April 2006 Volume 15, No
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
April 2006 Volume 15, No. 4 www.aps.org/apsnews Highlights What Exactly Is Michael Crichton’s APS NEWS “Scientific Method”? A Publication of the American Physical Society By James Hansen Page 4 "Big D" Hosts APS April Meeting Coast to Coast ver 1000 physicists will head to Dallas this month Ofor the April APS meet- ing, to be held April 22-25, in conjunction with the annual Sherwood Fusion Theory Conference. The meeting will include three plenary sessions, approximately 75 invited sessions, and more than 100 contributed sessions and poster sessions, covering the Dallas Skyline latest astrophysics, nuclear physics, particle physics, and social implications of cochlear quark discovery and the latest plasma physics. There will also be implants. At Session V1: carbon results from Fermilab's Tevatron a number of sessions on physics nanotubes; the search for gravity machine. Session C14 looks at a education, physics history, and waves with LIGO; and physics and novel accelerator scheme where Photo credit: Ken Cole physics and society. Some poten- engineering issues for the prospec- beams of muons would collide. Retiring APS President Marvin Cohen of Berkeley (left) passed the tial highlights follow. The com- tive International Linear Collider. Colliding beams of electrons with coveted presidential gavel, symbol of the awesome power of the APS plete program is on the web at On Monday as well, there will beams of heavy ions (Session J2) presidency, to his successor, John Hopfield of Princeton, at the http://www.aps.org/meet/APR06/. be a special lunchtime talk at 12:45 is still another way to probe mat- Executive Board meeting in College Park in early February. Plenary Talks. Three slates of by Norman Augustine, former ter, especially for looking at the plenary presentations will cover a Chairman and CEO of Lockheed quark content of protons and the cosmic range of topics: At Session Martin Corporation, and Chair of nucleus in general. Speakers in Does the “Impact Factor” Impact A1, Voyager 1 and 2 at the edge of the National Academy of Sciences several sessions will look at the the solar system; the study of committee that provided the report new physics on the horizon at the Decisions on Where to Publish? "Rising above the gathering Large Hadron Collider (LHC), quark-gluon plasma; and results The impact factor, a numerical These statistics are compiled by the storm". presently under construction at from the MiniBoone neutrino score that claims to rank the impor- Institute for Scientific Information High-Energy Machines. CERN, where high energy protons experiment. At Session O1: the tance of scientific journals, may be (ISI). Discerning the subtle logic of sub- will collide head on, and the pro- cosmological role of neutrinos; resulting in unnecessary pressure on Does the impact factor provide an microscopic matter requires beams posed International Linear Collider learning about astrophysical plas- researchers to publish in journals with accurate measure of a journal’s impor- of high potency. Session J1 centers (ILC), where electrons would mas through experiments on Earth; high values for that score. tance? In counting citations, only on the 10th anniversary of the top April Meeting continued on page 7 and the physics, engineering, and With some qualifications, the papers published in the past two years impact factor is a measure of the aver- are considered, though many research Special Events Public Event Features Lisa Randall age number of citations for papers papers may be influential for much published in a particular journal. It is longer than two years. Also, items Friday, April 21 High School Physics Teachers’Day Those attending the April meeting in calculated by counting the total num- such as news articles and editorials 8:00 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. Dallas can join interested members of the ber of citations papers in the journal that some journals publish are not public for “An Evening of Cosmology and receive, and dividing by the number counted in the denominator of the Student Reception String Theory” with Lisa Randall, at 6:30 of papers published in the journal. Impact Factor continued on page 5 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. pm on Monday, April 24. The event takes place in the Landmark A Ballroom in the Saturday, April 22 Hyatt Regency. APS Helps Boy Scouts Explore Welcome Reception Randall, a Harvard University physics 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Nuclear Science professor, is the author of Warped Scientific Professionalism and the Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of With the help of the APS Division He and the DNP Education Physicist: The Skills You Need to the Universe. She is best known for co- of Nuclear Physics Education Committee wrote to the Boy Scouts Succeed in Physics-based Careers authoring two seminal 1999 papers