A P S N E W S APSAUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1996 THE AMERICAN PHYSICALNews SOCIETY VOLUME 5, NO 8 Patel Recipient of Nation’s Highest Science Honor PS Past President C. Kumar N. recipients and the five winners of the “Our nation is grateful to these vision- APatel, vice chancellor for research National Medal of Technology in June. aries for advancing our base of knowl- at the University of California, Los An- The medalists will be honored at a edge. American industry especially is geles, is one of eight scientists to re- White House ceremony later this sum- indebted to them for contributing vital ceive the National Medal of Science, mer. Patel was honored for his inven- new discoveries and applications that the nation’s highest science honor. tion of the carbon dioxide laser, a major businesses have developed into cutting President Clinton announced this year’s scientific and technological break- edge ideas, products and processes. through which Fueled by science and technology, continues to be American enterprise remains the an important tool world’s leader in today’s global mar- in manufacturing, ketplace.” medical treat- ment, scientific in- The National Medal of Science, estab- vestigations and lished by Congress and administered materials process- by the National Science Foundation, ing. His carbon honors individuals for contributions to dioxide laser also the present state of knowledge in one led to the creation of the following fields: physical, biologi- of new genera- cal, mathematical, engineering or social bal competitiveness. The Medal of tions of lasers and and behavioral sciences. The medal has Technology also recognizes laser systems. now been awarded to 344 distinguished groundbreaking contributions that scientists and engineers. commercialize a technology, create jobs, “The 13 recipients improve productivity or stimulate the of these presti- Since its establishment by Congress, the nation’s growth and development in gious medals are National Medal of Technology, admin- other ways. American champi- istered by the U.S. Department of Com- ons of research merce, has honored 94 individuals and The other seven 1996 recipients of the and innovation,” seven companies for technological in- National Medal of Science are Wallace S. An early 1965 Kumar Patel operating 100W cw CO2 laser the President said. novation and advancement of U.S. glo- (continued on page 6) APS Names Michels as 1996-1997 Congressional Fellow Weinberg is he American Physical Society selected the Joseph Michels sity in 1986, and his D.Phil. in experimental condensed mat- New PRD Editor Tas its next Congressional Fellow. Michels will serve one ter physics from Oxford University’s Pembroke College in 1994. year as a special legislative assistant in a congressional office, As junior dean during his last two years of graduate study, he rick Weinberg, a professor of following an intensive, 10-day orientation period and interview served on several college committees and helped initiate a E physics at Columbia University, process. formal policy governing the consumption of alcohol in Pembroke. became editor of Physical Review D (PRD) Michels is currently employed by the Smithsonian Astrophysi- as of June 1, 1996. He succeeds Lowell “In the old era, it was almost unquestioningly accepted that cal Observatory, which in collaboration with Universita di Brown (University of Washington), whose science would improve the lives of American citizens and Firenze (Italy), developed the ultraviolet coronograph spec- term expired at the end of 1995. Weinberg make us safe in the dangerous world of the Cold War, but trometer (SOHO) satellite. Based at Goddard Space Flight received his Ph.D. in physics from those certainties have now disappeared,” Michels said of his rea- Center, Michels is helping to develop the observing plan for Harvard University in 1973 and spent two sons for applying for the APS Congressional Fellowship. “The the UVCS instrument on a weekly basis. Time not spent in years as a member of the Institute of present is an uncomfortable transition pe- mission planning he uses to study solar Advanced Study before joining the riod where fundamental questions are be- physics and the wealth of new informa- faculty of Columbia University, where ing asked about the role of science and the tion on the sun already produced by he has remained ever since. A former research community in a world governed SOHO. Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, he has served on by new economic and political deci- the editorial board of both PRD and sions.” Nevertheless, he views this as an A former participant in the 1987 Pan Physical Review Letters and on the APS opportunity to redefine and revitalize the American games and a contender for the Task Force on Journal Growth, as well as way science is pursued in the U.S. and 1988 and 1992 Olympics in rowing, he in various administrative capacities for the abroad, and believes young leaders with also rowed for Oxford in the annual boat Aspen Center for Physics. a broad base of scientific knowledge and race against Cambridge, a national event Weinberg believes the primary task of strong communication skills are essen- in England that garners worldwide me- the editor is to maintain PRD’s stand- tial to the transition. dia attention. Two years before com- ing as one of the leading journals in its mencing studies at Oxford, Michels was field, by ensuring that the articles are Michels received his B.S. in physics, with a founding partner of This Old House of the highest quality. The editor a minor in English, from LaSalle Univer- Renewed, a self-started and managed should also be involved in the deci- renovation firm in Philadelphia. sion-making process of the APS journal- related issues. The greatest challenge of Michels hopes to spend his fellowship IN THIS ISSUE the future will be electronic publishing, ac- year as a legislative assistance to a Mem- cording to Weinberg, although any steps ber of Congress. He is particularly inter- Patel Recipient of Nation’s Highest Science Honor ........................................ 1 toward an electronic version of PRD ested in the necessity of improving basic are at this point viewed as experimen- APS Names Michels as 1996-1997 Congressional Fellow ............................. 1 science education in the U.S. “Science Weinberg is New PRD Editor ......................................................................... 1 tal. “We are not yet at the point where BE Condensates, Quantum Computing Highlight 1996 DAMOP Meeting ...... 2 (continued on page 3) it makes sense to fix long-term stan- Inside the Beltway .......................................................................................... 2 dards, or even to decide precisely how IN BRIEF ........................................................................................................ 3 Correction we want to exploit computer technol- Opinion ........................................................................................................... 4 The Back Page of the March 1996 issue ogy to add capabilities that are not pos- APS Awards 1996-1997 Scholarships to Minority Undergrads ....................... 6 of APS News by Julian Simon contained sible with a paper journal,” he said, Is U.S. Physics Truly International? ............................................................... 6 an erroneous quote attributed to Stephen adding that the Los Alamos preprint Announcements... .......................................................................................... 7 Schneider. Unfortunately, Simon’s notifi- server project has raised expectations, The Back Page ............................................................................................... 8 cation of the error arrived after the issue and thus a short-term goal would be APS Meeting News ................................................................................. Insert was in print. Schneider responds with to have PRD available online in a form his viewpoint in an article on page 5. comparable to the Los Alamos project. This will happen in the near future. APS News August/September 1996 BE Condensates, Quantum Computing Highlight 1996 DAMOP Meeting he latest results in Bose-Einstein was large enough to be directly ob- from the other atoms used to produce and trapping, physicists at Duke Uni- T condensation experiments, quan- served for the first time, and lasted for BEC in that lithium atoms in a gas are versity are developing new high reso- tum resonance imaging and comput- 20 seconds. The MIT researchers im- slightly attractive toward one another lution atom imaging methods, based on ing, and collision studies of aged the BEC with scattered laser light rather than repulsive. resonance imaging in ultrahigh gradi- laser-cooled atoms were among the with a sensitive camera. Interestingly, ent potentials due to optical force fields. highlights of the annual meeting of the the BEC acts as a lens in the experi- Quantum Computing. In a Friday According to John Thomas, his group APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and ments, allowing light to pass through morning session, C. Monroe of the Na- has demonstrated spatial resolution of Optical Physics (DAMOP), held 15-18 but bending it by a small degree. tional Institute of Standards and Tech- 200 nm, and the force exerted by the May at the University of Michigan in nology in Boulder, Colorado, reported potential is sufficiently large that the Ann Arbor. In addition to the 12 in- The MIT group also found that the light on progress toward the