A P S N E W S APSMAY 1996 THE AMERICAN P HYSICALNews SOCIETY VOLUME 5, NO 5

INSIDE THE BELTWAY

Shifting Political Winds Open a Window of Opportunity for Science by Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs

t may seem absurd to suggest that By the time the second session opened IPat Buchanan’s win in New Hamp- at the beginning of January, however, shire or Steve Forbes’ victories in with their confrontational approach Delaware and Arizona could have any- suffering a battering in public opinion thing to do with science policy in polls, the House freshmen, under great Washington, particularly since Bob Dole pressure from their more seasoned has practically wrapped up the Repub- leadership, finally capitulated. Al- lican nomination for president. But though the president had given Buchanan and Forbes’ rejection of the considerable ground in agreeing to a balanced budget imperative, the cen- seven-year balanced budget plan terpiece of 1995 GOP spending plan, scored by the conservative economists and their emphasis on tax reform could in the Congressional Budget Office, PHYSICS have serious implications for future fed- Washington observers generally agreed eral support of science. Let’s take a that the White House had achieved a closer look at the still unfolding story. significant political victory. Privately, many Republicans acknowledged as NEWS For more than a year, from November much, as well. of 1994 until January of 1996, Wash- ington was awash with the rhetoric of Therefore, it was no accident that shortly the Contract with America. That 10- after the president’s State of the Union IN 1995 point document, which the Republicans Address, with the government once had ridden to victory in the last elec- again functioning, the GOP leadership P hysics News in 1995 is a summary Physics (AIP) Public Information Di- tion, framed most of the legislative decided on a month-long break in the of the year’s research highlights. It vision, the report had previously debate during the first session of the congressional schedule to give House appears for the third year as a special been published annually by Physics 104th Congress. Although three items and Senate members time at home to section in this issue of APS News. The Today, until 1989. In 1992, the APS ultimately passed both Houses and re- repair the political damage they had booklet covers the most important decided to publish Physics News as ceived the president’s signature, the suffered. Of course, Senate Majority research results of 1995. Highlights a trial service to its members, and others did not. And when the session Leader Dole also badly needed the re- in physics and government, physics elected to continue publication based finally ended in December, the nation cess to concentrate on his campaign history, and physics education are on the positive response. was left with much of its government for the presidential nomination. also covered. shut down, largely as a result of the Articles are selected and prepared balanced-budget impasse between By the time Punxsutawney Phil saw his Edited by Phillip Schewe and Ben by members of the APS and other President Clinton and the Republican shadow in early February and withdrew Stein of the American Institute of AIP member societies. House freshmen. Throughout the year, to his burrow for six more weeks of that ardent group of representatives, winter, the Contract with American had elected on a tide of promised reform, vanished from the Washington scene, had been the most unabashed support- Beller International Lecture at DAMOP Meeting ers of the Contract with America. (continued on page 3) The second Beller International Lecture will be given by Serge Haroche in the opening Plenary Session of the DAMOP meeting in Ann Arbor, MI on May 15. The subject of Haroche’s talk is “Quantum Measurements and Decoherence Studies with Single Atomic in Cavities.” Dr. Haroche is a fellow of the APS and is at the INTERNATIONAL NEWS Lab de Physics de l’Ens, Paris, France. Workshops Explore Future of Telecommnunications, The Beller International Lectureship Fund was endowed by the estate of Esther E-Publications Hoffman Beller in 1993. Earnings from the fund are used to pay for honaria and stipends for distinguished foreign scientists to speak at APS meetings. It is assumed UNESCO Electronic Publishing in Science — Representatives from the APS, that, in turn, societies abroad will ask U.S. physicists to lecture at their meetings. libraries, academia, and scientific publishers gathered at UNESCO headquarters The first Beller Lecturer was presented by Joachim Trümper at Unity Day of the in Paris, France, on 19 February for an expert conference on electronic publish- April 1994 APS/AAPT Joint meeting. ing in science. Organized by UNESCO and ICSU Press, the conference was intended to explore the current tools and standards, as well as legal and ethical issues associated with the revolution in information technology. IN THIS ISSUE “Electronic publishing has radically altered scientific transactions in the physical sciences,” said Irving Lerch, APS director of international scientific affairs, add- Physics News In 1995 Inside ...... 1 ing that growing numbers of scientists exchange frontier information in freely INSIDE THE BELTWAY ...... 1 distributed non-refereed preprints, while journal publishers are rapidly moving International News ...... 1 to restricted-access online archival journals. Physicists To Be Honored at 1996 May Meeting ...... 2 IN BRIEF ...... 3 In fact, a new regime of electronic or “gray” media, characterized by hypertext Opinion ...... 4 and linked graphical displays, is subsuming many aspects of traditional print CAREER CORNER ...... 6 exchanges. Questions remain as to whether this will further impede the availabil- Physics Success Stories Provide Tool for Scientists ...... 6 ity of scientific literature in developing and “redeveloping” countries, or will Announcements ...... 7 facilitate access to it. Another issue, according to Lerch, is whether electronic The Back Page ...... 8 publishing will unite colleagues or dissipate much-needed — and increasingly APS Meeting News ...... Insert limited — resources. This was the focus of a workshop organized by the UNESCO Physics News in 1995 Supplement ...... 1-24 Physics Action Council working group on telecommunications networks for sci- ence and APS on the fist day of the conference. (continued on page 2) APS News May 1996 Physicists To Be Honored at 1996 DAMOP Meeting

The APS will honor three physicists in May for their contributions to the fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics and particle physics. The 1996 Will Allis Prize, Davisson-Germer Prize, and Dannie Heineman Prize will be presented during the annual spring meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP), 15-18 May, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Recipients, citations, and brief biographical information are provided below.

