May 2003 NEWS Volume 12, No.5 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews

New DOE Security Guidelines Impose Dear Congressman... Restrictions on National Labs By Pamela Zerbinos

New interim security guidelines Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley would be applied to us.” outlined by the US Department of National Laboratory, the National Re- The prior exemption meant that Energy (DOE) are causing upheavals newable Energy Laboratory, the labs did not have to collect and in the way some national laborato- Princeton Plasma Physics Labora- report certain information on ries handle their identification and tory, Stanford Linear Accelerator foreigners, including biographical and access procedures. The guidelines Center, and the Thomas Jefferson personal data; passport and visa in- went into effect on April 4. The re- National Accelerator Laboratory. formation; the purpose of the visit; strictive measures taken include tying These were exempt from much of the actual areas and subjects to be laboratory identification and access the previous DOE directives con- visited, and the host and sponsoring cards to visa status, as well as rescind- cerning foreign visitors and organization of the visit. Under the ing the exemptions granted to seven assignments, because the work they new policy, this information is now to national labs due to the unclassified perform is not classified. “Everyone be collected and entered into DOE’s nature of their work. Final regula- expects a higher security standard Foreign Access Central Tracking Sys- tions are expected to be approved when you’re designing nuclear weap- tem (FACTS). This translates into later this year. ons,” said John Womersley, interviewing every foreign visitor to The seven labs directly affected co-spokesperson for Fermilab’s the seven labs to ensure that the DOE

by the new guidelines are Ames Labo- DZero experiment. “What we were has their information on file. It also Photo Credit: Jessica Clark ratory, Fermi National Accelerator unprepared for is that this standard necessitates issuing new ID badges Harvey Gould of Clark University (standing) offers some tied to their visas; when the visa ex- advice to William Jensen of UMass-Boston, who is preparing to write to his pires, so does the ID badge. Scientists representatives in Congress using special software provided by the APS Office March Meeting Prize and Award Recipients must go through the interviewing pro- of Public Affairs. More than 2000 letters to Congress were written by attendees at the March meeting. See GUIDELINES on page 2 Co-Author Question Dominates Ethics Panel Discussion

Last year’s high-profile cases of tific ethics at the APS March Meet- that dominated the audience con- scientific fraud may have been ing in Austin, Texas. The panelists cerns and subsequent discussion resolved, but the aftershocks are provided a broad overview of the Pierre Hohenberg (Yale Univer- still rippling through the physics various issues involved, but it was sity) distinguished between two community, as became apparent the question of the responsibility types of ethical issues: those re- during a panel discussion on scien- of co-authors in cases of fraud lated to the applications or misuse of science, and those related to the Photo Credit: Eller’s Photography 2003 process of scientific research Prize and Award recipients at the March meeting gather together for a group (scientific misconduct). “Physicists photo with sponsors of two of the awards. They are listed left to right, with an “Left-Handed” Materials Could asterisk denoting the sponsors. Front row: Phaedon Avouris, Ivan Schuller, Jason have led the way in questioning Alicea, Giacinto Scoles, Arthur Ashkin, Andrew Lovinger, Dhiraj Sardar. Back Make Perfect Lenses the ethics of such scientific appli- row: Boris Altshuler, Ruud Tromp, Kennedy Reed, C. Paul Robinson, Kevin cations as nuclear weapons, for Lehmann, Steven White, Russell Donnelly (*), Pierre Hohenberg, George Flynn, The controversy over whether Snell’s law—the index of refraction example,” he said. But most of the Leon Radziemski (*). left-handed materials (LHMs) can of the material is negative. Permit- speakers agreed that in the past, be realized appears to be resolved, tivity (epsilon) is a measure of a the physics community has felt thanks to new experimental results material’s response to an applied overly secure in the fact that, reported by speakers at the APS electric field, while permeability because of its reliance on repro- Physics Hits the Road at March Meeting in Austin, Texas. (mu) is a measure of the material’s ducibility of results, physics would LHMs are defined as materials with response to an applied magnetic remain largely unaffected by the a negative index of refraction. LHMs field. type of blatant misconduct that Colorado Conference bend microwave and light beams the It is rare for a material to have plagued biomedicine in the 1980s By Pamela Zerbinos opposite way to ordinary lenses, and either negative permittivity or nega- and 1990s. because they can, in principle, fo- tive permeability, much less both, Then came allegations that In late February, all roads led hands-on physics experiments to cus light without the need for and until a few years ago, no such Victor Ninov (Lawrence Berkeley to Fort Collins, Colorado, as local communities, neighboring curved surfaces, they have the po- materials were known nor thought National Laboratory) had fabri- around 5,000 members of the states, and even foreign coun- tential of making the “perfect” lens likely to exist. They certainly do not cated data to support the general public and 55 mobile tries. and entirely new classes of elec- occur naturally. But in 1999, John discovery of Element 118. It was physics program coordinators “We don’t do a show,” Jones tronic and optical devices. Pendry of Imperial College showed See ETHICS PANEL on page 3 from 38 institutions descended said. “We want to give folks a In 1968 Victor Veselago of the how negative-epsilon materials on Colorado State University for sense that science is something Lebedev Physics Institute in could be built from rows of wires the Little Shop of Physics open they can do.” Moscow argued that a material with and negative-mu materials from ar- house and the first “Physics on Once a year, the program also both a negative electric permittivity rays of tiny resonant rings. His HHighlights the Road” conference. hosts an open house. The first and magnetic permeability would material consisted of The event began on February year, around 200 people came; result in novel optical phenomena alternating layers of metal rods and 22, with Colorado’s 12th annual this year, more than 5,000 stu- when light passed through it, includ- “C” shaped rings lodged on a hon- Little Shop of Physics open dents, children and parents ing a reverse Doppler shift (wherein eycomb array of printed circuit 8 The Back house. The Little Shop of Physics strolled through two ballrooms the light from a source coming to- boards. Following his prescriptions, Page was started in 1992 by Brian and looked at 150 physics dis- ward you would be reddened and Sheldon Schultz and David Smith Can Title IX Do for Women In Science Jones, who hits the road once a plays that had been set up by the light from a receding source of the University of and Engineering week or so with a troupe of un- Jones and 20 CSU science majors. would be blue-shifted), reverse Cer- California, San Diego, succeeded in What It Has Done for Women In Sports? dergraduate students and takes See COLORADO on page 4 enkov radiation, and an inverse See LENSES on page 5 by Debra R. Rolison 2 May 2003 NEWS

