APS Gears up for Minneapolis March Meeting Madness Or Those Physicists with a Taste for Paranormal
IN THIS ISSUE: Prizes and A P S N E W S Awards MARCH 2000 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 9, NO. 3 Insert (Try the enhanced APS News-online: http://www.aps.org/apsnews) APSCelebrate News APS a Century 100 of years Physics APS Gears Up For Minneapolis March Meeting Madness or those physicists with a taste for paranormal. Among them is Joel Fsomething different, the 2000 APS Achenbach, a journalist with The Wash- March Meeting — to be held March 20 - ington Post. Achenbach will describe his 24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota — offers a experiences visiting the set of the popu- host of unusual sessions in addition to lar TV series “The X Files”; traveling to the usual technical symposia, covering Roswell, NM; meeting with the Mars So- an equally broad range of topics. ciety; interviewing a man with plans to Adventurous attendees will have the build his own spaceship to Alpha opportunity to hear speakers tackle the Centauri; and being hypnotized in a ho- continuing flood of pseudoscientific tel room to determine whether he himself claims; learn how to succeed with a had ever been abducted by aliens. He technology-based start-up venture; hear will be joined by Michael Shermer of The reports on the latest research in the Skeptics Society and Robert Park, APS burgeoning field of econophysics; and director of public affairs and author of discover how science can influence legal the forthcoming book Voodoo Science decisions in the nation’s courtrooms. (see page 3). (Session G8, Tuesday A far-from-exhaustive sampling of a morning, 101H) few of these sessions is provided below, A second session, “The Skeptical In-
along with a listing of planned special quirer,” will explore a broad range of Moore photo Tyler Mary Visitors Bureau; & Photo courtesy of the Long Beach Area Convention photo from www.venturafiles.com/ Ventura Jesse from www.jyanet.com/mtm/episodes.htm; events (see page 3). APS members are controversial paranatural topics. Paul Kurtz Minneapolis, the so-called “City of the Lakes,” will host the 2000 APS March Meeting. The city is also encouraged to browse the full online of the Committee for the Scientific In- home to two icons of popular culture Mary Tyler Moore as Minneapolis TV news person Mary epitome for the meeting at vestigation of Claims of the Paranormal Richards, and the equally indefatigable wrestler-turned-governor Jesse “The Mind” Ventura. (insets). www.aps.org/meet/MAR00/baps/ will discuss the history of hauntings and index.html. Unless otherwise indicated, seances dating back to the notorious Fox all room listings refer to the Minneapolis sisters in 1848, who, along with other al- High School Physics Teachers Convention Center. leged mediums, were discredited as The Truth is Out There. frauds. His colleague, Joe Nickell, will in Short Supply Pseudoscience and superstition are ram- tackle the elaborate mythology — and pant in our society, albeit frequently occasional hoax, such as the notorious hen Guilford High School in having difficulty finding qualified draped in the language and symbols of “alien autopsy” film — that has sprung W Connecticut abruptly found itself candidates, according to Michael science, conclude the featured speakers up around the modern UFO craze, along in need of a physics teacher this fall, Neuschatz, a senior research associate in at two sessions focusing on the foolish with the popular fascination with alien science department chairman Bruce AIP’s Education and Employment and occasionally fraudulent claims of the Continued on page 3 Faitsch discovered firsthand the Statistics Division. At private schools, difficulties of locating qualified high where 41% of principals reported school physics teachers. The Fairfield searching for a physics teacher, 40% had Inside… Nanotechnology Teacher’s Agency confirmed his difficulty in finding qualified candidates. suspicions when he contacted them for This seems to be in keeping with na- NEWS help: physics teachers are in short supply, tional trends. A recent survey of schools To Advance and Diffuse the Knowledge Symposium at of Physics ...... 2 at least in the state of Connecticut. and staffing conducted by the Depart- Outreach and community service. The need for qualified physics ment of Education’s National Center for That Voodoo That You Do ...... 3 March Meeting teachers is particularly critical in light of Education Statistics forecast a need of Bob Park skewers his favorite targets in a brand a recent study by the American Institute about 2.4 million teachers from 1998 new book. ollowing in the wake of President of Physics (AIP), which found that over through 2008. However, Neuschatz cau- Microfluidic Technologies on the Rise at Clinton’s “major new National the last decade, the proportion of high tions that this figure must be viewed in DFD Meeting ...... 6 F Speakers at the 52nd annual DFD meeting in Nanotechnology Initiative” announced in his school students who take physics has context, since the forecast is based on new Orleans focused on emerging applica- remarks at Caltech on January 21, the APS risen substantially, from about 20% to speculative assumptions about teacher tions for microfluidic technologies. will present a special symposium at the 28% (see APS News, November 1999). continuation rates, class size, and student First Online Graduate Physics Textbook March meeting to acquaint the physics Yet a 1993 AIP survey found that, of the to teacher ratio. The department also Hits the Web ...... 6 Warren Siegel, a high energy physicist at SUNY- community with the details of the initiative, 30% of public school principals seeking acknowledges that as much as one-third Stony Brook’s C.N. Yang Institute for and to review some of the legislative and to hire a physics teacher in the prior three of this projected demand will most likely Theoretical Physics, is offering an online text- budgetary hurdles it must still overcome. years, more than one-third reported Continued on page 7 book on quantum and classical field theory free of charge. One of the participants in the symposium will be Evelyn L. Hu, director of QUEST (the Wilson Memorial Tribute Planned ...... 6 The APS April meeting will feature a memo- NSF Science and Technology Center for rial session in honor of the late Robert Wilson. Quantized Electronic Structures) at the Uni- This Month in Physics History ...... 6 versity of California, Santa Barbara, who The First Transmission of Speech. pointed out that Richard Feynman foreshad- OPINION owed the Nanotechnology Initiative in 1959 LETTERS ...... 4 when he spoke about ‘There’s Plenty of VIEWPOINT ...... 4 Room at the Bottom’. According to Hu, Presi- Alan Chodos on quantum justice dent Clinton’s request for a national My Opinion—Others May Differ ...... 5 David Markowitz muses on God, Physics, and investment in Nanotechnology underscores the Gender Wars. the importance of this area of research, the Scientists Must Speak Out ...... 5 breadth of expertise it will draw from, and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on why the range of applications which it will ben- Congress needs to hear from scientists. efit. Other participants in the symposium will DEPARTMENTS be Patricia M. Dehmer, Associate Director for Zero Gravity ...... 4 Basic Energy Sciences at DOE; Thomas A. The Physicists’ Bill of Rights. Weber, Director of the Materials Research Announcements ...... 7 Division of the NSF; and Robert C. Dynes, Positions available at APS and AJP; 2000 Apker Awards; NAGPS seeks grad student responses Chancellor of the University of California at to online survey; Fellowship nomination dead- San Diego. The symposium will be chaired lines. by James Langer, President of the APS. The Back Page ...... 8 The symposium will take place Wednes- David Moncton on the policy battles around the SNS. day, March 22, between 5:30 and 7 pm. APS News March 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 Outreach and Community Service II With contributions by Harry Lustig, R. Mark Wilson, and others.
K-12 Education The APS has led the way in improving K-12 science education. The Teacher Scientist Alliance Institute is a national program that brings scientist volunteers into school systems to develop hands-on, inquiry-based curricula. High School Teachers’ Days are a feature of many APS meetings. The Campaign for Physics recently raised $5 million dollars in support of educational programs.
Ramon Lopez, past APS director of education and outreach, with children.
Public Information With the formation of the Panel on Public Affairs in 1975, APS had a vehicle to offer the physicists’ view on matters of public concern, such as the viability of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Activity was notched up significantly with the establishment of a Washington, DC, office in 1984. What’s New, op-eds, and a mass- media fellowship program for physicists who want to become reporters are some of the ways that APS works to improve public awareness of the value of science.
