical aspects of physics and public policy discovered that although the Bylaws have not changed in this regard, they have been The FPS was born in the tumultuous 1960s issues. It has long been our goal to convert interpreted to apply only to general meetings of the APS. Personally I disagree with the and 1970s. The issues of that era — the Viet- the newsletter from a “quasi-journal” to a full- philosophy of rejecting contributed abstracts. The arbitrariness of the acceptance-rejection nam War, the debate over the Anti-Ballistic fledged subscription journal. process makes it unfair to contributors and will tend to eliminate abstracts with new and Missile system, the energy crisis, the start of The first “job crisis” for young physics different ideas. It seems proper to me that the APS allow all members to give a talk, if not at the environmental movement, the civil/hu- PhDs took place in the early 1970s. The FPS all meetings which the APS sponsors, at least at all Divisional Meetings. man rights revolution — impelled that responded by organizing two conferences Walt Perkins, Auburn, California generation of physicists to consider their pro- at Penn State University in 1974 and 1977, Editor’s Note: Article XI of the APS Constitution and Article XII, 1. of the APS Bylaws fessional responsibilities. Many felt that the to examine the data and possible responses [www.aps.org under the Governance button] essentially state that any member may submit APS should have a forum in which appropri- by the physics academic community. Of one contributed abstract for any Meeting of the Society and, assuming it conforms with the ate science and society issues would be course, there was no easy solution then, or submittal requirements and arrives before the deadline, that it will be scheduled. This policy debated by informed participants before the now, to the vulnerability of young PhDs and was firmly established by Council in 1952. Although the policy originally applied to 10- APS membership. Thus, the FPS became the postdocs to a tight job market, but the con- minute contributed oral papers, it now applies to poster papers as well. However, the first APS forum. Today its membership num- ferences developed a number of partial Society may specify the form of the presentation, oral or poster, based on factors other than bers roughly 4500, or 11% of the total APS solutions, which were subsequently published the author’s preference. That this policy applies to official Unit meetings was reaffirmed by membership. [For more on the early days of by Physics and Society and in the AIP Con- the APS Executive Committee in February and all APS Units have agreed to follow this the FPS, see article by Mike Casper, Physics ference Series. practice in the future. Today, May 1974.] One of the most impor- Over the years, FPS members have tant activities of the FPS has been to sponsor played significant roles in such achievements Don’t Apologize for Feynman Fish! sessions at APS meetings on topical science- as the formation of the hugely successful APS In your January 1999 APS News, you appeared to be actually apologizing for “the Feynman and-society issues. National security proved Congressional Fellowship Program, and of the Fish” one of the bumper sticker entries in the October 1998 “Zero Gravity.” Almost every the most frequent topic, followed by the sci- APS Forum on Education. Today, a number one of the bumper sticker/T-shirt entries were satires of pre-existing sayings and expres- entific process, energy, education and the of our members have moved on from FPS sions. Why did you not apologize for making a “mockery” of these beloved cliches? environment, as well as miscellaneous top- activities to larger roles. Examples include Let’s say in a future issue of APS News, you publish a drawing the Earth. A member of the ics. There are also FPS award sessions and former FPS Executive Board members Vern Flat Earth Society writes, saying that they are deeply offended and hurt by the portrayal of numerous contributed sessions. To provide Ehlers, who serves as a Republican Congress- the Earth as round. Would you print a retraction begging forgiveness for “this inadvertent more in-depth background on certain issues, man from Michigan, and Rush Holt, recently offense?” I dare say the percentage of the population offended by the fish reference is no the FPS also offers occasional short courses, elected to that position as a Democrat from larger than the percentage offended by a drawing of the Earth as round. four of which have had their proceedings New Jersey. I like to think that the forum’s Jeffery Winkler published in the AIP Conference Series. The examination of the critical aspects of science AAPT has published three past FPS sessions and society issues not only helped send them Big Bang vs Big Brother as informative booklets for its members. on their way, but also shaped their approach Charles McCutchen is quite correct in his letter to APS News [February 1999] about the The goal of FPS sessions is to present both to some of the issues that they deal with appropriateness of the big bang model to industry in general and Xerox in particular. The sides of an issue in a no-holds-barred debate. today. It is imperative that the FPS keeps quote that he cited was a misprint. It should have read “For those who are or wish to be This is not always possible, since there are the candle of professional responsibility well ‘players’ in industrial R&D, you might consider three actions. First, the big brother value occasionally heretical views that don’t make lit. We cannot slip backwards to the old days system is inappropriate in your new life; discard it.” I regret that my proofreading was not as sense and confuse the debate. For example, when APS meetings had no sessions on phys- accurate as Mr. McCutchen’s. at the 1986 APS Spring Meeting in Washing- ics and society issues. The FPS continues to Charles B. Duke, Webster, New York ton, DC, the FPS held a session on the Strategic be a way for physicists in all fields of en- More “Big Bang” Aftershock Defense Initiative (SDI), inviting represen- deavor to easily keep abreast of the technical tatives from the Reagan administration and aspects of problems facing society. I was disappointed by Charles Duke’s article entitled “How to get value from industrial the Congressional Office of Technology As- David Hafemeister is a professor of phys- R&D” (The Back Page, APS News, December, 1998). Apparently the fact that competition sessment, as well as some university ics at California Polytechnic State University has intensified and “globalized” justifies the suspension of the (sometimes chaotic) processes professors. It never occurred to us to invite in San Luis Obispo, California, and a found- of scientific and technological development that have given the U.S. the world’s healthiest Lyndon LaRouche’s Fusion Energy Founda- ing member long active in FPS. This article economy and most admired higher education system. The most disturbing statement un- tion. However, since this group felt they was adapted from January 1999 Physics and doubtedly is the sweeping generalization, “Those who watch things happen comprise the should have been invited, they attempted Society, the FPS newsletter. bulk of the physics profession. Supported generously by government largess for more than three decades until recently, they could—and often did—look with disdain at the suppos- Forum of Physics and edly mundane world of industry.” I find this assertion remarkable as it is fairly obvious that a Society Chair Ruth lot of useful technology has been the product of university researchers working on “pure” Howes presented the Forum Award (now the knowledge in seemingly useless directions. Further, essentially all scientists and technologists Burton Forum Award) received training at universities. Duke evidently overlooks the value of this training and the in 1992 to (L-R) teachers who provide it. As a taxpayer and industrial scientist, I am happy to contribute to Fernando Barros, Luis the NSF and other government funding agencies so teachers of future industrial scientists and Maspari, Alberto Ridner and Luis Rosa, who engineers have some continuing, hands-on involvement with science, even if that science successfully worked doesn’t always have commercial value. It is undoubtedly true that there have been misun- with their governments derstandings between university and industrial scientists and technologists and, as is evident, to renounce nuclear disdain from each side. We need discussions of the relationships between university and weapons and to mutually inspect their industry, of the role of the physicist in industry, and how physicists (and other scientists) can

