June 2016 • Vol. 25, No.6

A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY In Memoriam Peter Adams Page 5 WWW.APS.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/APSNEWS

Edward Bouchet Continues to Inspire

2016 APS General Election By Gabriel Popkin honor’s namesake. Johnson also Voting will be open from June 20 to July 29, so watch for an email with information on voting procedures. earned his Ph.D. from Yale, in At a time when hardly anyone Those who are elected will begin their terms on January 1, 2017. Information on voting, and the candidates’ 1965, and went on to do pioneer- made a career in science, Edward statements and biographical information, are available at http://go.aps.org/aps-vote-2016 ing fluid dynamics research in both Alexander Bouchet made history academia and industry, as well as by doing so. In 1876, he became Vice President work to increase the representation the first African-American and the of minorities in the sciences. He is sixth person of any race to earn an APS fellow and the 1995 recipi- David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara a Ph.D. in the Western ent of the APS Bouchet Award, Hemisphere, and went on to have “I have been a member of the APS for over 50 years and have benefited from its which he helped establish. Johnson a four-decade science teaching journals, its meetings and its role as the premier physics society in the advocacy of received his medal at the Annual career. Today, Bouchet is prob- Physics. As Vice-President I would seek to continue and strengthen the role of the Yale Bouchet Conference on society in serving the community of physicists, informing the public and encouraging ably more prominent than ever. Diversity and Graduate Education public support for science.” His name graces a growing num- held at Yale in early April, where ber of honors, including the annual he proposed a “new Bouchet Edward A. Bouchet Award that epoch” combining recent advances APS established in 1994, and the in scientific discovery with prog- David A. Weitz, Harvard University Bouchet Leadership Award Medals ress in diversifying science. given by , where “My goal in this position will be to work tirelessly for, and with, the members of our The Bouchet revival has Bouchet received his Ph.D. Society … . Research budgets are destined to remain approximately flat for the been gathering momentum for foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we must work to convince our political leaders The selection of Florida almost 30 years. It started with of the value of our work.” Agricultural and Mechanical the 1988 founding of the Edward University emeritus physics pro- A. Bouchet International Center fessor Joseph A. Johnson III for for Theoretical Physics (now the ELECTION continued on page 7 one of Yale’s 2016 Bouchet Medals has special resonance with the BOUCHET continued on page 6

Kavli Session Celebrates Neutrino Physics

Careers Report By David Voss of neutrino types (called flavors), nuclear reactor at the Savannah Serving the Next Generation of 2016 APS April Meeting — were joined by astrophysicist Neta River power plant in South This year’s Fred Kavli Keynote Bahcall, who discussed the life and Carolina in 1956, but the neutrino Physicists at APS Meetings Session at the APS April Meeting work of her husband John Bahcall. oscillation story really starts with By Crystal Bailey, APS Careers Program Manager in Salt Lake City featured two After an introduction by 2016 measurements of solar neutrinos Nobel laureates and a retrospec- APS President Homer Neal, Arthur from the sun led by Ray Davis in According to the AIP Statistical problems physicists are working tive on the life of a physicist who McDonald, professor emeritus the late 1960s. The solar neutrino Research Center, less than a quar- on, and what extra preparation they many feel would have shared the at Queen’s College in Kingston, flux measured was three times ter of physics Ph.D. graduates will might need to do well. APS pro- prize had he been alive. The occa- Ontario, took the audience on a lower than what John Bahcall had end up in permanent faculty jobs vides an opportunity for students sion was the 60th anniversary of journey to the Sudbury Neutrino predicted. (1). And even though many well to get answers to these questions the first detection of neutrinos Observatory, where he led one The solar neutrino problem intentioned mentors would like to through informal Q&A panels with by Clyde Cowan and Frederick of the teams that showed neutri- McDonald explained that one of prepare their students for eventual industry physicists at our annual Reines. Speakers Arthur McDonald nos changing from one flavor to the ideas proposed to resolve this careers outside of academia, many and division meetings. and Takaaki Kajita, who shared another. He started by mention- neutrino deficit was to assume that do not have networks or experience For example, the 2016 APS the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics ing the observation by Cowan and to do so, especially for careers in March Meeting included a spe- for the observation of oscillation Reines of antineutrinos from the KAVLI continued on page 4 the private sector. cial panel focused on careers in In bringing together so many industry, “Meet Your Future: An physicists across all subfields and Interactive Session on Industrial sectors, APS meetings present a Careers for Physicists,” at which great opportunity to bridge that several physicists from industry Research News: Editors’ Choice gap. Students often have questions answered questions. At this ses- A Monthly Recap of Papers Selected by the Editors about private-sector careers, such sion Barbara Jones, current chair as how the culture differs from Shine Bright Like a Firefly that in academia, what kinds of GENERATION continued on page 3 Taking inspiration from fire- flies, scientists have fabricated an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with a complex surface Crystal Bailey pattern that improves the output efficiency by 61% compared to a smooth surface. Fireflies signal to potential mates by emitting light Masse et al. Nano Letters 16, 2994 (2016) from a photogenic region on their abdomens, the most efficient biolu- minescent organ known. This organ has a specially patterned outer Fireflies have a patterned light-emitting region (left) that can be copied in shell, or cuticle, with micrometer- light-emitting diodes to improve efficiency. scale tile-like features, as well as al. (Nano Letters 16, 2994) have ture reduced internal reflection. nanosized linear ridges. These sur- investigated the hierarchical com- The team reproduced the firefly face structures help light escape bination of micro- and nanostruc- cuticle pattern in a UV resin that from the cuticle to the air. While tures. They imaged the cuticles of they placed on top of an OLED. previous work focused on a single male fireflies (Pyrocoelia rufa) and APS job fairs help students explore a variety of career options. type of cuticle structure, Jeong et showed that the hierarchical struc- RESEARCH continued on page 5 Revised 06/28/16 2 • June 2016