This Month in Physics History May 1888: Tesla Patents “Electric Transmission of Power” “DNA has a water layer under prac- behavior of left-handed materials, tically any conditions. We have Dallas Morning News, March 10, 2003 systematically changed the number of ✶✶✶ Electric power is an aspect generators, motors and trans- water layers and shown that the con- “There are media people ‘embed- of modern life that most of us formers, eventually holding ductivity arises from water molecules, ded’ with the teams that are going to take for granted. And while the 40 basic US patents. These not the electrons on the DNA.” do the (weapons of mass destruc- general public associates were bought by George —George Gruner, UCLA, on whether tion) inspection assessment. Any Thomas Edison with its inven- Westinghouse, who was deter- DNA conducts electricity, New good police reporter knows how not tion and the development of mined to supply America with Scientist, March 29, 2003 to be fooled by faked evidence.” transmission processes, the the Tesla system, which even- ✶✶✶ —Jay Davis, Livermore National Labo- methods used today are largely tually won out as the superior “Manned programs are exorbi- ratory (retired), on how credible the evidence due to the efforts of Nikola technology and became the tantly expensive. If we are serious coming out of Iraq will be, San Francisco Tesla. standard power in the 20th about doing science, we cannot spend Chronicle, March 25, 2003 Tesla was born in July 1856 century. bladeless turbine, wireless as much on manned programs.” ✶✶✶ in Smiljan, Lika, a region of After receiving a patent on the communications, wireless trans- —Vernon Ehlers, US Congress (R-MI), “The fact that there appears to Croatia, the son of a Serbian electric transmission of power in mission of electrical energy, and on the space program, New Scientist, be an angular cutoff hints at a spe- Orthodox priest. He studied at May of 1888, Tesla subsequently remote control. Yet even today, March 8, 2003 cial distance scale in the universe.” the Polytechnic Institute in demonstrated alternating current most history books credit ✶✶✶ —Gary Hinshaw, Goddard Space Graaz, Austria, and the Univer- electricity at the World Columbian Guglielmo Marconi with inven- “You’ve got regular stuff doing Flight Center, on whether the universe sity of Prague, initially intending Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He tion of the radio, and many funky things.” is shaped like a donut, New York to specialize in physics and then designed the first hydro- electric utilities are still referred —Andrew Houck, MIT, on the Times, March 11, 2003 mathematics, against his electric powerplant in to as the “Edison Company”, family’s desire that he Niagara Falls in 1895, cul- even though they use the Tesla- MEMBERS GET ESTATE PLANNING TIPS AT MARCH MEETING follow his father in an minating his lifelong Westinghouse alternating ecclesiastical career. dream. current system—omissions that Board-certified estate planning and probate attorneys Kathleen Ford Bay and Bethann Eccles of the Austin, Texas firm Hilgers & Watkins P.C. presented But he soon became In 1899 he built an have caused some Tesla advo- an informational session on estate planning at the APS March meeting. Topics fascinated with elec- experimental station in cates to dub him the “forgotten covered included the importance of having a will, as well as proper planning tricity, and began his Colorado Springs to father of technology.” Tesla him- to ensure the passing of assets to beneficiaries without severe taxation. Those who missed the meeting can get copies of the handout that was distributed by career as an electrical experiment with high- self said of the skeptics of his contacting Sarah Davis at [email protected], or 301-209-3223. engineer with a Hun- voltage, high frequency day, “The present is theirs. The garian telephone electricity and other phe- future, for which I really worked, company in 1881, which nomena, where he is mine.” GUIDELINES from page 1 is where he first devised the generated and sent out wire- For all his (sung and unsung) concept of the induction motor. less waves without wires for miles. accomplishments, Tesla was a cess all over again to acquire a new The passes will only be valid through In February 1882 he discov- This is also where he made what bona fide eccentric, and his odd ID badge. the next working day, when a regular ered the effects of a rotating he regarded as his most important habits became more apparent as “This creates a problem when ID card will be issued. magnetic field, which has found discovery: terrestrial stationary he aged. He always wore white you have people who go back and In the meantime, representatives widespread application in waves. He proved that the Earth gloves and rarely shook hands forth regularly and who arrive of the international working groups electrical devices that use alter- could be used as a conductor and because of progressive germ after hours,” said Womersley, “par- at CDF and DZero have sent a letter nating current. would be as responsive as a tun- phobia. He never stayed in a ticularly on large collaborations of protest to Raymond Orbach, He spent some time with the ing fork to electrical vibrations of hotel room or floor whose num- like DZero which have many West- director of the DOE Office of Continental Edison Company in a certain frequency. ber was divisible by three, feared ern European scientists visiting the Science, outlining the practical diffi- Paris designing dynamos, and in Tesla invented the Tesla coil in pearl earrings worn by women, lab for a few days at a time every culties the new policies will cause for 1883 he built a prototype of the 1891, which is widely used today and insisted on large numbers few months.” Scientists from coun- many collaborators and the reper- induction motor and ran it in radio and television sets and of napkins at meals, which he tries such as Great Britain, France cussions they may cause throughout successfully. other electronic equipment. used to meticulously polish his and Germany do not need visas in the international scientific commu- He came to the US the Financially supported by J. silverware. At the end of his life order to enter the US; they come nity. Asserting that “the new access following year and took a job in Pierpont Morgan, he built the he made strange claims about with a visa waiver, good for only regulations introduce discrimination Thomas Edison’s lab, but the two Wardenclyffe laboratory and its death rays that could make 90 days, and hence need a new and instability,” the letter asked men quickly found themselves famous transmitting tower in entire armies vanish in seconds waiver every time they come to the Orbach to “do your utmost to main- at odds over direct current (DC) Shoreham, Long Island between and communication with other US This means reapplying for labo- tain the excellent working conditions versus alternating current (AC). 1901 and 1905, 187 feet high and planets. ratory identification on every trip. we have enjoyed at Fermilab, and to Edison espoused DC, which capped by a 68-foot dome. It was He died virtually penniless on Furthermore, “They arrive respect the international standards flows continuously in one direc- intended to be the first broadcast January 7, 1943, in the Hotel after-hours and on weekends for access to pure research labora- tion, whereas AC typically system, transmitting both signals New Yorker where he lived for because that’s usually when they tories.” According to Womersley, changes direction 50 or 60 times and power without wires to any the last ten years of his life. Nine can get cheap flights,” says Orbach has acknowledged receipt per second. With a transformer, point on the globe. The magnify- months after his death, the US Womersley. “But there’s not going of the letter and attempted to the AC voltage can be stepped ing transmitter—the largest Tesla Supreme Patent Court deter- to be anyone here at those times address these concerns, but his de- up, and the current correspond- coil ever built—was capable of mined that Tesla, not Marconi, to issue them ID cards.” gree of success is not known. ingly stepped down, to minimize generating 300,000 watts of power should be considered the father At Fermilab, ID badges grant “We’re mostly concerned about the resistive heating losses in the and reportedly could produce a of wireless transmission and access not only to the site itself, but precedent this sets, and the message it transmission lines over long dis- bolt of lightning 130 feet long. But radio, a somewhat belated` vic- to many of the buildings and experi- sends regarding longer-term policy,” tances. In a DC system, line Tesla fell out with Morgan before tory for the deceased inventor. ment halls. Fermilab is attempting to said Womersley. Because the guidelines losses required additional the tower was completed, and the solve the problem of after-hours are only in effect until final regulations power stations at two-mile in- unfinished structure was demol- Further Reading: access by issuing a visitor’s pass to all are approved, he hopes the final draft tervals. ished in 1917. Margaret Cheney, ed. Tesla: users who previously held a Fermilab will include the exemptions rescinded Tesla developed polyphase Among Tesla’s other discover- Man Out of Time. (Touchstone ID card. If a user is a member of the by the interim guidelines. Interested alternating current systems of ies were the fluorescent light, the Books, NY 2001). CDF or DZero collaborations, he or parties can access the interim guide- she will be issued a pre-encoded card lines online at http://www.ig.doe.gov/ allowing access to those experiments. pdf/ig-0579.pdf.

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Number Four Atomic Force Microscope (G. Binnig, C. Quate, and Ch. Gerber, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56 (1986), 930), 3469 citations drawing in the statistically struc- provide images of a broad spectrum Of course, the reviewers even- and the STM already worked, being This is the seventh in a tured ceiling. It was the drawing of of both conducting and insulating tually conceded the point, but in the biggest step in this direction. The series of articles by James Riordon. an AFM with a tip mounted on a materials. retrospect their skepticism was at AFM, however, broadened this in The first article appeared in the cantilever,” says Binnig, “I talked “Basically,” says Cal Quate, least partly justified by challenges several ways. A large community can November 2002 issue. The articles with Cal [Quate] and Christoph leader of the group at Stanford the authors faced in the years operate the AFM on a wide range of are archived under “Special [Gerber] about it… It appeared where Binnig began developing the following publication of their samples with the option, besides Features” on the APS News online that nobody had asked the ques- AFM during his sabbatical from notable PRL. Early AFM images of measuring tunnel currents and web site. tion before whether one could IBM, “it’s a phonograph that’s scaled atomic-scale structure, it turned doing tunneling spectroscopy, or Nineteen eighty-six was a busy measure the force between two down to look at atoms.” In fact, out, proved to be deceptive. “I was doing force spectroscopy.” year for Gerd Binnig: the Zurich- single atoms. What should the in- Christoph Gerber scavenged a always wondering why the surfaces “We developed the AFM solely based IBM physicist was blessed with strument look like; how should it portion of the first AFM from a investigated by AFM looked atomi- to get atomic resolution on non- birth of a son, jointly won Nobel Prize function? Christoph then built the commercially-produced phono- cally very ordered, but very conductive surfaces,” adds Gerber, in physics with Heinrich Rohrer for first AFM at IBM. He was mainly graph. “The first cantilever spring disordered when studied by STM,” “That was the idea, and that took the invention of the scanning tun- working at IBM, I mainly in was a gold foil with a glued-on tip,” recalls Binnig. “The explanation is many years [following publication neling microscope (the prize was also Stanford.” explains Gerber, “and that was a that many tip atoms of the AFM of the letter]. In the meantime was shared with Ernst Ruska for his The AFM that Binnig envisioned diamond from an old record player image the atomic structure of the many researchers picked up the work on electron optics), and pub- is a conceptually simple device; a needle, which I went down to Palo surface. The result is an overlay of simplicity of the device and devel- lished a highly cited PRL succinctly sharp probe of silicon, carbon, or Alto and bought.” Gerber crushed many atomic images and defects oped the AFM into this versatile entitled Atomic Force Microscope. some other material is mounted on the diamond, and selected one of average out, but the periodicity instrument that we have today. It’s “Surprising, isn’t it,” is Binnig’s under- a cantilever spring and dragged the sharpest fragments to serve as remains… it took seven years to incredible what you can do with stated reply when asked to reflect across the surface of a sample. In the their first probe tip. get [true] atomic resolution. Today it.” In recent years, AFMs have on the events that surrounded the one of its most common operating Although the AFM is now this is under control.” been improved and modified to the development of one of the most ver- modes, a feedback system adjusts widely recognized as an atomic For the most part, the authors point that they can probe soft, bio- satile analytical tools to appear on the distance between the sample and resolution microscope, it was not note, AFMs are rarely pushed to their logical samples as well as the the research scene in a century. “It the probe tip to maintain a constant immediately clear that the AFM ultimate resolution. Much of their rugged crystals that were the fo- was a very exciting year for me work- deflection of the cantilever as it would be capable of detecting the popularity as analytical tools, and cus of early studies. Other ing in this wonderful group in traverses the sample, and the struc- detail that Binnig, Gerber and therefore many of the letter’s cita- versions detect chemical proper- Stanford.” ture of the surface contour is Quate first proposed. “The fact that tions, result from the incredible ties, respond to magnetic fields, or Binnig clearly recalls the mo- deduced by monitoring signals in the ‘atomic’ was in the title implied that versatility of the microscope in a measure frictional forces on a ment that the inspiration for the feedback loop. The interaction be- we would see atoms,” says Quate. wide variety of fields. “It is minute scale, to name a few of the AFM came to him. “After the STM tween the probe and sample may be Initially, however, the PRL obvious that investigating all kinds seemingly endless AFM variations. was working I was torturing my mediated by various forces—elec- reviewers dwelt on the lower resolu- of materials on the atomic scale, or “When you look at instrumen- brain for many years how to get tric, magnetic, van Der Waals— tion scans reported in the letter, and close to that, makes a big difference,” tation,” Gerber adds, “it’s stuff like atomic resolution also on insula- depending on the sample material were doubtful of the ultimate per- says Binnig, “Seeing is believing. deep space, like the Hubble and tors.” (STMs are limited to imaging and the specific scanning mode formance that the authors predicted Understanding the structure of mat- all that, which contribute to the conducting samples.) “I tried so selected. Unlike the STM, which for AFMs. “We argued with the re- ter on that scale, and being able to understanding of our universe. many ideas, none of them was monitors fluctuations in currents viewers,” laughs Quate, “it took us a manipulate it by the AFM or other What we’ve done with the STM and promising. One day I was lying on flowing between the probe tip and a long time to convince them that it means in a controlled, ‘seeing’ way AFM helped to open up the the couch and suddenly saw a conductive sample, the AFM can should be published.” opens a new world. That was clear, See PRL on page 6