Government Relations Today APS has an active presence on Capitol Hill—in marked contrast APS president, D. Allan Bromley, presenting the Unified International Relations to the Society’s early disdain for Statement to US Senators, 1997. politics. Lobbying for science is now APS has continued to have an international valued. The Congressional Fellowship Program enables physicists outlook, helping and collaborating with to intern on Capitol Hill. scientists throughout the world. In 1997, APS played a central role in forming a coalition of more than a Shortly after Nixon’s visit to China, APS initiated hundred societies who issued a a successful China Program, which trained postdocs in the US in the mid-1980s. Unified Statement of Research. This George Soros (center) with Irving led to legislation that calls for After the collapse of the Soviet Union, APS Lerch, APS director of international doubling the funding for scientific, helped hundreds of Soviet scientists continue affairs, and Ernest Henley, 1992 APS president. medical, and engineering research. their research. Funded by donations from international financier, George Soros and others, the program led to the creation of the International Science Foundation.
Next Month: Mechanics of Publishing
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2 March 2000 APS News
March Meeting, continued from page 1 That Voodoo That You Do abductions, dating back to the Roswell legal controversies, such as lawsuits kewering practitioners of so-called crash in 1947. Unlike so-called mediums, claiming that cellular phones and elec- S“pseudoscience” is a perennial hobby he finds that most alien abduction reports tromagnetic fields cause cancer. Susan for APS director of public affairs Robert appear to be sincere, although unauthen- Poulter of the University of Utah will Park, and many of his favorite targets are ticated, and investigators believe such discuss the impact of recent science- featured in his first book for a general claims are rooted in psychological fac- based decisions of the US Supreme audience, due out this spring from Oxford tors. The University of Hawaii’s Victor Court, which attempt to set standards University Press. Three years in the making, Stenger will target alternative medicine for screening expert testimony on sci- Voodoo Science seeks to debunk many of (L) Mask from www.whimseys.net/ and other misuses of physics concepts. entific topics to help trial judges today’s most foolish and fraudulent scientific Robert Park (right) confronts an exponent of Finally, the recent Kansas evolution con- distinguish good science from bad. Also claims: magnetic therapy — whose sales Voodoo Science (left). troversy provides an ideal backdrop for speaking will be Aaron Manka of the topped $2 billion in 1999 — cold fusion, In some cases, his efforts even re- Eugenie Scott of the National Center for National Science Foundation on how the Podkletnov gravity shield, free energy, sulted in government action. For Science, who will discuss the “new kid his agency handles allegations of sci- and movements to build colonies in space, example, when USA Today carried a full- on the antievolutionist block”: Intelligent entific misconduct, and the University such as the notorious L5 Society. In the page ad for the mysterious “Vitamin O,” Design Creationism, whose most promi- of Chicago’s Mary Ellen Sheridan will process, Park seeks to answer such Park was the first to expose the product nent practitioners are academics discuss the impact of new Freedom of questions as how otherwise respectable as nothing more than a solution of salt associated with secular universities. (Ses- Information Act requirements on aca- scientists can end up committing scientific water in his weekly electronic newslet- sion M8, Wednesday morning, 101H) demic researchers. Former APS fraud; how our evolutionary heritage ter, What’s New. A subsequent interview Popularizing Science for Under- Treasurer Harry Lustig (University of makes us want to believe in an era when on National Public Radio raised enough graduates. Lui Lam, a professor of physics New Mexico) will close the session belief is a hindrance rather than a protective public pressure to cause the Federal at San Jose State University, outlines the with a summary of the Society’s 10- mechanism; and how the public can better Trade Commission to investigate. Last usefulness of integrating popular science year involvement in a lawsuit with distinguish pseudoscience from genuine March the FTC charged the supplier with books into introductory physics classes, scientific publisher Gordon and Breach. breakthroughs. fraud and ultimately closed the company which are generally comprised of under- (Session E5, Tuesday morning, 102C.) Not surprisingly, many of the down. Similarly, Park’s efforts to expose graduates with no intention of majoring Sci-Trek: The Next Generation. pseudoscientific examples detailed in the the fraudulent claims of free energy in physics. “We want our college gradu- Undergraduate physics majors from book are drawn from Park’s prolific activi- schemes — a movement which has ates to be informed about science Hendrix College will present results from ties on behalf of the APS Office of Public achieved nearly cult-like status — led to matters, but there is no textbook avail- a wide range of physics projects at a spe- Affairs, based in Washington, DC. In 1999 the removal of State Department spon- able that teaches truly multiple cial session highlighting undergraduate alone, he made 11 television appearances sorship of a free energy conference last disciplines for freshmen,” he laments. He research, sponsored by the Society of and 17 radio appearances on subjects rang- April, and an investigation of the Patent believes a solution might lie in the Physics Students. Because of their ex- ing from Ballistic Missile Defense and and Trademark Office, resulting in the plethora of general interest nonfiction treme sensitivity and dynamic range, polygraph testing to alternative medicine, dismissal of the U.S. patent examiner books about science, which are fre- large laser ring interferometers are prom- space exploration and creationism. He also who organized the conference. quently written by the pioneers ising candidates for studying geophysical authored four opinion pieces for the New And for all those pseudoscientists fond themselves or exceptionally gifted sci- phenomena, according to Hendrix stu- York Times, two full-page stories for the of citing Newton and Galileo as similarly ence writers, and combine ease of dent Chelsey Bryant, whose senior Washington Post, and delivered eight misunderstood role models, Park has a comprehension with an entertaining style project focused on employing the instru- speeches or colloquia around the coun- typically pithy rejoinder: “It is not enough to pique students’ interest in science. ment for just such a purpose. Her fellow try — all in the name of educating the to wear the mantle of Galileo: that you “These are the places to learn how re- Hendrix students Eric Mortenson and public about pseudoscientific foolishness be persecuted by an unkind establish- search and discovery are being done in Matt Reason worked with semiconduc- and occasionally outright fraud. ment. You must also be right.” very recent times,” he says. (Session B6, tor laser models, while John Hunter Mack Monday morning, 103AB) chose to focus on noninvasive detection Secrets of Entrepreneurial Suc- of metallic ions in a hybrid plume. (Ses- cess. New businesses based on sion B13, Monday morning, 103F.) SPECIAL EVENTS innovative science and technology have It Takes a Global Village. In today’s been the driving force for the US world without walls, international collabo- COM/CSWP Reception Presentation of 2000 Prizes and economy for the last 25 years, according ration in physics is critical, particularly for Sunday, March 19, 2000 Awards to Alexander Glass of the Bay Area Re- large science projects, such as the Large 5:30 - 7:30 PM, Marquette Room Monday, March 20, 2000 gional Technology Alliance, a featured Hadron Collider, and international con- (lecture)/LaSalle Room (reception) 5:15 - 6:15 PM, Ballroom B speaker at a Monday morning session cerns are thus moving to the foreground A joint reception of the APS A complete list of the individuals exploring physicists’ experiences with of the scientific enterprise. James Vary, Committee on Minorities and being honored can be found in the start-up companies. Although thousands representing UNESCO and the Interna- Committee on the Status of Women special honors insert. in Physics. of scientists and engineers receive fund- tional Institute of Theoretical and Applied Welcoming Reception ing for establishing new, Physics at Iowa State University, will de- Career Workshop Monday, March 20, 2000 technology-based companies each year, scribe how advances in high-speed digital Sunday, March 19, 2000 6:15 PM, Ballroom A many experience difficulty making the communications have enabled the de- 6:00 - 9:00 PM, Room 101F Book Signing transition from a technology to a market velopment of “virtual laboratories” to A free workshop open to all meeting Tuesday, March 21 focus. Glass will be joined by represen- bridge geographical boundaries between attendees to offer insight on career 1:30 - 2:30 PM tatives/founders of Siros Technologies, scientists. David Pines will examine the choices in physics. New Focus Inc., IME Corporation, and JDS importance of an open scientific envi- Room 101H Uniphase, all sharing their experiences ronment at Los Alamos National Third Annual Run for Health Authors featured at the “Voodoo and advice for others interested in fol- Laboratory to science-based national se- Monday, March 20, 2000 Science” session (see story, page 1) will lowing in their footsteps. (Session B5, curity, and review