Profile: "Shape Up" Back Page: History of Physics 02│ Jami Valentine Miller 03│ Your Career 05│ Robophysics 08│ Essay Winner

November 2020 • Vol. 29, No. 10 aps.org/apsnews

A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

HONORS COVID-19 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics New Research Resource Group BY LEAH POFFENBERGER Brings Physics Expertise to the he Royal Swedish Academy Coronavirus Pandemic of Sciences has announced BY LEAH POFFENBERGER T the recipients of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, which ince the onset of the that physicists are contributing has been awarded for discoveries COVID-19 pandemic, to COVID—a lot of people don’t about black holes, which are among researchers around the know that physics is playing an the most exotic phenomena in S world have been racing to better important role,” says Robert Jeraj, the universe. This year’s prize understand the novel virus. Among Past Chair of GMED and chair of is awarded to Roger Penrose them have been physicists, applying the CRRG organizing committee. (University of Oxford), Reinhard expertise in areas from modeling “CRRG [promotes] physics research Genzel (Max Planck Institute Roger Penrose Reinhard Genzel Andrea Ghez of spread of the virus, to the fluid towards a broader community…A for Extraterrestrial Physics, and IMAGE: OXFORD UNIV. IMAGE: MPG IMAGE: UCLA dynamics of transmission, applying lot of physicists work behind the University of California, Berkeley), AI to detect the disease in medical scenes, so we want to show the and Andrea Ghez (University of their discoveries were ground- Roger Penrose’s work that there images, to the development of importance of physics in addressing California, Los Angeles). Genzel and breaking, proving black holes can could be a black hole at the galactic ventilators and other technologies. medical problems.” Ghez are both APS Fellows. Ghez is exist within the framework of center. This work has made pio- In order to bring the physicists At the onset of the coronavirus also the fourth woman to receive Einstein’s theory of relativity and neering use of adaptive optics on researching COVID-19 together pandemic, the GMED executive the Nobel Prize in Physics, joining that one does exist at the center the Keck telescope, and it has led with medical professionals and committee recognized an oppor- Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert- of the Milky Way. to the understanding that super- epidemiologists, the APS Topical tunity to consolidate the efforts of Mayer, and Donna Strickland. “This is very exciting news,” massive black holes inhabit the Group on Medical Physics (GMED) members in different APS Units One half of the Nobel Prize in said APS President Phil Bucksbaum. centers of many galaxies. I’m also and several other APS units have conducting research to address Physics is awarded to Penrose “for “Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel pleased to see the Swedish academy launched the COVID Research and COVID. The committee submitted a the discovery that black hole for- lead competing experimental recognize a fourth woman Nobel Resources Group (CRRG). The CRRG proposal to APS Leadership calling mation is a robust prediction of groups that have been tracking Laureate.” will facilitate communication, for the creation of CRRG. “This the general theory of relativity.” the motion of stars near the center sharing of resources, and other The Nobel Committee cited was a new problem for everyone, The other half is awarded jointly to of the Milky Way for more than activities to mobilize physicists to papers published in APS journals and there was no real home for it Genzel and Ghez “for the discovery twenty years, making precision help combat an ongoing medical of a supermassive compact object at tests of General Relativity and emergency. the center of our galaxy.” Together, particularly predictions based on PHYSICS NOBEL CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 “There is no shortage of science EXPERTISE CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

EARLY CAREER MEETINGS APS Launches a New Chapters APS to Consider Police Conduct in Choice of Meeting Pilot Program Locations BY LEAH POFFENBERGER BY DAVID VOSS

o serve its diverse mem- PS has updated its criteria conduct every APS meeting in a safe bership, APS provides a for the selection of future environment for our attendees; this T variety of units, divisions, A venues for its scientific is a natural part of our site selection and forums that gather individuals meetings. Cities in which APS process. These new criteria are a into communities with common meetings might be held will be way of broadening the issues to goals or research interests. And asked to report demographic be considered.” now, APS is launching a new way statistics on police use of force, On behalf of the committee, for members to connect with each policies on strangleholds and other Gardner informed the APS Council other within their own institutions restraint methods, and the status about the new criteria in a letter, with the advent of the APS Chapters of independent investigations distilled from the Phillips and program. into instances of deaths while in Weissman proposal: APS Chapters will be small custody, among other issues. The Committee on Scientific groups, localized within inter- According to Susan Gardner Meetings has added the following ested universities and national Farah Dawood (University of Kentucky), chair of items to consider as part of the future labs, targeted specifically towards the APS Committee on Scientific site selection criteria for APS Scientific graduate students, post-docs, and Meetings, the change was primarily Meetings. Each city under future con- early-career scientists with the their needs, and the goal of in response to a proposal to the sideration should: Chapters is helping those indi- Committee by Philip Phillips and goal of supporting them in their • Have openly available statistics on viduals find some kind of home at Michael Weissman (both at the current roles and as future leaders. police-initiated contacts and use their institution that has support University of Illinois at Urbana- Denver is one of the cities that has A pilot program launched in October of force that include demographic is paving the way for future APS from the APS.” Champaign)—a proposal based on responded well to the additional information. criteria APS will use in choosing Chapters to start up next year. Each Chapter will have a letters they had published in Science • Have an independent investigative meeting venues. “One of the things the APS is chance to build its own unique (June 19, 2020) and Physics Today body to respond to serious inci- interested in is serving early career communities, with the ability to (July 2020). The committee also dents, including deaths in custody folks and connecting with them communicate directly with APS considered other factors, including vene and/or to render medical aid and officer-involved shootings. to find out how APS can support about their needs and interests. discussions at a recent APS webinar if other officers are using excessive them,” says Farah Dawood, APS If a particular Chapter expresses “From Passion to Action” hosted • Have a policy in place that forbids force. Chapters Program Manager. “We by APS President-Elect S. James the use of carotid holds, strangle- • Have performance evaluations/ have many programs to address CHAPTERS CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Gates, Jr. holds, or generally, maneuvers by measures that include more "We deliberated at length over police officers that cut off blood criteria than just enforcement the proposal and other input during or oxygen. statistics (arrests, summonses, our recent committee meeting,” • Have all police officers trained stops). The criteria should include said Gardner. “I would summarize in de-escalation methods, such officer-involved fatalities or by saying that we became aware as PERF’s ICAT (Integrating shootings of unarmed persons. that members of our community Communications, Assessment, are vulnerable in ways we had never • Have a well-defined plan and and Tactics) training. imagined, and we resolved to act. timetable for improving local We voted unanimously to recom- • Have a policy in place where each policing practices. mend these changes. We want to police officer has the duty to inter- LOCATIONS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 2 • November 2020