1996 WILL ALLIS PRIZE Germer Prize is intended to recognize Roy J. Glauber hattan Project and did postdoctoral and encourage outstanding work in Harvard University work for the Institute for Advanced Study Endowed in 1989 by AT&T, GE, GT&E, atomic physics or surface physics. at Princeton and at the Swiss Federal IBM, and Xerox Corporation to recog- Citation: “For important contributions to Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, and has nize and encourage outstanding research the mathematical physics of quantum Thomas Francis Gallagher served on the editorial boards of several into the behavior of ionized gases. optics and short-wavelength scattering.” University of Virginia technical journals, including Nuclear Physics B and the Journal of Mathemati- Chun C. Lin Citation: “For his elucidation of the Glauber has been the Mallinckrodt Pro- University of Wisconsin characteristics and collisional behavior fessor of Physics at Harvard University cal Physics. Glauber has been a member of highly excited states of atoms.” since 1976. He received his Ph.D. in of the Advisory Board for the Program Citation: “For advancing the under- 1949 from Harvard University. He for Science and Technology for Interna- standing of the microscopic behavior of Gallagher was born in Bronxville, New worked as a staff member on the Man- tional Security at MIT since 1983. ionized gases through his innovative York in 1944. He received a BA in and pioneering studies of excitation in physics from Williams College in 1966 electron and ion collisions with atomic and an MA and a Ph.D., both in phys- International News (continued from page 1) and molecular targets.” ics from Harvard University in 1968 and 1971, respectively. After a year as a The morning session featured nine plenary lectures covering trends of electronic Lin received his BS degree from the research associate at the University of publishing in industrialized countries; the role of electronic technologies in re- University of California-Berkeley in Utah, he spent the next 12 years at SRI lieving the shortage of scientific literature in developing countries; programs 1951 and Ph.D. from Harvard Univer- International (formerly Stanford Re- and proposals for promoting the availability of scientific literature; and collabo- sity in 1955. His thesis advisor was search Institute). In 1984 he moved to rations between industrial and developing countries, as well as regional J.H. Van Vleck. Lin was on the faculty the University of Virginia, where he is collaborations. In the afternoon, two panel discussions focused on the impact of at the University of Oklahoma during now the Jesse W. Beams Professor of electronic publishing on literature availability, and how to find the right mix of 1955 to 1968. In 1968 he moved to the Physics. Much of Gallagher’s research technologies to meet the needs of developing countries. University of Wisconsin-Madison where has been focused on Rydberg Atoms, APS Treasurer Harry Lustig outlined some of the major new challenges facing he is now the John and Abigail Van understanding their intrinsic properties scientific societies with the advent of electronic publishing, including the prob- Vleck Professor of Physics. and using their exaggerated properties lem of archiving, the complications of maintaining copyright protection for authors to explore unusual physical situations. Lin began his career in the field of mi- and publishers, and the economic complexities associated with publishing refer- He has written the monograph, crowave spectroscopy. While at the eed and edited journals electronically. The APS has committed to having all its Rydberg Atoms, on this topic. University of Oklahoma he initiated a journals available electronically within five years, according to Lustig, and the program on electron excitation of atoms Gallagher is a fellow of both The Ameri- current online version of Physical Review Letters is a first step in that direction. in collaboration with Robert M. St. John. can Physical Society and the Optical Several speakers addressed the issue of how the copyright system should evolve to Much of his research in this field is di- Society of America. He has been a di- protect the interests of publishers. Thomas Dreier of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign rected toward understanding the basic visional associate editor for Physical and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich, provided the histori- nature of the atomic and molecular pro- Review Letters, an associate editor for cal context for the issue, maintaining that the copyright system has successfully adapted to cesses in ionized gases. For many years, Optics Letters, a topical editor for the new distribution techniques such as phonograms, radio, television and video. However, Lin also worked on the theory of the Journal of the Optical Society of he believes that the transition of copyright into the digital era will not happen as smoothly. electronic structure of crystals and im- America, and chair of the DAMOP. purity atoms in solids. Lin served as the “Digitization affects the whole body of protected works, and networking fundamentally Chairman of the Gaseous Electronics alters the traditional means of creating, distributing and using subject matter protected by 1996 DANNIE HEINEMAN PRIZE Conference in 1990-1992 and the Chair copyright,” he said. “Furthermore, in a networking context, any user may himself easily DAMOP in 1994-1995. Established by the Heineman Foundation become a distributor.” for Research, Educational, Charitable, and The remaining speakers covered other related topics, including the economics 1996 DAVISSON-GERMER PRIZE Scientific Purposes, Inc. in 1959 to recog- nize outstanding publications in the field and organization of present and future scientific publishing, electronic data archiving Established in 1965 by a donation from of mathematical physics. and access, and research policies currently affecting the development of digital AT&T Bell Laboratories, the Davisson- libraries in science and technology, with many offering examples of proposed models and initiatives aimed at overcoming these obstacles.

For instance, Paul Ginsparg of Los Alamos National Laboratory, who heads a project APS COUNCIL 1996 for automated electronic archiving of research information in many fields of phys- President ics, believes the current model of funding publishing companies through research APS News Robert Schrieffer, Florida State University President-Elect libraries — in turn funded by overhead on research grants — is unlikely to survive D. Allan Bromley, Yale University Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Vice-President in the electronic realm. “It is premised on a paper medium that was difficult to Series II, Vol. 5, No. 5 May 1996 Andrew M. Sessler, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory produce, distribute, archive, and duplicate, hence requiring numerous local redis- © 1996 The American Physical Society Executive Officer Judy R. Franz, University of Alabama, Huntsville tribution points,” he said. “The electronic medium shares none of these features Editor: Barrett H. Ripin Treasurer and thus naturally facilitates large-scale disintermediation of research information.” Newswriter: Jennifer Ouellette Harry Lustig, City College of the City University of New York, emeritus Editor-in-Chief Production: Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins Benjamin Bederson, New York University, emeritus Coordinator: Amy Halsted Past-President NATO Networking Workshop Plans — On 5-6 February, senior academic, C. Kumar N. Patel, University of California-Los Angeles research and telecommunications experts from various regions of the Russian APS News is published 11X yearly, monthly, except the Au- General Councillors Federation and other Western and Eastern European nations gathered in St. gust/September issue, by The American Physical Society, One Daniel Auerbach, Kevin Aylesworth, Arthur Bienenstock, Vir- Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. ginia Brown, Jolie A. Cizewski, Jennifer Cohen, Charles Duke, Petersburg, Russia, to determine the content, schedule, participation, adminis- It contains news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Elsa Garmire, Laura H. Greene, Donald Hamann, William Happer, tration, funding and implementation of one or more NATO Advanced Networking Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information on meet- Anthony M. Johnson, Miles V. Klein, Zachary Levine, Susan Seestrom, ings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- Ronald Walsworth workshops to be held in 1996 and beyond. tees and task forces, as well as opinions. Chair, Nominating Committee Martin Blume The ultimate objective of these workshops is to develop a program for training Letters to the editor are welcomed from the membership. Let- ters must be signed and should include an address and daytime Chair, Panel on Public Affairs users, administrators, managers and technical support staff within the academic telephone number. The APS reserves the right to select and to David Hafemeister edit for length or clarity. All correspondence regarding APS and research communities. Funding will be sought from NATO and a consor- News should be directed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Division and Forum Councillors tium of national and international foundations and agencies. Co-sponsored by Ellipse, College Park, MD 20749-3844, email: [email protected]. Frank C. Jones (Astrophysics), Joseph Dehmer, Gordon Dunn (Atomic, Molecular and Optical), W. Webb (Biological), Stephen UNESCO’s Physics Action Council, NATO, The Euro-Asian Physical Society, and Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publication de- Leone (Chemical), Joe D. Thompson, David Aspnes, Lu J. Sham, St. Petersburg State University with APS participation, the program opened with livered by 2nd Class Mail. Members residing abroad may re- Allen Goldman (Condensed Matter), David Anderson (Compu- ceive airfreight delivery for a fee of $20. 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For address changes, please send both the Clark, Ohio; Joseph Hamilton, Southeastern; Stephen Baker, Texas Working Group on Telecommunications Networks — will be responsible for old and new addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing implementing the program, with local and regional organizing committees han- label from a recent issue. Requests from subscribers for miss- Representatives from Other Societies ing issues will be honored without charge only if received Howard Voss, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP dling planning and other arrangements. within 6 months of the issue’s actual date of publication. Staff Representatives Second class postage paid at College Park, MD and at additional Barrett Ripin, Associate Executive Officer; Irving Lerch, Director Training will focus on technical and management issues designed to support mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, of International Affairs; Robert L. Park, Director, Public Infor- sustainable network access. User training will be the responsibility of each orga- Membership Department, The American Physical Society, One mation; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Administrative Editor; Cindy Rice, Director of Editorial Office nizing committee. The upcoming October workshop will also include a short Services; Michael Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer orientation for senior administrators to include university, institute and govern- ment officials, and representatives of the commercial sector. 2 May 1996 APS News