unexpected 6:30 - 7:30 AM sign copies of their forthcoming books. Runners will assemble at 6:15 AM Monday morning, 102C.) consequences of recent actions taken by Alumni Reunions at the Minneapolis Convention Bullish on Wall Street. Over the last the US Congress and Department of En- Tuesday, March 21, 2000 Center. decade, the number of PhD physicists ergy. Elisa Munoz of the American 6:00 - 8:00 PM, Hilton Hotel, 2nd and employed in the financial community has Association for the Advancement of Sci- CSWP/FIAP Networking Breakfast 3rd floors increased dramatically. Once considered ence will give an overview of current Monday, March 20, 2000 Back by popular demand! An something of an anomaly, physicists have violations of scientific freedom and hu- 7:00 - 9:00 AM, Duluth Room, Hilton opportunity for alumni from universities become a critical element to successful man rights in various countries. (Session CSWP and the Forum on Industrial all over the country to meet and mingle. investment strategies. Wall Street pro- B7, Monday morning, 101J) and Applied Physics will co-sponsor Lucent Technologies and IBM will also vides a real-life laboratory for exploring Climate Control. Fostering a warm a networking breakfast for women sponsor reunions for the first time. complex nonlinear systems, and as a re- and welcoming atmosphere for women in industrial physics. sult, today the field of “econophysics” scientists in industry is the focus of Sue FIAP Networking Coffee Hour Special Symposium: The FY2001 has moved beyond the fringe into the Chang, a researcher at Xerox’s Wilson Nanotechnology Initiative Whats in research mainstream. Speakers at a Center for Research and Technology, Monday, March 20, 2000 10:00 - 10:45 AM, Lounge A Store for the Future Wednesday afternoon session will de- who is a featured speaker at a session Wednesday, March 22, 2000 scribe a broad range of recent research sponsored by the APS Committee on the Physical Review and Physical Review 5:30 - 7:00 PM, Ballroom B centered on econophysics: critical phe- Status of Women in Physics. Chang will Letters Panel Discussion APS President James Langer will chair nomena in economics, the growth of outline successful climate strategies em- Monday, March 20, 2000 this symposium on the new complex organizations, the application ployed by Xerox to improve the 2:30 - 4:00 PM, Room 101H Nanotechnology Initiative of random matrix theory to economics, recruitment, retention and advancement Jack Sandweiss, editor of PRL, will and elements for developing a theory of of women in its workforce. Since 1991, moderate an open discussion to Student Luncheon/Meet the Experts financial risk. (Session P5, Wednesday the number of women hired and pro- answer members’ questions to the Thursday, March 23, 2000 afternoon, 102C) moted at Xerox has been steadily editors of APS journals. 12:30 - 2:00 PM, Ballroom A Physics and the Long Arm of increasing, and the company was cited Only on a first-come, first-served basis. the Law. Although most physics re- three times by major professional Students will meet with experts from search takes place far from the women’s magazines as a top company various fields for informal discussion over courtroom, physics principles never- for working women in 1998. (Session H3, a complimentary box lunch. theless are critical to settling numerous Tuesday afternoon, 101FG) 3 APS News March 2000 OPINION
VIEWPOINT... LETTERS
Readers Say Georgi is “Off the Mark” Quantum Justice In his back page article, “Unconscious Discrimination Against Women in Sci- s this is being written, the physicist by political intrigue and media attention. ence,” (APS News, January 2000) Howard Georgi takes a challenging task to AWen Ho Lee, a naturalized American Mere acquittal of the charges against him diagnose the root causes of “white male domination” in sciences, as evidenced citizen, sits in a New Mexico jail, having been cannot possibly restore what he has lost. by statistics, and puts forth his bold thesis of skewed selection criteria, based on refused bail lest he somehow reveal to a Worse yet, he may be convicted, when his “assertiveness” and “single-mindedness.” It baffles me to see a respected physicist confederate the whereabouts of seven motives may have been innocent and his to make such leap of faith (and go further to offer “remedies”) without a shred missing tapes that may or may not still exist, actions no worse than those of many of his of evidence to support it. the classified contents of which he may or colleagues. In my career I had a chance to grade, evaluate, reference and select dozens may not want to transmit to a foreign power. The reader may think that this case is of students, postdocs, applicants, on different levels. Rarely, if ever, did I use Less than a year ago, Lee was a respected unique and that Lee’s misfortune is the price “assertiveness and single-mindedness” in a positive, let alone decisive way. Nor long-term employee of Los Alamos National we have to pay for our national security. But have I seen many of my colleagues use them to any extent. On the contrary, it Laboratory, living what to all appearances was similar things happen in other high-profile was first and foremost (to quote Georgi) “intellectual curiosity, thoughtfulness,” a normal family life in a suburbs of Los Alamos. cases. In December 1998, a Yale senior, creativity and persistence. Yet the overall results of my (anecdotal) statistics Since then he has been fired by Secretary of Suzanne Jovin, was found, dying from 17 stab would pretty much go along the national trends and figures, offered by Georgi. Energy Richardson, and, after months of in- wounds, in an upscale New Haven neigh- There should be something more sinister to skew the numbers, the way they nuendo, has finally been indicted for borhood about a mile and a half from the are, that Georgi dares not (or knows not) to speak. As for his “remedies,” those downloading classified material and transfer- Yale campus. Suspicion quickly focused on have little bearing on two “evil criteria,” but amount to nothing less than a ring it onto ten tapes, seven of which are still James Van de Velde, a lecturer in political voluntary “quota system,” the way it is practiced now in the Boston city schools. missing. science who had been Jovin’s senior thesis To make sure to succeed, his quota system should go well beyond hiring prac- The background to all this is the fact that advisor and who lived not far from the crime tices, and extend to all levels of education, starting from test scores and course China seems to have acquired secret infor- scene. When the police described Van de grades. Indeed, all those build up in a single evaluation-selection process. So mation related to our latest missiles and Velde as being in a “pool of suspects” (whose the only assured way to advance any under-represented group is to institute warheads, and there is the suspicion that that other members were never identified) Yale the overall quota. information was leaked from Los Alamos, reacted by first relieving Van de Velde of his Here, however, I could cut short Georgi’s optimism for the future. Never in where allegations of lax security have been teaching duties in the spring of 1999, and my career have I bent or twisted the “rules of the game,” based on a single list enough to turn even such sober souls as then not renewing his contract for the fol- and single (blind) grading system for all (under- and over-represented) stu- former Republican Senator Warren Rudman lowing year. If he is guilty of murder, Van de dents. As long as it stays that way, Georgi’s “egalitarian dream” may never virtually apoplectic.(Rudman was appointed Velde, who has yet to be charged with any- come true. by President Clinton to chair a panel that in- thing, has escaped incredibly lightly. But if David Gurarie vestigated security at our national weapons he is not guilty, his career has been termi- Case Western Reserve University laboratories). Early on, Wen Ho Lee was fin- nated and his reputation destroyed totally gered as the most likely source of the leaks, undeservedly. I enjoyed reading Howard Georgi’s commentary on the unconscious dis- although he has not been charged with es- The circumstances imposed on Lee and crimination against women in science. The article was written with good pionage, presumably from lack of evidence. Van de Velde bear the same relation to an intentions, but the focus on “assertiveness and single-mindedness” is simply off I think it is fair to say that without the con- ideal system of justice that a classical super- the mark, because it cannot explain why the life sciences have always had cern over espionage and the need to find position bears to a quantum one. They are more women. Assertiveness and single-mindedness are selected for in every the responsible party, Wen Ho Lee would victims of a system in which those under field of science (and business). Only a physicist would be arrogant (or naive) never have been investigated, much less suspicion of serious criminal activity are forced enough to think that physicists are any more aggressive than biologists. charged with the offenses that have him now to endure what amounts to a classical super- I know this from experience. I did my PhD in experimental low temperature languishing in prison awaiting trial. position of innocence and guilt: they physics at Cornell University, transitioned to biology, and helped launch one of We don’t know whether or not Lee is experience some, but not all, of the adverse the major Genome Centers for the Human Genome Project. As a result, I have guilty of espionage. But in either case, jus- consequences of their putative guilt. The known some of the biggest names in physics and biology. I can assure you that, tice is not being served. If he is guilty, he is ideal