PROFILE Jami Valentine Miller Inspires the Next Generation BY JUSTUS HAWKINS

r. Jami Valentine Miller’s journey to becoming the November 28, 1680: Death of Athanasius Kircher D first Black woman to graduate with a PhD in physics from Johns Hopkins University is he 17th century Jesuit priest and polymath a story that will surely inspire the Athanasius Kircher was a contemporary next generation of Black physicists. T of such scientific luminaries as Isaac She was born in Philadelphia Newton, Robert Boyle, Gottfried von Leibniz, and to a family that valued hard work Rene Descartes, and enjoyed considerable public and education, and her family was recognition for his scientific investigations—at always near. As early as elementary least until his later years. His prolific writings school, Valentine Miller was iden- cover topics ranging from geology, magnetism, tified as gifted and talented. She and mathematics to astronomy, optics, acoustics, went on to attend a middle school and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Although he has for gifted and talented students been called the “last Renaissance man,” and the that would give her access to a Jami Valentine Miller “master of a hundred arts,” he never achieved new world. “While I was there I the same long-lasting scientific legacy as his got into a program called PRIME,” contemporaries. she recalled. Off to university The youngest of nine children, Kircher was PRIME is an acronym for When it came time to choose born in 1601 or 1602 (even he was unsure) near Philadelphia Regional Introduction a college to attend, Florida what is now Hesse, Germany. His father was a for Minorities in Engineering. Agricultural and Mechanical magistrate, who ensured the boy attended Jesuit According to Valentine Miller, the University (FAMU) found her. schools, and also learned Hebrew from a local program bussed kids from all over Dr. Leonard Johnson, the rabbi, inspiring a lifelong love of languages. Athanasius Kircher the city who were interested in math president of the FAMU alumni Young Athanasius was quite accident prone as and science. The program brought association, was a Philadelphia a child, experiencing many brushes with death. the students to college campuses doctor who insisted that university For instance, after initially being rejected bubonic plague ravaged Rome in 1656, Kircher during the summertime to prepare representatives go to every high by the Jesuit college in Fulda, a despondent used a microscope to study micro-organisms for the classes they were taking in school in Philadelphia to recruit Kircher injured his legs while ice skating, and in hopes of finding a cure, observing “little the fall. She said that the PRIME students. Students who were merit the wounds festered, with gangrene setting in. worms which propagate plague.” Given the poor program normalized being a Black scholars were distinguished by an During this time, he was accepted as a novitiate resolution of microscopes at the time, these geek during the 1980s. armband, but on the day of the at the college in Paderborn, but his condition were more likely red blood cells he was seeing, The PRIME program is not visit, she did not wear her armband was so far advanced when he arrived that he but it did lead Kircher to suggest a rudimentary the only factor that helped shape because she did not want to wrinkle was judged to be incurable. In Kircher’s telling, germ theory of disease, putting him far ahead Valentine Miller into the person she her shirt. After everybody gave their he prayed to a statue of the Virgin Mary one of the medical orthodoxy of his time. Robert is today. Eight years before she was spiel, Johnson said that he wanted night, and when he woke up the next morning Hooke and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek would identified as a gifted student, her to see the class president and the his legs had miraculously healed. eventually reveal the microscopic world in even aunt achieved the same distinction, valedictorian. Kircher took his vows in 1621, the same year greater detail. but that opportunity was taken away Valentine Miller questioned why the Duke of Brunswick’s troops took over the Kircher taught mathematics and tried to because of the color of her aunt’s he did not want to see her as well diocese, forcing Kircher and his fellow priests to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics; he was con- skin. According to Valentine Miller, and Johnson asked who she was. flee to a nearby Jesuit college at Neuss. Kircher sidered one of the leading Egyptologists of the during the 1970s, her aunt was a To which she proudly replied, “I was swept into the water of the freezing Rhine time. His interpretation wasn’t correct—and top math student and had even am Jami Valentine, I have had the river during the flight but managed to reach the the Rosetta Stone would not be discovered for won a statewide math competition. highest SAT scores in this school shore and walk the remaining three miles to another 100 years—but he correctly deduced that Unfortunately during this time, for the last five years going.” rejoin his colleagues. Forced to cross a war zone the Coptic language was crucial to unlocking Philadelphia schools were heavily Following that meeting, she and controlled by Protestant forces while traveling the mystery. Another of his experiments dis- segregated. “The principal did sixteen other students were invited to Heiligenstadt in Saxony, Kircher didn’t bother proved speculation that the Sun was a giant everything he could to get her into to go to FAMU. Valentine Miller disguising his Jesuit robes. He was stripped and magnet whose rotation around its axis caused that school, and they simply didn’t recalled them boarding the Amtrak beaten by a group of soldiers, who would have the Earth and the planets to stay in their orbits. accept her,” Valentine Miler said. train, getting off in Jacksonville, hanged him if it weren’t for one soldier who His 1641 treatise on magnets may contain the As far back as the first grade, and boarding a charter bus to get had a change of heart and pleaded for mercy. very mention of the term “electro-magnetism.” she recalls students being bussed to the FAMU campus. “It was a Other adventures included being shipwrecked Indulging a mechanical bent, he built several into schools. Desegregation bussing bonding trip, because once you on an island while traveling to Austria and pneumatic, hydraulic, and magnetic machines, in the United States was an effort take a sixteen-hour train ride with witnessing the eruption of the volcanoes Aetna including a magnetic clock. He even devised a to add diversity to schools. “[It] high school students, y’all friends and Stromboli. On one especially memorable Mathematical Organ (an example of which is wasn’t that long ago that we had to now,” Valentine Miller said. occasion, he lowered himself into the active crater preserved in the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy) deal with these issues,” Valentine Once they reached FAMU, at Mt. Vesuvius. “The whole area was lit up by to provide answers to mathematical problems, Miller said. Valentine Miller met with President the fires, and the glowing sulphur and bitumen although it required memorizing long poems For all these reasons, the family Humphries. According to Valentine produced an intolerable vapor,” Kircher wrote in Latin (provided in an 850-page instruc- was adamant that she would be Miller, he asked her what she of the experience. “It was just like hell, only in the gifted and talented middle wanted to major in. “I said physics,” lacking the demons to complete the picture.” school. “My mother worked for Valentine Miller said. Eventually he retired to a quieter life of the school district for 39 years, so scholarly contemplation, pursuing his scientific education was very important in interests with equal passion. For instance, as the KIRCHER CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 our home,” Valentine Miller said. MILLER CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Series II, Vol. 29, No. 10 APS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES 2020 General Councilors Physics), Elizabeth Simmons (Division of Particles November 2020 Vivian F. Incera*, Andrea J. Liu*, and Fields), Stuart Henderson (Division of Physics of President Robert McKeown, Robin L. B. Selinger* Beams), Amitava Bhattacharjee* (Division of Plasma © 2020 American Physical Society Philip H. Bucksbaum*, Stanford University and Physics), Murugappan Muthukumar (Division of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory International Councilors Polymer Physics), Charles H. Bennett (Division of Ursula Keller, Marta Losada*, Ahmadou Quantum Information), Noah Finkelstein (Forum Editor...... David Voss President-Elect Wagué*, Enge Wang on Education), LaNell Williams (Forum on Graduate Sylvester J. Gates*, Brown Theoretical Physics Student Affairs), Virginia Trimble (Forum on the Staff Science Writer...... Leah Poffenberger Center, Brown University Chair, Nominating Committee History of Physics), Jim Adams (Forum on Industrial Contributing Correspondents ...... Sophia Chen and Alaina G. Levine Nora Berrah*, University of Connecticut and Applied Physics), Emanuela Barzi (Forum on Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Vice President International Physics), Beverly Karplus Hartline Frances Hellman*, University of California, Chair, Panel on Public Affairs (Forum on Physics and Society), Philip R. Johnson Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Dan Dahlberg, University of Minnesota (Mid-Atlantic Section), Nora Berrah* (New England Laboratory Section) APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD Editor in Chief monthly, except for a combined July-August 20740-3844, Email: [email protected]. Past President Michael Thoennessen, Michigan State University issue, 11 times per year, by the American Phys- Senior Management Team David J. Gross*, Kavli Institute for Theoretical (on leave) Mark Doyle, Chief Information Officer; ical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara Jane Hopkins Gould, Chief Financial Officer; MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains publication delivered by Periodical Mail Postage Division, Forum, and Section Councilors Beth Gunzel, Chief Human Resources Officer; news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Paid at College Park, MD and at additional mail- Chief Executive Officer Michael Coleman Miller (Division of Astrophysics), Kate P. Kirby, Chief Executive Officer; Groups, Sections, and Forums; advance infor- ing offices. Kate P. Kirby, Harvard Smithsonian (retired) David Schultz (Division of Atomic, Molecular, and mation on meetings of the Society; and reports Matthew M. Salter, Publisher; Optical Physics), William Bialek (Division of Biological Francis Slakey, Chief External Affairs Officer.; to the Society by its committees and task forces, For address changes, please send both the old Speaker of the Council Physics), Robert Continetti (Division of Chemical James W. Taylor, Deputy Executive Officer and as well as opinions. and new addresses, and, if possible, include a Andrea J. Liu*, University of Pennsylvania Physics), William Halperin (Division of Condensed Chief Operating Officer; mailing label from a recent issue. Changes can be Matter Physics), James Freericks (Division of Michael Thoennessen, Editor in Chief Letters to the editor are welcomed from the emailed to [email protected]. Postmaster: Treasurer Computational Physics), Howard Stone (Division membership. Letters must be signed and should Send address changes to APS News, Membership James Hollenhorst* Agilent Technologies of Fluid Dynamics), Beverly Berger* (Division of * Voting Members of the APS Board of Directors include an address and daytime telephone num- Department, American Physical Society, One , Gravitational Physics), John Fourkas (Division of ber. APS reserves the right to select and to edit Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Corporate Secretary Laser Science), Samuel Bader (Division of Materials for length and clarity. All correspondence re- Jeanette Russo, American Physical Society Physics), Baha Balantekin* (Division of Nuclear garding APS News should be directed to: Editor, Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 November 2020 • 3