INSIDE THE BELTWAY (continued from page 1) disappearing almost as rapidly as it had the same side as Dole. All three believe appeared a little more than a year ear- in large ones. IN BRIEF lier. And with it went almost all talk about a balanced budget agreement, Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will pay • At its February meeting, the APS Executive Board issued a special com- although leaders of both political par- close attention to the results of the pri- mendation to Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics at the ties continue to pay it lip service when mary voting. And while Bob Dole Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his years of excellent service pressed. almost unquestionably will be the GOP as chair of the APS Physics Planning Committee. Kleppner’s APS service presidential nominee, the size of the also includes terms on the APS Council and Executive Board, the Panel Bob Dole did not get to be majority Buchanan and Forbes voting blocs will on Public Affairs, and the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Phys- leader of the Senate without being ex- force many Republicans to accommo- ics, as well as the editorial board of Physical Review A. A past recipient of traordinarily sensitive to shifts in the date their positions. Therefore, on the APS Davisson-Germer Prize and Julius Lilienfeld Prize, his research political wind. So it is not surprising economic issues look for tax cutting to interests are in experimental atomic physics, high precision measurements, that he dropped all references to the remain high on the Republican agenda. and quantum optics, including studies of hydrogen at extremely low tem- Contract from his stump speech once And look for balancing the federal bud- peratures and in ultra precise laser spectroscopy. Dan Kleppner was also he hit the hustings. It was an easy get to take a back seat, at least by awarded MIT’s James Killian, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award in March. change for him to make, since he re- comparison with where it was in 1995. portedly had not been much enamored Also look for President Clinton’s priori- • The APS Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics (FIAP), in conjunction of it from the time Newt Gingrich first ties to differ only marginally from those with the Committee on Applications in Physics and APS staff, has pro- unveiled it in 1994. But Dole has not of the GOP in this regard. duced a compilation of over 115 physicists who are available to speak on been alone in ignoring the Contract. Ev- industrial and applied physics topics at schools, universities, and in other ery one of his primary rivals has too. Where does this leave science? First, public forums. More than 200 titles are listed in the booklet, which is while the Republican Congress will con- called the Industrial and Applied Speakers List. According to Barrett Ripin, And what about balancing the budget? tinue to stress reduced federal spending, associate executive officer, “it is intended to help break down the cultural While Bob Dole continues to pledge it will do so with much less balanced barriers that exist between academia and industry, students, faculty and his support for pursuing it, his two prin- budget fervor that it did in 1995. Sec- industrial physicists, and demonstrate the interesting variety of work done cipal opponents, Pat Buchanan and ond, in this election year, Republicans by physicists.” About half of the listed speakers are employed in industry, Steve Forbes, have shown little taste for and Democrats alike will reflect to former one-quarter in universities, and the remainder in government laboratories it, and for good reason. Much of House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s maxim, “All and other venues. A copy of the booklet was mailed to all physics and Buchanan’s success in New Hampshire politics is local.” In the last analysis, their astronomy departments and to each of the approximately 600 Student is directly traceable to his populist cam- votes will be dictated by the volume of Physics Society (SPS) chapters in the U.S. Those interested in obtaining a paign theme of keeping jobs in at home, the voices raised by their constituents. If copy of the booklet — or in volunteering for next year’s edition — should whatever the cost. With corporate federal programs will help the folks back contact Arlene Modeste, APS, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- America still shedding thousands of home, members of Congress will sup- 3844; email: [email protected]. jobs each month, his message has hit a port them. President Clinton’s FY 1997 resonant chord with many workers budget proposal has given science a good The speakers list is also posted on the FIAP web page, which is accessible throughout the country who feel con- start. via the APS Home Page [http://aps.org]. The web posting of the speakers tinually threatened. For them, the list will be updated periodically as additional speakers are added. existence of a federal deficit is not a With the political window of opportu- defining issue. nity having been opened a bit, it is now • The APS Ohio Section held its annual spring meeting 12-13 April at Ohio up to the science community to carry State University in Columbus, organized around the theme of Physics at For Steve Forbes, an unapologetic sup- the debate forward. As the recent expe- the Nanoscale. Friday’s technical program included talks on nanostructures porter of supply-side economics, rience with the NSF budget demonstrates, in semiconductors and nanomachines and nanosensors, as well as lab balancing the budget simply is not a when scientists in large numbers raise tours and the annual banquet, featuring keynote speaker Lawrence Krauss major factor either. Growing the their voices, Congress is prepared to lis- (Case Western Reserve University). Saturday’s plenary session covered economy is his prime focus. The fed- ten. If they remain silent, as has been complex dynamics of nanometer-scale magnets and the ultrafast dynamics eral deficit, he believes, will take care of their general custom in the past, scien- of semiconductor nanostructures. The meeting also featured two lectures itself in the long term. But on tax cuts tists will have no one to blame for the by Nobel Laureates prior to the regular program. On Thursday evening, F. Buchanan and Forbes come down on consequences but themselves. Sherwood Rowland (University of California, Irvine), recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, spoke on the stratospheric ozone depletion by chlorofluorocarbons. Friday morning featured a talk on Bose-Einstein condensation of trapped atoms by SUNY-Stony Brook’s Chen-Ning Yang, FY 1997 R&D Budget Request Announced recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics. • Ph.D.s are up, but first-year students are down, suggesting a coming down- n March 19, John Gibbons, funding would increase by 6 percent, turn in physics Ph.D.s at U.S. universities, according to a new report by the assistant to the president for or $1,246 million, to $22,406 million. O American Institute of Physics entitled, “Enrollments and Degrees Report.” science and technology, introduced the Released in January, the report shows that physics Ph.D. production con- Clinton Administration’s FY 1997 budget Finally, overall spending on facilities tinues to rise: 1481 were granted in 1994, compared to 1369 the year request for science and technology would increase by 45 percent under this before. But the number of first-year graduate students is down 22 percent programs. Overall research funding budget request. Gibbons explained that at Ph.D.-granting institutions and undergraduate junior level physics ma- would increase by 2 percent, or $1,229 this is because of a change in the way jors are down 13 percent since 1992. For more information contact the million, to $72,679 million under the that facilities would be financed, with report authors, Patrick Mulvey and Elizabeth Dodge at (301) 209-3076. administration’s budget request. (Note: the requested $1,742 million being used Since final appropriations have not yet to provide more up-front funding for • A recent study of a sampling of active male and female researchers reveals been signed for some R&D agencies, facilities such as the DOE’s RHIC and that while women scientists publish slightly fewer papers than their male the FY 1996 basis represents the B-Factory. Aircraft carriers are now colleagues, their citation rate per paper is significantly higher. Men pub- administration’s best approximation.) funded this way, as was the replace- lished 2.8 papers per year on average, compared with 2.3 for women; but ment of a major radio antenna at the women’s papers were cited 24.4 times on average, compared with 14.4 times A breakdown of the budget request as it Green Bank, West Virginia, observatory. for men. Gerald Holton (Harvard University), a former chair of the APS relates to science and technology is as Forum on History of Physics, has been working with Harvard sociologist follows. Basic research funding would “The FY 1997 budget marks the fourth con- Gerhard Sonnert on Project Access, a study Holton began in 1988 that probes increase by 2 percent, or $268 million, secutive year that President Clinton has the attitudes of more than 800 scientists — about one-third of them women to $14,327 million. Applied research fund- called for increases in science, technology, — who began their careers with prestigious postdoctoral fellowships be- ing would increase by 4 percent, or $622 and education investments — investments tween 1952 and 1987. Sonnert and Holton’s report was summarized in an million, to $14,872 million. we need to carry us into the 21st century,” article in the January/February 1996 issue of American Scientist, pg. 63. said Gibbons. “This budget delivers on Overall civilian R&D would increase by President Clinton’s commitment to main- The higher citation rates for women’s papers are indicative of “more note- 3 percent, or $1,057 million, to $34,404 tain critical science and technology worthy” contents, the report concluded. Based on their findings, the authors million. Overall defense R&D would in- investments as a priority while balancing also concluded that women scientists are “inclined toward more compre- crease 0.005 percent, or $172 million, the budget. [The President] is saying again hensive and synthetic work and more likely to try to find a scientific ‘niche’ to $38,275 million. Gibbons noted that that he will not back down in the face of rather than compete with colleagues in the same area of expertise.” How- the ratio between civilian and defense myopic Congressional proposals to slash ever, this is not due to “a feminine methodology or way of thinking,” but R&D has not changed much in this bud- R&D.” However, Robert Walker (R-PA), that women may pay greater attention to detail and to the formalities of get request. R&D support to chair of the House Science Committee, research. The study also found that while 70 percent of the men consid- universities would increase by 1 per- called the budget “a blow to basic research ered their own scientific ability as being above average, only half of the cent, or $155 million, to $12,728 million. and a boon to industrial policy masquer- women did. Merit or peer reviewed R&D program ading as science.”