This Month in Physics History

“If this is really true, then it Carl Wieman, Stanford would possibly be the most excit- University, National Public Radio, June 1785: Coulomb Measures the Electric Force ing thing that I have seen in par- April 13, 2016, on the lack of self- By Richard Williams He wrote “The repulsive force of two small globes ticle physics in my career — more evaluation of teaching practices in Around 600 BC, the Greek philosopher Thales with the same nature of electricity is inversely pro- exciting than the discovery of the American higher education. wrote that when he rubbed pieces of amber with portional to the square of the distance between the Higgs itself.” fur, the amber attracted bits of straw and other centers of the two globes” [2]. Csaba Csaki, Cornell “I don’t watch the show with small objects. When scientists began to study the When the two pith balls had charges of opposite University, New York Times, May a pad of paper and calculator,” he phenomenon, they already had a word for it, thanks sign, the experiment described above did not work 2, 2016, on the mysterious 750 GeV said. “If they get the science right, to Thales: “electricity,” derived from “elektron,” well. If the balls came too close to one another, they signal seen at CERN. it’s like an Easter egg hidden in the Greek word for amber. In studying this force, would jump together and stick, ending the experi- the story.” others observed that charged objects sometimes ment. With difficulty, he did measure the relation “It’s taken as an insult if a physi- James Kakalios, University of attract one another and sometimes repel. Twenty- between force and separation in this case, but he cist is considered too philosophical. Minnesota, Tech Insider, April 26, three centuries later, Benjamin Franklin attributed decided to use a completely independent method Most physicists think that philoso- 2016, on the science in the TV show this effect to the existence of two electrical fluids, to confirm the result [3]. He suspended a needle phers just sit in their armchairs and “The Flash.” one positive and the other negative. with a small plate on one end, and the plate was think. Physicists are very down-to- Much of the modern physical description of elec- then charged. The opposite charge was placed on earth, empirical people. They don’t “I remember pleading with my trical forces comes from careful experiments done the surface of a hollow sphere of copper or metal- want to think hard about what it all family ‘Let’s try not to fold … . If by the French scientist Charles Augustin Coulomb coated cardboard, about a foot in diameter. means or where it all comes from.” we fold, we don’t have anything’.” (1736-1806). Coulomb assumed that the large sphere would Sean Carroll, Caltech, Boston Xiaoxing Xi, Temple University, His parents came from wealthy families liv- behave as if all its charge were concentrated in a Globe, May 6, 2016, in discussing 60 Minutes, May 13, 2016, on the ing near Montpellier [1], and they moved to Paris point at its center. The needle was made to oscillate his new book “The Big Picture.” pressures of the now-dropped espi- when Coulomb’s father began in a narrow arc in the horizon- onage case against him. work there. Coulomb earned tal plane. The period of oscil- “Next Gen … is the first [set of] a degree at the engineering lation depended on the force science standards that I'm aware “I think Harry was happiest school at Mezieres and became between the charged sphere of where scientists actually had an when he was doing one of his a lieutenant in the military and the charged plate on the input in designing the standards.” workshops and getting on the engineering force. needle, just as the period of S. James Gates, University of ground with the kids building mod- As a trained army engineer, the ordinary simple pendu- Maryland, U.S. News and World els of buckyballs.” he received several assign- lum depends on the force Report, May 2, 2016. Mark Riley, Florida State ments in France. In 1764, exerted by gravity. Coulomb University, New York Times, Coulomb went to Martinique then measured the period of “Physics isn't what I do; it is May 4, 2016, on the death of to supervise the construction oscillation at various dis- what I am.” Harold Kroto, co-discoverer of of a fort. Coulomb oversaw tances from the large sphere Walter Kohn, Harvard buckminsterfullerene. the construction from 1764 to and, using an equation simi- University, Los Angeles Times, 1772, and then he returned to lar to that for the pendulum, May 10, 2016. Kohn, who died on “I am lucky enough to have a France. His health, impaired related the period to the force April 19, 2016, shared the 1998 successful private company where by the tropical ailments of between the charges. Nobel Prize in Chemistry for devel- I don’t have to answer to anyone Martinique, would trouble him The result: Coulomb’s oping density functional theory. else for what I do, so I can do crazy for the rest of his life. With law [3]. “We have arrived projects like that.” his return, his attention also here by a method absolutely He “was not just looking for a Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram shifted — after many projects different from the first ... to convenient way to do these calcula- Research, cnbc.com, April 7, in engineering, he began to conclude that the attraction tions,” Langer said. He sought “the 2016, on his Wolfram|Alpha work on pure physics. of the electric fluid called truth of the situation.” search engine. Coulomb became interested ‘positive’ for the electric fluid, James Langer, U.C. Santa in measuring the electrical ordinarily called ‘negative,’ Barbara, Los Angeles Times, “Scientists of the past were not force between small charged is as the inverse square of May 10, 2016, in comments about just like scientists of today who objects and perfected a torsion the distance.” He went on to Walter Kohn. didn’t know as much as we know. balance which could reliably show that, for a charged metal They had completely different measure such small forces [2]. object or other conducting “You know, the facts speak for ideas of what there was to know, He suspended a needle on a object, all the charge resides themselves. It’s like you’ve got a or how you go about learning it.” fine fiber of silver, copper, or on the surface, no matter the hospital and you’re not bothering Steven Weinberg, University silk. The needle held a small shape of the object [4]. to check if your doctors are using of Texas at Austin, Science News, electrically charged pith ball Coulomb’s law underlies antibiotics or bloodletting.” March 18, 2016. at one end and a counterweight much of atomic physics. The at the other end, balanced so attractive force F between an that the needle could rotate electron of charge e a distance in a horizontal plane. The calibrated torsion bal- r from a nucleus of atomic number Z and charge Ze ance measured the force needed to twist the needle is F = Ze2/r2. Ernest Rutherford, studying the scat- through a given angle. tering of alpha particles, used this equation to show By bringing a similarly charged pith ball near that the diameter of the atomic nucleus is orders the one on the needle, Coulomb determined the of magnitude less than that of the atom — i.e., repulsive force between the charged balls as a func- that the nucleus is effectively a point mass. Later, aps.org/apsnews tion of their separation. With these experiments, he Niels Bohr used this result as the starting point of launched the quantitative study of electric force. COULOMB continued on page 3