ETHICS PANEL from page 1 followed closely by similar allega- science, believes the APS action “Given the importance of the reason why the Berkeley commit- dent confirmation within a collabo- tions of data falsification against was necessary, since a few federal result, it was incredible that, prior tee ruffled feathers with its sharp ration provides the best guarantee Henrik Schön, a materials scientist agencies—most notably Health to publication, no one had looked rebuke of Ninov’s co-authors, that a fraudulent result is not pub- at Lucent/Bell Labs. Two separate and Human Services and the at the raw data for the particular while the Lucent committee lished—“something that could have investigative committees were DOE—have not yet published events claimed to make sure that received criticism from a few indi- been done by the Element 118 col- formed to determine whether implementation plans called for in there had been no errors ” said viduals for not chastising Schön’s laboration, but was not.” The same fraud had been committed. the guidelines. Also, there are rare Trilling of the Element 118 case. senior co-authors more directly. considerations apply not only to Fortunately for the committee institutions that don’t receive fed- “Extraordinary results demand Because of these differences, fraud but also to sloppy work or to members, there were federal guide- eral funding and may not have extra ordinary supporting evi- there was general agreement errors in data analysis. lines already in place to assist them policies in place for research dence, and the burden of proof for among the speakers that the OSTP While the speakers agreed that, in their deliberations. Formally misconduct. an unexpected or major discovery guidelines should not be amended in the end, the scientific system issued in December 2000 by the LBL’s George Trilling—a former is much greater than for a routine to address the co-author issue. It worked, several emphasized that White House Office of Science and APS president who was a member measurement.” He added that jour- is an issue more appropriately left many younger colleagues of the Technology Policy (OSTP), the of the Ninov investigative commit- nal referees “could and should” to the scientific community to perpetrators of the fraud were guidelines focus on fabrication, tee—gave an overview of the facts help enforce this principle. resolve, and professional societies hurt by the misconduct. In the falsification and plagiarism. The surrounding the case, and specu- Yet determining co-author like the APS have a vital role to play Schön case, for example, there alleged misconduct must have lated on possible motivating responsibility is a complex issue, by fostering further discussion and were a good number of young con- been done “intentionally, know- factors for the misconduct, includ- due in large part to the different setting their own internal policies densed matter physicists who were ingly or recklessly,” and be ing the presence of a highly cultures of the various subfields of to address potential fraud. establishing their careers by build- supported by a preponderance of competitive situation, with several physics. For example, high energy “The federal policy represents ing on what they thought were the evidence. labs vying to be the first to and nuclear physics are typically the law and it carries with it legal favorable results, and they re- Although the APS adopted announce the discovery. characterized by massive projects repercussions for research miscon- ceived a very rude jolt when it guidelines for professional conduct Malcolm Beasley (Stanford Uni- with hundreds of collaborators. A duct,” says Bienenstock. “Ethics go turned out to be a house of cards. as early as 1991, relatively little versity), who chaired the Lucent typical paper may have as many as beyond the law. You don’t want to “For the most part, the system attention was paid to the matter in investigative committee, reported 500 co-author, each of whom has limit things so much that you served science well, but there has the physics community until that his committee found the guide- made a significant contribution to hinder good science from been long-standing criticism of the recently. As a result of the Ninov lines particularly well-designed a small part of the overall project. being performed.” process by which we conduct the and Schön cases, the Society and useful. But the central issue “We have to feel responsible However, despite the business of science,” said Beasley. revised its guidelines (See APS that sparked the most heated de- and be held accountable,” said community’s best efforts to guard “It’s important to understand how News, January 2003) and called for bate during the subsequent Beasley. “But I don’t think there’s against misconduct, “With a suffi- much science has changed, and how universal adoption of the OSTP discussion was the responsibilities an easy checklist; the guidelines ciently motivated and capable those changes are demanding a re- guidelines. Arthur Bienenstock of co-author. In both the Berkeley should not be overly prescriptive. hacker, fraud is always a possibility,” examination of professional ethics. (Stanford University), who was and Lucent cases, there were ex- We must leave room for discretion, said Trilling. He insisted that the in- We have not become less ethical, but instrumental in the development of perienced, respected co-authors because we can’t define the issue dependent confirmation of scientific the circumstances under which we those OSTP guidelines during his who nevertheless failed to detect in such a way that would apply to results is still the best guarantee work have changed. We need to tenure as its associate director for the fabrications. all individual cases.” This is one against misconduct, and indepen- adapt accordingly.” 4 May 2003 NEWS LETTERS