3 APS News May 1996 OPINION APS VIEWS LETTERS APS Money: Where it Comes From, Where it Goes, and Why We Need You to Give Us More Authorship Practices Need Review by Harry Lustig, Treasurer How “scientific” is the process of assign- I then asked about the details of the ing authorship on a scientific research paper authorship assignment of papers writ- that includes a postdoc? I decided to find ten (with the postdoc as an author) in When The American Physical Society was founded in 1899, its budget was $285. out with a questionnaire. Three samples the current postdoc position. I asked In 1995, the APS expended $27,180,038. One of the reasons for the disparity — were taken of close to 100 postdocs each who were the authors and whether — surprising as this may be to some readers — is that we did not publish the from: 1) a set semi-randomly approached according to the APS ethics statement Physical Review for the first 20 years of its existence. Readers who helped us at a conference, 2) from a national lab -— the authors of the papers made a celebrate the centenary of that journal or who have read the wonderful book by mailing list, and 3) a university postdoc “substantial contribution.” Paul Hartman, will recall that the Physical Review was founded in 1893 at Cornell mailing list, with an overall return rate of University and published by the Macmillan Company. It was not fully taken 57 percent. The core of the questionnaire In 22 percent of papers with the super- over by APS, as a non-profit service to the physics community, until 1913. was the APS ethics statement. visor as an author, the postdocs, guided by the APS ethics statement, feel that Another reason why our budgets have gone up is that in 1899 we only had 59 Let us first start with how many postdocs the supervisor should not be an author. members; today the count is 41,670. Our expenses, and fortunately the rev- have ever seen the APS ethics statement? Papers with additional authors other than enues as well, have risen 135 times as fast as the membership. The explanation A low 23 percent. the supervisor and the postdoc had in is not only that we live in an inflationary universe, but that the APS is now called 37 percent of the cases one or more au- on to do much more than the founders dreamt of. This is not because the Did postdocs think that obtaining grants thors, other than the postdoc or the Society’s mission has changed. Remarkably enough, the APS Constitution says and other funding for a project qualifies supervisor, who should not be there. that it is exactly the same as it was in 1899: the advancement and diffusion of as a “substantial contribution” that war- the knowledge of physics. (Some of our impetuous and radical presidents and rants authorship? Forty-six percent of the What were the reasons for inappropri- Council members have suggested that it may be time to consider a change). postdocs answer affirmatively, while al- ate authorships? Implicit or explicit most everybody else has the opposite pressure from advisor; advisor’s friend The difference is that in 1899 the membership and the leadership of the Society opinion (a few say it depends). needs to be an author; tradition; advisor were satisfied to carry out the mission by holding scientific meetings and pub- of a collaborator needs to be rewarded; lishing the Bulletin of The American Physical Society. As already noted, publishing Since postdocs apparently have differ- the authors should appear as a team, etc. the Physical Review came later. Today, we not only publish some 100,000 pages ent opinions about authorship a It appears that the process of assigning per year in seven journals, hold many large and smaller meetings, and provide a discussion about authorship criteria seems authorship is not particularly scientific. large range of services to members. More important for this report, and follow- needed in order to properly assign au- ing a trend that began several years ago, we carry out many — we believe very thorship credit. Thus another question A full report can be obtained fron the cost effective — public information, public affairs, education, outreach and in- read: Has your supervisor ever discussed author [[email protected]]. ternational programs. the criteria for authorship with you? Only Eugen Tarnow 28 percent answer affirmatively. New Brunswick, New Jersey The pie charts in Figure 1 depict APS’ revenues and expenses for 1995, for our four operations centers: the research publications, the scientific meetings, mem- Less Than Optimistic Views bership operations and services, and public affairs programs. Figure 2 depicts the net revenues or deficits for each of these operations centers. I found Julian Simon’s Back Page ar- What advantage does our present rapid ticle an interesting exercise in population increase confer? If indeed A glance at Figure 1 will show the financially dominant role of the journals: they misdirection. The concern of serious we can always count on new solutions contributed 82.2 percent of the income and accounted for 74.7 percent of the observers over the current exponential and substitutes coming along, fine. But expenses of the Society. The difference constitutes net revenue. The “surplus” growth of population is not that food is why put ourselves in the position of fac- — about 10 percent of revenues over the last decade — has been achieved in going to vanish off our plates at some ing disaster if any one of these falters? spite of the fact that our journals are extraordinarily low priced, per unit of precisely determined date in the future, No Western government to my knowl- information conveyed, compared to those of commercial and many other soci- but rather that such growth seems edge is actively trying to get its ety publishers. Reflecting this pricing policy, our surplus, as a percentage of unsustainable over the long term. Not population to grow faster in order to revenues, has been much smaller than that of many other publishers. being an economist, I would hesitate “reap” all of these purported advantages. to insist on which of energy, water, dis- The hydrologist comes back to report More than two- ease, food, or whatever will come first that the reservoir is almost dry and Pro- thirds of the as the major future challenge to man- FIGURE 1: Summary of Operating Revenue & Expense fessor Simon runs among the people Society’s 175 em- kind. Speculating on copper futures FY 1995 shouting, “Wonderful, drink all you want Thousand of Dollars ployees are couldn’t be more irrelevant. because someone will then even sooner 575 200 engaged in work- 3,005 2,752 Simon provides solace to those who think up another solution to our need 2.1% 0.7% ing with the 11.0% 10.1% do not need it; those already unwill- for water!” Sure. As for bets, I’ll bet 1,298 journals and the 4.7% 2,581 ing to admit that an exponential that half the (non-domestic) animals in number would be 9.5% population growth cannot rationally be current children’s books will be extinct higher if we didn’t 1,334 sustained indefinitely. Ironically, the in 50 years; I’ll bet that carbon dioxide farm out much of 4.9% implicit message is that technology can continues to increase exponentially in the production be counted on to ride (repeatedly!) to the atmosphere as long as the popula- and distribution to the rescue. Ironic because many of the tion itself increases exponentially, I’ll AIP and to other 22,547 20,313 apologists for unfettered population in- bet that the population will easily ex- vendors. These 82.2% 74.7% crease have little or no other interest ceed the official UN “predictions” high numbers re- Revenue Expense in technology, if not downright antipa- (which are consistently twice whatever $27,425 $27,180 flect, of course, thy. If memory serves, Professor Simon the current population is: 10 billion a the continued Research Pubs Scientific Meetings Membership Ops Public Aff. & Prog. Extraordinary earlier gave a positive spin to this is- few years ago when the total was 5, intellectual impor- sue as “more geniuses” being born to now it’s 12 given that the total is 6), tance of the solve our problems thanks (in both baring of course massive die-offs of journals and the contribution they make to the advancement and diffusion of senses) to the ever-expanding popula- Malthusian proportions. Trouble with physics. tion. How it is that economists, of all betting on the long term is you aren’t people, know that technology can be around to collect. Organizing and running the meetings account for about 5 percent and the Mem- depended on to deliver in every case bership Operations for about 9.5 percent of the budget. Public Affairs and is not spelled out in the article. Another F. Curtis Michel Programs contributes very different slices to the revenue and expense pies: 2.1 question that is not addressed is: why? Rice University percent and 10.1 percent respectively.

