A P S N E W S FEBRUARY 2000 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 9, NO. 2 [Try the enhanced APS News-online: http://www.aps.org/apsnews] APSCelebrate News APS a Century 100 of years Physics Chodos is New Associate Executive Officer Man of the lan Chodos, a senior research Aphysicist at Yale University, will succeed Barrett Ripin as Associate Century Executive Officer of the APS. Ripin stepped down in January after serving five years in that position. Chodos will assume the office full-time in July, and will divide his time between Yale and the APS in the intervening months. Among the chief responsibilities of the Associate Executive Officer are the editorship of APS News and the adminis- tration of prizes and awards. The AEO also works with the Executive Officer in the general management of Society affairs. In addition, Chodos will coordinate a new effort to enhance the APS presence on the Web, providing services not only to the APS membership and the physics com- munity, but also to the public at large. AIP Niels Bohr Library Albert Einstein “Alan brings a great enthusiasm and a wealth of experience to the position of As- ho says physicists never get Outgoing APS News editor Barrie Ripin (left) passing the ‘baton’ to new editor, Alan Chodos W respect? Time magazine sociate Executive Officer. We are very under the watchful eye of former APS President Henry Rowland. pleased to have him join the APS staff,” said recently named theoretical physicist Judy Franz, Executive Officer of the APS. known to believe that the neutrino is a Committee in 1997. He served as Chair of Albert Einstein its “person of the Chodos received his PhD from Cornell tachyon. Chodos was elected a Fellow that committee in 1999. century” in its year-end issue University in 1970, and held postdoctoral of the APS in 1994. “We are in a period of rapid change, (December 27, 1999), citing not only positions at the University of Pennsylva- During the last decade, Chodos has both in the society at large and in the his intellectual brilliance but his nia and MIT before joining Yale in 1976. been active in Society affairs, serving on a physics community,” Chodos said. “The humanitarian concerns, and His research has concentrated in particle task force on publications in the early ’90s, APS has been working hard to keep pro- describing him as a “paramount icon theory, and he is perhaps best known on the Committee on Member Publications viding the services that its members of our age.” for his work on the MIT bag model and and briefly on the Membership Committee need, and I want to help make sure that Born in Germany in 1879, Einstein on Kaluza-Klein theories. He is also before joining the Publications Oversight that continues.” is notorious for having been expelled by a headmaster as a young school boy (see page 4). He went on to win the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics for Inside… APS Career Efforts Focus on uncovering the theory of the photo- NEWS electric effect. His early work on the To Advance and Diffuse the Knowledge Physics Departments fundamentals of quantum theory and, of Physics .................................................... 2 of course, relativity, laid the ground- Outreach and community service. he primary thrust of the APS’ career for their post-graduate careers and work for much of modern physics. This In the Journals ............................................ 3 T activities, which are guided by the now employment. The APS attempts to provide Science goes further than fiction. in turn paved the way for an unprec- two-year old APS Committee on Careers and the Liaison with up-to-date useful information edented degree of technological APS and BNL Host XXX e-Print Professional Development (CCPD), has been for students and faculty regarding physics Archive Mirror .............................................. 3 development, including nuclear fission In the Journals ............................................ 3 directed at assisting physics departments in employment in industry, academia, and fusion — the basis for the atomic Time reversal redux. their efforts to prepare graduates for the full government, and other sectors. More bomb, nuclear power, and solar energy. In Brief .......................................................... 3 range of careers open to them. Foremost importantly, the Liaison will typically play a Einstein emigrated to the US in 1933 Mazur honored by CSSP; Centennial special among these efforts has been the Careers strong role in the professional development to take a post at the Institute for Ad- projects earn recognition; Council memoriam and Professional Development Liaison initiatives for students and faculty within their resolutions honoring George Brown Jr. and vanced Study, Princeton, NJ, narrowly Arthur L. Schawlow. (CPDL) program, initiated by former own physics department. One way the APS escaping persecution by the Nazi gov- Poll Reveals All-Star Physicists ............... 