Is It Legal to Attend a Conference in Cuba? Article Disgraceful, Gratuitous, and Unnecessary Don’t Forget Sandia In a Back Page article [APS Embargo, you may not spend Who is the political activist that In the March 2003 APS News, I Harold Agnew’s letter in the News, August/September 2002] money there unless granted per- wrote the article: “President Signs find the remarks about the Presi- March, 2003 issue regarding the entitled “Engaging Cuban Physi- mission to do so by the Office of NSF Authorization Bill; White dent “(Bush, that is)” in the article current uproar over the University cists Through APS/CPS Foreign Assets Control of the House Suppresses the Evidence— on the NSF Authorization Bill of California’s management con- Partnership”, Irving Lerch writes Department of Treasury. Searching for an elusive photo of gratuitous and unnecessary. Let’s tract for Los Alamos National of a meeting of APS officers with Upon obtaining such permis- Bush with former APS President Bill keep APS News a newsletter about Laboratory contain two items that representatives of the Cuban sion, you may make appropriate Brinkman”? physics and not a political satire require comment. Physical Society (CPS), at which travel arrangements through a li- Is it your opinion that the state- magazine. (This is not a liberal- First, there are three weapons “an agreement was made to orga- censed agent who is permitted to ments made reflect the opinion of conservative issue. A comment laboratories that have “the re- nize joint meetings in Cuba,” one charter flights from the US to Cuba the majority of APS members? about Clinton and Monica sponsibility for maintaining the of which appears to be the VIII via Miami, LAX or JFK in New York. Here is one APS member that be- Lewinsky would be equally inap- integrity of our nation’s nuclear Inter-American Conference on The Education meeting you lieves the statements made are propriate.) deterrent”, not two as Director Physics Education, to be held in refer to is sponsored, in part, by insulting to all responsible and Joe Palmieri Agnew implies. He omits Sandia Havana on July 7-11, 2003. IUPAP and therefore every bona clear thinking Americans. Is that Oberlin, Ohio National Laboratories (SNL), I cannot tell from the article fide scholar qualifies for travel to article somehow supposed to help which along with LANL and whether American scientists may Cuba to attend this meeting under the APS? Please keep your personal Editor’s Note: APS News is not Lawrence Livermore National lawfully travel to Cuba to partici- the provisions of a General License politics out of our paper. Either a politically partisan publication. We Laboratory (LLNL) have this ob- pate. I am a physicist at the granted to all US participants in represent us accurately or step would have been delighted to print a ligation. LANL and LLNL are University of Wisconsin who is meetings sponsored by interna- down. That was a disgrace. picture of President Bush and APS responsible for the “physics pack- active in the “Wonders of Physics” tional organizations of which the Elgin A. Anderson President Brinkman on our front page. age” portion of our weapons, but outreach program, and have a pro- US is a member but which is not Logan, Utah We continue to be puzzled as to why SNL is responsible for just about fessional interest in attending this headquartered in the US. ✶✶✶ that picture was not made available. everything else, from arming, fir- conference. Thus, all members of APS may ing & fusing systems, neutron Can I lawfully go? attend the meeting and we will generators and parachutes to Could my wife lawfully go? assist in making the arrangements. Visa Problem Simply Solved providing training courses for the Jim Reardon We have engaged the services of a military personnel who would ul- The Visa problem [front page, colleagues in biology to abandon Madison, Wisconsin licensed agent. timately be responsible for their APS News, March 2003] is indeed evolution for creationism. And fi- We can even make arrange- use. a serious one. nally, let us assure the President that Editor’s Note: APS Director of ments for spouses who wish to Whereas LANL and LLNL Might I suggest a simple solu- nuclear warfare is appropriate for International Affairs Irving Lerch participate in a cultural exchange competed for the physics pack- tion. First let the APS loudly dealing with evil empires. [[email protected] ]replies: coincident with the meeting. We ages of each new system that disavow the Big Bang theory. Fol- Leonard Yarmus Every American resident or will make the necessary arrange- came along, SNL worked with low this with a plea to our Oakland Gardens, NY citizen has the right to travel to ments and provide all the details both of them to provide Cuba. However, because of the US you will need to make the trip. deployable weapons. And since Omission Produces Perplexity SNL was a GOCO operated by Female Student Deserves Credit AT&T until the early nineties, and While I was quite pleased to see credit for her efforts. My interest In the “Physics News in 2002” this term. From then (Phys. Rev. Lett. Lockheed Martin now, clearly in the “Physics News in 2002” in this is due to the fact that Ms. section in APS News, February 82,2923 (1999)) until 2002, they having a different contract man- section a report on the discovery Hamilton, while pursuing her PhD, 2003, the item: “Ballistic magne- have published at least five papers ager did not cause our nuclear of “A Young Evolving Planetary has also served as a Senior Lec- toresistance (BMR)” in the section on increases of this BMR and deterrent to “suffer a very seri- System”, I was also a bit dismayed turer in our department at “Condensed Matter/Materials obtained several patents. This is ous setback”. I spent my entire at the credit given for the work. Connecticut College for many Physics” describes an experiment acknowledged by the Buffalo career before retiring at Sandia While it was noted that the discov- years. We have encouraged her in conducted by researchers at group in their publications, and in and during that time, I worked ery was accomplished by “William her graduate work, and are also Buffalo that finds a remarkably particular in their aforementioned with both LANL and LLNL per- Herbst and his colleagues”, I very proud of her accomplish- large resistance change in nickel paper where they give six refer- sonnel, and the fact that we had believe this statement does not give ments. nanocontacts at room tempera- ences to the Madrid work out of a different organizations as con- the proper picture of credit. I also found it very ironic that ture. The publication given as total of fourteen referenced publi- tract managers never even came It is my understanding that the in the same issue “The Back Page” reference is a paper from that cations. up and certainly did nothing to majority of the work in this discov- article by professor Meg Urry group in Phys. Rev. B 66, 020403 In both “Physics News”, and in impede our work. ery is due to Catrina Hamilton, who comments on the continuing (R)(2002). Physics Today, August 2002, page Personally, I take no position is currently finishing her PhD at gender discrimination in physics, We wish to manifest our 9, the BMR progress is presented on whether or not the University Wesleyan with Dr. Herbst as her while a female physicist does not perplexity that the news about BMR as due to the Buffalo team only, of California should continue to advisor. get due recognition for her work is given based on the above quoted overlooking the work of the manage LANL, but my second In fact, the work on KH15D on a previous page of APS News. experiment and publication, since Madrid group, which has never point is that over fifty years of forms the bulk of her thesis. As Michael Monce, this phenomenon was discovered been mentioned in either publica- experience have shown that SNL such I would hope that Ms. New London, Connecticut in Madrid, Spain, in 1999, by the tion. could work seamlessly with the Hamilton would receive proper team lead by N. Garcia, who coined Manuel Nieto-Vesperinas, two other labs, so having differ- Manuel Torres Hernaz ent managers at LANL and LLNL Madrid, Spain shouldn’t be a problem, if that’s what the politicos decide. COLARADO from page 1 Editor’s Note: We thank the authors James A. Borders for pointing out this omission. Albuquerque, NM The 2003 Physics on the Road to use) and practi- conference was the first real cal (how to best chance for Jones to interact with get exhibits from Physics Golden Oldies others who have similar programs. point A to point B), “This is something we’ve talked to the more philo- I enjoyed seeing in the “Zero they’d chosen an obscure and about doing for three years,” said sophical question Gravity” section of the latest APS unremunerative profession. I still Fredrick Stein, director of the APS of why the partici- News the partial text of the “Place- have a set of the original 78 RPM Education and Outreach office. pants do mobile ment” song by Arthur recordings of these songs. “But everyone was so busy with physics shows. Roberts. Actually that song is part Stephen Tamor other things that we didn’t get the though he does have the support There was a sharing session where of a collection of songs by Roberts La Jolla, CA chance. This year, finally, we had of CSU, he often works alone. “I participants did their favorite dem- and collaborators written over the the time to do it. It went wonder- came away with a lot of great ideas. onstration, and a keynote address period 1939 to 1947. They were Editor’’’ s Note: We regret that in the fully.” It really invigorated me.” by Stanford’s Doug Osheroff, who first recorded in December 1947. “Zero Gravity” article, we incorrectly “The conference provided a “There were panels, problem- discussed how his early experience The titles of the other songs are dated the song as 1974 instead of 1947. chance to build a network of people solving sessions, posters, with a traveling physics show was “The Cyclotronist’s Nightmare”, “It interested in taking physics into the networking, everything a confer- a defining moment in his career. Ain’t the Money”, “Take Away Your ERRATUM community,” said David Harris, APS ence should have,” said Stein. “Everyone wants to do it again Billion Dollars”, “Conant, In a page 1 story in the April issue, media liaison. “Previously, most of The sessions were devoted to next year,” said Harris. “APS has Compton, and Baruch”, and “How headlined “APS Units, Members Get More Political”, reference was made to these people were working in isola- demonstrating the many different set up an e-mail listserver to allow Nice To Be a Physicist”. Congressional Fellows working in the approaches to traveling physics ex- participants to keep in contact These songs are a reflection of tion with few resources and little APS Washington office. This is incor- moral support from their universi- periments using interactive over e-mail, and they’re very the sudden emergence of physics into the big time after WW II, and rect. They should have been called ties or departments.” exhibits and mobile demonstration excited about being able to con- Senior Policy Fellows. APS Congres- resonated with young graduate “It was nice to be able to talk shows. Issues covered ranged from tinue to talk to one another about sional Fellows work on Capitol Hill and students like me who had thought shop with people,” Jones said. Al- the mundane (what type of boxes their programs.” do not engage in lobbying. NEWS May 2003 5