The economics of the journals will be discussed in a coming issue of APS News. Has your mail bag been coming in the possibility that technology will pre- For now, let me only say that 75 percent of the revenues come from library light, or what? It’s hard to resist serve the improved standard of living subscriptions and 10 percent — a declining fraction — from page charges. The responing to Julian L. Simon’s “Re- we enjoy and help spread it more uni- expenses are roughly equipartitioned between editorial, composition and pro- sources and Population: A Wager” in formly to other lands, including those duction, and printing and distribution outlays. As the future article will make your March 1996 issue. However, my close to the equator. The same point clear, several factors, including continued growth, the crisis in library funding, a paycheck is too insecure to wager, so is made by Jesse H. Ausubel (“Can decline in page charge income, large but essential expenditures to convert to a letter will have to do. Technology Spare the Earth?” in Ameri- electronic publishing, and uncertainty about obtaining revenue from online jour- can Scientist, March-April 1996) He nals, cause us not only to discount future surpluses but to worry about the long It is good to hear there really is some suggests ways evolving efficiencies can run financial stability of the journals. form for optimism about the future and restore the environment even as popu- (continued on page 5)

4 May 1996 APS News OPINION

APS VIEWS continued from page 4

Meetings income derives predominantly from registration fees. At $195 for “regu- Fortunately, the situation is not as bleak as the graph would seem to indicate. lar” members who preregister, the fees for the March and Spring meetings are Over the last decades, the Society has built up a “reserve fund” which is now still not high compared to those of many other professional societies. However, equal to about one year’s expenditures. The original motivation was to enable in consideration of the precarious state of research funding, the Executive Board APS to continue to operate for one year, in the absence of income or as a result has decided to keep the fees at their present level at least for next year. The of other dire events. Fortunately this fund has been well invested and now Society wants its members to be able to participate in the meetings. produces, in a good year, significant income. With the goal of keeping the reserve fund at one year’s expenses requiring only modest annual additions and Dues represent the bulk of the income for funding membership operations and assuming that the journals services. At $90 for “regular” members and considerably less for seniors, juniors, must be able to pay for them- FIGURE 2: Net Revenues (Expenses) and students, they are at about the median for U.S. physics and related societies selves and for part of the of Operations Fiscal Year 1995 and well below that of other professional associations. investments in electronic pub- DEFICIT SURPLUS lishing, we can and will use

Dues pay for our share of Physics Today, for APS News, for a portion of unit some of the income to help Research Publications 2.234 expenses and newsletters, for governance operations and for the maintenance fund the public affairs and out- and improvement of the membership database. Again, probably as a conse- reach programs of the Society. -0.036 Scientific Meetings quence of the pressures on the physics community, after about 100 years of Membership Operations 0.424 essentially monotonic growth, the last few years have seen small declines in the However, investment earnings Public Affairs & Programs numbers of members — just at a time when we need more resources to help are not enough and increased -2.177 preserve and improve the health of physics. We are therefore reluctant to raise income from other sources is -0.200 Extraordinary the dues. clearly needed. We will seek Net Revenue from Operations 0.245 more grants, but these will

It is not difficult to see why public affairs and programs are fated to operate at a generally finance only new -3-2 -1 0 12 3 substantial deficit. Income comes primarily from grants and contracts (which, of programs that are of interest $10^6 course, must be expended dollar-for-dollar for the activities contracted for) and to the granting agency and not from members’ contributions. programs that the Society and its members want to continue or expand. The Campaign for Physics, launched in cooperation with the American Association Where does the money go? Into dozens of programs, large and small, — but all, of Physics Teachers, is an important new initiative, mainly designed to enhance we believe, important, cost-effective, andmember driven — in the areas of pub- pre-college science education (See APS News, December 1995). Corporate and lic information, public affairs and governmental relations, education, outreach, individual donations are being sought to achieve the Campaign’s goal of $5 and international activities. Table 1 is a short, representative sample list of these million. Please contact the Campaign Director, Darlene Logan, at [email protected] programs and their 1995 costs. We will be happy to provide anyone with details, or at (301) 209-3224, for more details. on request. TABLE 1 The mainstay of support for many APS programs, such as those illustrated in Even though much of the work Table 1, will need to come from more annual contributions from you, the mem- ACTIVITIES is done by volunteers, we need bers. This support has been habitually solicited with the renewal invoice, in the to pay for staff and office ex- form of suggested voluntary contributions. In 1995 the contributions totaled PUBLIC AFFAIRS & INFORMATION Panel on Public Affairs penses to help run the programs. $323,612. For several years the level suggested has been $25 for members and Congressional Fellows Anyone who knows what these $50 for fellows. We are suggesting the same amounts on the invoices this year. PG Net people accomplish and com- The explanations that go with the invoice state that “if you would like to con- Science Media Relations pares that with the staffing tribute at a level other than this amount, please adjust the suggested amount....” Physics Planning Committee Industry - Academic Government Roundtables pattern in similar organizations Needless to say, we would very much prefer the substitution of a higher rather will agree that our staffing is than a lower amount. In fact, we hope to double the 1995 total. This can be EDUCATION AND OUTREACH gratifyingly lean, about 11 FTEs achieved only by a rise in the number of members who honor the voluntary High School Teachers Days for these departments. This is contribution and/or an increase in the size of the contributions. For the first 200 Physics Olympiad Physics Teachers/Scientists Alliance consistent with the fact that members who contribute $100 or more, we have an actual gift: a copy of the Industrial Summer Intern Program physicists (and the Society that Hartman Memoir of the Physical Review. It is really a delightful and informative Minorities Committee, Scholarships & Speaker Grants represents them) are very fru- book, and at 212 pages, can be read in one evening. Women’s Committee, Roster, Speaker Grants gal. (Some would say “cheap”, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS but that is no more true than We recognize that among the public affairs programs that APS carries out, mem- Matching Membership the observation that physicists bers have their favorites and, in some cases, their antifavorites. You may designate Former Soviet Union Programs (grant funded) are arrogant.) on the invoice which group of activities your contribution will be used for. Committee on International Scientific Affairs Committee on International Freedom of Scientists So where are we and where do For those who would like to consider becoming big-time donors, we have other CAREER SERVICES we go from here? Look again at suggestions, such as planned giving programs and bequests in the donors’ wills. Graduate Student Packet, CareerPlus Figure 2. A simple way to inter- Please contact me or Darlene Logan if you would like to discuss any of these Industrial Speakers List pret the graphs is to say that in possibilities further. (If you just want to send in your $5,000 check, don’t hesi- Employment/Career Workshops 1995 the surplus from the jour- tate to do so.) I wish I could say it’s only the spirit that counts, but it isn’t. Every nals paid for the public affairs contribution will help the Society (with a capital ‘S’) in its efforts to enhance the programs of the Society. A simple and sobering conclusion is that with the surplus welfare of physics and of society (with a lower case ‘s’). threatened, APS must now wean itself away from reliance on it and must find other sources to finance the increasingly necessary public affairs programs. For further information contact Harry Lustig at: [email protected] or 301-209-3220.

Letters (continued from page 4) lation grows, but also notes haw in- be difficult to estimate, but its subjec- Both Professor Simon and Jesse pessimism does not paralyze our ca- creasing levels of consumption make tive value is enormous when it is our Ausubel present the same valuable pacity for positive action. the problem appear more formidable. own or that of those close to us. message: those of us who hope for a better future should be on guard that Robert R. Turtle Guarded optimism appears appropri- It is an oversimplification to state flatly that ate because of the way destructive Simon Article Legitimizes Foolish Notions better living started only 200 years ago. unrest can accompany population More than two centuries ago, Adam Smith growth. Savage events in Rwanda and I usually enjoy reading the well-con- has an extremely narrow point of view remarked (in print) on the sensible im- in what was Yugoslavia are examples sidered comments on The Back Page, concerning the success of progress with- provement in the human condition of this apparent correlation. The in- although I do not always agree with out any concern for the environment. compared to earlier times. Charles Van Now I assume there will be many letters credible destruction of human life in them. However, I do not think the re- Doren points out ( in “A History of Knowl- to the editor with further discussions of Europe during this century has been cent illogical article by Julian Simon was edge”) that the growth of knowledge what most of us understand. linked to population pressure by his- worth printing. It wastes paper and your needed for this improvement was acceler- torians such as Friedrich Meinecke and readers’ time as well as lending legiti- ated by a general increase in prosperity Janet Machol Jacques Bainville. Surely other factors macy to some foolish idea. The author subsequent to the black death four centu- NOAA are also involved, but all deserve to be ries earlier. And this paradox shows considered and weighed if we hope to Editor’s Note: population growth is not a negligible fac- prevent such misfortunes from visiting Indeed the Back Page article by Julian Simon stimulated many more members to respond tor in Professor Simon’s wager, in which I us in our own communities. The eco- than we can accommodate. The gist of these letters are represented by these printed wish him every success. nomic value of personal security may here. We apologize to those whose letters were not printed. 5 APS News May 1996 CAREER CORNER

This is a regular feature describing diverse employment opportunities and career advice for physicists, appearing as space permits. If you are a physicist employed in a nontraditional career and would like to contribute to future columns, send a letter describing your background, how and why you changed careers, and any advice you might have for physicists seeking to do the same to APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844; fax: (301) 209-0865; email: [email protected].