Series II, Vol. 25, No. 6 APS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES 2016 International Councilors Staff Representatives June 2016 Marcia Barbosa, Eliezer Rabinovici, Johanna Stachel, Mark Doyle, Chief Information Officer; Amy President © 2016 The American Physical Society Kiyoshi Ueda Flatten Director of International Affairs; Barbara Homer A. Neal*, University of Michigan Hicks, Associate Publisher; Ted Hodapp, Director Chair, Nominating Committee of Education and Diversity; Trish Lettieri, Director Editor...... David Voss President-Elect Paul Chaikin of Membership; TBD, Director of Development; Laura H. Greene*, Florida State University Contributing Correspondent ...... Alaina G. Levine Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Editorial Director; Christine Giaccone, Director, Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson Vice President Julia Philips Journal Operations; Terri Olsen, Director of Meetings; Roger W. Falcone*, University of California, Berkeley/ Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Matthew Salter, Publisher; Michael Stephens, LLBL Editor in Chief Controller and Assistant Treasurer; James W. Taylor, Proofreader...... Edward Lee Dan Kulp* (Interim) Deputy Executive Officerand Chief Operating Officer Past-President Samuel H. Aronson*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Division, Forum and Section Councilors * Members of the APS Board of Directors APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publica- (Retired) Miriam Forman (Astrophysics); Timothy Gay* monthly, except the August/September issue, by the tion delivered by Periodical Mail Postage Paid at Col- (Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics); Jose Onuchic American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- lege Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Chief Executive Officer (Biological); Amy Mullin* (Chemical); John Bradley lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains Kate P. Kirby*, Harvard Smithsonian (retired) Marston (Condensed Matter Physics); Giulia Galli news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, For address changes, please send both the old and new (Computational); Ann Karagozian (Fluid Dynamics); Sections, and Forums; advance information on meetings addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing label from Speaker of the Council Gay Stewart* (Forum on Education); Julia Gonski of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- a recent issue. Changes can be emailed to membership@ Nan Phinney*, Stanford University (Forum on Graduate Student Affairs); Dan Kleppner* tees and task forces, as well as opinions. aps.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS (Forum on History of Physics); John Rumble, (Forum News, Membership Department, American Physical Treasurer on Industrial and Applied Physics); Young-Kee Kim* Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- James Hollenhorst*, Agilent Technologies (Forum on International Physics); Pushpa Bhat ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- 3844. (Forum on Physics and Society); Nicholas Bigelow* dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Corporate Secretary (Laser Science); James Chelikowsky (Materials); the right to select and to edit for length and clarity. All Ken Cole Wick Haxton* (Nuclear); P. Michael Tuts (Particles correspondence regarding APS News should be directed Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 & Fields); Thomas Roser (Physics of Beams); Cary to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College General Councilors Forest (Plasma); Mark Ediger (Polymer Physics); Nan Park, MD 20740-3844, Email: [email protected]. Marcelo Gleiser, Nadya Mason, Gail McGlaughlin*, Phinney* (California Section); Carlos Wexler (Prairie Bonnie Flemming Section) June 2016 • 3