LENSES from page 1 in constructing such a material at microwave frequencies, using copper wires and rings. But then a group at the University of Texas, Austin, con- Committee Works on Improving Education tended that the earlier studies of negative refraction failed to ac- Education and outreach are on these issues.” been biology, chem- count for both the group and among the Society’s most impor- Their most re- istry and then phase characteristics of electro- tant areas of activity. A central role cent statement was physics,” said magnetic waves, while another group at the Consejo Superior de UC San Diego Physicists have devised a com- is played by the Committee on created to help Otwell, “but that’s posite material in which the effective electri- Education, which advises the APS physics students starting to change.” Investigaciones Cientificas in cal permittivity, and the magnetic permeabil- Department of Education and explain to others The committee Madrid believed that reports of ity are both negative. This leads to bizarre perfect lensing made false optical properties. a) A top view of the Outreach, provides a source of what they’re doing, usually has nine experimental setup. Microwaves enter a cav- new ideas to improve physics and why. members, six of assumptions about the behavior ity from the left. They fall on the composite of radiation in LHMs. In response, material, consisting of alternating rows of education in America. “We rather of- whom are ap- rods and thin copper patterned disks (1 cm The COE works not only in all ten have parents pointed by the Pendry insisted that both the in diameter). b) A sideview of the micro- waves hitting the composite material. areas of graduate and undergradu- call up and say that President-Elect to Spanish and US studies were ate physics education, but also tries their child wants to staggered three- “seriously in error.” to increase cooperation between be a physicist, but year terms. The Now scientists at several labs the education and physics commu- they don’t have any other three slots have reported the experiments that had observed negative-index nities. One of their key initiatives idea what that Robert Clark are filled by the have verified Pendry’s original find- propagation on microwaves in this area is the support and de- means,” said APS Chair, Past-Chair ing, effectively putting to rest at through a LHM sample. [For back- velopment of the Physics Teachers staff liaison Sue Otwell. and Chair-Elect from the Forum on least that aspect of the ongoing ground and some simple movies, Education Coalition (PhysTEC), The statement, “Why Study Education, which works closely work on LHMs. At the March meet- See http://sagar.physics.neu.edu/]. which aims to bring physics and Physics?” is designed to help with the Committee. ing, two labs reported devising Two theorists present at the meet- education faculty together to everyone answer that question. The COE has supported the LHMs of their own and demonstrat- ing, Clifford Krowne (Naval Research improve the science education of Other APS policy statements APS Department of Education and ing a negative-index behavior Laboratory) and Alexandre future K-12 teachers. sponsored by the COE include the Outreach in its efforts to under- when microwaves were sent into a Pokrovski (University of Utah), af- This initiative, spearheaded by APS Statement on Research in take innovative activities and wedge-shaped LHM “prism.” A firmed that the experimental results the APS under the leadership of Physics Education and Policy State- initiatives. One such is the 2003 group from MIT, represented at the had indeed established the existence Director of Education Fred Stein, ment on Student Assessment and Conference on “Physics on the meeting by Andrew Houck, said of working left handed meta-mate- is a joint effort with the American Accountability. They are currently Road”, which took place in Febru- that microwaves entering an LHM rials but that an earlier criterion Institute of Physics and the Ameri- working on a new statement, ary in Fort Collins, Colorado. sample were, sure enough, thought necessary for LHM behav- can Association of Physics “Physics for Everyone,” with the “This conference,” said Clark, refracted according to Snell’s law, ior—namely that the material’s Teachers, and is funded by both APS Panel on Public Affairs. “brought together the leaders of a but with a negative sign. permittivity and its permeability the National Science Foundation “The COE also actively moni- variety of successful traveling phys- The MIT experiment also pro- both had to be negative—was not and the US Department of Educa- tors educational developments of ics programs conducted by vides evidence that light from a point strictly required. tion (see APS News, October 2002, interest to the physics commu- university physics departments that source can be focused with a flat rect- Potential applications in the http://www.aps.org/apsnews/ nity,” said Clark. Examples include share the excitement of physics angular slab of LHM material. cell-phone industry alone are 1002/100204.html ). the state of federal funding for with children in their geographical Patanjali Parimi (Northeastern many: LHM devices would be “Another important role of the science and mathematics educa- regions.” University) also reported at the handy for filtering, steering, and COE,” said committee chair Rob- tion; the recent National Research Future COE plans include con- meeting that his team of scientists focusing microwaves. ert Beck Clark, a physics professor Council (NRC) report on the role tinuing to work on a proposed at Brigham Young University and of advanced placement physics future APS education award to Texas A&M, “has been the pre- programs; and the current na- reward excellence in educators, as paration of statements on tional initiative to encourage the well as considering the thorny Presidents Three educational matters for consider- study of physics earlier in second- issues of program accreditation ation of the APS council to ary education. and review. represent the official APS position “The traditional sequence has —Pamela Zerbinos INSIDE THE BELTWAY: A Washington Analysis

Energy’s Office of Science an Early War Casualty by Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs

Call it collateral damage or an billion for NASA, leaving $2.8 billion It’s possible that the Department unintended consequence of war. As for DOE and DHS combined. In his could handle such a shortfall by clos- Photo Credit: Lalena Lancaster American tanks began to roll across February Fiscal Year 2004 budget ing one or more of its national Three of the four women to serve in the APS Presidential line got together at the the Middle Eastern sands in March, request, President Bush called for laboratories. Eight years ago, Robert American Center for Physics in College Park, MD, in March to attend the House budgeteers slashed the $273 million for the DHS science and Galvin, former Motorola CEO and meeting of the governing board of the American Institute of Physics (see story on Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year technology programs. And you can chairman of the Task Force on Alter- page 6). Myriam Sarachik (left) is the current APS President. Mildred Dresselhaus 2004 Office of Science by a startling bet that Congress intends to allocate native Futures for the DOE National (center) was President in 1984, and Helen Quinn (right), as the current Presi- dent-elect, will become President in 2004. The fourth woman APS President 22 percent. That reduction accom- at least that much. Which leaves Laboratories, floated the idea during was the late Chien-Shiung Wu, who served in 1975. panied House approval of the DOE Science with a little more than congressional testimony. But it never President’s $726 billion tax cut and $2.5 billion for FY 2004, compared made it out of the hearing room. And was driven, paradoxically, by con- to about $3.3 billion in FY 2003. there’s no reason to believe it will now. the most ardent supply-siders, the the CBO. The Princeton-trained cern that the federal deficit could The Senate Budget Committee, So unless appropriators reverse the civilian discretionary budget simply former chief economist for the White balloon to half a trillion dollars next which passed its own Budget Resolu- course chartered by the Budget Com- has to be squeezed for every nickel. House Council of Economic Advi- year as the Iraq costs mount up. tion, H. Sen. Res. 23, a week after the mittee, the entire physics community The recent report from the Con- sors is a staunch advocate of The House Budget Resolution, or House acted, provides $800 million can expect to share the pain. gressional Budget Office, now in the dynamic scoring and one of the H. Con. Res. 95 if you look for it on more for Function 250. It wouldn’t Despite its rhetorical support for hands of dynamic scorers, offered little architects of the Bush tax cut plan. the congressional web-site, give the Office of Science the needed science, the Administration has been comfort. They are the folks who ar- But tax cutters and dynamic scor- thomas.loc.govthomas.loc.gov, provides $22.8 bil- infusion that the President’s Council noticeably silent about the draconian gue that forecasts of federal revenues ers got a shock. Of the seven lion dollars for Function 250. In of Advisors on Science and Technol- congressional budget plan. Word must take into account the impact of scenarios Holtz-Eakins’ CBO used to budget jargon, that’s the account that ogy (PCAST) implicitly called for last from the Hill is that OMB is not at all tax cuts on the economy. They believe project federal revenues, none pro- covers the National Science Foun- fall, but, at least, it wouldn’t gut the dissatisfied with the House Budget that conventional CBO projections duced a rosy picture. In fact, two dation, most of NASA, the DOE federal government’s support of the Resolution. based on static scoring have consis- gave a more pessimistic result than Office of Science and the new physical sciences. More often than The reason is simple: defense, tently underestimated the flow of the statically scored baseline. Department of Homeland Security’s not, however, the House and Senate homeland security, war and tax cuts money into the federal coffers. So for now, the Hill is taking the science and technology portfolio. split their differences in conference, are the White House priorities, and They got a chance to prove their red ink seriously. And the entire civil- The House Budget Committee set which would leave DOE Science with they’re expensive. With the size of mettle this year, when Congress ian discretionary budget could be on aside $5.5 billion for NSF and $14.5 an 11% or $400 million hole to plug. the deficit beginning to scare even chose Douglas Holtz-Eakin to head the chopping block, science included. 6 May 2003 NEWS