nuclear facilities. Photo courtesy of David Hafemeister best apply their training in industry. William Edelstein, G.E. Research Labs 4 April 1999 APS News

Mass Media Fellows, continued from page 1 zero evening news program and for the for her supervisor’s understanding of gravity weekly Science and Technology show- her sight impairment and help in find- case. Still, “making a transition from a ing ways to make her stories accessible Too Good To Be True: Our Favorite Net Myth physics laboratory to a news room en- to those without vision impairment. “Net Myths” are vastly entertaining stories is more consistent with the common domes- vironment takes some adjustment,” she “Unlike print journalism, television is circulating on the Internet that are pre- ticated dog than it is with the “ravenous admits. She learned to persistently visually based,” she says. “You always sented as fact — even though they aren’t. man-eating Pliocene clams” you speculate take the initiative to pursue story ideas, have to write to what you have in tape. [See http://www.urbanlegends.com] By far roamed the wetlands during that time. This and to seek assistance when needed. The pictures should tell the story.” our favorite is a reportedly genuine letter latter finding is certainly one of the most in- During her internship, Baccouche The APS Mass Media Fellowship Pro- from one Harvey Rowe, curator of antiq- triguing hypotheses you have submitted in had the opportunity to produce sev- gram was established in 1997 as a uities at the Smithsonian, in response to your history with this institution, but the evi- eral science news packages, including means of improving public understand- the latest submission of amateur paleon- dence seems to weigh rather heavily against stories on mercury-eating plants, mak- ing and appreciation of science and tologist Scott Williams of Newport, it. Without going into too much detail, let us ing it easier for the blind to surf the technology, and to sharpen the ability Vermont, who digs up found objects out say that: Internet, and remote vehicle monitor- of the fellows to communicate com- of his back yard and sends the “specimens” ing. Like Andreeva, she bemoans the plex technical issues to non-specialists. to the Smithsonian Institute, labeling them A. The specimen looks like the head of a fact that “almost all of the science sto- For more information on the with scientific names and insisting they are Barbie doll that a dog has chewed on. ries covered attempt to address the APS Mass Media Fellowship Pro- genuine archaeological finds. B. Clams don’t have teeth. concern of how a particular story may gram, contact Nancy Passemante affect people’s lives,” she says. “While at the APS Washington Office, 202- Not surprisingly, the story is false. Harvey It is with feelings tinged with melancholy I think this concern is important, some 662-8700, [email protected], or access Rowe doesn’t exist, nor does the Smithsonian that we must deny your request to have the stories should be covered even though the APS Web site, http:// have an Antiquities Department. And there specimen carbon dated. This is partially due they don’t include this element.” www.aps.org/ under the Public is no Charleston County in Vermont, and to the heavy load our lab must bear in its Baccouche expressed appreciation Affairs button. hence no hopeful backyard paleontologist. normal operation, and partly due to carbon This tongue-in-cheek letter first debuted on dating’s notorious inaccuracy in fossils of re- the Internet on the newsgroup cent geologic record. To the best of our rec.humor.funny, and within a month was knowledge, no Barbie dolls were produced being forwarded via email as factual. True or Yale Olympics, continued from page 2 prior to 1965 AD, and carbon dating is likely not, the “letter” reprinted below became an to produce wildly inaccurate results. Sadly, devised better solutions than did our fac- instant classic tale of a man, a shovel, and an we must also deny your request that we ap- ulty, who created the problems in the first unbridled passion for anthropology. proach the National Science Foundation’s place,” said D. Allan Bromley, former APS Smithsonian Institute—Paleoanthropology Phylogeny Department with the concept of president and Sterling Professor of the Sci- 207 Pennsylvania Avenue assigning your specimen the scientific name ences at Yale, who attended the event. Washington, DC 20078 “Australopithecus spiff-arino.” Speaking per- “Were many of our American universities sonally, I, for one, fought tenaciously for the to put together something similar to this Dear Sir: acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but Olympics, I believe that it would be ex- Thank you for your latest submission to the was ultimately voted down because the spe- tremely helpful as far as getting Institute, labeled “211-D, layer seven, next cies name selected was hyphenated, and excitement back into undergraduate phys- to the clothesline post. Hominid skull.” We didn’t really sound like it might be Latin. ics programs, and attracting high school have given this specimen a careful and de- However, we gladly accept your generous students into undergraduate physics.” tailed examination, and regret to inform you donation of this fascinating specimen to the APS members, colleges and universi- that we disagree with your theory that it rep- museum. While it is undoubtedly not a homi- ties interested in participating in future resents “conclusive proof of the presence of nid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting Olympics, or organizing their own, should Early Man in Charleston County two million example of the great body of work you seem contact Cornelius Beausang years ago.” Rather, it appears that what you to accumulate here so effortlessly. You should ([email protected]), or call the have found is the head of a Barbie doll, of know that our Director has reserved a spe- Yale Physics Olympics hotline: 203-432- the variety one of our staff, who has small cial shelf in his own office for the display of 5179. Further information can be found Photo from http://wnsl.physics.yale.edu/events/olympics/facts.html children, believes to be the “Malibu Barbie.” the specimens you have previously submit- online at http://wnsl.physics.yale.edu/ Another brick in the wall: Another case where It is evident that you have given a great deal ted to the Institution, and the entire staff theory meets the road... events/olympics/. of thought to the analysis of this specimen, speculates daily on what you will happen and you may be quite certain that those of upon next in your digs at the site you have us who are familiar with your prior work in discovered in your back yard. We eagerly the field were loathe to come to contradic- anticipate your trip to our nation’s capital that tion with your findings. However, we do feel you proposed in your last letter, and several Quoteworthy Science that there are a number of physical attributes of us are pressing the Director to pay for it. of the specimen which might have tipped We are particularly interested in hearing you “X rays. Their moral is this: that a right way of looking at things will see through you off to its modern origin: expand on your theories surrounding the ““almost“ anything.” — Samuel Butler, British writer (1835-1902) “trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in ““ 1. The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are typically fossilized bone. a structural matrix” that makes the excellent juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex femur you dis- “There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down error instead of establishing 2.The cranial capacity of the specimen is covered take on the deceptive appearance the truth.” — Marie Curie, Polish chemist/physicist approximately 9 cubic centimeters, well of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive below the threshold of even the earliest iden- crescent wrench. “For the rest of my life, I will reflect on what light is.” tified proto-hominids. — Albert Einstein, German-American physicist. (C. 1917) Yours in Science, 3. The dentition pattern evident on the “skull” Harvey Rowe; Curator, Antiquities “One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.” — Albert Einstein “Breaking News at the APS Centennial Meeting”

“[The wave-particle view of physics is like a struggle] between a tiger and a shark: each is supreme in his own element but helpless in that of the other.” —J.J. Thomson, British physicist (1925)

“I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” — J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (1945)

“In some sort of crude sense... the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.” — J. Robert Oppenheimer (1947)

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of ques- tioning.” — Werner Karl Heisenberg, German physicist (1958)

“All that glisters may not be gold, but at least it contains free electrons.” — John Desmond Bernal, British X-ray crystallographer and author (1960)

“[The wave-particle duality] is absolutely impossible to explain in any classical way.... [It] has in it the heart of quantum mechanics... it contains the only mys- tery.” — Richard Feynman, American physicist (1966, 1985)

“Basic research is like shooting an arrow into the air and, where it lands, painting

a target.” — Homer Adkins (1984) All Rights Reserved. Ziegler from cartoonbank.com. Collection 1998 Jack Yorker The New © 5 APS News April 1999 Take $100 Off a New Life APS Membership Dues to Increase in July In celebration of the Centennial, the APS Committee on Membership has initiated a $100 discount off new life memberships between March 1, 1999 and February 29, t its November 1998 Meeting, the APS Council approved a $5 increase in 2000. A life membership, which ordinarily costs 15 times the regular current annual A Regular member dues for FY2000. For the last four years, dues for APS dues rate, includes a free life membership in one dues-requiring unit. Membership have remained the same while services have expanded. The new To take advantage of this special offer, look for details in your next invoice Regular dues rate will be $95; Junior and Senior dues will therefore increase to renewal packet. The offer is not valid on an existing or previously purchased Life $47.50 (half the Regular rate). Student rates will remain at $25 and unit fees will membership. Questions may be directed to the APS Membership Department at not be affected for the coming fiscal year. 301-209-3280 or [email protected]. Life membership will again be calculated at 15 times the Regular rate or $1,425. The Centennial special, $100 off a new Life membership, will remain in effect until February 29, 2000, lowering the price of a Life Membership to $1,325. Billing with the new rates will begin in May 1999 for those members with a July to June membership year. Any questions regarding member invoices may be AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY directed to the Membership Department at 301-209-3280 or [email protected].