KIRCHER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 MEMBERSHIP UNITS tion manual) even to perform (including a floor plan) and the The APS Topical Group on Magnetism and its the most elementary functions. Tower of Babel, for instance—the He maintained a large collection latter a natural (albeit scientifically Applications of unusual artifacts, including a sketchy) outgrowth of his long- BY ABIGAIL DOVE stuffed aardvark and an automaton standing interest in linguistics. He ith nearly 1,300 members, Magnetism also has wide- he called his Kircherianum—essen- also invented a divination device the Topical Group on ranging practical applications. In tially an elaborate wunderkammer he called “magnetic hydromancy.” Magnetism and its the clean energy sector, magnets (“cabinet of curiosities”). But in recent years, Kircher has W Applications (GMAG) is a home enable turbines to convert flowing Kircher retreated to the Roman inspired renewed appreciation for for physicists interested in the fun- wind and water into electricity and countryside when his health dete- his uniquely eccentric gifts. The Los damental physical phenomenon of are critical to the functioning of riorated. His reputation lost its Angeles-based Museum of Jurassic magnetism, which can be found in electric car motors. As for informa- luster as he grew old and gradually Technology maintains a permanent a variety of materials ranging from tion technology, the vast majority succumbed to a “second childhood.” exhibition on Kircher. elements, molecules and clusters, of the world’s information is stored Magnetism plays a role in many areas He died on November 28, 1680. At Further Reading to nanoparticles, filaments, films, in magnetic grains on hard disks, of physics. This image from the cover his request, his heart was buried at Findler, Paula. Athanasius Kircher: The and crystals. and the advent of these materials of Physical Review Letters shows a an old church he had helped restore graphene nanoribbon in which doping Last Man Who Knew Everything. New As GMAG chair Geoff Beach that are capable of storing data in the mountains outside Rome. by boron creates a net magnetic mo- York: Routledge, 2004. (MIT) put it, the study of mag- at a stable scale and recalling it Kircher languished in historical ment. IMAGE : N. FRIEDRICH ET AL. PHYS. Fletcher, John Edward. A Study of the netism involves a “symphony of efficiently has brought about the obscurity for centuries, in part REV. LE T T. 125, 146801 (2020). Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, different disciplines” from physics information age. In biomedicine, because his interests were so varied, ‘Germanus Incredibilis.’ Amsterdam: to materials science, chemistry, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) but also because of his misguided Brill Publications, 2011. engineering, and even biomedicine. are used for targeted drug delivery, and Phenomena, Spin Transport efforts to unite Biblical histori- Glassie, John. A Man of Misconceptions: “What brings everything together is as contrast agents for magnetic cism with science. A follower of the The Life of an Eccentric in an Age and Magnetization Dynamics the need to understand the physics resonance imaging (MRI), and hermetic tradition, he wrote highly of Change. New York: Riverhead, in Metals-Based Systems, of spin, how spins interact, and even to target tumors for cancer speculative treatises on Noah’s Ark 2012. Spin-Dependent Phenomena in how they couple to materials to therapy. In metrology, two-di- Semiconductors, and Magnetism give rise to collective behavior,” mensional electronic gases in a in Biomedicine. APS has announced he explained. magnetic field are used to define that the 2021 March Meeting will Some of the topics of current the practical standard for electrical be virtual (see the meeting website interest in magnetism, according resistance by means of quantized at march.aps.org). to GMAG vice chair Marcelo Jaime Hall effect resistance plateaus, As a testament to the enthu- EDUCATION (Los Alamos National Laboratory), precise to one part in a billion. siasm of this topical group, GMAG are the search for a ‘spin-liquid’ Magnetism researchers them- chair-elect Julie Borchers (NIST) STEP UP Social Hours state predicted in geometrically selves are as diverse as this array pointed out that GMAG-organized BY LEAH POFFENBERGER frustrated magnetic lattices, mag- of topics – pursuing theoretical, sessions drew approximately 8% netic-field induced magnetism experimental, and applied work of all submitted abstracts at the TEP UP is a national com- in paramagnets, the anomalous and spanning academia, industry, 2020 and 2019 March Meetings— munity of physics teachers, quantum Hall effect in topolog- and national labs. certainly impressive for a unit of S researchers, and profes- ical semimetals, the interactions A point of pride for GMAG is its its comparatively modest size. sional societies with the mission between magnetic and non-mag- large presence at the APS March According to Jaime, the impact of empowering educators, creating netic states of matters, and Meeting. Typically, the group of magnetism at the APS meetings cultural change, and inspiring young fermiology, or the study of elec- sponsors eight focus topics and could be viewed as being even women to pursue physics in college. tronic band structure by observing co-sponsors three. GMAG’s 2021 Starting in April, in response to the response of electrons to external lineup includes sessions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, STEP UP magnetic fields. Magnetic Nanostructures: Materials GMAG CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 began an effort to help connect its nearly 2400 members through virtual social hours. While most of now have a gathering to bring the the events offered opportunities to community together.” CAREERS discuss topics like distance learning The Social Hours began as a strategies or the STEP UP project, purely social gathering, but in order Emails Help Members “Shape Up” Their Career Goals six of the social hours featured to create a valuable experience for BY LEAH POFFENBERGER distinguished guests—including attendees, the events expanded to four Nobel Laureates. topical discussions, virtual events The STEP UP Social Hours were like tours of the National High he APS Careers team has career physicists through their up for multiple Shape Up emails all informal gatherings, even those Magnetic Field Lab, and special been hard at work, sup- career journey. Shape Up is a way if they’d like, though APS Careers featuring prominent special guests, events with distinguished physi- T plying students and early of accomplishing this by tailoring recommends doing one challenge giving attendees a unique space cists. With special guests like Bell career members with resources each series topic to meet a specific at a time. to connect with each other and Burnell, Gates, and Strickland, aimed at exploring options audience goal.” “As a Shape Up recipient, you big names in physics. Jocelyn Bell event attendees had opportunities and opportunities for physics This summer, the Career Shape can choose your career goal and Burnell, Donna Strickland, Carl to ask questions, share experiences, careers. Following a successful Up email series underwent a soft- based on that goal we will send Wieman, Jim Gates, Bill Philips, and just chat. “There were always and extremely popular Summer launch alongside the Summer you five to six emails that will be and Barry Barish each joined a moments where you would see Webinar Series, two new webinar Webinar Series, featuring three regular challenges or tasks: did you social hour to discuss anything from smiles on peoples’ faces, realizing series are running this fall, titled topics: Boost My Grad School continue searching for grad schools how to inspire physics students to that this speaker is a nerd or has “Success in Industry Careers” and Application, Shape Up My Career this week, have you worked on your favorite hobbies. unique passions, just like me,” says “Physics Career Exploration.” In Exploration, and Shape Up My Job resume recently, have you applied to “It was fun to connect with our Kornahrens. addition to webinars, APS Careers Search. more jobs this week?” says Farooq. distinguished guests over Zoom Physics teacher Sara LeMar is launching the Shape Up email “We decided on these specific “It’s a month to a month and a half in this way because they have (North Shore Schools) shared her series—a brand-new tool to help topics based on conversations with commitment—the idea is to have great stories and info to share experience of attending a social early career members meet their students and early career members, a short-term challenge that’s both with the people who come to our hour and getting to chat with goals. and a survey conducted by Farah helpful and also easy to complete, social hours, but they’re also just Strickland. The Shape Up email series, Dawood, APS Chapters Program like a seven-day health challenge.” people with hobbies and ideas,” says “To meet someone at the top of which launched at the end of Manager, that was conducted to With its wealth of resources Anne Kornahrens, STEP UP project their field is an incredible expe- October, allows members to opt guide the Chapters program (see for job seekers, APS Careers is manager. “All of these social hours rience and this social hour was in for a guided six- to eight-week article on p. 1) as well as the Summer employing the Shape Up emails to have been great in part because of no exception. The open question “challenge” designed to help with Webinar Series,” says Farooq. get the relevant and timely infor- these amazing people who have format made the virtual expe- achieving career goals. Participants “Additionally, some of the topics mation to those looking to meet spent an hour with us.” rience more comfortable,” says will receive a weekly email with a that are being launched, including specific goals. STEP UP Social Hours were orig- LeMar. “Not only did I walk away short task to complete, breaking ideas for future topics, came directly “APS Careers is focusing on inally conceived to reach physics with an understanding of Dr. up big career goals into small, sur- from feedback given by attendees of audience needs—right now we have teachers, who can feel isolated Strickland’s research, but also a mountable steps. Currently, there the Summer Webinar series—people a lot of career resources, and we’re during the pandemic, but the clearer perspective of the path she are five topics to choose from: Boost told us what webinars they want to working to get these to our different events quickly grew to include followed throughout her career. My Grad School Application, Shape see, which gave us a better idea of audiences,” says Farooq. “This is other members of the STEP UP Her transparency made the con- Up My Career Exploration, Shape our audience’s career goals.” what we’re doing for webinars as community. versation authentic and I hope to Up My Job Search, Shape Up for the While the soft-launch was aimed well—we have launched a new series “Our goal at the beginning was: share her story with my students. Interview Process, and Shape Up at undergraduate students applying on Physics Career Exploration and COVID is happening, our community While her accomplishments in the My Professional Image. to graduate school or seeking one on Success in Industry Careers, is isolated, we have the capacity to physics world are impressive, Dr. “We have so many great career advice on career trajectory, the both aiming to meet specific needs get everyone together on Zoom. Strickland’s journey to her success resources, but a lot of people might official Shape Up content will be of our attendees.” Let’s make an event for teachers,” was really the takeaway from this not know they exist. Shape Up came broader, including the two new To opt-in to Career Shape Up says Kornahrens. “We’ve had some meeting. I hope to attend more about to give people better access topics—interview and negotiation e-mails, visit info.aps.org/careers/ good attendance by teachers, but to these resources,” says Midhat skills, and professional image— shape-up. Other career resources, the STEP UP community also has a Farooq, APS Careers Program that appeal to members further as well as past and current webinar lot of faculty, undergrad students, Manager. “Our goal in APS Careers along in their careers as well as series can be accessed at aps.org/ other educational specialists…We STEP UP CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 is to help guide students and early undergraduates. Anyone can sign careers/. 4 • November 2020