Holographic Optical Tweezers, Stretchers Advance Microfluidics Several key advances in the field chambers. His device has the larg- samples —100 times less than with Applied to fluid samples of the 100-micron size scale. of microfluidics were presented at est degree of integration yet usual methods. In this way, many biomolecules, the holographic Jochen Guck of the University the APS March Meeting in Austin, achieved: a chip with 1000 250- proteins have been transformed multiplexing produces what Grier of Leipzig in Germany has in- Texas. Microfluidics is best picoliter chambers with attendant into crystals, often in the space of calls “optical fractionation,” an op- vented an “optical stretcher,” a described as a traffic control sys- valves for controlling flow and mix- hours rather than days, and some tical equivalent of gel electro- device in which cells moving tem for sampling, sorting, and ing. This makes it ideal for large- species were crystallized for through fluid channels are sorted mixing mesoscopic objects, often batch processing of protein crystal the first time. The crystals can and studied by squeezing the cells. biological, such as cells, pro- growth and other then be bombarded with x-rays Since sick cells are softer (by a fac- teins and chromosomes in a biomolecule studies. in order to determine molecu- tor of 2 to 10) than healthy cells, solvent. Fabricated with many Another device lar structure. the process can differentiate be- of the lithographical tools used in the Caltech lab of The University of Chicago’s tween healthy and sick cells, at a to make electronic integrated Hansen’s colleague, David Grier has created mul- rate of hundreds of cells per hour, circuits, microfluid “labs on a Stephen Quake, tiple optical tweezers using compared to typical rates of 10 chip” manipulate tiny bits of flu- allows the careful holography, in which a beam of cells per day using other ids around networks of Dynamic metering of re- laser light, sent into a hologram, is phoresis, in which electric fields are elastisizing methods, thus reduc- channels using volts, heat or Holographic agents in order to divided into a myriad of sub-beams, used differentially to drive and sepa- ing the need for biopsies requiring Optical Tweezers even peristaltic pressure, where facilitate protein which can independently suspend rate macromolecules. In the more larger tissue samples. The device they are combined and probed with crystallization under a variety of and manipulate numerous tiny ob- flexible Chicago approach, there is might even be able to differenti- diagnostic lasers. conditions, such as pH, viscosity, jects for possible transportation, no viscous gel, and a deft change in ate between ordinary cancer cells Carl Hansen of CalTech has surface tension, or various differ- mixing or reacting. Grier showed the computer generated hologram and mestasizing cancer cells, devised the most complex ent solvents. The device is capable movies of ensembles of or the laser wavelength can quickly which are even softer. Guck sub- microfluidic testbed to date, boast- of producing 144 parallel reac- microspheres moved into patterns bring about sorting of objects rang- jects fluid-borne cells to a pair of ing thousands of micromechanical tions, which can take place using and set to spinning by the holo- ing from the 100-nm size (the scale laser beams which stretch the cells valves and hundreds of addressable only 10nl of precious protein graphically sculpted light fields. size of viruses, for example) up to and probe their elasticity. New Prototype Magnetic Refrigerators Hold Commercial Promise Dresselhaus To Chair AIP The concept of magnetic refrig- Karl Gschneider, Jr., when Aeronau- pensive commercial-grade gado- Governing Board erators is not new, but to date, tics asked his group to design less linium, achieving nearly the same significant progress has been ham- expensive magnetic refrigerants for magnetocaloric effect as the origi- Former APS President Mildred societies. In addition to her term pered by the need for extremely the liquefaction of hydrogen. They nal discovery. Meanwhile, other Dresselhaus, professor of physics as APS President in 1984, she strong magnetic fields. Over the produced materials that were 10% Ames Lab researchers have at MIT, has been selected as the also served as treasurer of the last few years, scientists at two to 30% more efficient than those designed a permanent magnet con- first woman to chair the Govern- National Academy of Sciences separate companies then in use, and figuration capable of producing a ing Board of the American and president of the American have made significant based on this work, stronger magnetic field, an impor- Institute of Physics (AIP). She was Association for the Advance- improvements to the Aeronautics demon- tant advance since the output and only the second woman to serve ment of Science. She was magnetocaloric materi- strated a prototype efficiency of the device is propor- as APS president, director of the DOE als being used and are unit in November tional to the strength of the and will succeed Office of Science, incorporating them into 1996. magnetic field. John A. Armstrong, and is a recipient of working prototypes A second break- Building on its previous demon- who is stepping the National Medal suitable for everyday through occurred stration of a room temperature, down as AIP chair of Science. use, according to speak- in 1997, when Ames superconducting-magnet based after five years. “AIP is impor- ers at the APS March Lab scientists dis- device, Aeronautics Corporation Dresselhaus tant to me and to all Meeting in Austin, covered that the has now demonstrated the first received her PhD physicists. I am very Texas. giant magnet- room temperature, permanent- from the University much looking for- Conventional refrig- ocaloric effect in magnet based rotary magnetic of Chicago in 1958, ward to this new Rotating ring (center), erators work by gadolinium-silicon- refrigerator. The rotary design con- and her physics opportunity to compressing and ex- roughly the diameter of a germanium alloys sists of a wheel containing compact disk, cycles research has pro- serve the physics panding a gas as it flows was two to 10 times gadolinium and a strong perma- powdered magnetic material duced key breakthroughs in community,” said Dresselhaus of around the cooling unit, in and out of a gap in the larger than in exist- nent magnet. The wheel passes understanding carbon nano- her selection. “As I get into the but this process is not powerful magnet at rear. ing prototype through a gap in the magnet where tubes. In addition to 35 years of job I hopefully can find areas especially efficient. Re- refrigerants. These the magnetic field is concentrated, teaching and mentoring both where I can have special impact. frigeration currently accounts for alloys improve the efficiency of and the gadolinium heats up. While male and female students, My experiences all give me some 25% of residential and 15% of large-scale magnetic refrigerators, still in the field, water is circulated Dresselhaus has extensive expe- perspective that should help me commercial power consumption in but also open the door to new to draw the heat out of the mate- rience as a leader of scientific in this new position.” the US In the past it has also used small-scale applications, such as rial and reject the heat through the gases harmful to the environment. home and automotive air condi- hot heat exchanger. As the mate- In contrast, magnetic refrigera- tioning. rial leaves the magnetic field, it of magnetic refrigeration. Scientists tial commercial applications of tion devices have high efficiency However, initially the process cools further. While the material is at Japan’s Chubu Electric, in coop- such refrigerators include air even at a small scale, enabling the used more expensive high-purity out of the field, a stream of water is eration with Toshiba Corporation, conditioning, food preservation, development of portable, battery- gadolinium and resulted in small cooled by the material and circu- have also succeeded in developing air dehumidification, and bever- powered products. In fact, Stephen quantities of less than 50 grams of lated through the refrigerator’s cold a rotating magnetic refrigerator with age dispensing. Russek of Aeronautics Corpora- the Gd-Si-Ge alloys. Gschneider heat exchanger, removing heat permanent magnets. However, Russek says that the tion, estimates that when magnetic and his cohorts developed a new from the object to be cooled. The design schematic is simi- most likely early applications will refrigerators are fully developed, process for producing kilogram Aeronautics is not the only com- lar to that of the Aeronautics, be industrial in nature: chilling of they could reduce energy usage by quantities of the alloy using inex- pany committed to the development with an increase in cooling capac- process fluids for food, chemicals, approximately $10 billion per year, ity by a factor of 1.5 and a 1/3 industrial gases and pharmaceuti- along with significant reductions in From the PhysTEC As part of the Physics Teachers’ decrease in driving power. cal production, as well as carbon dioxide emissions. In addi- Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Chubu’s device is also about a refrigerated transport and cooling tion, magnetic refrigeration doesn’t Conference: annual conference, held this year twentieth the size of earlier pro- of electronics. “We firmly believe use ozone-depleting or global in Tucson, participants took part totype refrigerators employing this could be a great new global warming gases. in a workshop on Powerful Ideas superconducting magnets. Poten- business,” he says. The enabling technology is in Physical Science, an inquiry- based upon the magnetocaloric based curriculum created by the effect, first observed in 1881: an American Association of Physics PRL from page 3 Teachers (AAPT). efficient magnetocaloric material The top photo shows physics warms when placed in a magnetic department chair Kathleen nanoworld for visualization. Those chair in the Stanford department field and reversibly cools back McCloud and Teacher-in-Residence are the two great things, in my opin- of engineering, is working on AFM down when it is removed from the David Johnson, both of Xavier Uni- ion, to have happened with regard arrays with carbon nanotube tips. magnetic field. versity of Louisiana, investigating to instrumentation in the last twenty Binnig, like Quate, spends some The first magnetic refrigerator fundamental concepts in optics. years.” of his time working on AFM ar- was demonstrated in 1933, and In the bottom photo, Gay All three researchers remain rays, including a massively parallel magnetic refrigeration has been Stewart, physics professor at the active in AFM research and devel- array of thousands of probes used in many laboratories to cool University of Arkansas (left), and opment. Although he is now retired known as project Millipede. In ad- Ellen Momsen, Teacher-in-Resi- within a thousandth of a degree from IBM, Gerber continues to ex- dition, Binnig, currently ponders dence in the physics department of above absolute zero. Ames Labo- Oregon State University, exchange plore biological AFM applications complexity informatics and leads ratory became involved in 1991, at the university of Basel. Quate, a Munich research group attempt- Photos Credit: Edward Lee ideas at the poster session of the according to senior metallurgist PhysTEC Conference. who holds the Leland T. Edwards ing to model human perception. NEWS May 2003 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS Call for Nominations for 2004 APS Prizes and Awards Nicholson Medal Members are invited to nominate candidates to the Prize to a Faculty Member for Research in an respective committees charged with recommending the Undergraduate Institution recipients. A brief description of each prize and award is George E. Valley Jr. Prize Nomination Deadline Extended given in the March 2003 APS News Prizes and Awards Robert R. Wilson Prize insert, along with the addresses of the selection commit- AWARDS The nomination deadline for the Nicholson Medal for tee chairs to whom nominations should be sent. Please LeRoy Apker Award (June 13, 2003 Deadline) visit the Prizes and Awards page on the APS web site at Joseph A. Burton Forum Award Humanitarian Service has been extended from April 1 to http://www.aps.org/praw/ under the Prizes and Awards Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award July 1, 2003. Please send nominations to the Chair of the button for complete information regarding rules and eli- Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement selection committee: gibility requirements for individual prizes and awards. Science PRIZES Leo Szilard Lectureship Award Will Allis Prize for the Sudy of Ionized Gases MEDALS AND LECTURESHIPS Antonia Herzog Hans A. Bethe Prize David Adler Lectureship Award Natural Resources Defense Council Biological Physics Prize Edward A. Bouchet Award 1200 New York Ave., NW Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics John H. Dillon Medal 1200 New York Ave., NW Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize Nicholson Medal Suite 400 Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics DISSERTATION AWARDS Washington, DC 20005 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics DISSERTATION AWARDS Polymer Physics Prize Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids Dissertation Award (June 30) Nicholas Metropolis Award (Sept. 15) Nominators who sent material to a previous address James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials should communicate with Dr. Herzog by e-mail at Lars Onsager Prize Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics [email protected], or by phone at 202-289-2428 to Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy NOMINATION DEADLINE make sure that the material was properly received. Further Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics IS JULY 1, 2003, UNLESS information about the Nicholson Medal is available on the Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science OTHERWISE INDICATED. web at http://www.aps.org/praw/nicholso/index.htmlx.html.