GENERATION continued from page 1

of the APS Forum on Industrial and ings are also opportunities for job Applied Physics and a condensed seekers to connect with employ- matter theorist with IBM, described ers who are actively recruiting what working in industry is like, for positions. Every year, a job IBM Technology at Work in Africa and what research is at the fore- fair is held at the APS Division of By Alaina G. Levine front of product development in Plasma Physics (DPP) Meeting and her field. the APS March Meeting, in which It was a bright and sunny morn- Every year, upwards of 200 participating employers can post ing in Bangalore, India, when students attend the “Meet Your and interview for jobs directly on Kamal Bhattacharya, a senior Future” panels, and speakers will site. Though historically the major- manager for information technol- K. Bhattacharya often remain long after the session ity of participants have been from ogy and cloud computing at IBM has ended to network with students academic institutions and national Research, got a game-changing individually. labs, in recent years there has phone call from his boss. The The 2016 APS April Meeting been an uptick in the percentage company was going to launch featured a similar panel, but with of private sector employers (at a research lab in Africa, IBM’s physicists with backgrounds at the DPP Job Fair in 2015, nearly 12th research lab and its first on national labs and in policy; this 40% of the jobs posted were from the continent. The conversation panel also was well attended and companies). In addition to its job consisted of a simple query — did received positive feedback. And fair, DPP has also recently begun Bhattacharya, a Ph.D. physicist, a new industry panel debuted at offering a popular “Resume Help want to take the reins and lead the the 2016 APS Division of Atomic Desk” for attendees to get feed- charge? His answer was also simple and Molecular Physics Meeting in back to help improve their CVs. — a resounding yes. Providence, R.I., in May. The Help Desk staff has included So in 2012, Bhattacharya and Gatherings such as these are volunteers with hiring experience his family packed up their things often the only opportunities that in academic, national lab, and pri- and moved across the Indian students have to interact with phys- vate sector environments. Ocean to Nairobi to launch IBM Kamal Bhattacharya moved to Nairobi, Kenya to start IBM's research center icists who are not among their own Career and professional devel- Research – Africa. He arrived in there. — or their advisor’s — immedi- opment events at APS meetings are Kenya with the goal of establish- lives, “It hit me. I never considered lab relates to financial inclusion. ate pool of academic colleagues. an invaluable resource for students ing the lab specifically to address how we can we build technology Across Africa, only 20% of people Therefore, APS plans to continue who may otherwise have difficulty grand challenges in Africa, through that is commercially viable that can have access to formal financial ser- holding these types of events at the learning about paths outside of commercially viable innovation affect people’s lives in this way. vices. Kenya, a leader in mobile annual meetings, as well as work- what is (incorrectly) considered that impacts people's lives. But he That’s when we switched things money products, is a fertile ground ing with division leadership to offer to be the “traditional” academic had to start from scratch. There around. I called my chief scientist for experimentation on more inclu- them at a growing number of divi- route. As one attendee of the March wasn’t a building. There were no and I said we are going to create a sive mobile banking products sion meetings in the coming years. Industry Career Panel stated, “The machines or instruments or any lab to develop commercially via- geared towards the low-income APS also serves its early career talks presented were vital in assur- sort of infrastructure. There were ble and innovative technologies population. So IBM Research – members by providing straight- ing me that I didn’t make a major no other employees. “I had the to address key societal issues on Africa engineers, in collaboration forward, nuts-and-bolts guidance mistake in my life decision to fol- opportunity to define what it is we the African continent with impact with financial institutions, built on how to successfully plan and low my love of physics … that wanted to do,” says Bhattacharya. potential in the millions.” cognitive algorithms based on move forward along a career trajec- I will be able to provide for my “It was an ambitious effort for IBM The lab, which now employs machine learning that provide the tory. Every year at the APS March family and myself without much to set up a lab of this type in Africa. 