100100 100100 International News, continued from page 1 sored by The University Cheikh Anta graduate students and post-doctoral TAKE APS LIFE Diop in Dakar (UCAD), the European researchers. Physical Society (EPS) and the Ameri- One session was devoted to medi- $100 OFF MEMBERSHIP can Physical Society (APS). Other cal applications of lasers. S. Avrillier sponsors who provided support were from Orsay discussed the use of la- A NEW TODAY! The International Centre for Theoreti- sers for medical diagnosis and Dennis cal Physics (Trieste, Italy), the Matthews, program leader of the International Program in Physical Sci- Joint Medical Technology Program at ences (Uppsala, Sweden), the Centre LLNL, spoke on the use of lasers for National de la Recherche Scientifique a variety of medical treatment ap- (France), the United Nations Educa- plications. R. Diouf from UCAD in tional, Scientific and Cultural Dakar, showed how lasers have been IN BRIEF Organization (UNESCO), the Interna- successfully used in the treatment of tional Union of Pure and Applied laryngeal papillomatose, a type of Clinton Names Fermi Award Winners Physics (IUPAP), and Lawrence throat tumor which occurs in some In February, President Clinton named Maurice Goldhaber and Michael E. Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). parts of Africa. And Seringne Gueye, Phelps as the winners of the Enrico Fermi Award, given for a lifetime of achieve- The principal organizers of the a urologist at UCAD, described the ment in the field of nuclear energy. Goldhaber will receive the Fermi Award for workshop were Ahmadou Wague (from use of lasers in prostate surgery and research in nuclear and particle physics. Phelps will receive the award for his UCAD), Annick Suzor-Weiner (from in treatments of several urological contributions to the invention and use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). University of Paris-Sud, and a repre- disorders. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will present the awards on April 16 in a cer- sentative of EPS), and Kennedy Reed A group discussion on collabora- emony in Washington, D.C. (from LLNL, and a member of the APS tions and scientific cooperation, Goldhaber, 87, is a physicist and distinguished scientist emeritus at the De- Committee on International Scientific chaired by Samuel Adjepong, Vice partment of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. He is also an Affairs). Reed was an ICTP Visiting Sci- Chancellor from the University of adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he entist at UCAD in 1997, and has Cape Coast in Ghana, brought out has taught from 1961 to the present. Goldhaber was the first to accurately spearheaded an APS initiative to in- frustrations and pitfalls of working on measure the mass of the neutron, and his later experiments provided key crease interactions between the international collaborations involving support for the Standard Model, the theory of fundamental particles and forces. American and African physics commu- developing countries. One major Since his retirement, Goldhaber has continued the study of neutrinos, most nities. problem is the lack of governmental recently as part of the international collaboration of scientists who, in 1998 at The scientific program covered a or local support in the developing the Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan, found evidence that neutrinos have spectrum of topics in basic and ap- countries. Participants from the US mass. plied AMO physics. It included and some European countries noted Phelps, 59, is chairman of the Department of Molecular & Medical Pharma- lectures on molecular spectroscopy that the agencies in their countries cology at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, where by Delores Gauyacq from University do not offer much in terms of sup- he is also a professor of biomathematics in addition to his other administrative of Paris, Orsay, and on the spectros- port for physical science research in positions. He contributed to the invention and use of the medical imaging copy of doubly excited states in developing countries. technique known as PET. He specifically contributed to PET’s use in research helium-like systems by UCAD’s Participants were given tours of and patient care in neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer, Ahmadou Wague. Augustine Smith, the UCAD physics laboratories at the and also established and directed the first PET clinic for patient care. from Morehouse College, described university. These featured demon- his work with high resolution x-ray strations to show research being AIP Launches Online Heisenberg Exhibit spectroscopy at LLNL’s Electron done with laser-induced fluorescence A new online exhibit devoted to Werner Heisenberg traces the birth of Beam Ion Trap Facility, conducted for studies of local plants, and atomic quantum mechanics, the wartime effort to build a German atom bomb, and under the auspices of the LLNL Re- physics experiments making mea- other episodes from a remarkable life. Prepared by leading Heisenberg biogra- search Collaborations Program for surements of hyperfine interactions. pher David Cassidy, the exhibit is now available on the website of the Center Historically Black Colleges and Mi- Graduate students from the univer- for History of Physics (www.aip.org/history/heisenberg), the premier clearing- nority Institutions. LLNL’s Reed sity manned the demonstrations house of physics-related archived papers, photos, and 3000 hours’ worth of lectured on electron impact excita- providing a good opportunity for in- taped interviews. Located at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, tion and ionization of highly charged teraction with the students. Maryland, the Center possesses several valuable collections of papers and pro- ions. Some contributed talks by Afri- According to Reed, the workshop vides support to other institutions in their efforts to archive the papers of can participants involved also provided an opportunity for important physicists. In addition to the Heisenberg site, the Center website is applications of spectroscopy in ag- some of the American and European also home to two other widely popular exhibits, one devoted to Albert Einstein riculture and environmental participants to see how African and one to J. J. Thomson’s discovery of the electron. Soon an exhibit devoted monitoring, as well as spectroscopic physicists work with very limited to Andrei Sakharov will also be available. methods in chemistry. resources and yet manage to pro- Elias Sideras-Haddad of the Uni- duce some interesting results and to National Science and Technology Week To Be Held in April versity of Witwatersrand in train students. For example, one Johannesburg, South Africa, discussed UCAD scientist owns a small shop, The National Science Foundation (NSF) will sponsor National Science and his work in Accelerator-based Mass which he uses to make crafts. He Technology Week (NSTW) April 25 - May 1, focusing on the general theme Spectrometry (AMS) which can be sells these in order to help support “Find Out Why,” to encourage the curiosity that spurs science, mathematics applied in diverse interdisciplinary his research in material science at the and technology. Another focus will be on “The Science of Everything.” Estab- research efforts in Africa. He also de- university, and also uses the shop to lished in 1985 to increase general public awareness of the importance of science scribed applications of AMS to make parts for some of his experi- and technology, NSTW has since been expanded to include observance on paleontology, archeology, and an- ments. national, regional and local levels. thropology - a topic which proved Overall, participants considered Several sites in the NSTW Regional Network will be distributing Teaching especially fascinating in light of re- the workshop an enormous success. Activities packets this month, containing innovative, hands-on science, math- cent discoveries in Africa related to “Hopefully workshops such as this ematics and technology learning activities for students in elementary and middle the origins and early history of hu- one can promote more international school grade levels. Information on NSTW ’99, as well as updates on scheduled mans. Haddad is working to create interactions for African physicists,” plans and events, can be obtained by contacting NSTW, NSF Office of Legisla- an AMS center in South Africa which Reed said. Additionally, American and tive and Public Affairs, Room 1245, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230; will serve as a nucleus for research European scientists can benefit from phone: 1-800-682-2716; email: [email protected]. This information is also available collaborations involving countries the training and expertise of the Af- on the official NSTW Web sites: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nstw/start.htm, or throughout the African continent, and rican scientists, and learn from their http://www.nsf.gov/findoutwhy. will also be a training center for resourcefulness.”