MILLER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Humphries asked her how she “The students at the Hopkins Supporting Early-Career Physicists Through COVID-19 would like a full-ride—tuition, recruiting table were so energetic BY TAWANDA W. JOHNSON room, and board all paid for— and happy, they didn’t seem like and an opportunity to intern in miserable grad students at all,” PS strongly supports bipar- Bucksbaum’s letter offered two California every summer at the Valentine Miller said. tisan legislation recently suggestions to the bill for clarity Lawrence Livermore National Lab She remembered that the pro- introduced by members of and to broaden its impact: as a part of the Life Gets Better fessor at the table told her that if A the House Science Committee to • clearly define the groups eligible scholar program. she sent him her letters of recom- enable early-career researchers to for the award and distinguish “That sounds great, where do mendation, he would make sure that strengthen their skills and maintain it from the current NSF Faculty I sign?” Valentine Miller asked. they were reviewed. Valentine Miller continuity in their careers as they Early Career Development Valentine Miller remembers found Hopkins to be a better fit for grapple with obstacles due to the Program (CAREER), which this being a unique time at FAMU her. Valentine Miller also noted that COVID-19 health crisis. supports researchers who because of President Humphries. being near Morgan State University Co-sponsored by both Democrats already hold career positions He was a charismatic man who gave her additional support. and Republicans, the Supporting in academia; and, made it his mission to recruit the “Grad school is hard no matter Early-Career Researchers Act calls • allow the awardees to partner, top merit scholars in the country. where you go, but it was a better for the director of the National as appropriate, with research She recalls the story of how he fit for me,” Valentine said. Science Foundation to establish a labs located outside of an convinced her husband’s parents to In 2006, Valentine successfully Ben Ueland two-year pilot program to award institution of higher edu- allow him to go to FAMU. Humphries defended her dissertation “Spin grants to highly qualified, ear- cation. These partnerships sat on his mother’s couch and talked Polarization Measurements of Rare or industry, their investigations ly-career investigators to carry would broaden the program’s his parents out of sending him to Earth Thin Films.” Her research and collaborations immediately out independent research. reach and allow for all sectors Florida State University. journey included sleeping near the after obtaining their degree dis- In a letter to House Science of the US R&D enterprise to “They just kind of want him, lab and working sixteen-hour days. tinguish them from their advisor Committee Chair Eddie Bernice participate. we really want him,” President “The work ethic is different, and and sets their course for advance- Johnson (D-TX) outlining the Supporters of the bill also Johnson said. it’s much more intense,” Valentine ment,” said Ben Ueland, Associate Society’s support for the legisla- acknowledge that it would make Valentine Miller recalls that Miller said. Scientist at Ames Laboratory and tion, APS President Phil Bucksbaum awardees better scientists as they when she got to FAMU she wasn’t When it comes to the current chair of the APS Forum for Early wrote, “The severe financial stress are afforded more opportunities the only Black physics major. Even generation of scientists, Valentine Career Scientists. “Passage of the in our universities means that new to conduct independent research, at her internship at Livermore in Miller is encouraged by the young bipartisan Supporting Early-Career opportunities in academia are not allowing them to improve or California, she was surrounded by Black scientists who are making Researchers Act would go far in likely to return to pre-pandemic augment their research skills. students from various Historically waves. She is excited about what assisting early-career scientists in levels for some time. It is essen- Additionally, the researchers will Black Colleges and Universities she sees on Twitter about young preparing them for success in their tial that we maintain our capacity continue to hone their qualitative (HBCUs). “Usually it’s like I’m the Black scientists. careers during a difficult time in to prepare new members of our and communication skills, among only physics major,” Valentine “I look forward to the day when our nation and ensuring that the R&D workforce for a broad set of many others, that will make them Miller said. we won’t need to amplify these United States stays at the fore- career options, including research more prepared and competitive, Valentine Miller said that at accomplishments,” Valentine Miller front of scientific and technological positions outside of academia. By whether they go on to work in FAMU there were so many tech said. advancement.” providing recent PhD graduates and academia, industry, or a national majors that you didn’t feel like Added Dan Pisano, APS Director African American Women in postdocs opportunities to further laboratory. it was weird to be in science. She of Industrial Engagement, about the Physics develop their independent research “The COVID-19 global pandemic also noted that you didn’t get a big legislation: “This bill is critical to Valentine Miller is currently skills, they will become more com- has presented unique challenges head about being a physics major. avoid a break in the US pipeline of working as a patent examiner at The petitive candidates regardless of for early-career scientists due to “It was very normal to be about United States Patent and Trademark career choice and even stronger its health and economic impacts. your science and your business,” Office and founded aawip.com, contributors to our nation’s research For a research scientist working for she said. a website that features African enterprise.” academia, a national laboratory, EARLY-CAREER CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Graduate school trials and American women in physics. triumphs Valentine Miller created the After completing her program website in 2005 while she was Signal Boost is a monthly email video newsletter at FAMU, Valentine Miller attended conducting her graduate studies alerting APS members to policy issues and identifying Brown University for graduate at Johns Hopkins. According to opportunities to get involved. Past issues are available studies. She was advised to continue Valentine Miller, the site came into at go.aps.org/2nr298D. Join Our Mailing List: visit the sign-up page at go.aps.org/2nqGtJP. her studies at Vanderbilt University, being during a time when she felt but she was set on going to Brown isolated in her department. because it was a top Ivy League The goal of the website is to research institution. honor the women who paved the “The social aspect was a bit of way to inspire future physicists FYI: SCIENCE POLICY NEWS FROM AIP a challenge for me, but I did ok in and connect with allies interested my classes,” Valentine Miller said. in promoting diversity in physics In the end, Valentine Miller and other STEM fields. US Builds Out Architecture of National Quantum was unable to pass her qual- According to Valentine Miller, ifying exam, which meant that the website has opened a new side Initiative she could not advance to PhD career of studying African American BY MITCH AMBROSE candidacy. Valentine’s research Women in Physics. advisor, James Valles, assured her The website currently features he US Department of California, Berkeley. NSF also is that she could be a great scientist over 100 women starting from 1940 Energy (DOE) and National awarding $26 million over five years and that he would write her a letter to current graduate students. The Science Foundation (NSF) through its Engineering Research of recommendation. list begins with Katherine Johnson, T established an array of research Centers program to establish a For this next move, Valentine who was portrayed by Taraji P. centers this summer focused on Center for Quantum Networks at Miller would be more careful about Henson in the 2016 film “Hidden complementary facets of quantum the University of Arizona. where she would attend. According Figures.” This year Jami Valentine information science (QIS), ful- One of the DOE centers, Q-NEXT, to Valentine Miller, she realized Miller plans on celebrating 100 filling a centerpiece of the National led by Argonne National Lab in she did not want to live in a cold Black women with PhDs in Physics Quantum Initiative Act. Enacted Illinois, will establish two “national place that lacked diversity and she on the website. create quantum communication in late 2018, the law reflects the foundries” for standardized wanted to be near a national airport. links, which have unique security view that concentrations of mul- quantum materials and devices in Her search to find the right uni- advantages and could be used tidisciplinary teams are needed to partnership with SLAC National versity brought her to the National to create networks of quantum accelerate development of sensors, Accelerator Lab in California. In an Society of Black Physicists. Valentine sensors and computers. Argonne The author is currently studying computers, and communication interview, Q-NEXT Director David Miller had a plan to go to recruiting has already established a 52-mile Strategic Communication at Morgan methods that capitalize on the Awschalom said the national labs tables for schools that wanted Black quantum link with the University State University. To date, he has subtle quantum behaviors of matter are a natural place to host such students. With her resume printed created pieces for the Online News of Chicago using an existing fiber at the atomic scale. capabilities. on high-quality paper, she told Association, the Baltimore Times, optic cable, with plans to connect DOE announced in August it is “You need exquisite character- each table that she did not pass and The Society of Professional to nearby Fermilab next year. But funding five QIS centers at $115 ization techniques to know your her graduate qualifying exam and Journalists. After graduation, he plans longer terrestrial links will require million each over five years. Each materials are pristine, because that her advisor would write her a to work in the field of public relations an as-yet uninvented device known as data analyst and content creator. is led by a DOE national lab and we’re talking about building an letter of recommendation. as a quantum repeater to boost the together have attracted participa- atom-scale technology. You need signal along the way. tion from dozens of universities and synchrotrons to do atomic scale DOE announced this summer companies, which have committed imaging and look at electronic it plans to eventually connect all an additional $340 million in total. structure. You might need massive 17 of its national laboratories as Over the same period, NSF’s computational facilities to calculate nodes in a national “quantum Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes the electronic band structure for internet.” University of Oregon program is splitting $75 million a particular design,” Awschalom Read online physicist Michael Raymer, who is evenly across three centers led by said. “The national labs in the US aps.org/apsnews a part of NSF’s Center for Quantum the University of Colorado Boulder, are often the stewards of these University of Illinois at Urbana- technologies.” Champaign, and University of Another focus of Q-NEXT is to INITIATIVE CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 November 2020 • 5