Jeffrey Marque and he concurrently entered the M.S. than he did in de- Beckman Instruments program in physics at San Francisco riving scientific State University. Upon completion of information of ei- Jeffrey Marque is a staff physicist with the master’s program, he moved to the ther remote, Beckman Instruments in Palo Alto, Cali- University of Illinois. He received his indirect, or no util- fornia, where he works primarily on Ph.D. in experimental physics there in ity, although the problems that require both experimen- 1983, with a dissertation on thermody- work in both areas tal and computational fluid dynamics and namic and kinetic studies of the was comparable in structural dynamics analysis. While much bacterial protein bacteriorhodopsin. His quality and diffi- of his present work is in engineering, first post-doctoral position was at culty. “With the over the past 25 years he has worked in RIKEN in Japan, where he worked on exception of the areas ranging from physics, cell biology, steady-state and time-resolved fluores- most brilliant sci- cardiology, anesthesiology, and bio- cence anistropy decay studies of tagged entists who can physical chemistry. bacteriorhodopsin. He also collabo- truly exploit open- Jeffrey Marque (right) Marque received a B.S. in biology and rated with a colleague at Ochanomizu ended research to physics from the University of Califor- University in Tokyo on a dynamic light make great break- nia, Berkeley in 1971, then worked for scattering study of membranes formed gineer that his broad background in in- throughs, I think that the idea that a year as a hospital technician in a car- from a mutant of the protein. strumentation and physical chemistry satisfying scientific work can only be had diac catheterization laboratory and also would also be useful to the department in academia is wrong,” he said. “I think as the first violinist in a pofessional Marque accepted another post-doctoral and company. Within six months of join- that many young scientists are misguided string quartet. Since he had a strong in- position with Cornell University in ing Beckman, he invented algorithms for and made unnecessarily miserable be- terest in neuroscience, he subsequently 1985, where he developed an instru- automating the optimization of certain cause of this serious error in outlook.” took a position as a staff research asso- ment for the study of the kinetics of a kinds of centrifugal separations, and for ciate at the University of California, San receptor protein in nerve cell mem- using physical chemical theory to enable The breadth of his background and Francisco’s School of Medicine’s Cardio- branes. Although he received offers for local solute concentration control dur- knowledge has unquestionably been a vascular Research Institute, where he two assistant professor positions while valuable asset in his work with Beckman. worked on a study of anesthetic effect ing centrifugation, resulting in two U.S. at Cornell, he was unable to accept patents and several pending interna- He believes that a physics background on cerebral blood flow, ischemia and allows job seekers entrance to interest- edema. He was also able to combine because the salary was insufficient to tional patents. He began work in support his family. mechanical engineering in 1990, when ing and challenging work in technical his interest in mountaineering with his field both in and outside of physics, and research director’s interest in high alti- two mechanical engineers with exper- In 1988 Marque was hired as a physi- urges young Ph.D.s planning their ca- tude physiology by offering a course in tise in structural dynamics left Beckman. cist in the Engineering Department of reers to exploit the fact that their physics medicine for mountaineers, coordinated with the San Francisco Bay Chapter of Beckman Instrument’s Spinco Division, Marque challenges the assumption that training gives them flexibility. He is cur- the Sierra Club. where he has worked ever since. Al- academic research is somehow more rently a participant in an APS/AAPT though the engineer who hired him was sophisticated and demanding than in- program in which industrial physicists In 1975, Marque was awarded a schol- looking for a “hot shot theoretical physi- dustrial research, claiming that he has give career advice to community college arship to study chamber music at the cist” to help engineers with concepts and found much more satisfaction solving students who are interested in physics San Francisco Conservatory of Music, calculations, Marque convinced the en- problems connected to useful products and engineering. Physics Success Stories Provide Tool for Scientists

he American Institute of Physics’ Public Information Division has prepared a Physics Designs the Future Tseries of one-page brochures aimed at illustrating the practical benefits of physics, entitled Physics Success Stories. Each brochure summarizes a single re- New Materials search area from among the physical sciences. According to Philip F. Schewe, From Air Force to Air JordanR, federally funded materials physics, often inspired by national defense needs, has led to a wide variety of consumer products that have changed our lives and added AIP’s director of public information, the primary aim of the brochures, at least billions of dollars to the economy. For instance, Teflon, found in everything from frying pans and initially, is to help scientists effectively discuss the prominent benefits of physics fashion to medical transplant materials, was first used by the military to make O-ring seals during when visiting their elected representatives. World War II. Lighter than aluminum but stronger than steel, composite materials are used to mini- mize earthquake damage and to build planes, sports equipment, and musical instruments. And that To be considered, the subject matter had to meet the following criteria: (1) the is just the beginning of the materials revolution. “Smart” materials will one day be taught to “think” and respond on their own, changing everything from building design to television as we enter the research must benefit society; (2) it must represent noteworthy physics; (3) the 21st century. topic must lend itself to an attractive graphical layout; (4) federal funding has been prominent; and (5) the research has resulted in billion-dollar-per-year in- dustrial markets. The brochures, demonstrate that physics plays a vital role in our POLYMERS AS BREATHABLE daily lives. INSULATING CLOTHING • GORE-TEX R is made by stretching Teflon, a polymer, and is insulating, fire- “Many leaders in Congress and the executive branch have suggested that the resistant, and durable. • Worn by the U.S. Army for strenuous activities in cold climates. scientific community has not been sufficiently involved in the debate over the • Has been used for 3.5 million medical procedures, including synthetic blood future of federal science funding,” said Schewe of the rationale behind the bro- vessels, sutures and tissue reconstruction. chure, pointing out that NSF Director Neal Lane has criticized the overall “resounding • Initial research: 1930s-40s: DOD silence” of scientists on the subject. “In some cases, Congress has heard from • Applied research: 1950s-90s scientific society officers. But some Washington insiders have observed that an individual makes a greater impression when he or she actually visits a Congres- MATERIALS FOR MEDICINE • Polymer physics results in the development sional office, and does so as a constituent.” W.L. Gore & Associates of artificial joints, skin, bone, heart valves and cartilage. Work on the project began in October 1995, and has involved the work of several • There are more than 5000 medical devices AIP Public Information staffers ever since. The first five stories cover medical and diagnostic products that utilize Another in a imaging, lasers, the Global Positioning System, the environment, and new materi- biomaterials. series of • Health care costs are reduced through new als. The APS was the first to use the brochures, including them in information Physics Success glasses and coatings for smaller, cheaper packets sent to physicists scheduling congressional visits in April. Stories surgical instruments, leading to less invasive surgery and shorter hospital stays. Many worthy topics were suggested by APS members and others, from which a • Initial research: 1960s-70s: NSF, NIH • Applied research: 1980s-90s: NSF, NIH tentative list of five more stories were chosen: telecommunications (capitalizing on 1996 Horowitz, TSM, Ted the recently-passed Telecommunications Bill); electronics (the nation’s largest single PLASMA THERMAL SPRAY COATINGS industry); physics in the home (mostly consumer goods); national defense; and • Military and commercial aircraft engines are coated with new materials that resist wear and transportation. The next five are expected to be completed by June 1. Other topics extreme heat. under consideration include magnets, superconductors, and friction (or coatings). • The global spray coatings market is $1- 2 billion. • Thermal spray coatings are used in baby Individuals on Capitol Hill and in other government offices have so far been bottles, bicycle rims and toys. enthusiastic about the Success Stories. The first five will be posted on the AIP • Initial research: 1960s-70s: DOE, DOD Home Page (http://www.aip.org) in the next few weeks. In addition, the stories • Appliedresearch:1980s-90s: DOE, DOD, NASA, NSF may be supplied to schools, museums, libraries, and elsewhere. For further infor- NASA mation, contact Michal Freedhoff at 301-209-3084, or [email protected].