situation, which I unfortunately have compared to some of the people that I have dealt with in genomics (or medical getting off altogether too lightly: he is facing no idea how to attain, is that they should be genetics), physicists are downright pansies. For that matter, when it comes to lesser, although still serious charges, when in a quantum superposition of these two aggressiveness, none of these scientists can hold a candle to some of the phar- he in fact has committed a heinous offense. states. A measurement (i.e. a verdict) would maceutical executives and venture capitalists that I have dealt with. I’m afraid It is like sending Al Capone up on tax eva- force them into one or the other of the pos- Georgi will have to look elsewhere for answers, but I wish him well. sion charges. If he is convicted, he could be sible eigenstates; but the nightmarish limbo Gane Ka-Shu Wong out of jail sooner than would be warranted that they now inhabit would not exist, just as University of Washington by his grievous betrayal of the nation’s trust. for a spin-1/2 system there is nothing be- On the other hand, if he is innocent of tween spin up and spin down. After reading Howard Georgi’s article I feel that he did not understand the espionage, his life has been unfairly ruined -Alan Chodos problem. As a woman graduate student in physics, I know that single mindedness and assertiveness do not affect women going into physics or staying in physics. It is true that most physicists are assertive and most physicists are male, but zero that does not mean that women are not assertive. gravity One obstacle that women face comes from the way that physicists solve problems. When physicists identify a problem, they pose a question by restat- The Physicists’ Bill of Rights ing it. The problem is that there is a lack of women in physics, and the question that we pose is: “Why are there so few women in physics?” If your colleagues (Author Unknown) asked you three times a week every week for 10 years: “Why do you have a We hold these postulates to be intuitively 6. When pressed by non-physicists for beard, when everyone else is clean shaven?” you would feel that you should obvious, that all physicists are born equal, to an explanation of (4) to mumble in a shave. I get asked the question “Why are there so few women in physics?” a first approximation, and are endowed by sneering tone of voice something routinely, and after 6 years of being asked this question, I am now starting to their creator with certain discrete privileges, about physically naive mathemati- feel that maybe I should leave physics. We need to rephrase the question to: among them a mean rest life, n degrees of cians. “How do we attract more women?” freedom, and the following rights which are 7. To equate two sides of an equation After posing our question, we try to isolate the variables, by separating the invariant under all linear transformations: which are dimensionally inconsistent, women from the men. Most physics departments go out of their way to group all of 1. To approximate all problems to ideal with a suitable comment to the ef- the women together, whether it is special e-mail lists or TA office assignments. This cases. fect of, “Well, we are interested in separation of women from the men even occurs when one enters into math and 2. To use order of magnitude calculations the order of magnitude anyway.” science competitions (such as the Putnam exam) where the women’s tests get whenever deemed necessary (i.e. when- 8. To invent fictitious forces to delude identifying marks like red stickers. Since we know segregation causes one to have ever one can get away with it). the general public. lower self-esteem, why then would we separate the women from the men in an 3. To use the rigorous method of “squint- 9. To justify shaky reasoning on the ba- endeavor to encourage women to stay in physics? As it stands now, the way we are ing” for solving problems more complex sis that it gives the right answer. approaching the problem is only causing women that are already in physics to than the addition of positive real inte- 10. To cleverly choose convenient ini- leave. Let’s re-think the problem and not make a “list of the best women .., even if gers. tial conditions, using the principle of they do not rate them as highly as the top men.” This cheapens a woman’s profes- 4. To dismiss all functions which diverge as general triviality. sorial title and accomplishments. Why do your best, when everyone is going to “nasty” and “unphysical.” 11. To use plausible arguments in place assume that you got the raise, tenure, or scholarship because you were on a special 5. To invoke the uncertainty principle when of proofs, and thenceforth refer to list? I do feel strongly that this attitude and not a lack of single-mindedness and confronted by confused mathematicians, these arguments as proofs. assertiveness causes women to leave physics. chemists, engineers, psychologists, dra- 12. To take on faith any principle which Evelyn J. Boettcher matists, und andere schweinhund. seems right but cannot be proved. University of Maryland
4 March 2000 APS News OPINION
— considered a spiritual pursuit — than bers. What is more important to Wertheim My Opinion—Others May Differ on what we recognize as physics. Hawk- is the need to shift toward the butterfly ing has adopted Einstein’s preoccupation and away from the superstring. Why is Who Wears Pythagoras’ Trousers? with the “mind of God,” and is acting as if that? By David Markowitz he is getting closer to reading the inside The big question in the final chapter, of it. The name of God is making multiple “The Ascent of Mathematical Woman,” is ale versus female, as an Have science and religion been in cahoots, appearances in the lingo of contemporary the social responsibility of science. This M undercurrent in the practice of rather than at odds through the ages? Has physics, as in “the God particle,” Leon pits the multi-billion-dollar accelerator es- physics, has enlivened APS News. A book the priesthood acted to exclude women, Lederman’s version of the Higgs boson — tablishment against just about everyone by science writer Margaret Wertheim as well as other groups? How will we now the one whose detection will clinch the else. Are the largest physics machines the transforms the current into a shock of include the disaffected outsiders? Will the claim of reading God’s mind. cathedrals of our age? They are certainly discovery. inclusions materially change the way phys- Are we in the physics community still awesome marvels of architecture, at least The book is Pythagoras’ Trousers, or ics, in particular, is done? as obsessed with God as the investigators figuratively reaching for the sky. But ca- God, Physics, and the Gender Wars. The It is apparent that religious and scien- of old? I think references to God in this thedrals make some claims about touching title reminds us that Pythagoras and his tific societies have had explicit rules enlightened age is largely a ploy. To a God; hence, the claim on behalf of the followers combined natural and supernatu- forbidding women to join. When rules particle physicist, God is a bargaining chip, machines seeking the “God particle.” ral studies. They originated the idea God were relaxed, votes still were not. Think much like family values is to a politician. Whatever one feels about the grandeur of is a mathematician, an idea that still has of Marie Curie and the French Academy. Sure, lots of folks believe in God and fam- cathedrals in the face of poverty or igno- currency. Think of all the bright and achieving ily values and few wish to argue against rance of the general populace in history, The author covers much of the history women who were refused admission to them. But their main purpose is what they one still must ask whether the present of Western science, religion, and society, graduate schools in the US until fairly re- earn for their promoters: money to do re- world can afford to spend billions on par- and she does so with a deft hand. Her cent decades. In a persistence of search on the one hand, and votes to ticle physics. main points are that women have been discrimination, these same women were propel them into office on the other. Let me quote from Peter Matthiessen’s deliberately excluded from the highest denied faculty positions over the same time A good deal of Wertheim’s argument is Tigers in the Snow, in which the author’s callings of the mind, encompassing both period. A woman could no more become a that male physics and female physics are quest is to save the tiger as a species on science and religion, and that the persis- professor than she could become a priest. different, and, being different, it would be Earth. Why save the tiger? Says tence of this situation bodes ill for science, The most mathematical of the sciences re- beneficial to have both. It is a yin/yang Matthiessen: “In arguing for heroic efforts for society, and for women. jected women most completely. Physics kind of thing. But is it so? Coming from on behalf of tigers, one could cite the criti- In the introductory chapter Wertheim uses math the way the Church used Latin, or the same world view as “Men are from cal importance of biodiversity, as well as zooms in on the most egregious religion so it is said. Without Latin, you could not lead mars, women are from Venus,” is the as- the interdependence of all life, but finally and the most offending science by say- a Mass. Without math, you cannot advance sertion that men seek competition and these abstractions seem less vital than... ing: “Physics is thus the Catholic Church in physics. To stop women from entering women seek cooperation. Thus, men are the aura of a creature as splendid as any of science.” Of Mathematical Man, one of either, simply prevent them from learning the dynamic, gritty