STEP UP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 MEETINGS

STEP UP social hours in the future other big thing we want to offer is Small-Scale Robots Benefit Environmental and because the community they are to bring physics teachers together building is so important.” to learn about and take the STEP UP Medical Research According to Kornahrens, as lessons—we want to be supportive BY ABIGAIL EISENSTADT the school year has been picking and meet the community members up, STEP UP Social Hours will be where they are, but at the same less frequent, but virtual events time we know getting the STEP obotics research benefits are still in the works. One future UP lessons into their hands and many scientific disciplines: activity will be to train STEP UP inspiring and connecting students R autonomous underwater teachers virtually in the lessons is what matters.” vehicles gather samples from the included in the STEP UP program deep seafloor, while surface rovers designed to inspire high school STEP UP is sponsored by the collect data from Mars. But smaller students, especially high school National Science Foundation, the robots can also play important girls, to pursue physics in college. STEM Transformation Institute at roles in research, like tracking Florida International University, “We would be open to continue the movements of ocean animals, the American Association of Physics connecting prominent figures to monitoring microscopic changes in Teachers, Texas A&M Commerce, and physics teachers, and we’re open APS. For more information, visit the the body, and tracing the genetic to ideas on how to make this STEP UP community on APS Engage evolution of communities. happen,” says Kornahrens. “The at engage.aps.org/stepup. Among the robophysics researchers who were planning to present work at the cancelled 2020 APS March Meeting, Brooke Biohybrid micro-robots in different sizes. IMAGE: ELIZABETH HUNTER Flammang, Elizabeth Hunter, and Robert Austin are creating new technology ranging from physical fish: the spinules generate enough physics graduate student Trung robots that operate using only forces friction to counteract the drag force V. Phan. like friction to biohybrid and ana- by a factor of ten. Austin’s colleagues, led by Fundamental Physics log-digital robots. Flammang’s student, Kaelyn biophysicist Liyu Liu and physics Purely physical robots lack Gamel, tested these results with a graduate student Gao Wang at Innovation control circuits or an internal power physical robot. She created a robotic Chongqing University, used analog source, making them a useful tool adhesive disc and attached it to four AWARDS technology to determine how a when studying the biomechanical different surfaces with varying robot community behaves in a evolution of unique animals like degrees of roughness. For example, resource-limited landscape. They remoras. Remoras are a species of one surface was smooth like dolphin placed 50 silver-dollar-sized robots fish with an adhesive disc evolved skin, while another was gritty like on a multicolored light board. The from a dorsal fin, a structure that shark skin. LED board was roughly the size of lets the fish attach to most sea “[It] shows that adhesive perfor- a stadium scoreboard and emitted animals, no matter how slippery mance increases with lamellae, and colored light made from different their skin or how quickly they swim. thus spinule, number. We know that combinations of green, blue and Congratulations to the July 2020 Recipients “A problem with automated remoras evolved more lamellae over red. Analog cameras helped the design for evolution studies is that time, and these results suggest that robots sense colors and resources VISITOR you start to introduce other things. was driven by performance-based beneath them. Wang programmed Eric Hudson, UCLA A motor-driven system will add selection,” said Flammang, “We the robots’ “genotypes” to favor power to do the thing you ask it never would have been able to test HOST green, blue, or red light. For to do. A physics-driven system is this without physical robotics.” example, blue-dominant robots C.J. Martoff, Temple University only going to operate within certain Now, she and her laboratory preferred areas on the board with VISITOR physical, and therefore biological, are combining their robots with high intensity blue light: since they limits. Those [can mimic] the limits tracking devices to help marine CONVENING are “genetically” sensitive to blue, in which the remora has had to scientists monitor whales and other they derived more “resources” Louis E. Strigari, Texas A&M University evolve,” said Flammang, a biolo- sea creatures. “This offers a huge from higher intensities of the color. LEAD ORGANIZER gist at the New Jersey Institute of opportunity for a new technology Austin and Liu designed the Technology. where we can have better long term robots to be genetically selfish, LECTURE The remora’s adhesive disc has a ecological and health biomoni- meaning each robot wanted to Jaideep Singh, Michigan State University fleshy sucker that encircles struc- toring of organisms with less of a mutate as little as possible to HOST tures called lamellae, which have health risk incurred to them,” said preserve its evolutionary fitness. hundreds of tiny spinules that grab Flammang. Andrew Jayich, UCSB Some robots had genotypes that onto the host animal. However, While robots driven by purely demanded all three colors in high VISITOR suction alone does not explain how physical forces can help scientists intensities. remora can attach to extremely understand biomechanical pro- If a robot stayed too long in fast fish like marlins, which reach cesses, so-called analog robots can one area, it depleted the resources Apply today: go.aps.org/apsmoore speeds of 80 kilometers per hour. help scientists learn more about in that area. The robot died, and By studying live remoras biological evolution. the board dimmed. Although and using computer models of “Analog systems are not precise, robots largely avoided their dying the adhesive forces of the discs, but they are robust. They can find neighbors, they would sometimes Flammang and collaborators solutions to complex situations,” found that friction is what helps said Austin, a biophysicist at the remoras stay attached to other Princeton University working with ROBOTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Work on Capitol Hill TM for a Year ae e ae Apply for the APS 2021-2022 Congressional Science Fellowship on e naons Fellows serve one year on the staff of a senator, representative or arges eeng eae o e congressional committee beginning September 2021. Learn about eaon o re pss eaers the legislative process and lend scientific and technical expertise to public policy issues. Qualifications: • Ph.D. or equivalent in physics or a closely related field • A strong interest in science and technology policy PhysTEC • Some experience in applying scientific knowledge toward the solution of societal problems Conference • Must be an APS member

Deadline: December 15, 2020 March 5 - 6 go.aps.org/apscsf Virtual

pse.org/onerenes/ 6 • November 2020

EXPERTISE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 GMAG CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