6 May 1996 APS News ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRL-o Renewal Time is Here CAUGHT IN THE WEB Notable additions to the APS Home Page To members who now subscribe to PRL-online and to members who would [http://www.aps.org] during the month of March. like to begin a subscription — the time to act is now. Simply indicate the addition on the dues invoice that you recently received in the mail. Sub- APS News Online (latest edition) Miscellaneous scription prices are the same as last year’s: U.S. $75 for U.S. subscriptions; • Panel on Public Affairs Page U.S. $80 for all others. Renew by July 1 to keep your licensing agreement Units • The APS Centenary Celebration Page active and avoid losing access to your copy of PRL-online. • New England Section Spring • Redesigned Education and Outreach Page Newsletter • Advanced Listing of Accepted Papers in Physical Review A,B,C,E We look forward to welcoming you as a PRL-o subscriber! • Advanced Listing of Accepted Physical Meetings Review D Papers with links to the HEP Contact Maria Lebrón, associate publisher at [email protected] with • Joint APS/AAPT Meeting Program preprint database questions, comments or suggestions. • 1996 Joint Meeting Virtual Pressroom • 1996 DAMOP Annual Meeting Careers • CareerPlus • The 1996 Texas Spring Section Meeting • Additional links to career resources PRL-online FACTOID (1 July to 31 December 1995) NEW FACULTY CONFERENCE The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) is planning a conference aimed at helping new physics faculty understand how students learn physics and SUBSCRIBERS MEMBERS INSTITUTIONS the implications of this information for their own teaching activities. Scheduled for 31 October through 3 November at the University of Maryland, the conference will cover new developments in physics curriculum and pedagogy. A follow-up session 1 July 1995 87 236 for the new faculty will be held at the AAPT Summer Meeting following the Confer- 1 December 1995 772 441 ence. Eligible participants should be physics faculty at colleges and universities in the first year or two of their initial tenure-track appointment, including senior faculty who have recently Total connect time = 186,115 minutes entered academia after careers in industry or in government laboratories.

Total number of articles displayed = 21,247 articles For more information please contact the AAPT Programs, Conferences and Exhibits Department at (301) 209-3344 or fax to (301) 209-0845. You will also find more information by accessing AAPT’s Home Page through the WWW at: http:// www.aapt.org

NOMINATIONS FOR PRIZES AND AWARDS

The following prizes and awards will be bestowed at meetings of the Society in the coming year. Members are invited to nominate candidates to the respective CORRECTIONS committees charged with the privilege of recommending the recipient. A brief The March and April issue of the APS News incorrectly indicated that the 1997 description of each prize and award is given below, along with the addresses of Davisson-Germer Prize would be awarded for outstanding work in atomic the selection committee chairs to whom nominations should be sent. Please physics. In 1997 it will instead be awarded for outstanding work in surface refer to the APS Membership Directory, pages xxiii- xxxix, or the APS Home physics. A corrected call for nominations is listed below. Page [http://www.aps.org] under the Prize, Award and Fellowship button, for complete information regarding rules and eligibility requirements for individual 1997 DAVISSON-GERMER PRIZE prizes and awards. Sponsored by AT&T Bell Laboratories

Purpose: To recognize and encourage outstanding work in atomic physics 1997 FLUID DYNAMICS PRIZE 1997 OTTO LAPORTE AWARD or surface physics. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. Sponsored by the friends of Otto LaPorte and the APS Division of Fluid Nature: The prize consists of $5,000 and a certificate citing the contributions Purpose: To recognize and encourage Dynamics. made by the recipient. This annual prize will normally be awarded alterna- outstanding achievement in fluid dy- tively for outstanding work in atomic physics one year and for outstanding namics research. Purpose: To recognize outstanding ac- work in surface physics the following year. The 1997 prize will be awarded for complishments in research in fluid outstanding work in surface physics. Nature: The prize consists of $5,000, a cer- dynamics. Send the name of candidates, biographical information and supporting letters to tificate citing the contributions made by Mark J. Cardillo, 1D-358, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ the recipient, and a travel allowance to the Nature: The award consists of $1,000 07974, Ph. (908) 582-2418, Fax: (908) 582-3619, email: [email protected]. Nomi- meeting at which the prize is bestowed. and a certificate citing the contributions nations must be received no later than 14 June 1996. made by the recipient. Send name of proposed candidate and Please note the following address and deadline changes to earlier announce- supporting information before 1 Sep- Send name of proposed candidate and ments for the 1997 Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics: tember 1996 to: Stanley A. Berger, UC, supporting information before 1 Septem- Berkeley, Dept. of Mechanical Engi- ber 1996 to: Sung Piau Lin, Box 5725, Send nominations to Prof. Michael J. Musolf, Institute for Nuclear Theory, Phys- neering, Berkeley, CA 94720, (510) Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, ics & Astronomy Bldg, Box 351550, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. 642-5950, fax: (510) 642-6163, email: (315) 268-6584, fax: (315) 268-6438, The deadline for submission of nominations is 1 July 1996. [email protected]. email: [email protected].

Impending APS Prize & Awards Deadlines

The following are impending deadlines of APS Prizes and Awards. For complete information regarding the description of each prize, previous recipients and the chair of prize selection committees, please see the Prize, Awards and Fellowship Page of the APS home page [http://www.aps.org]; consult the front of the APS Membership Directory, email your request to [email protected], or call (301) 209-3268.

1997 Prize Deadlines Oliver E. Buckley Prize 06/14/96 George E. Pake Prize 06/14/96 Robert R. Wilson Prize 06/14/96 James Clerk Maxwell Prize 04/04/96 Davisson-Germer Prize 06/14/96 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize 06/14/96 Tom W. Bonner Prize 07/01/96 Nicholson Medal 04/04/96 John H. Dillon Medal 06/14/96 Aneesur Rahman Prize 06/14/96 Fluid Dynamics Prize 09/01/96 Excellence in Plasma Physics Res. 04/04/96 Forum Award 06/14/96 I.I. Rabi Prize 06/14/96 Otto Laporte Award 09/01/96 Simon Ramo Award 04/04/96 Dannie Heineman Prize 06/14/96 Prize for Research in an Undergrad Inst. 06/14/96 Shock Compression Science Award 09/01/96 David Adler Lectureship Award 06/14/96 High Polymer Prize 06/14/96 Earl K. Plyler Prize 06/14/96 Dissertation in DAMOP 11/18/96 Apker Award 06/14/96 Irving Langmuir Prize 06/14/96 J.J. Sakurai Prize 06/14/96 Will Allis Prize 06/20/97 Dissertation in Beam Physics 06/14/96 Lilienfeld Prize 06/14/96 Arthur Schawlow Prize 06/14/96 Biological Physics Prize 06/20/97 Bouchet Award 06/14/96 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award 06/14/96 Leo Szilard Award 06/14/96 Frank Isakson Prize 06/20/97 Herbert P. Broida Prize 06/14/96 Onsager Prize 06/14/96 John Wheatley Award 06/14/96 Dissert. in Nuclear Physics Award 06/20/97