6 April 1999 APS News Announcements

Summer Intern in the APS Washington Office APS UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS STUDENT COMPETITION We’re looking for an undergraduate physics major with fantastic writing skills and a genius IQ — although we’re prepared to be flexible. Contact us at for ▼ 1999 APKER AWARDS details. Other interns in Washington have become both rich and famous. For Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research in Physics Call for Nominations for Y2K Endowed by Jean Dickey Apker, in memory of LeRoy Apker DESCRIPTION Two awards are normally made each year: One to a student attending an institution APS Prizes and Awards offering a Physics Ph.D. and one to a student attending an institution not offering Members are invited to nominate candidates to the respective committees charged a Physics Ph.D. with the privilege of recommending the recipients. A brief description of each prize • Recipients receive a $5,000 award; finalists receive $1,000. They also receive and award is given in the March 1999 APS News Honors and Awards insert, available an allowance for travel to the Award presentation. online at www.aps.org under the APS News button, along with the addresses of the • Recipients’ and finalists’ home institutions receive $5,000 and $500, respectively, selection committee chairs to whom nominations should be sent. Please refer to the to support undergraduate research. APS Membership Directory, pages A21-A40, for complete information regarding rules • Recipients, finalists and their home physics departments will be presented with and eligibility requirements for individual prizes and awards or visit the Prize and Awards plaques or certificates of achievement. The student’s home institution is page on the APS web site at www.aps.org under the Prize and Awards button. prominently featured on all awards and news stories of the competition. • Each nominee will be granted a free APS Student Membership for one year PRIZES upon receipt of their completed application. WILL ALLIS PRIZE FOR THE STUDY OF IONIZED GASES HANS A. BETHE PRIZE BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS PRIZE QUALIFICATIONS TOM W. BONNER PRIZE IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS • Students who have been enrolled as undergraduates at colleges and universities OLIVER E. BUCKLEY CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS PRIZE in the United States at least one quarter/semester during the year preceding the DAVISSON-GERMER PRIZE IN ATOMIC OR SURFACE PHYSICS 15 June 1999 deadline. DANNIE HEINEMAN PRIZE FOR MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS • Students who have an excellent academic record and have demonstrated exceptional HIGH POLYMER PHYSICS PRIZE potential for scientific research through an original contribution to physics. FRANK ISAKSON PRIZE FOR OPTICAL EFFECTS IN SOLIDS • Only one candidate may be nominated per department. JULIUS EDGAR LILIENFELD PRIZE JAMES C. MCGRODDY PRIZE FOR NEW MATERIALS LARS ONSAGER PRIZE APPLICATION PROCEDURE GEORGE E. PAKE PRIZE The complete nomination package is due on or before 15 June 1999 and should W.K.H. PANOFSKY PRIZE IN EXPERIMENTAL PARTICLE PHYSICS include: EARLE K. PLYLER PRIZE FOR MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 1. A letter of nomination from the head of the student’s academic department I. I. RABI PRIZE IN ATOMIC, MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS 2. An official copy of the student’s academic transcript ANEESUR RAHMAN PRIZE FOR COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS 3. A description of the original contribution, written by the student such as a J. J. SAKURAI PRIZE FOR THEORETICAL PARTICLE PHYSICS manuscript or reprint of a research publication or senior thesis (unbound) ARTHUR L. SCHAWLOW PRIZE IN LASER SCIENCE PRIZE TO A FACULTY MEMBER FOR RESEARCH IN AN UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION 4. A 1000-word summary, written by the student, describing his or her research ROBERT R. WILSON PRIZE 5. Two letters of recommendation from physicists who know the candidate’s individual contribution to the work submitted AWARDS LEROY APKER AWARD (15 June 1999 Deadline) 6. The nominee’s address and telephone number during the summer. JOSEPH A. BURTON FORUM AWARD MARIA GOEPPERT-MAYER AWARD FURTHER INFORMATION (See http://www.aps.org/praw/apker/descrip.html) JOSEPH F. KEITHLEY AWARD FOR ADVANCES IN MEASUREMENT SCIENCE MEDALS AND LECTURESHIPS DEADLINE DAVID ADLER LECTURESHIP AWARD Send name of proposed candidate and supporting information by 15 June 1999 to: EDWARD A. BOUCHET AWARD Dr. Barrie Ripin, Administrator, Apker Award Selection Committee JOHN H. DILLON MEDAL The American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD LEO SZILARD LECTURESHIP AWARD 20740-3844; Telephone: (301) 209-3268, Fax: (301) 209-0865, DISSERTATION AWARDS email: [email protected] OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL THESIS RESEARCH IN BEAM PHYSICS AWARD NICHOLAS METROPOLIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL THESIS WORK IN COMPUTA- TIONAL PHYSICS Now Appearing in RMP... DISSERTATION AWARD IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS Reviews of Modern Physics is a quarterly journal featuring review articles and NOMINATION DEADLINE IS JULY 1, 1999, colloquia on a wide range of topics in physics. Titles and brief descriptions of the UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED. articles in the April 1999 issue are provided below. If you would like to subscribe to the paper or online version of RMP, please contact the APS Membership Depart- ment at [email protected] or (301) 209-3280. George Bertsch, Editor. Theory of Bose-Einstein condensation in trapped gases—Since the first observation of condensates in atomic traps in 1995 there has been rapid progress. Many aspects of this Physics in the 20th Century new quantum liquid are amenable to simple theoretical understanding, as F. Dalfovo et al. By Curt Suplee; Edited by Judy R. Franz and John S. Rigden explain in this review. Top-quark condensation—The origin of masses and symmetry breaking, a fundamental The discoveries and inventions of physicists in this century have revolutionized problem of particle physics, has been sought in many ways, including a condensation of the modern life. One hundred years ago, scientists questioned the very existence of top-quark vacuum. G. Cvetic explores the theoretical idea of top-quark condensation and atoms and knew almost nothing about the cosmos. Today, physicists can arrange problems with this mechanism. individual atoms on a surface and make an image of the result, and have begun to Precision tests of the electroweak interaction at the Z pole—The properties of the Z unravel the history of time and the universe. In this book, Curt Suplee, science boson, measured at e+ e - colliders, provide an unprecedented test of the standard model of writer and editor at The Washington Post, documents one of the most remarkable electroweak interactions. In this review M. Martinez et al. discuss the empirical properties flowerings of knowledge in human history. The extraordinary illustrations focus of the Z as well as the implications for theory. mainly on the remarkable images—from the atomic to the cosmic scale made High-transition-temperature superconducting quantum interference devices—An