diggers into more ba- on Earth, infusing man’s life with myth and her multi-purpose constructs: “He does not the holy language. sic levels of understanding, while women power and beauty.” In fact, biologists are need a sex change, just a major personal- Wertheim contradicts my misconcep- are the synthesizers of holistic patterns in still attempting to study the tiger in the ity realignment.” tion that science and religion have been nature. This is a nice division of behaviors, wild. Thus, the world may lose another Through recorded history women have at each other’s throats. I always think of if true. It is also said that men have a com- species before it knows what it is losing. received less opportunity and recognition the Scopes “monkey trial” in Tennessee ponent of arrogance, and the association This argument to me is not only per- than men. In the Old Testament, the gen- — a trial that science teaching faces again of the male physics of the basic forces suasive on behalf of the tiger, it is the erations — whose reckonings supposedly and again in nearly every state. To and fields with God’s handiwork is a cur- only one I would consider on behalf of a gave the age of God’s Earth — were vir- Wertheim this is but a mole on the face of rent manifestation of that arrogance. supercollider. Does the big machine in- tually all male. There must have been an the science-religion complex. Wertheim comes close to asking, “Why fuse our life with myth and power and equal number of females, but they were Almost all of the notable scientists were can’t a man be more like a woman?” If beauty? Like the tiger in the jungle (and cast in supporting and largely unreported deeply religious men. They agonized over men are seen as manipulators and the great cathedrals), will the giant ac- roles. In the New Testament, men are their scientific findings if they appeared women as nurturers, it might be refresh- celerator make us better than we are? As spiritual beings and political figures, while to veer from religious precepts. Think of ing to see men change more than women physicists and as citizens, we are called women are either virgins or whores. Yes, Kepler resisting for years non-circular do. Could your superstring theorist be to answer those questions. it sounds unfair and unrealistic to me, too. shapes for planetary orbits. Think of female, and your physicist of butterfly David Markowitz is an emeritus The book brings several questions to Einstein resisting for decades the dice-play- flight be male? Emphatically yes. The professor of physics at the University of mind. Has the bulk of Western civilization ing deity of quantum mechanics. Newton hardhitting woman and the soft-spoken Connecticut, and editor of the APS New been built upon these Biblical beginnings? apparently spent more time on alchemy man are around in small, growing num- England Section newsletter. Scientists Must Speak Out; We Depend On It By Newt Gingrich he fate of our country may well research providing a platform upon which So, if all this is so important, why must replace bureaucratic memorization models T depend on whether or not scientists entrepreneurial success has been built. scientists come forth as citizens and explain of science education. recognize that they have real responsibilities In health and health care it would be par- it? Because no one else has their understand- I have fought hard for doubling the sci- as citizens. ticularly tragic to slow our investment in ing or credibility. C.P. Snow was correct in ence research budget across the board. I have The fact is no one else is as qualified to research at the very moment we are enter- 1959 when he described two emerging cul- argued strongly for a complete overhaul of make the case for increased funding in sci- ing a wonderful new world of knowledge. tures — the scientific and the nonscientific. science education in America. But frankly one ence research and reform of science We will learn more about the human body Too often those who know enough about former speaker of the House is not enough. education. Without a continued commitment in next 20 years than in all of human history. science cannot explain it in popular language. America needs a science lobby fueled by to funding scientific research and develop- Biology will be to the 21st century what Conversely, those who are effective at com- scientists. ment and a successful reform of science physics was to the 20th. municating in popular language don’t know In our rapidly moving culture where education it is very unlikely that the United If we invest wisely, we will extend life, science. In the scientific community the situ- people can shut out information, we need States will maintain the momentum it has minimize suffering, and create a healthier and ation is worsened because scientists like Carl to hear from the people who are doing the created over the last 60 years. less medically expensive America. But if we Sagan, who do popularize and reach out, be- research, making the breakthroughs, and in- Our economic future depends directly on stand by and allow research funding to slow, come less than fully respected members of venting the future. our ability to take new scientific research and literally more people will die, with greater their guild. All I am asking is that every scientist spend translate it into entrepreneurial development. pain, at higher cost. That is what’s at stake. Furthermore, most scientists by defini- an hour or two each month being an active Without the last 60 years we would all have Finally, regarding national security, scien- tion would rather be in their laboratories citizen. Do your duty and educate your fel- lesser incomes, lower standards of living, and tific achievement is ultimately a matter of studying, at conferences learning, or in a low countrymen about the exciting world fewer choices. Be it aircraft, manufacturing, life and death. Without radar and sonar we classroom teaching than appearing in pub- that awaits us. Help us understand what is at marketing, entertainment — you name it — could not have won the World War II (it took lic settings and appealing for public stake and we will help you find the resources the American technological and scientific ad- the first to win the Battle of Britain; the sec- support. Unfortunately, part of their to achieve these great breakthroughs. Every vantage has been key to our success as world ond to win the battle of the North Atlantic). mindset seems to be a determination that day scientists work in labs and wind tunnels leaders. If our opponents had achieved nuclear their work is so obviously important that and at computers to make our country a better In the development of the high-tech weapons before us, we would have been they should not have to explain it. place. Surely a little citizenship is a small world the role of government (in both de- defeated. In real terms, these break- Instead we need scientists to attend town enough price to pay to do the same thing in fense research and nondefense research) has throughs saved an immeasurable number hall meetings, address members of Congress, the public arena. After all, our health, pros- been vital. The modern entrepreneur of Sili- of lives. But America is only one wave of and appear on talk radio to explain why re- perity, and survival are at stake. con Valley is creating an entirely new scientific breakthroughs away from being search matters. They must go to their local Newt Gingrich is a former speaker of the economy based on the scientific advances vulnerable. If at any point our scientific civic club and demand that science educa- US House of Representatives. This story ran of three generations of government funded research and education fail to be the best, tion be trusted to those who know science, on page A19 of the Boston Globe on 12/28/ research and development. The Internet it- our national security will weaken and our and demand that the excitement of discov- 1999. ©1999 Globe Newspaper Company. self is an example of government-funded ability to lead will disappear. ery (the heart of the scientific experience) Reprinted with permission. 5 APS News March 2000 Microfluidic Technologies on the Rise at DFD Meeting
merging microfluidic technologies for fluid fingering on a surface with periodic The world’s first flow visualization representation E mechanical, chemical and biological stripes of wetting and non-wetting materials. (top) is a sketch of a free water jet issuing from a analysis at micron-scales have induced sig- The large audience and the creative and pre- square hole into a pool, drawn by the hands of Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1500. Da Vinci wrote, nificant excitement in the fluid mechanics liminary nature of the reported work suggest “Observe the motion of the surface of the water, community, according to featured speak- that this field will blossom in the near future. which resembles that of hair, which has two ers at the 52nd annual meeting of the APS Separation, mixing, dispersion reduction, driv- motions, of which one is caused by the weight of Division of Fluid Dynamics, held 21-23 No- ing mechanism, mutli-phase transport and the hair, the other by the direction of the curls; thus the water has eddying motions, one part of vember 1999 in New Orleans, LA. reaction problems in microdevices will be which is due to the principal current, the other Prashanta Dutta of Texas A&M Univer- the focus for the next few years. to the random and reverse motion.” The sity presented numerical simulations of liquid During a session on electro-hydrody- bottom photograph was taken close to five flows in microchannels with variable depth. namics: Paul Todd of the University centuries after that of da Vinci. Laser-induced fluorescence is used to reveal a side view of a He suggested the