Introductory Physics Taught Using Folding Patterns Offer Comic Book Heroes Clues to RNA’s Family Tree The search for a hypothetical By Susan Ginsberg letters for the genetic code. Also, ancestor of some or all of the types RNA folding has supplied insights of RNA now known might be pos- into other questions on how pro- Each year physics professors dents, including many who are not with Robert Adair and Lawrence sible using a technique pioneered teins fold into their final shapes. ask themselves the same question: comic book fans, but enjoyed Krauss. During Kakalios’ talk he by scientists at MIT’s Whitehead MIT-Whitehead’s Erik Schultes How can I make introductory physics physics in high school and sought described how, using basic force Institute, according to speakers at reported on an experiment in more exciting for my students? an enjoyable way to continue their equations, his students calculate the the APS March Meeting. which a particular sequence of As he told a rapt audience at the physics education. force Superman needs in order to Just as DNA samples can be used RNA bases could, by altering one March APS meeting in Austin, Kakalios developed his leap a tall building in a single bound. to study the spread of humans to base at a time, quickly take on the James Kakalios—a professor of unique way of teaching introduc- Turning next to Newton’s law of different parts of the world, as well identity of either of two very dif- physics and the director of gradu- tory physics when he used a story gravitation and astrophysical as to study connections among vari- ferent ribozymes (RNA molecules ate studies at the University of concerning the death of Spider- phenomena, he argued that if the ous lineages among living organisms, that can catalyze reactions). Minnesota—chooses to capture his Man’s girlfriend as an exam source of Superman’s strength was so too there might be ways of study- Schultes compared this to trans- students’ attention by using comic problem in a freshman physics the larger gravity on his home planet ing the origins of RNA. forming the word “cat” into the book heroes to explicate the basic class. Knocked from the top of Krypton, then one could build a RNA is increasingly considered word “dog” through a sequence of principles of physics and as- a bridge tower by the Green planet with such a large gravity, but by scientists to be the most likely single-letter mutations, each one of tronomy. Goblin, she fell to her apparent it would be difficult to keep an ex- candidate for the origin of life. It which resulted in a legitimate word: “Students find it much more doom until stopped suddenly by plosion from occurring. “The comic starts out single-stranded, but can cat-cot-cog-dog. interesting to determine Spider- Spider-Man’s webbing, yet was book authors got the science right, at many places along its length Ranjan Mukhopadhyay Man’s centripetal acceleration as he revealed to have died nonethe- but only by accident,” said Kakalios double over on itself to arrive at reported that he and his colleagues swings on his webbing, and to talk less. Kakalios’ students used the Kakalios is clearly a fount of complicated, twisted shapes. Like at NEC Laboratories in New Jersey about the tensile strength of a real principle of conservation of mo- information about comic book DNA, it is found in abundance in have found that a typical RNA spider’s web, than to describe a mentum to find that the force heroes, especially to those who living cells, but it has the advan- sequence with its 4-base chemical weight on the end of a twirling the webbing exerted on her was haven’t followed the history of the tage of being a two-pronged code folds more predictably and string,” said Kakalios. over 10g’s, and thus her death art. On Thursday night at the March biomolecule. Not only can it carry stably than would hypothetical He uses comic books from as was physically plausible. meeting, he pointed out that in the genetic information, it can also fold RNA sequences based on a two- far back as 1938 and clips from Kakalios spoke as part of the first years of Superman comics, the into protein-like molecules that can base or six-base “alphabet.” recent films such as Spider-Man Thursday evening session in writers gave voice to the revenge catalyze important biochemical In other theoretical work, Ralf (2002) and The X-Men (2000). His Austin on “The Physics of Comics, fantasies of their Depression era reactions. Bundschuh of Ohio State Univer- classes attract a wide variety of stu- Baseball and Hollywood” along readers. “Superman’s early foes were At the APS meeting, numerous sity and Terence Hwa of University not bank robbers or world con- researchers discussed how the fold- of California, San Diego, have querors, but rather slumlords, ing patterns of RNA molecules shown that RNA could exhibit sweatshop owners, crooked politi- support the notion that RNA is con- several different “phases,” just as cians and Washington lobbyists.” nected to the origin of life, and may water can exist in the solid, gas- Dan Dahlberg, also a professor even explain why nature chose four eous or liquid forms. of physics at the University of Min- nesota, attended Kakalios’ talk in Austin. Even though they work in From the March Meeting Teachers’ Day the same department, this is the first time Dahlberg saw Kakalios’ examples laid out in detail. He plans to adopt some of Kakalios’ meth- ods. “I’m really excited to try it out in class,” he said. Anne Catlla, a graduate student

at Northwestern University, was Photos Credit: Edward Lee struck by Kakalios’ obvious enthu- Teachers Marisa Carillo and Doug Muckelroy (top left photo) are siasm for both comics and building a mousetrap car as part of a hands-on workshop at the March teaching. “He caught all of us up in Meeting High School Physics Teachers’ Day. the stories and the science behind In the top right photo, Donald Kolle and Jeanette DeHart are perform- them. Everyone wanted to know ing a kinematics experiment with a calculator-based ranger and graphing where the comics were right and calculator. Reflected ultrasonic pulses provide the distance from the ranger wrong, but we also wanted to see to the ball, and the calculator produces graphs of distance, speed, and acceleration vs. time. how the physics fit into the context The program also included two research talks, one on Granular of the comic book story…I can see Material by George Crabtree and Igor Aronson of Argonne why his students would be caught National Lab, and the other on Quasicrystals by Renee Diehl of Penn up by his interest, too.” State. Physicists from the meeting joined the teachers for lunch. 8 May 2003 NEWS The Back Page Can Title IX Do for Women In Science and Engineering What It Has Done for Women In Sports? Debra R. Rolison