possible by the instruments of advanced physics. Also included are photographs important application of high-Tc superconductivity is in SQUIDs for magnetic-field mea- of experimental equipment—massive particle colliders are beautiful in their surements. This review by D. Koelle et al. emphasizes the understanding of noise and its own right—and pioneering inventions. control in the devices. This stunning volume is sponsored by the APS and the AIP on the occasion of the The electrodynamic response of heavy-electron compounds—The heavy-electron centennial of the American metals have unusual optical properties and excitation spectra, which are reviewed by L. Physical Society. You will Degiorgi and contrasted with normal Fermi-liquid behavior. want a copy on your own Drift waves and transport—Transport of particles and energy in most real plasma is coffee table and another caused by drift waves. W. Horton presents the current status of this vast subject. for your parents and Structure and phase transitions in Langmuir monolayers—Experiments in the last children who have always decade have revealed that the phase diagram of liquid monolayers is quite complex, but, wondered why you find as V. Kaganer et al. explain, only a few order parameters are needed to describe them. physics so fascinating. Colloquia: Adventures of a Rydberg electron in an anisotropic world, by W. Clark Now they will know! and C. Greene—The exquisite precision of Rydberg-level atomic spectroscopy shows the Alternate selection of the presence of momentum-dependent interactions that were predicted in 1990. Book-of-the-Month Club. Chaotic motion in the solar system, by Jack Lissauer—The motion of smaller objects 225 illustrations, 125 in the solar system is chaotic, with profound consequences for the formation of planets. in full color, 224 Dynamic transitions and hysteresis, by B. Chakrabarti and M. Acharyya—The re- Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratory pages, 9 1/4 x 11” sponses of complex many-body systems to time-dependent external fields require theory Time-exposure photograph of a nuclear fusion experiment. $49.50 (Can $75.00) beyond the usual perturbative treatment.