60 scientists and engineers, has banks with the information they Meeting, author and science coach worry of being able to get a job, I had no peers and there was no made some considerable strides need to make a sound decision, Peter Fiske (author of Putting Your being poor all the time, and hav- precedence.” in only three years. In agricul- with data gleaned from various out- Science to Work!, a widely read ing to work with people who aren’t But as a veteran IBM employee ture, the researchers have devel- puts such as call records and even career development book for early science minded.” APS is glad to be since 1999, with experience work- oped technology to monitor how social media activity. The innova- career scientists and engineers) able to provide this broader per- ing on four continents and in resources, such as water, are being tion “can help banks and financial gives a comprehensive workshop spective to early-career members multiple roles throughout the orga- utilized, and to advise farmers how services companies provide loans on making the transition into the and boost the career confidence of nization, he was uniquely suited to improve productivity. In health- with much lower risk and at a much workforce, from the point of view the next generation of physicists. for the challenge. In particular, his care, they are looking at how to bigger scale,” he notes. of a graduate-level scientist. To learn about career events diverse worldview aided him in leverage technology to alleviate The lab has had its share of false This year, Fiske’s presenta- taking place at APS division and understanding the significance of challenges at the first point of starts, however. “Over time we tion focused on important topics section meetings, look for the the assignment. Given that Africa care. For example, when someone have learned how to fail because like career planning and self- “Career” track in the APS Meeting was the only continent where IBM goes to a primary physician, a soft- some of the ideas we had were assessment, effective network- app, or under the “Career Events” did not have a presence, there was ware program called a “cognitive innovative but were not commer- ing, writing a good resume, and page of the main meeting webpage. much opportunity to be pursued advisor” will enable the doctor to cially viable, or vice versa,” he negotiating your best offer — but Or you can send email to bailey@ here. “If we as a company want to better identify and treat medical notes. Other ideas “didn’t address it also included a strong message aps.org. be relevant to the world, we should problems and move patients to the social challenges we cared about.” that early-career physicists are You can also learn about the go where we face the most pressing next step, whether it is to send them Regardless, Bhattacharya, highly motivated, smart individu- Future of Physics days, which are of challenges,” he says. to a hospital or provide them with who received his doctorate in als who can have a powerful role special events held for undergradu- Bhattacharya began his effort a prescription. theoretical statistical physics in shaping the world for the bet- ate students at the APS March and by negotiating with the Catholic Another key accomplishment of from the University of Göttingen ter. Every year, this event receives April meetings, by visiting http:// University of Eastern Africa to the lab has been the improvement in Germany in 1998, says he is extremely positive feedback, and www.aps.org/meetings/events/ move into a 40-year-old defunct of Kenya’s regulatory business well prepared for the large-scale many participants state that this futurephysics/ library to use as the lab’s main environment, as measured by the challenge of leading the R&D empowering message is one of its building. His partnership with a World Bank. Bhattacharya and his center precisely because of his 1. AIP Statistical Research Center, team of architects and engineers team analyzed multiple aspects of most useful aspects. Focus on Physics Doctorates Ini- education. “My way of thinking, helped pave the way for the concept The annual and division meet- tial Employment, March 2016. regional and national government which I learned as a physicist, was behind what the facility would look to pinpoint what processes could be attractive to IBM. Physics strives like. “What’s in a lab? It depends improved to increase the country’s for a simplicity and elegance and what we do,” he notes. He envi- rank in the bank’s assessment. They it requires you to have a common COULOMB continued from page 2 sioned a data center with state- scrutinized everything from