use of electro-osmotic flow Colorado studied the demixing of an emul- low-Reynolds-number lifting surface undergoing to prevent or enhance recirculation flow in a sion of poly(ethylene glycol) in a a pitching maneuver in a water towing tank. Flow gap. By applying different voltages across phosphate-buffered solution in the pres- is from left to right, and the argon laser sheet is the gap, they obtained different flow pat- ence of an electric field. Recirculation of generated using a rotating mirror located above the wing; hence the shadow seen below. terns without recirculation and with liquid inside the drop was shown to be non-symmetric vortices inside the gap. The very important to its mobility, thus invali- implication is that such designs can reduce dating the infinite viscosity approximation. of channel and removes particle in nar- electrode field induces an electrokinetic flow or enhance mixing in micro-devices. Sandra Andreas Acrivos of CCNY reported row parts, creating almost periodic that creates an attractive force between par- Troian of Princeton presented a new design particle separation in the presence of packets of particles. ticles against their double-layer repulsion. This for injecting and driving fluids in anelectric field when flowing in a wavy John Anderson of Carnegie Mellon Uni- attraction can lead to cluster formation. These miocrochannels using temperature-driven square channel. His experiments apply versity studied cluster formation near an novel separation and clustering techniques Marangoni effects. She also suggested a self- a high electric field across the channel electrode due to electrokinetic flow. Gravity could result in new devices, including assembly technique at microscales by inducing to assemble the particles in wide parts keeps the particles on the electrode and the microdevices. First Online Graduate Physics Textbook Hits the Web
hysics graduate students weary of most traditional textbooks, Siegel’s tome searches than with a standard index, as publish preprints via the LANL archive, Plugging massive tomes on quantum emphasizes both concepts and calculations. well as a separate table of contents win- which itself can serve as a publication field theory to and from campus will be Besides the usual introductory topics, the dow with links to various chapters and record. And unlike standard preprints, relieved to hear that an electronic book includes a chapter on general relativ- subsections. In addition, the PDF format Fields is more of a review of quantum field alternative is now available. Warren Siegel, ity, introductory chapters on supergravity and enables students to make use of built-in theory rather than presenting new research. a high energy physicist at SUNY-Stony strings, and treatments of many practical tech- Web links for internal references to out- There remains the slight possibility of Brook’s C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical niques, such as the 1/N expansion (color side work, enabling them to remotely someone downloading the textbook with Physics, is offering his own comprehensive ordering) and super spacecone (spinor access related publications electronically. an eye towards claiming it as their own textbook on quantum and classical field theory helicity) gauges. And rather than lugging heavy books and selling it for profit, but Siegel reasons, free of charge. Entitled Fields, the textbook According to Siegel, an online gradu- around, students can download the file to “Who’s going to pay for something they can be accessed through Los Alamos National ate textbook is simply the next logical step a ZIP disk for easy transport to and from can already get for free?” Laboratory’s preprint archive (see http:// in electronic publication, and believes that campus. For other online physics textbooks xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-th/9912205). electronic textbooks have several advan- Nor is Siegel overly concerned with pos- available to the public, see http:// Employing what he considers to be a tages. For example, the PDF Web format sible copyright infringements of his work, physics.miningco.com/education/physics/ more pragmatic approach to the subject than enables more general and efficient pointing to the fact that scientists routinely msubtext.htm?pid=2821&cob=home
Wilson Memorial Tribute Planned This Month in Physics History for April Meeting Session First Transmission of Human memorial tribute to Robert R. Wilson founding director of Fermi National Speech: March 10, 1876 Awill be offered by Edwin L. Laboratory, currently the world’s most Goldwasser at a plenary session of the powerful accelerator until it is succeeded Editor’s Note: Members may sub- Bell promptly constructed a proto- April meeting of the APS in Long Beach, by the completion of the Large Hadron mit their own suggestions for historical type telephone in which the reed relay California. Goldwasser served under Collider at CERN in 2006. He was also physics-related events to Editor, APS was attached to a membrane with a Wilson as Deputy Director of Fermilab an early champion of the importance of News, One Physics Ellipse, College speaking cavity positioned above it, but from 1967 to 1978. funding basic research at a time when Park, MD 20740; [email protected]. this did not produce intelligible speech, Wilson, one of the most influential fig- science funding was driven primarily by apart from a low mumbling. Neverthe- ures in the history of the development national defense concerns. According to Contrary to popular belief, less, it was enough to convince Bell he of particle accelerators, died in January Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Wilson Alexander Graham Bell (photo inset was on the right track, and he submit- at his home in Ithaca, NY, at the age of “had an unerring sense of what is im- above) did not set out to construct the ted a patent for the device on February 85. The Wilson Prize of the APS is portant to the science of high-energy world’s first telephone. Instead, his fo- 14, 1876 — barely edging out Gray, named for him, and he served as APS physics and its importance to the nation.” cus was on the development of the who submitted his own design for a President in 1985. Wilson earned his When was asked whether the Fermilab cutting edge technology of his day: the speaking telegraph a mere few hours undergraduate and graduate degrees research would benefit national secu- multiple telegraph, a device capable later. in physics from the University of Cali- rity during 1969 testimony before a of sending multiple messages simulta- One month later, Bell once again re- fornia, Berkeley and worked with E.O. joint committee of Congress, he re- neously over the same wire that was vised his design. This new version Lawrence on the cyclotron before join- plied, “It has nothing to do with also the focus of his primary competi- included a speaking tube and mem- ing the Manhattan Project to develop defending our country, except to tors, Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray. brane using a cork to attach a needle the atomic bomb. He conducted research make it worth defending.” A pivotal experiment on June 2, as a vibrating contact. One of his reed at Los Alamos Na- 1875 yielded a serendipitous discov- receivers was placed in another room, tional Laboratory ery that changed the course of his and Bell then spoke the now famous and Harvard Univer- research. Bell and his assistant, Watson, words — “Watson, come here; I want sity before being set up three multiple telegraph stations to see you.” — to achieve the first named director of (A, B and C), each with three tuned- documented transmission of human Cornell University’s reed relays, to determine whether speech. Laboratory of plucking the first reed in A would cause For a detailed discussion of Bell’s work Nuclear Studies in the corresponding reeds in B and C to see http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ 1947. His research vibrate. But while the corresponding albell/homepage.html. there focused on the reed in B vibrated well in response to structure of protons. Birthdays for March: A, the reed in C was stuck. When In 1967 Wilson took 4 Robert R. Wilson (1914) Watson plucked the reed, it produced a leave of absence 14 Albert Einstein (1879) multiple tones that caused the corre- to become the 22 Robert A. Millikan (1868) sponding reed in B to vibrate 27 Wilhelm Roentgen (1845) powerfully — effectively demonstrat- Robert R. Wilson (left) confers with Edwin L. ing that a single reed, when dampened Requiescat in Pace: Goldwasser during or stuck, could induce a current suffi- On March 31, 1727 Sir Isaac New- the early days at the cient to transmit complex sounds over ton, the “father of physics,” dies in National Accelerator a distance. London, England Laboratory. Photo from http://www.fnal.gov/projects/history/exhibit/
6 March 2000 APS News Announcements