7 APS News April 1999 THE BACK PAGE

Authorship Credit in Science: Junior Physicists’ Perceptions by Eugen Tarnow

esearch scientists attempt to discover, fessional Conduct, http://www.aps.org/ priately given authorship in 14%. In 33% R describe, and understand phenomena statements/91.8.html] The sentence relat- of papers with additional authors other than of nature. The information that results is ing to authorship reads, “Authorship should the supervisor, one or more authors were published in books and journals. These be limited to those who have made a sig- perceived as inappropriately listed. In con- books and journals are continuously nificant contribution to the concept, design, trast, the postdoc was an inappropriate appended with new information that execution and interpretation of the re- author on only 1% of all papers. slowly replaces or enhances what was search study.” The results were based on There are considerable forces acting there before. It is one of the most successful the postdoc’s interpretation of this ethics against addressing the issue of assignment endeavors of humanity. statement. of authorship among postdocs and senior One of the reasons for the success may The survey results indicate that 26% of scientists. For example, one postdoc who be the immediate feedback given in the respondents have seen the ethical state- held an elected position with the APS told publication process: scientists are rewarded ment above, but the majority have not. me that the present study was “offensive,” by being listed as authors on the publica- Moreover, there is sometimes little agree- a “hot issue,” and that he feared “isolating tions. This simple device, authorship, also ment among respondents as to what the himself” should he bring it up in an APS allows the funders of the scientific en- APS ethical statement means. For example, committee meeting. Second, a commit- deavor a basis for decisions about which the postdocs were asked, “Do you con- tee that was to create the authorship Eugen Tarnow scientists should be given resources to sider, according to the ethical statement guidelines for the APS some years ago perform future research. above, that obtaining grants and other fund- worked in an “atmosphere of hostility,” paper explaining what each author con- The current scientific work on the des- ing for a project qualifies as a ‘substantial according to one former committee mem- tributed. Both approaches would ignation on authorship is limited to four contribution’ that warrants authorship?” ber. The guidelines brought difficult issues counteract major reasons that underlie statistical studies covering various academic Forty-nine percent of the respondents to the table, including due process, defa- honorary authorship found in this study disciplines. This is not very many, consid- answered affirmatively, while the rest are mation of character, deprivation of rights, — relationship-building, social close- ering the importance of authorship to of the opposite opinion. whether an individual accused would have ness, previous and expected work — careers in science. INSPEC, an online da- Respondents reported publishing an the right to face his/her accusers, and other in the first instance because of the par- tabase covering physics and engineering average of two papers per year. Guided legal ramifications. The proposed guide- ticipation of a disinterested party, and since 1990, shows not one article about by the APS ethical guidelines, in 14% of lines had to be “watered down” before in the second because of the public the ethics of authorship out of a total of papers with the supervisor as an author, the current version was approved. disclosure of what each person actu- 1.2 million articles. MEDLINE, covering the respondents indicated that the supervisor Although legal issues influence the sci- ally accomplished. The latter health sciences, includes about 100 opin- should not have been listed. The supervi- entific community with regard to procedure might also respond to con- ion articles by journal editors and letter sor was an author on 92% of all papers procedures for assignment of authorship, cerns about minor contributions, since writers corresponding to 0.006% of all ar- the survey respondents authored. Similarly, there are at least three other relevant fac- the extent of these would be clearly ticles. in 33% of papers with authors in addition tors. First is the desire to avoid a process stated. This article is one of the first inquiries to the supervisor or the postdoc, one or that could involve conflict. A second fac- To date, the scientific community, has into how authorship is distributed in ev- more authors should not have been listed tor is that postdocs generally believe their not adopted formal procedures with re- ery-day research collaborations. Our as such. Forty-six percent of all postdocs supervisors’ recommendation letters are spect to inappropriate authorship. The investigation focuses on perhaps the most answering the question reported that at very important for future job prospects. impetus to enact such may come from important class of all research collabora- least one paper on which he/she was an Accordingly, fear of obtaining bad recom- single institutions that take it upon them- tions: junior scientists in non-permanent author had at least one inappropriate au- mendations may prevent postdocs from selves to protect the work of young positions (postdoctoral associates or thor; 22% of postdocs reported that at least raising the topic of authorship with their scientists and/or the American judicial postdocs) supervised by senior scientists. one paper had the supervisor as an inap- supervisors. A third factor is that the power court system which can require the sci- The results are based on the postdocs’ in- propriate author. In 1% of all papers, to legislate the rules of authorship is in the entific community to do