[within APS],” says Jeraj. a way that physics can play a role. broader: “Magnetic properties the topical group are two-fold: On of the community as well as the CRRG currently has around 130 We wanted to have a broader, high or behavior are omnipresent in one hand, continuing to highlight scientist ‘research-force’ of the members connecting regularly level view of the problem and bring virtually all aspects of physics the diversity that exists within the future.” Indeed, GMAG’s member- through the APS Engage networking the physics perspective into it,” says that take place at the March and group in terms of research; on the ship currently stands at just over platform. While the group promotes Jeraj. “For the following webinars, April Meetings, often discussed other hand, working to promote 15% female. collaboration among different we’ve picked some of the most in sessions devoted to correlated diversity and representation among Promoting the importance of areas of physics, a broader goal significant topics, ranging from electron systems, superconduc- the group’s membership base. magnetism research at the policy is to involve disciplines outside modeling to understanding the evo- tivity, semiconductors, optics, On the former, the executive level is another major priority of physics. lution of viruses to understanding topological materials, and even committee members underscored for the group. As Borchers put “The CRRG is something that the transmission of viruses.” astrophysics.” the success GMAG has seen to date it, “My aspiration is that GMAG started in APS, but we want to make Beyond the webinars and discus- Within the March Meeting, in bringing researchers together expands opportunities for iden- it broader for anyone who inter- sion groups on APS Engage, CRRG GMAG holds an annual Business across disciplines. “Through the tifying concerns and needs of the acts with physics, for example, is working on creating a compre- Meeting where GMAG Fellows years GMAG has proven to be very magnetism community and then engineering, computer science, hensive webpage with resources and GMAG Student Travel Award effective in bringing together communicating them to policy- operations research, modeling, for COVID researchers. The group winners are recognized and where scientists and engineers with com- makers and funding agencies to and chemistry,” says Jeraj. “We are is also forming a partnership with members can network and socialize. plementary interests in magnetism secure the support and resources reaching out to other communities the Johns Hopkins University Novel GMAG also makes efforts to and shared goals of advancing and necessary to maintain the high level as well. We hope this will also create Coronavirus Research Compendium, engage younger scientists at the disseminating their discoveries,” of achievement that is characteristic partnerships that haven’t existed lending additional expertise for March Meeting, holding stu- explained Borchers. Added Beach, of this creative field.” yet. COVID is not a single discipline literature review. Another activity dent-facing membership drives “We have a good track record of Overall, GMAG stands out as problem—physics plays a role but CRRG is considering for the future and networking lunches, and pro- growth and a good track record of a vibrant and enthusiastic group, not the only role—so these part- is working with educators to create viding a platform for students to bringing students into the field and promoting research and exchange nerships need to happen.” educational resources about COVID interact with more senior members highlighting the diversity of areas of ideas at the forefront of a buzzing CRRG also hopes to connect with for students at a variety of levels. of the GMAG community. Notably, where we work. My aspiration is to and interdisciplinary area of physics societies outside the United As CRRG grows and takes on new at approximately 50%, GMAG ranks see that grow.” physics. More information on this States. “We see this as an initiative activities and plans new webinars, among the top APS membership On the latter, Jaime underscored unit can be found at the GMAG to link with other physics soci- Jeraj hopes the group’s efforts will units in terms of student involve- the lack of diversity in the magne- website at aps.org/units/gmag. eties within Latin America, Europe, be community driven, and that ment—“a healthy indicator of the tism field, explaining that there is a and India—we are continuing to the work that comes out of CRRG status of the magnetism field,” need in GMAG for “initiatives with bring the international community continues long after COVID. according to Beach. special emphasis on diversity that together. COVID is not limited to “COVID [has] brought together Looking forward, the GMAG encourage the active participation The author is a science writer based in North America, but is global, so the people that didn’t interact before. executive committee’s goals for of under-represented members Stockholm, Sweden. fight and the science that contrib- What we hope is that there will be utes is global,” Jeraj adds. a long-lasting impact with new The first phase of CRRG activities collaborations and new partnerships kicked off with a webinar series, that will go far beyond COVID.” featuring the latest COVID research says Jeraj. “The community will LOCATIONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 by leading experts. The purpose of continue [to focus] on medical these webinars, according to Jeraj, is and society related problems. By We anticipate that the set of criteria realize that there are economic and Gardner acknowledges that some to present problems that physicists building this collaboration, we will evolve over time and be updated business implications in terms of APS members may disagree with have the ability to address and spark hope and anticipate that this will periodically. how they respond.” the Society taking these steps. discussion among CRRG members. have reach well beyond the COVID- Conference arrangements are Kirby also has begun com- “There are some who might be “This led us to selecting Dr. specific challenge.” organized by the APS Meetings municating with other scientific dismayed that we take this up—that Marc Lipsitch (Harvard T.H. Chan Department, with guidance from the societies to gather wider support. this somehow makes us political,” School of Public Health), for the To join the COVID Research and Committee on Scientific Meetings, “I brought this up with a working she says. “I resist that. I think that first webinar, particularly because Resources Group, visit engage.aps.org. explained APS Meetings Director group of science society CEOs that we are a physics organization, but we wanted to have a leading epide- To register for future webinars, visit Hunter Clemens. It is a complex meets informally,” she says. “The we function in a society. It is part miologist explaining the problem in aps.org/membership/units/crrg.cfm. process that depends on the venue reaction was very positive, and of our charge and is our goal to capacity in a given location and the people acknowledged that it is keep our members and conference environmental sustainability of the really important to start asking meeting attendees safe.” venue. Contracts have to be finalized these questions so that cities and ROBOTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 six or seven years in advance and convention bureaus know that these Additional information cancelling a meeting can potentially are criteria we will be looking at.” APS Webinar: “From Passion to Action: accidentally brush up against them, measurement and information pro- involve several million dollars in Andrea Liu (University of Levers and Tools for Making Physics triggering a digital exchange of cessing techniques and mechanisms penalties, depending on circum- Pennsylvania), Speaker of the APS Inclusive and Equitable,” aps.org/ genes. This revived the dead robots to interconnect these components stances. And in the midst of the Council, says that APS President- programs/minorities/webinars/ by changing their genotype and at small scales,” said Hunter. pandemic, even virtual meetings Elect S. James Gates has drawn a passiontoaction.cfm. allowing them to gather resources To overcome these obstacles, are very expensive. useful analogy between the new APS Webinar: “Removing Barriers: from other color intensities across Hunter built helical micro-robots “When we presented the criteria and the Sullivan Principles, Physics in HBCU, MSI, and PBI the board. ranging from one millimeter to 10 committee with the Phillips and developed by Rev. Leon Sullivan, Communities,” aps.org/programs/ Although the robots have some millimeters in size. She combined Weissman proposal, they said ‛we during the last years of apartheid minorities/webinars/removebar- digital components, Austin and Liu iron oxide with nontoxic, organic need to do something about this in South Africa. “Some corporations riers.cfm. are working to transition them to hydrogels to create “cell-friendly” right away, ’” said Clemens. “We’ve adopted these principles to protect P. Phillips and M. B. Weissman, pure analog. They are collaborating robots. Since iron oxide is a magnetic reached out to the cities where their employees there by using their “Academic societies' role in curbing with oncologist Ken Pienta at Johns material, Hunter was able to use an we plan to meet in the future and economic leverage to put pressure police brutality,” Science 368, 1322 (2020); doi.org/10.1126/science. Hopkins Medicine to develop a external rotating magnetic field asked them to respond to these on the country. That’s the idea—APS abd1932. robotic model for cancer cell com- to drive the “corkscrew” robots concerns, and we’ve gotten some brings a lot of money with these munities. “We’re hoping that we through fluids with different viscos- responses back. Each city is in a conferences and we should not P. Phillips and M. B. Weissman, “A proposal for APS action on police might learn more about how cancer ities. She also equipped the robots different place with regard to the invest in cities that have a problem brutality,” Physics Today 73, 7, 12 criteria, but the one that impressed with police violence that endangers maintains its robustness in this with biosensors by decorating their (2020); doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4514. kind of system. I don’t think you surfaces with genetically engi- me the most was Denver in terms our members.” can replicate it on a computer. You neered E. coli. The bacteria naturally of how far along they are with each really have to let it do its thing,” produced fluorescent green protein of the issues.” said Austin. signals. This engineered signaling APS CEO Kate Kirby notes that A different kind of robot—a protein could be modified to respond the added criteria build upon a state- biohybrid—can expand medical to signals like proteins, light, or ment adopted by the APS Council professionals’ ability to learn more chemicals. in November 2000, in which “The about biological systems. These Currently, Hunter’s team is Council of the American Physical robots are very small, ranging from developing new geometrical designs Society affirms the commitment ‘millimeters to microns in size, for her robots to test how they of the Society to the protection of All of the research, small enough to one day be used move across petri dishes and engi- the rights of all people, including for medical purposes. neering new biosensing bacteria. freedom from discrimination based none of the jargon. According to Elizabeth Hunter, “Essentially, we might be able to on race, gender, ethnic origin, a mechanical engineer at the imagine these robots rolling across religion or sexual orientation. This Physics Magazine is a free online University of Pennsylvania, there petri dishes and swimming in tubes principle will guide the Society in magazine featuring news and are three main challenges to devel- performing automated laboratory the conduct of its affairs, including commentary about cutting-edge oping these robots: fabricating experiments and probing different the selection of sites of meetings the robot, controlling its move- cells with high spatial and temporal of the APS.” research published in the ments and developing effective resolution,” said Hunter. “The challenge is going to be Physical Review journals. sensors to make the micro-ro- how many cities have this infor- bots smarter. “[These robots] The author is a Communications mation available,” said Kirby. “And Assistant at the Smithsonian National have exciting applications, but the if they haven’t collected these sta- Museum of Natural History and a for- Learn more and subscribe challenge [of] making them really tistics, they should start now. It’s mer Science Communications Intern at physics.aps.org lies in developing new locomotion at APS. a way of having these locations November 2020 • 7

CHAPTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 EARLY-CAREER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 a need for a careers workshop the occasion and rise to leadership new physics talent, especially in the islation is an excellent step toward beginning stages of their careers or interest in science policy, the positions,” says Dawood. “The other more rapidly growing segments of ensuring that newly graduated right now, and this bill would help Chapter members can be directed big thing is that we want to make the field, such as quantum infor- physics PhDs and postdocs are maintain the continuity needed in to the appropriate APS resources. sure these are equitable, inclusive mation science, where the demand ready for whatever career path their careers as they pursue various “We really want to make sure communities—anyone who wants far exceeds current supply in both they choose. job opportunities,” said Slakey. that these chapters represent the to be a part of them can join. We industry and academia.” “We know that early-career different types of institutions— want to support everyone, espe- Francis Slakey, Chief External researchers are confronting The author is Senior Press Secretary in research intensive R1 universities, cially those from underrepresented Affairs Officer for APS, said the -leg numerous challenges during the the APS Office of Government Affairs. Master’s granting universities, groups.” Historically Black Colleges and APS Chapters are open to anyone Universities, Hispanic Serving at their respective institutions, with Institutions, and national labs” the only requirement being that at INITIATIVE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 says Dawood. “Each chapter is least five Chapter members are also probably going to look very dif- members of APS. One faculty or Networks, said in an interview these layers in parallel [because] universities or in industry or even ferent, and we want to recognize staff advisor will also be required that connecting the DOE labs is a these are hard problems. … That's government labs — in small teams that each chapter will likely have for each Chapter to provide a sense daunting task, estimating it will really what these centers are all are not capable of creating quantum a unique identity.” of continuity as new students join take at least 20 years, but he expects about.” technology. It's too complicated,” A main goal of the pilot program, the Chapter and take on leadership the initiative will benefit from the Raymer was among a small group he said. which has just completed its appli- roles. However, anyone—graduate collective efforts of the new QIS of scientists that conceived of the centers. idea to appeal to Congress for the cation process, is to work with a student, post-doc, faculty, or staff The author is Acting Director of FYI. small group of institutions and member—will be able to apply to “There's the theoretical protocol centers through an advocacy coa- Published by the American assess what resources Chapters start a Chapter at their institution. layer. There's the building of the lition called the National Photonics Institute of Physics since 1989, could benefit from the most. Each While the pilot program has fiber infrastructure, assuming Initiative (lightourfuture.org), FYI is a trusted source of science Chapter that has been selected for just kicked off, anyone interested you have a repeater, then there's which was established in 2013 to policy news that is read by con- the pilot will first elect Chapter in starting an APS Chapter at their actually building a repeater. And support efforts that use optics and gressional staff, federal agency officers this fall, and in December institution can fill out an interest then the other end of it is what photonics as enabling technologies. heads, and leading figures in the they will submit an activity interest form on the Chapters website (aps. do you connect to the internet,” “The main selling point that we all scientific community. Sign up for form to APS, laying out what org/membership/chapters.cfm) to Raymer said. “I think the com- came up with was that individual free FYI emails at aip.org/fyi. resources or events they need. be alerted when Chapter applica- munity has decided to work on all researchers — whether they be in Another draw of APS Chapters tions open up next fall. beyond individualized resources “What’s exciting about this is a chance for students and early program is that it is connected to PHYSICS NOBEL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 career members to grow their lead- many APS activities, in particular ership skills. A small group at one those run by the APS Membership, in their announcement, including at the center of our galaxy. “I’m to Penrose, and the other half to institution provides a training Career Programs, and International two papers in Physical Review thrilled that the Nobel Committee Genzel and Ghez. All three laureates ground for future leaders in physics Affairs offices,” says Dawood. Letters (PRL), and one in Reviews has recognized the critical impor- will be honored at the 2021 Nobel to find their voices. “Navigating your career early on of Modern Physics. This marks the tance of the work of Genzel and Banquet owing to the cancellation “We want to provide oppor- isn’t easy, so we at APS want to tenth consecutive year that a PRL Ghez, which established beyond a of the 2020 ceremonies. tunities to empower individuals. do what we can to help and build article coauthored by one of the doubt the existence of a supermas- The local groups really give indi- a sense of community while sup- recipients has been cited in the sive black hole at the center of the Articles Cited by the Nobel viduals the opportunity to rise to porting these individuals.” Scientific Background of the Physics Milky Way, and the work of Penrose Committee or Chemistry award. with Stephen Hawking, predicting The following articles have been “APS congratulates the the existence of black holes,” said made free-to-read by APS: 2020 Nobel Laureates for their Glennys Farrar, Professor of Physics R. Penrose, "Asymptotic Properties of outstanding contributions to astro- at New York University and Chair of Fields and Space-Times," Phys. Rev. physics, and the understanding of the APS Division of Astrophysics. Lett. 10, 66 (1963). our universe,” said APS CEO Kate Beginning in the early 1990s, R. Penrose, "Gravitational Collapse and Kirby. “I sincerely hope that this Genzel and Ghez each led groups Space-Time Singularities," Phys. award will inspire the next genera- of researchers mapping the orbits Rev. Lett. 14, 57 (1965). tion of physicists, especially young of bright stars close to the center of R. Genzel, F. Eisenhauer, and S. Gil- women, whom we are committed the galaxy. Based on their measure- lessen, "The Galactic Center APS WEBINARS to supporting at every level.” ments, both groups found that the massive black hole and nuclear Penrose receives half of the movement of these stars is affected star cluster," Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 3121(2010). Weinars oering discussion career Nobel Prize in Physics for his use by an extremely heavy, invisible of mathematical methods to show object—most likely a four million guidance and adice. Related Articles that black holes are a direct con- solar-mass black hole. Both Genzel sequence of the theory of general and Ghez have given talks at recent The following articles have been Sign up or the mailing list today relativity. Albert Einstein had not APS April meetings, Genzel in 2020 made free-to-read by APS: oapoapina believed black holes existed, but and Ghez in 2019, and Ghez received T. Johannsen et al., “Testing General in 1965, ten years after Einstein’s the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award Relativity with the Shadow Size death, Penrose published a ground- from APS in 1999. of Sgr A*,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, breaking article describing black “I hope I can inspire other young 031101 (2016). holes and their formation. Penrose women into the field. It’s a field that A. Hees et al., “Testing General Rela- showed that the theory of rela- has so many pleasures, and if you tivity with Stellar Orbits around the tivity accounts for the formation are passionate about the science, Supermassive Black Hole in Our Galactic Center,” Phys. Rev. Lett. of black holes, despite containing there’s so much that can be done,” 118, 211101 (2017). a singularity at which the known said Ghez by phone during the Nobel A. Amorim et al. (GRAVITY Collab- laws of nature cease to apply. His announcement in Stockholm. oration), “Test of the Einstein contributions to general relativity The Nobel Prize, first awarded Equivalence Principle near the also earned Penrose the 1971 Dannie in 1901, is widely considered the Galactic Center Supermassive Heineman Prize for Mathematical highest honor in science, eco- Black Hole,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, Physics, jointly awarded by APS and nomics, and literature. The 2020 101102 (2019). the American Institute of Physics. Nobel Laureates will be awarded A. Hees et al. “Search for a Variation of Genzel and Ghez share half of the medals separately in their home the Fine Structure Constant around Nobel Prize for their separate but countries, and they will receive 10 the Supermassive Black Hole in Our Galactic Center,” Phys. Rev. Lett. complementary efforts to study a million Swedish krona (just over 124, 081101 (2020). region called Sagittarius A*, located $US 1.1 million), half of which goes