What does Title IX have to do reform is not getting it done. The university and laboratory? We have Because phys- non-federally de- with women in science? Many slow pace is especially frustrating got to get out of our lily-white male ics trails even rived resources Americans singularly associate the in light of the historic opportunity universe if we want to stay at the mathematics with from poorly Education Amendments of 1972, to change the faculty demograph- forefront of science. respect to the frac- diversified commonly called Title IX, with the ics as scientists and engineers A leader, as opposed to a (mind- tion of women departments) spectacular increase in opportuni- hired in the boom years of the ing-the-store) manager, would not achieving PhDs, might rouse the ties for female athletes in schools 1960s retire. stand still for less. Men, because we need to recog- stewards of the and colleges, but the law as origi- The “pipeline” has increasingly they have been and predominantly nize that the current STEM nally written never mentioned allowed women with PhDs in still are the stewards and beneficia- problem lies with structures from sports. STEM to flow into a well-populated ries of the current system, have a an environment their passivity. It stated, “No person in the United candidate pool for faculty open- moral responsibility to decide how and culture that As individuals, States shall, on the basis of sex, be... ings—albeit enriched in some to transform the institution and its do not appeal to we can certainly denied the benefits of... any education disciplines, less so for others such culture. women otherwise Debra R. Rolison start upending the program or activity receiving Federal as physics. Women earn more But if sweet reason, historical interested in myth of objectiv- financial assistance.” than 40% of the PhDs in the life perspective, and moral suasion science- and math-intensive stud- ity in evaluating merit. If women I would argue that being a pro- sciences, more than 30% of the were sufficient to alter the culture ies, including how scientific have to be more productive than fessor of science in a federally PhDs in chemistry, more than 20% of science to one that fully incor- arrogance and other solipsistic men to be deemed comparably funded university is an educational of the PhDs in mathematics. Yet porates the talent we train, I behaviors are over-rewarded by qualified, often at the expense of a activity and therefore subject to applications from women for wouldn’t be writing this article. the existing culture. far-greater expenditure of time and Title IX considerations. advertised faculty positions in So, historically, how does one The US Congress has noted with energy on family/home than a Title IX is a mechanism that can PhD-granting STEM departments reform institutions that institution- concern the increasing need for “comparable” man, all hiring, pro- be used to stimulate change. In rarely match the numbers of alize injustice? the US to import its scientific motion, and award committees analogy with the legal strategy that women who graduate from these First optionoption: complete demoli- talent to satisfy the technological should reassess their standard extended Title IX to school sports departments with PhDs. tion (see the French Revolution). needs of our country and has tied perceptions of credentials/produc- and led to women comprising 42% Science and our society can no Second optionoption: redirect the that need to the inability of our tivity in order to level the of today’s collegiate athletes, I longer tolerate the tired conten- reward structure—do so and educational system to attract the psychological playing field skewed argued in 2000 that it was time to tion that “the statistics of small people change their behavior. The diverse American populace, by our gender schemas (culturally apply Title IX as a strategy on populations” is the operative nominal demands for faculty including women, into scientific embedded unconscious biases and behalf of women faculty in chem- reason for the slow advancement success in STEM disciplines today studies and careers. beliefs). istry departments. Twenty percent of women in science. Such require someone who must cover The pre-9/11 findings of Phase Let’s “out” the toxic depart- of the PhDs in chemistry went to language too often deflects action the CEO, COO, CFO, CTO, CIO, III of the Hart-Rudman report on ments: create a guerilla web site women in 1985 and that fraction that would transform the academic and human resources functions of National Security/21st Century, that provides the statistics for the has only increased, reaching 33% culture to one that adapts to a small company. which noted that it is a national top tier of STEM graduate depart- in 1999. Yet the fraction of women women. Our universities can never pay imperative to maintain a high level ments in order to get quantitative on the faculty of the top 50 If the observable is the absence faculty commensurate with all of American expertise in science and qualitative information into research departments in chemis- of women from the applicant pool those activities: it is past time to and technology, only amplified the hands of the “consumer”— the try in 2000 was only 10%, rising to for science faculty, what is the stop demanding so much of STEM Congressional concerns on these undergraduate seniors and the 12% in 2002. mechanism? faculty and return them to—and matters after the 9/11 attacks. faculty (primarily at four-year Should the American taxpayer In Cathy Trower’s paraphrase reward them for—the primary In the October 2002 US Senate colleges) who advise them. support institutions that continue of a 1990’s political slogan: “It’s reason they are in academics: hearing on “Title IX and Science”, Undergraduates can then be to hire white men preferentially? the culture, stupid.” Academic educating independent thinkers Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), then- encouraged to give diversified If universities cannot incorporate science still echoes the standards and critical scholars in pursuit of chair of the Subcommittee on institutions their first attention onto their faculty a representative of David Noble’s description of new knowledge. Science, Technology, and Space when looking at graduate school. fraction of the talented women Western science: “a world without commented for the record: “It’s Other practical goals to trans- awarded PhDs in science, then it is women” , one in which round-the- Isn’t a millennium of time Congress quantified and quali- form the culture and improve the reasonable to withhold Federal clock scholarship by men was fied the realities facing women in environment for men and women funding from the departments historically sustained by an infra- affirmative action for the sciences. Only then can we find include aggressively recruiting seemingly satisfied with a gender structure first provided by white men sufficient? fully effective solutions.” An out- excellent female and under- status quo that would not be out monasteries and then by wives. come of this hearing was the represented minority candidates of place in the 1950s. Most women in science do not addition of amendments to the bill for faculty and staff openings, As a further incentive, the have wives, and many men in Third optionoption: coercion. The authorizing appropriations for the fairer evaluation of the contribu- research funds so freed could be science no longer have the tradi- possible loss of Federal R&D dol- National Science Foundation, tions and productivity of directed to those universities who tional infrastructure either. The lars as a consequence of Title IX which required the NSF to charge candidates and faculty who are not do attract to their science faculty the university, which should be the assessments focuses the attention the National Academy of Sciences white men, ensuring on-campus diversity of talent in the PhD pool. most flexible and advanced of of the powers-that-be: administra- with examining gender differences day care, career-long mentoring, Why propose such a drastic workplaces, is unpleasantly out- tors and those faculty most on issues such as faculty hiring, and really rewarding the good course of action? Because science, of-phase with the modern world. rewarded by the current system. promotion, tenure, and allocation teacher-scholars because of how technology, engineering, and math- In the three years since I pro- The environment in STEM of resources including laboratory they guide and challenge their ematics (STEM) departments need vocatively suggested applying Title departments is a multivariate prob- space. students. more women as faculty—and not IX to departments in the chemical lem; improving the environment will Such a study echoes the 1999 It is now time that women only to show their undergraduate sciences, I have heard from require more than one solution, MIT report, which showed a pat- thrive, not just survive in their students (the majority of whom in women and men across all the even though Title IX is probably the tern of gender discrimination STEM career homes—especially in some disciplines are now women) STEM disciplines saying that they, biggest hammer we can take to it. among the faculty of the College academia, our gateway to the that a career in academia is a too, have the same problems we But in the face of possible Title IX of Science at MIT , and will provide future. viable path. face in chemistry. It may be nice action, a wide range of transforma- the data to determine if compa- Debra R. Rolison is head of the The breathtaking inability of to have some company, but tional strategies immediately rable imbalances exist in our STEM Advanced Electrochemical Materials too many of our research univer- enough is enough. With nearly ten becomes more appealing. departments—and Title IX permits section at the Naval Research sities to diversify their faculty is a centuries of higher education, it is If the case can be made that STEM the consideration of statistical Laboratory in Washington, DC, and national disgrace; these universi- past time to diversify our univer- departments merit application of Title evidence tending to show that is also adjunct Professor of Chemistry ties have recognized the sity system beyond the operative IX, where does the fault lie? Not with imbalances exist. As a further out- at the University of Utah. The views importance of a diversified student one where the de facto hiring the women, who did what was asked come of this bill, the Academy will herein are those of the author and do body, but have not yet reflected quota in science is 80-90% white of them and stayed in the pipeline. also examine gender differences in not represent official positions of the that pool of talent onto their men. Isn’t a millennium of affir- Pumping more women with PhDs major Federal external grant US Naval Research Laboratory or the faculty. mative action for white men into the STEM professions was long programs. US Department of Defense. Similar difficulties are apparent sufficient? thought to be the solution, but even In the meanwhile, activism that The author gave a talk on this topic among the scientific staff of More to the point: Should a well-filled pipeline is only a neces- starts with the individual up to at the APS March Meeting in a session National and Federal laboratories. scientists accept the male-domi- sary, not a sufficient condition for mechanisms to expand Title-IX- sponsored by the Committee on the It matters who teaches and self- nant status quo of the modern thriving careers. like actions (e.g., withholding Status of Woman in Physics.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].