so. terpretation of the situation. respondents indicated that they were hands of more senior scientists. At this stage Institutions may start to compete for A questionnaire was distributed in 1996 themselves inappropriate authors. in their career, senior scientists may not the limited pool of young scientist ap- which examined the process leading up In 75% of postdoc/supervisor relation- perceive the issue as important — for plicants not just with the strength of its to authorship assignment as perceived by ships, authorship criteria had never been example, no supervisor exists who can brand name but also by adopting stan- physics postdocs (see APS News, May discussed: in 61% of relationships the cri- easily appropriate authorship from them dards of authorship that promise to 1996, page 4). It consisted of respondent teria for the postdoc’s authorship were not — or, they may see authorship as an en- protect their intellectual work. This way, background information, information about clearly agreed upon, and in 70% the crite- titlement of their senior status. a less well-known institution that protects the immediate research group (including, ria for designating others as authors were There is also a relative absence of ef- the intellectual work of their junior work- e.g., the postdocs’ perception of the im- not clearly agreed upon. Reasons cited for forts with respect to authorship in the ers would be able to attract junior portance of recommendation letters from the inappropriate attribution of authorship scientific community beyond just physics. scientists more so than a more well- the research supervisor, and of published fell into four categories: relationship build- The 1995 report from the Commission on known institution which does not have papers), and whether the postdoc had ing, minor contributions, previous or Scientific Integrity (www.faseb.org/opar/ such protection in place. If one univer- seen the APS ethical statement regarding expected contributions, and crediting staff cri.html), perhaps the largest attempt by sity starts the cycle, another may follow authorship. Using this ethical statement as that are close in a social sense, for example, the government to deal with ethics in sci- and so on. a reference, the postdocs were asked part of the same research group. ence, said little about designation of The future may also hold a recasting about the appropriateness of the author- authorship. It is also noteworthy that a com- of inappropriate authorship in terms of ship assignment on the last five papers Conclusions mon standard of scientific misconduct theft of intellectual property. I am hope- the postdoc authored in his/her present Two main conclusions of this study stand promoted by the National Academy of ful that a cause of action for such theft position, as well as how much authorship out. First, the distribution of authorship Sciences — fabrication, falsification and will be recognized in American jurispru- decisions were discussed with the super- is a relatively undefined undertaking. It plagiarism — does not include the bulk of dence because these cases involve real visor. is typically not something that postdocs possible misconduct relevant to the des- injury to real parties which deserve re- Two groups of postdoctoral associates and supervisors have discussed or agreed ignation of authorship. dress. were sampled: 99 randomly picked from upon. The single ethical statement avail- Finally, I would like to challenge the a mailing list of all postdocs at a very large able to the community — the APS Future Action APS leadership to take action in the area national laboratory, and 92 randomly Guidelines for Professional Conduct — has If one believes that authorship, in par- of authorship by adding one word to the picked from a list of university physics not been seen by a majority of postdoc ticular accurately assigned authorship, is Guidelines (see above). Authorship in postdocs. The respective return rates were authors. Furthermore, these guidelines al- important to the scientific endeavor, one physics should explicitly promote origi- 59% and 47%, including incomplete ques- low broad interpretation. For example, the must ask whether there are useful ways nal thinking rather than, for example, the tionnaires. For example, questions eliciting statement on authorship does not clearly to better define and operationalize the ability to get grants. The APS should re- authorship details were answered by 65- indicate whether obtaining funding for a procedure of authorship assignment? quire that the “significant contribution” 70% of the returned surveys, giving an research project qualifies a person for at- One possible option is to follow the necessary for authorship be a “signifi- effective return rate of 34-37%. tribution as author, since half of survey patent authorship model and have an cant intellectual contribution.” respondents believe that it does, while the attorney or another disinterested party Results other half do not. inquire into the research work and, ac- Eugen Tarnow is a scientist with The APS ethics guidelines give “mini- Second, using the existing APS guide- cording to existing legal standards for Avalon Business Systems Inc., in mal standards of ethical behavior” that are lines as a standard, postdocs perceive there patent authorship, write down the list Riverdale, NY. A more detailed article important for the creation of an environ- to be a substantial amount of inappro- of authors. A second option would be based on this survey was published in ment of “mutual trust” in which physics is priate authorship. The supervisor, a joint to more accurately assign authorship Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 5, “best advanced.” [APS Guidelines for Pro- author in 92% of the papers, is inappro- by adding a section at the end of each January 1999, page 73.

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