4 Associate Executive Officer, Barrett Ripin, helps to do this is through a website for ernment because of his Jewish Physics World names Top Ten physicists; readers in 1998 (see APS News, June 1998). Liaisons that acts as a resource of ‘good are invited to submit own lists. heritage. He has since become one of The CPD Liaison is a contact person in practices’ that have proven useful in other the most recognizable faces in Ameri- Cosmic CD Available at Last .................... 4 each participating physics department departments. This may involve Liaisons in Lynda Williams, the “physics chanteuse,” can physics, and has even been releases new CD. responsible for programs to prepare students Continued on page 6 immortalized on the Silver Screen by US R&D Spending Trends ......................... 5 actor Walter Matthau in the popular ro- NSF data on R&D spending in the US. Mass Media Fellow Learns “Nuts and mantic comedy, I.Q. Exploring “Who Did It?” with Forensic In announcing their selection, the Science ......................................................... 6 Physical methods solve crimes. Bolts” of Journalism magazine editors wrote, “In a century that will be remembered foremost for Cornell “Nanoharp” Studies Vibrating onducting interviews, writing news Materials at High Frequencies .................. 6 its science and technology — in par- articles, and scouting out solid story World’s smallest stringed instrument. C ticular for our ability to understand and ideas became part of a typical working then harness the forces of the atom OPINION day for physicist Ilana Harrus, who spent and the universe — one person clearly VIEWPOINT .................................................. 4 last summer as a science writer for the Robert A. Levy wonders who taught physics stands out as both the greatest mind Raleigh News & Observer in North photo to Thomas Pynchon. and paramount icon of our age: The Carolina as an APS Mass Media Fellow. LETTERS ...................................................... 4 kindly, absent-minded professor In the process, she says, “I came back coming whose wild halo of hair, piercing eyes, DEPARTMENTS with a better understanding of the engaging humanity and extraordinary ZERO GRAVITY ........................................... 5 problems faced by journalists in their Ilana Harrus’ Raleigh News & Observer brilliance made his face a symbol and Physics product warnings daily coverage of science, and impressed presscard. his name a synonym for genius.” INSIDE THE BELTWAY ................................ 5 by their fairness in writing and reporting program was developed by the APS Y2K Forecasting Takes Guts More information about Einstein can on difficult subjects.” She credits the Forum on Education in 1995 as a vehicle ANNOUNCEMENTS .................................... 7 be found at websites: www.aip.org/ experience with reinforcing her desire for improving public understanding and THE BACK PAGE ......................................... 8 history and www.pbs.org/wgbh/ Richard Garwin on CTBT and US to become a full-time science writer. appreciation of science and technology. nova/einstein. national security. The APS Mass Media Fellowship Continued on page 3 APS News February 2000 To Advance & Diffuse the Knowledge of Physics 100 Years of the American Physical Society Excerpts from an exhibit displayed at the APS Centennial Meeting. Curator: Sara Schechner, Gnomon Research Exhibit Director: Barrett Ripin With contributions by Harry Lustig, R. Mark Wilson, and others. Outreach and Community Service I The ferment of the Viet Nam era and the concomitant rise in social consciousness propelled APS into community service. New programs reflected contemporary issues: Diversity • diversity • government relations Two new committees improved the • employment • human rights climate for women and under- • education represented minorities in physics. The Committee on the Status of These programs for physicists and the public augmented the Women in Physics helped to triple Society’s ongoing work of advancing the knowledge of physics. the fraction of those entering physics that were women. The Committee on Minorities established a scholarship and mentoring Employment program that has enabled dozens of Rumors of physicists driving students to pursue physics training. taxis or bartending were rampant during the job crisis of the late 1960s and 1970s. This led to a precipitous drop in physics PhDs. In response, the APS offered career counseling and improved placement services. With the creation of the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics in 1995,