7 APS News May 1996 THE BACK PAGE Universities and Government — A Shared Commitment Ernest J. Moniz, Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology Policy

merica’s colleges and universities education, the two sides of the knowledge specific program choices are set. Many Aare unmatched in their capacity to coin. Knowledge is the key resource of variables, including overall performance provide advanced education in science the information age. Thus, our knowledge of the economy, will guide the and engineering and to enrich it through institutions — schools, colleges and uni- prioritization process. Still, one cannot forefront research. The tight weave of versities — will become increasingly central ignore the potential magnitude of the research and education, fostered by both to our society’s collective prosperity shortfall and thus the need for the re- Executive policy for half a century and and health and to each individuals’ ability search community to articulate clearly supported through a robust bipartisan to prosper and grow within that societal the long term value to society of the re- commitment, has served the nation structure. That is, knowledge inequities search and education investment. In exceptionally well. The nation’s will correlate more and more directly with addition, irrespective of the eventual out- investment has been repaid many times economic inequities and social inequities. come, spending projections will affect over by a scientific enterprise without Colleges and universities are not so much year-by-year decisions, such as the con- peer. The expression of scientific jewels in some mythical national crown, struction of major new facilities in research in technological innovation has but rather an integral part of the crown balance with ongoing research. For ex- accounted for a major part of our itself. ample, the NIH budget proposal contains economic growth, has underpinned our significant funding for a new clinical national security, and has promoted our Needless to say, this framework of val- center, a vital facility for sustaining clini- effective pathways for social mobility for ability to understand, prevent and treat ues and policies must be translated into cal research. The DOE will be faced significant numbers. The discussions of disease. The promise of science and specifics. I will comment briefly on shortly with decisions about world-class recent years about the job futures of sci- technology is far from exhausted, but some of the research and education neutron sources and about participation entists and engineers should not cloud will be realized only through continued issues directly relevant to the govern- in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in the basic fact that such careers remain strengthening of our world-class ment-academia partnership. the midst of considerable budget uncer- relatively very attractive for both com- scientific enterprise. The bedrock of Research tainty. The necessity for these and other bined prosperity and personal that enterprise is our system of research The major part of the basic research major facilities in advancing the scien- satisfaction. More of our young people colleges and universities. portfolio, most especially research per- tific frontier will have to be evaluated deserve the opportunity. Recent data formed at universities, has traditionally against the size and scope of ongoing provided by the National Action Coun- Why then are the universities and the gov- core programs. It is clear that scientific cil for Minorities in Engineering indicate ernment-university partnership under been an area of bipartisan common ground. Federal support has grown excellence will not be sustained long in that only 12 percent of our high school considerable stress? Clearly, we are deal- any discipline without a focus on the graduates have the mathematics and sci- ing with the uncertainty engendered by steadily, but government plans for re- ducing overall domestic discretionary most important scientific questions and ence background to pursue a technical significant change. The uncertainties of re- the tools to address them. Only a dia- degree. The number is only half that search funding are driven by the need to spending and the restructuring of many R&D-intensive industries have left uni- log between government and the for underrepresented minorities, groups eliminate the federal budget deficit, a defi- American science community will strike that already provide almost one-third of cit whose rapid growth in the previous versities extremely uncertain about future support. The most recent “hard a scientifically and politically sustainable the college age population. We need to decade constrains investment today. The balance. A coalition of academic, in- develop and utilize fully our human capi- proper scope and scale of government are, data” are those in the administration’s dustrial, and government leaders must tal. A growing education gap will to many, uncertain with the end of the Cold FY 1997 funding request. The figure speak for the future in emphasizing the eventually be even more damaging to War and with the emergence of highly com- reproduces the AAAS R&D highlights need for stable investment in research the social fabric than the budget gap with petitive economies in Europe and Asia. The shown in the March 22, 1996 issue of and education. which we struggle today. information revolution has many institutions Science. As is evident, priorities have uncertain about their future roles in society. been set in a highly constrained bud- Education The Clinton administration is actively sup- The challenge of broadly expanding edu- get environment such that most The information age will change both porting programs to improve access. The cation beyond the “three R’s” into science programs which draw heavily upon and the process and the requirements of ad- programs range from increased Pell and technology confronts our schools. Un- support academic researchers would vanced education. With regard to grants to direct student loans to tax de- questionably, reexamination and increase. For example, the budgets of process, it is easy to imagine radical ductions for higher education. However, reestablishment of the 50-year-old govern- NSF and NIH, the bellwethers for uni- departures in the cost-effective trans- partnership among universities is essen- ment-university compact is called for. versity support, are proposed for 4.6 percent and 3.9 percent increases, re- mission of knowledge, simultaneously tial. Continued cost containment by The Clinton administration’s posture, at spectively. Most of the mission agency posing both leadership opportunity and colleges and universities is a major re- a general level, is rather straightforward. basic science programs are supported threat for colleges and universities. sponsibility to society at large. Further First, the health and future of our research fairly well. For example, the fusion With regard to requirements, a lively significant cost escalation or retrenchment colleges and universities must be nur- program, which suffered a major re- debate centers on K-12 education and from a commitment to our ethnically and tured by government, with strong duction from 1995 levels, is proposed the need for serious mathematics and economically diverse population will ex- research programs revealing nature’s se- for restructuring, with a stronger em- science standards. Higher entrance and tract too high a societal price in the crets, stimulating innovation, and phasis on basic science and graduation standards may be the most knowledge-based economy of the next yielding world-class scientists and engi- engineering. An obvious exception is direct route for colleges and universi- century. neers. This policy has been supported the substantial drop in space science ties to affect standards implementation. eloquently in recent months by CEO’s funding. However, this simply reflects It may be time for the faculties of our There are numerous other issues, such as of major corporations and by many of the nearing completion of two large colleges and universities to reexamine accountability in the award and manage- the nation’s governors. Second, the uni- construction projects (AXAF and science “standards” in higher education. ment of research funds, and the rethinking versities and their faculties must help CASSINI). In fact, the space science Thirty years ago, virtually all of the lead- of university-national laboratory relation- define and then meet important new re- budget sustains all the science missions ing institutions had a serious science ships, which deserve elaboration. Some sponsibilities and obligations to a society and increases the funds for data analy- requirement. We would be hard- of the partnership issues touched on are in change. These comprise the shared sis. All in all, the proposal clearly pressed to make that claim today, a time in productive dialog, while others await commitment. supports the high investment priority when science and technology will more creative investments in change. A attached to basic research and its con- surely be of more importance in our shared commitment is part of the answer The rationale for this position is not comitant educational function in the children’s lives. in all cases. A secure sense of the future is complicated. As President Clinton said universities. the needed backdrop to investments in re- in his 1996 State of the Union address: These questions are clearly challeng- search and education, investments whose We live in an age of possibility. A hundred The years beyond 1997 are very un- ing ones for higher education. return is typically many years off. Govern- years ago, we moved from farm to factory. clear for science budgets. Simple However, the critical shared responsi- ment and academia must articulate together Now we move to an age of technology, arithmetic highlights the issue. If total bility in higher education is that of the strong link between these investments information and global competition. These domestic discretionary spending, about providing access. The importance of and the bright future we can anticipate in changes have opened vast new opportu- $250 billion, were frozen for five years, this collective responsibility follows di- the age of possibility. nities for our people, but they have also spending power would presumably rectly from the central role of knowledge presented them with stiff challenges.” decline by about 15-20 percent, or about institutions in defining both societal and Ernie Moniz is a long-time member and $40 billion, at the end of that period. individual opportunity. While this is true fellow of the APS. He was Chair of the That reality drives an investment agenda Clearly, neither the overall balance be- for all fields of study, science and engi- Physics Department at MIT before as- with a strong emphasis on research and tween different parts of the budget nor neering careers have proved to be very suming his present position with OSTP.

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