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Note: This article is adapted from the winning entry in the third to macroscopic things and living beings [6]. This paradox annual essay contest sponsored by the APS Forum on the History has nevertheless sparked the interest among contemporary of Physics. The full essay is available at aps.org/units/fhp. physicists to study the quantum effects of objects much larger than atoms and molecules. In particular, certain “Two kinds of intellectual activity, both equally instinctive, types of solid-state device, once sufficiently isolated from have played a prominent part in the progress of physical the environment, possess a quantized energy-level structure science,” Jean Perrin wrote at the opening of his Les Atomes and can be prepared to a state containing no more than a (1913) [1]. The tradition of induction is represented by Galileo few excitation quanta, and even to a coherent superposition and Carnot, who were capable of establishing physical laws of different low-excitation states. Given the name “artifi- through the direct observations and generalizations of cial atoms,” they are the basic components of the quantum experience. The inquiries guided by intuition include the machines, whose macroscopic degrees of freedom for control works of Dalton and Boltzmann, which inspect the “hidden and measurement are intrinsically quantum mechanical [7]. gears” of the empirical world and seek to “explain the com- Those systems containing a large number of particles and plications of the visible in terms of invisible simplicity” [1]. thus “macroscopic” in spatial scale but exhibiting quantum The temporary success of one method, as Perrin opined, coherence lie in the scope of mesoscopic physics, in which cannot deny the necessity of the other. Furthermore, he the “macro–micro” borderline is separated from the “clas- envisaged the day when the two approaches would merge sical–quantum” boundary. In these cases, the breakdown into one—a time when individual atoms would be as visible of the one-to-one correspondence between “atomic” and as microorganisms. “quantum mechanical” forces us to rethink the essence of Les Atomes, viewed by many as the manifesto for the reality the old two-world dichotomy. of atomic hypothesis, was published at a critical point in the Why does there have to be a dichotomy? In fact, more history of modern science. In modern vocabulary, Perrin’s than a century ago, Perrin already conceived the merge of dichotomy between the “inductive” and “intuitive” inquiries the two methods of inquiry. What we have been searching can be rephrased as the classification of physics research for is a universal set of basic principles, a consistent way according to the scale of the physical objects being studied. of perception, that is applicable to all physical systems However, few physicists of the following generations would Zhixin Wang regardless of their spatial size or particle number. We are fully accept Perrin’s criterion— visibility—as the most halfway toward this goal: On the one hand, the grand success sensible standard to distinguish macroscopic phenomena of quantum mechanics grants us the confidence that the from microscopic ones. In fact, given the progress of modern Mach, a firm positivist, would question whoever spoke to theory may also work at a larger scale. On the other hand, physics since the quantum revolution, one might find this him of atoms: “Have you seen one?” [4]. no one has ever found a “Schrödinger’s cat,” namely, an borderline increasingly hard to draw. One could hardly reply with a definite “yes” before everyday object in a quantum superposition of classical 17th Century: Visibility to the Unassisted Eye Perrin’s systematic study of the Brownian motion and reliable states that are macroscopically distinct. Further explora- It would not be easy for modern minds to imagine a time measurements of the Avogadro number in 1907–1909 [5]. tions in mesoscopic physics might provide more insightful when the study of the basic entities of matter was not only Around the same decade, various charged particles were solutions to this dilemma. absent in scientific practice, but as some schools of thought observed and measured in cathode rays, cloud chambers, Conclusion claimed, should even be excluded from rational thinking. In and falling drops, where particles are isolated from the bulk. After sketching a few key episodes in the history of physics, Renaissance natural philosophy, “qualities”—the Aristotelian Then came the prominence of reductionism in the practice we find the conception of the “macroscopic” and “micro- term for the causes of properties and natural effects—is of science: a complex phenomenon should be understood scopic” worlds is by no means constant over time. Instead, divided into the “manifest” and the “occult,” depending on from the properties and configurations of its components. it has been actively reflecting our limit of experimentation, whether they are perceptible to human senses [2]. Magnetism, What was exactly opposite to the dominant philosophy perception, and comprehension regarding the composition chemistry, and medicine are all “occult,” which appeared to before the Scientific Revolution almost became the new and behavior of matter. Besides the development in theory be insensible and unexplainable, as inappropriate topics for doctrine in the 20th century. and philosophy, the evolution of instrumentation plays an rational philosophy. Such a doctrine was challenged during the Considering these backgrounds, especially the struggle essential role in this odyssey. Interestingly, the reality of Scientific Revolution. As René Descartes asserted, mechanical to validate atomic reality among fin-de-siècle physicists atomic hypothesis was verified through the study of the explanations will be found for all “occult qualities,” which and chemists, Perrin’s criterion to differentiate between Brownian motion of granules under the microscope, and are therefore within the scope of scientific reasoning [3]. macro- and microphysics seems fairly reasonable. But the operation of a quantum machine is based on the precise Moreover, he believed all perceptible effects are essentially unlike its meaning at the time of Huygens and Hooke, control and measurement of natural or artificial atoms. This generated by those hidden mechanisms. Meanwhile, pioneers the “visibility” of scientific atomists does not refer to the three-stage relay is emblematic of the scientists’ growing of experimentation demonstrated that human senses can be resolution of the eye, but the very limit of experimental capability of observing and manipulating the subtle struc- extended through the assistance of scientific instruments. A methods. This new notion, however, was soon to be modified tures of nature throughout the ages. remarkable example is the microscope, which had a major when the foundation of physical science was rewritten by impact on both academic research and popular culture. quantum mechanics. The infant microscope marked the arrival of an age when The author is a graduate student in the Department of Applied Mid-20th Century Afterwards: Quantumness and More Physics and the Yale Quantum Institute at Yale University. miniature structures, previously invisible, could form an Since the turn of the 20th century, physicists have been extended vision for the sake of scientific observation and questing for the “most fundamental” building blocks of References experimentation. Those objects that are obscure to the nature. Particles more elementary than atoms were discovered 1. J. Perrin, Atoms, translated by D. Ll. Hammick from the 4th unassisted eye but visible with optical equipment comprise by methods that followed stringent standards. Moreover, revised edition of Les Atomes (New York, D. Van Nostrand, 1916). the early modern conception of the “microscopic world.” Perrin’s prospect of seeing atoms under the microscope Fin de siècle: The Struggle of the Atomic Hypothesis has indeed been realized. Invisibility is thus no longer 2. K. Hutchison, “What Happened to Occult Qualities in the Sci- entific Revolution?” Isis 73, 233 (1982). Owing to the fast diffusion of the microscope as a gadget the distinctive feature of the atomic world. “Microscopic” for research and leisure, by the late 17th century, its magnified objects are thereafter not characterized primarily by their 3. C. Wilson, “Visual Surface and Visual Symbol: The Microscope and the Occult in Early Modern Science,” Journal of the History image was deprived of the privilege of being a “new world” but spatial scale, but through the physical laws they obey: being of Ideas 49, 85 (1988). absorbed into humans' natural sensation. In the meantime, “microscopic” means their behavior has to be described 4. S. G. Brush, “Mach and Atomism,” Synthese 18, 192 (1968). the early modern period witnessed the renaissance of the using the formalism of quantum mechanics. ancient atomism—the belief that all matter is composed Different as it may sound from its predecessor, in practice 5. J. Perrin, Brownian Movement and Molecular Reality, translated by F. Soddy from the Annales de chimie et de physique, 8me of undividable fundamental entities. Notably, Descartes, this new criterion requires very few objects to be reclassified. series, September 1909 (London, Taylor & Francis, 1910). Boyle, and Newton all employed the model of “corpuscles” For a long time, “microscopic,” “atomic,” and “quantum 6. E. Schrödinger, “Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quanten- to explain astronomical motion, chemical reactions, and mechanical” more or less denote the same regime. However, mechanik,” Naturwissenschaften 23, 807 (1935) light, respectively. The reality of microscopic particles was this de facto correspondence has no solid basis: nothing 7. S. M. Girvin, “Circuit QED: superconducting qubits coupled to eventually to be revealed thanks to the advances of statistical in the current version of quantum theory forbids it from microwave photons,” in Quantum Machines: Measurement and physics and electromagnetism in the second half of the 19th describing larger objects or more complicated systems. Control of Engineered Quantum Systems, Lecture Notes of the century. However, without direct experimental evidence, This already came into the mind of Erwin Schrödinger Les Houches Summer School, Session XCVI, eds. M. Devoret, the true existence of these particles beyond a convenient as early as 1935, when he raised the “cat paradox” trying to B. Huard, R. Schoelkopf, and L. F. Cugliandolo (Oxford, Oxford hypothesis remained a matter of belief. For example, Ernst present the absurdity of applying the quantum formalism Univ. Press, 2014), pp. 113–255.

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