Positions Available Now! APS UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS STUDENT COMPETITION Help Excite the Public About Physics! ▼ 2000 APKER AWARDS The American Physical Society is launching a significant initiative to convey the importance and excitement of physics to the public via For Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research in Physics a new website. Endowed by Jean Dickey Apker, in memory of LeRoy Apker We are looking for someone to fill a new position whose primary DESCRIPTION responsibility will be to gather materials for the site, to bring it into Two awards are normally made each year: One to a student attending an institution offering being, and to keep it continually up to date. a Physics PhD and one to a student attending an institution not offering a Physics PhD This person should have an MS or a PhD in physics (or equivalent • Recipients receive a $5,000 award; finalists $2,000. They also receive an allowance for experience), excellent communication skills, and be eager to interact travel to the Award presentation. • Recipients’ and finalists’ home institutions receive $5,000 and $1,000, respectively, to creatively with all segments of the physics community and the public. support undergraduate research. For more information, contact Alan Chodos ([email protected]). To • Recipients, finalists and their home physics departments will be presented with plaques apply, send a resume and the names of at least three references to: or certificates of achievement. The student’s home institution is prominently featured on Joseph Ignacio; American Physical Society; One Physics Ellipse; all awards and news stories of the competition. College Park, MD 20740 • Each nominee will be granted a free APS Student Membership for one year upon receipt of their completed application. American Journal of Physics Seeks New Editor QUALIFICATIONS • Students who have been enrolled as undergraduates at colleges and universities in the A search committee has been appointed to seek a new editor for the United States at least one quarter/semester during the year preceding the 16 June 2000 American Journal of Physics, to begin his or her duties on July 1, 2001. deadline. The new editor will succeed Robert H. Romer, who has served as editor • Students who have an excellent academic record and have demonstrated exceptional potential since 1988. for scientific research through an original contribution to physics. The search committee welcomes inquiries, suggestions, nominations, • Only one candidate may be nominated per department. and applications. A more complete description of the procedures for the APPLICATION PROCEDURE search and of the responsibilities of the editor will be published soon in The complete nomination package is due on or before 16 June 2000 and should include: the American Journal of Physics, on the AJP website, and elsewhere. 1. A letter of nomination from the head of the student’s academic department Applications should include: (1) a cover letter explaining the candidate’s 2. An official copy of the student’s academic transcript views on the role of the American Journal of Physics and how it might be 3. A description of the original contribution, written by the student such as a improved to better serve the physics community; (2) a curriculum vitae; manuscript or reprint of a research publication or senior thesis (unbound) (3) a supporting letter from the candidate’s department chair (or 4. A 1000-word summary, written by the student, describing his or her research equivalent); and (4) two additional letters of recommendation. Applications 5. Two letters of recommendation from physicists who know the candidate’s individual contribution to the work submitted should be complete by July 5, 2000 but will be accepted until the position 6. The nominee’s address and telephone number during the summer. is filled. Address correspondence to Professor Peter J. Collings,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, FURTHER INFORMATION (See http://www.aps.org/praw/apker/descrip.html) Swarthmore, PA 19081. DEADLINE The committee is chaired by Peter J. Collings of Swarthmore College. Send name of proposed candidate and supporting information by 16 June 2000 to: The other members of the committee are David J. Griffiths (Reed Dr. Alan Chodos, Administrator, Apker Award Selection Committee The American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 College); Donald F. Holcomb (Cornell University); Karen L. Johnston Telephone: (301) 209-3268, Fax: (301) 209-3652, email: [email protected] (North Carolina State University); Bernard V. Khoury (American Association of Physics Teachers, ex officio); Richard W. Peterson (Bethel College, St. Paul); and Robert H. Romer (American Journal of Physics NAGPS Seeks Grad Student Responses to Online Survey and Amherst College, ex officio). The National Association of Graduate- Univesity, chair of the NAGP’s Ad Hoc Com- Professional Students (NAGPS) is conducting mittee on Faculty-Student Relations. “We are an online survey of doctoral students regarding hoping to encourage a significant percentage Get the ear of your Representative or Senator their experiences in graduate school. Funded of students to respond so that the results will by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, represent a broad range of experiences and a The APS Washington Office, in cooperation with twenty scientific the survey will cover issues in a number of realistic picture of department and institutional and engineering societies, is sponsoring Congressional visits on areas, including information for prospective practices.” April 4th and 5th in Washington, DC. This will be a key time to students, breadth and flexibility of the Anyone who has been enrolled in gradu- promote increases in the Federal budget for research. Participants curriculum, career guidance and placement ate school for at least one semester in the last will be provided with all necessary background information including services, faculty mentoring, time to degree, five years is eligible for the study. The survey departmental climate, professionalism, and will run from January through May 1, 2000, profiles of their members of Congress and a collection of briefing overall satisfaction. and the results will be made available publicly papers. For more information, contact the APS Washington Office “For this survey to be useful, it is vital that on the Web in September. Interested graduate at [email protected] or at (202) 662-8700. we reach as many current and recent doctoral students may submit their responses at http:// students,” says Adam Fagen of Harvard survey.nagps.org no later than May 1, 2000.
High School Physics Teachers, continued from page 1 be filled by trained teachers returning to that one-third of high school physics teach- to improve their preservice programs Faitsch believes that graduate students the workforce after retiring or pursuing ers have earned an undergraduate or through the NSF-supported Centers for in physics could comprise a large poten- other career options. Indeed, Faitsch has graduate degree in physics or physics edu- Excellence in Teacher Preparation in 14 tial pool of high school physics teachers, hired a retired physics teacher willing to cation, while another 12% have a minor in states. Last December, the APS and its but admits this would require a significant return for one semester to meet the im- one of the two fields. The remainder gener- partners proposed a five-year project to change in attitude on the part of univer- mediate demand, although his search ally have degrees in another field of science, the NSF to facilitate partnerships in sity physics departments. Several students continues for a more permanent solution. mathematics, or science or mathematics edu- colleges and universities between at Yale expressed interest in the Guilford For Neuschatz, the overriding issue in sci- cation, and Neuschatz reports that cases of departments of physics and education to position, and one candidate was equally in- ence education is the quality of new utterly unqualified instructors are rare. “This directly address the shortage of qualified terested in coaching wrestling in the evenings. elementary and middle-school teachers, par- in no way implies that there is a generous physics teachers. However, he found that the university tends ticularly in terms of their science and supply of well-trained high school physics The reluctance of principals to bend to discourage its graduate students from mathematics backgrounds. While reviewing teachers ready to lead classes in the subject,” or change the rules for hiring new teach- teaching outside the institution, and ultimately the physics curriculum offered at two-year he says. “But it does show that the situation ers does not encourage applicants with most of the Yale candidates were unwilling colleges — where a large proportion of el- is less dire than is often depicted, and that, if more science background but fewer edu- to risk their research funding. Nor is Yale ementary education majors reportedly get anything, teacher preparation seems to be cation credits. According to Neuschatz, unique in this regard. their start — intermediate algebra and an in- improving, albeit slowly.” only 9% of the public school principals Ultimately, in Faitsch’s experience, “the troductory physics course were required for The APS, in partnership with the AAPT surveyed in 1997 said they had altered people who last in education tend to be automotive mechanics, but not for those in and AIP, has led the physics community hiring procedures in the last four years, those who wanted to teach in the first the elementary education program. Other in recently becoming involved in and only 4% of the remaining respon- place, and then chose a subject,” he says. studies have shown that elementary educa- colleges and universities to produce more dents were aware of plans to initiate such “I’ve told all the juniors and seniors here tion majors tend to have some of the lowest and better-prepared teachers of physics changes in the future. Among private at Guilford, ‘If you have any interest in SAT scores of any college-bound group, ac- and physical science according to APS schools, where principals have more lati- teaching, consider going into physics.’” cording to Neuschatz. Director of Education Fred Stein. For the tude in their hiring practices, 16% reported Further reading, see: The Physics The situation is much improved at the past seven years there have been efforts rule changes and half of those used those Teacher, February 2000, Vol. 38, No. high school level. The AIP survey found by science and mathematics departments changes to hire physics teachers. 2:98-104.