in Committee, the Boy Scouts of of America, offering to 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Lisa Randall Physical Review Letters with Raman America has revised its Atomic help revise the handbook. It Sundrum: “Large mass hierarchy from a New Reports from Major Energy merit badge program. The turned out that BSA was already in small extra dimension,” and “An alternative to compactification.” National Studies new merit badge, now called the process of updating the 7:15 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Each has been cited more than 2500 times. “Nuclear Science,” updates the pro- badge. Matis was able to serve as an Randall’s research has been covered by The New York Times, the gram and increases the emphasis on advisor. Sunday, April 23 Economist, the Los Angeles Times, and The Dallas Daily News, as well science. The old Atomic Energy badge Meet the Editors as Science, Nature and New Scientist. Warped Passages is her first book Howard Matis, a nuclear physi- program focused on engineering, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. for a general audience. cist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and and did not emphasize the science Awards Program, Presidential member of the DNP educa- enough, said Matis. “We want- Address & Lilienfeld Prize Talk Largest APS Prize Targets tion committee, noticed ed to put science back into 5:15 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Young Physicists that the Atomic Energy the requirements.” Monday, April 24 merit badge program He worked with a CSWP/DPF Luncheon for The George E. Valley, The prize will be given needed updating when writer to help make sure Women in Physics Jr. Prize is given bienni- for the third time this year. a local scout troop vis- the science in the new 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ally by the APS to Nominations are currently ited his lab. Some of booklet was correct and the requirements for the included the most mod- Students Lunch with the Experts recognize the achieve- being sought for outstand- 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ments and the potential ing candidates in any field old merit badge were con- ern model of the nucleus. He of a physicist within five of physics, with a nomina- fusing, and the handbook’s infor- also added some information, Special Invited Talk: "Rising years of his or her PhD. tion deadline of July 1, mation was outdated and in some including a description of a career as above the gathering storm", Named in honor of a gen- 2006. This year's recipient cases wrong, said Matis. a nuclear scientist. Norman R. Augustine Matis has been involved with the The new Nuclear Science hand- 12:45 p.m. erous bequest from the will be announced in the estate of George E. George E. Valley, Jr. fall after the selection com- Boy Scouts for a long time. He is an book is an 88-page booklet that cov- COM/CSWP Reception Valley, Jr., the prize mittee's recommendation Eagle Scout (though he never ers nuclear science at a level acces- 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. carries with it a cash award of is approved by the APS Executive earned the Atomic Energy merit sible to 14-year olds with little prior $20,000, making it the largest single Board. badge), and now has a son who is a knowledge. It includes topics such as prize that the Society gives. Largest APS Prize continued on page 5 Boy Scout. Boy Scouts continued on page 5 2 April 2006 APS NEWS This Month in Physics History April, 1935: British Patent for Radar System for Air Defense Granted to Robert Watson-Watt "European and Asian students "I take a nice drinking glass, rotate any scientists and Chain Home, successfully definitely get it. I've yet to run it clockwise, and slide it down a engineers con- alerted the Royal Air Force to into one in Germany who thinks counter. Everyone thinks that it will Mtributed to the approaching enemy bombers, science is intrinsically bad or go to the right. That's the natural development of radar sys- and helped defend Britain awful." reaction from curling. But it goes tems, which played a vital against the German Luftwaffe –Robert Rosner, Argonne to the left, and the initial reaction role in the Allied victory in in the Battle of Britain. National Laboratory, contrast- [from curlers] is that I'm perform- WWII. Radar (the acronym The Chain Home system ing European and Asian attitudes ing some kind of magic trick." stands for RAdio Detection worked fairly well, but it towards science with American –Mark Shegelski, University And Ranging), detects dis- required huge antennas, and attitudes, USA Today, February of Northern British Columbia, tant objects such as airplanes used long wavelengths that 8, 2006 explaining some of the physics or ships by sending pulses Sir Robert Watson-Watt limited ability to pinpoint of curling, National Geographic of radio waves and measur- He graduated from University enemy aircraft accurately.