7 APS News March 2000 THE BACK PAGE Spallation Neutron Source On Track Following Major Changes An interview with David Moncton his month, we devote the Back Page ments that specify the duties and obligations hope we get Congressional support for the T to an in-depth interview with David of each laboratory of the Department. We full project, including its management — the Moncton, director of the Spallation Neutron accomplished that with a memorandum of kind of support that has always been there Source (SNS), a neutron scattering facility being agreement signed by all the lab directors in for the scientific mission. Personally, I never built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by a the consortium. In particular, it set out legally quarreled with Sensenbrenner’s position. The consortium of national labs that includes binding performance measures that must be project had serious management issues that Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Brookhaven, met by all contractors, included as part of had to be dealt with, and this list was per- and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Once their annual performance appraisal. If the par- fectly consistent with the actions we felt completed, the SNS is expected to attract ticipating labs were to perform below needed to be taken right from the outset to between 1000 and 2000 scientists and expectations, then in principle it’s possible improve the quality of management. Since engineers each year from universities, for the project to influence their performance we concurred with the sentiment, we were industries, government labs and other appraisal and therefore the contractor fee. happy to comply. In fact, we accomplished nations. (See http://www.ornl.gov/sns for There was also a Congressional request most of those goals in six months. The Ten- more information about the project.) for official delegation by the Secretary of nessee legislature simply wasn’t in session Yet when Moncton came on board in Energy of primary authority for the SNS to until January. February 1999, the project was a troubled the project director. That was accomplished Q: Why did you decide to accept one. Despite unqualified praise for the obvi- through a document called the Project Ex- the position of director of the SNS, ous scientific merits of the SNS, House Science ecution Plan, describing the interface between particularly at such a critical junc- David Moncton Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, the project and the DOE, and the various ture, when the project’s future very forgiving. And I’m not saying it should Jr. (R-WI) expressed concern about project roles of DOE officials and project officials. seemed to be in jeopardy? be. After all, it’s the taxpayers’ money, and management and cost and schedule esti- The Secretary signed it last fall. Congress also I grew up in the field of neutron scatter- they have a right to hold science account- mates, recommending that funds allocated requested annual reports on the SNS project ing. I was personally frustrated by the lack of able. One can quibble and say, “Look, it’s for actual construction of the facility be with- as part of the DOE’s annual budget submis- new neutron sources from the early 1970s very difficult to know several years in ad- held until these concerns were satisfactorily sion. That didn’t require unusual action, since to the late 1980s. The US, which had in- vance exactly what it will cost to build a addressed. This monumental task fell to it’s something the DOE does every year as vented this technology, was well behind project of this magnitude with all its new Moncton, and he reports on the project’s sta- part of its budget submission. We will simply Europe after the construction of the ILL in technology.” But we do have the experi- tus below. Support from the scientific continue the normal reporting. Grenoble. New facilities are the engine that ence from many projects that have been community has been strong. Last Novem- Q: Another major bone of contention drives science in particular areas: high en- successfully executed over the last de- ber, the APS Council unanimously endorsed was a proposed tax on the project to ergy physics, neutron and X-ray research can’t cade. Now we know how to make good a statement urging Congress to provide the be levied by the State of Tennessee, to really move ahead without regenerating their estimates and manage the projects within necessary funding for timely completion of which Congress objected strongly. How infrastructure and building exciting, new fa- those estimates. the SNS (see APS News, January 2000). was that issue resolved? cilities periodically. Thirty years without a new The DOE’s Office of Science has com- Q: Much of your work over the That was really an issue between the facility is a long time for a field to survive. pleted numerous successful projects over the last year has centered on meeting Federal government and the State of Ten- I also had the experience of constructing last 15 years. The only problem was the SSC, seven prerequisites issued by Con- nessee; we were more or less bystanders, the Advanced Photon Source, and some of which was effectively exempted from the gress to release allocated but interested bystanders! Congress felt quite the top people who had worked on that normal peer review process. That’s an im- construction funds for FY2000. What strongly that Tennessee should exempt the project were also available to work with me portant lesson. The Office of Science has were some of the major hurdles you SNS from the proposed tax, and the Ten- on this. I thought we could bring our experi- developed a discipline based on peer re- had to overcome, and how did you nessee legislature approved such a proposal ence there to bear very quickly on the SNS view — every six months there’s a major meet those requirements? within the first three weeks of its legislative and turn the project around. We certainly did review — and that system has been inter- Several were management issues. Con- session in January. And it passed unanimously not want to have this project cancelled. nalized by the managers of DOE science gress wanted clarification that senior project in both chambers. That was greatly facilitated Q: Now that you’ve brought the projects. We conduct many of our own re- management positions have been filled by by the University of Tennessee, which is tak- project back on track, what are views in preparation for these semi-annual qualified individuals, as well as a revised ing over as a contractor for Oak Ridge. The some of the challenges you face in reviews. Perhaps we do it too much, but this project management structure integrating the university has very good contacts in the state the coming year for the SNS? review culture has turned out to be extremely staff of the collaborating laboratories under a legislature and they helped us make our case. Now we have to actually construct the valuable. We don’t have a monopoly on wis- single project director. These were officially That decision will provide the SNS with about facility. We currently have a small crew dom, and any large project can benefit by completed as part of a review last July. They $30 million of additional funding. We’re us- of workers at the construction site, but bringing people in with outside expertise, also wanted cost baseline and project mile- ing it to purchase scientific instruments to over the course of this year that’s going both from the US scientific community and stones for each major construction and enable us to get a lot more bang for the to build up substantially, and we need to from abroad. Good advice is essential. technical system activity, consistent with the same bucks. be ready with design details and procure- Q: With all the challenges you’ve overall cost and schedule submitted to the Q: How do you feel about the pros- ments. The President’s budget shows a encountered as director of the SNS, Department of Energy’s FY2000 budget. pects for the SNS one year later, after six-month extension of the project were there any pleasant surprises DOE engaged an outside contractor to inde- such a major management overhaul? schedule from December 2005 to June along the way? pendently to review the plans for the project I think we met the challenge. The SNS 2006. That’s what we call a late finish Frankly, I went into this somewhat skep- and certify that it was the most cost-effec- one year later is in much better shape. I think date. We actually now plan to finish about tical about the level of commitment of the tive means to complete the facility. we’re going to see a healthy president’s bud- a year earlier, in the summer of 2005. other national laboratories. This project is Congress also desired binding legal agree- get; we’re requesting $281 million. And I There are also some significant technical unusual in the scope of its partnership; there issues. One has to do with the adoption of has never been a collaboration of this many superconducting technology for the LINAC. labs on a project this size, and a strong level We’re convinced that will offer a substantial of commitment by all the labs is essential for improvement in beam availability. Also, from its success. Having worked closely with the a manufacturing standpoint, there’s a stron- directors of all of these labs, I have been very ger infrastructure in the commercial world impressed by the level of commitment that for the production of superconducting cavi- they all have shown. It is essential to have ties than for the production of copper cavities. the full attention of the upper management We want to fully implement that change in of the partner laboratories and the full per- the next month or so. We’re inviting Jefferson sonal commitment of the lab directors. It’s Lab to join the partnership, to take advan- definitely there for this project, which will tage of their experience in superconducting certainly benefit the SNS throughout its con- technology. We’ve also been working with struction phase. I have also been very gratified the NSF who are anxious to participate in by the endorsements the SNS has received, the construction of a second target station including the APS Council resolution. The which will more than double the scientific National Academy of Sciences has endorsed impact of the SNS. the SNS through its Solid State Sciences Com- Q: What are some of the lessons mittee. These kinds of broad endorsements learned from the difficulties of the SNS? from the scientific community don’t happen In a sense, we re-learned an old lesson: very often, and demonstrate that there’s es- You don’t have that many chances to make sentially unanimous support for this project a good first impression. The system is not in the scientific community. Image from http://www.ornl.gov/sns/figure_1.htm
APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].
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