how to sense,” he notes. “At the end of the of-the-art computing systems and start a business to trading across his theory of the line spectrum of Further Reading: day, when it comes to engineering an open environment that fosters borders, and made recommenda- the hydrogen atom. systems relevant to society, things 1. C. Stewart Gilmor, Coulomb and collaboration. tions on how to improve efficiency The French Revolution brought the Evolution of Physics and En- never turn out to be as pretty as His first exposure to reframing through both process reengineer- changes to Coulomb’s professional gineering in Eighteenth Century they were [in physics]. Sometimes France (Princeton University Press, the use of technology in develop- ing and through technology. “In life. His role in the Académie des you have to make compromises Princeton, New Jersey, 1971). ing markets was through a project the first year, we helped Kenya on purity because you want to get Sciences ended when it was closed. 2. C. A. Coulomb, Premiere Mem- to ensure that patients receive their increase its rank by 28 points,” he things done. Once you make that His contributions to the weights oire sur l’electricite et le Mag- netisme, Histoire de l’Academie malaria medicine on time. Through says. “This was genius work the transition, a lot of complementary and measures committee and the Royale des Sciences, 569-577 his rapidly growing network across team does — it is a lot of technol- skills in physics and engineering supervision of the water sup- (1785). An English translation of the continent, he learned of people ogy and a lot of policy and legal have tremendous value in making ply ceased during the revolution, this article is available by search- using text messages to track phar- work. We brought together people the world better.” but in later years he was able to ing on “Bucciarrelli translation of Coulomb’s first memoir” with ei- maceuticals. “We are a commercial who can understand this at a very Bhattacharya continues to press resume some of this work. In June ther Google Search or Bing. company, so when I heard about deep level. Now we have become a forward with innovations in cogni- of 1806 he contracted a fever that 3. C. A. Coulomb, Seconde Memoire this simple solution of sending a trusted advisor to the Kenyan gov- tive technologies relevant to Africa. caused his death in August [1], but sur l’electricite et le Magnetisme, quick message to a database to find ernment and our approach is core Last year, he launched the second Coulomb’s name lives on in phys- Histoire de l’Academie Royale des out where the malaria medicine is, to the government’s desire to make Sciences, 578-611 (1785). IBM Research – Africa site in ics. Today, the coulomb is the unit I asked ‘What’s the impact?’ and I things easier, especially for small Johannesburg, South Africa, which of electric charge, and the scat- 4. C. A. Coulomb, Quatrieme Memoire was thinking commercial impact,” and medium businesses.” sur l’electricite et le Magnetisme, is currently looking at problems in tering observed by Rutherford is Histoire de l’Academie Royale des he shares. But when his colleague Another interesting concept Coulomb scattering. Sciences, 67-77 (1785). replied that they saved 400,000 and technology developed by the IBM continued on page 7 4 • June 2016

Letters Inside the Beltway Members may submit letters to [email protected]. APS reserves the right to select letters and edit for length and clarity. The Times They Are A Changin’ By Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs

Come gather ‘round people/ driven simply by a disaffected Equal Rights and Proposition 2 Wherever you roam/And admit that youth cohort but also by a disaf- the waters/Around you have grown/ fected shrinking white middle I was gratified to see “The Back property rights. After considerable that I had not been elected as chair; And accept it that soon/You’ll be class. I’ll return to the shrinkage in Page” column by Michael Falk and discussion, POPA took action, and it appears that in suggesting APS drenched to the bone/If your time to a moment, but first a historical syn- Elena Long (APS News, March the resolution ultimately passed. take action on Proposition 2, I had you/Is worth savin’/Then you bet- opsis of how we’ve gotten to where 2016) in which Falk recalled his There was not unanimous support made enemies as well as friends. I ter start swimmin’/Or you’ll sink we are today politically. It holds 1994 letter to APS News defend- for APS getting involved; my recol- was not informed who was elected like a stone/For the times they are some significant lessons for can- ing the APS Council action on lection is that both in POPA and in POPA Chair, a defect in the APS a-changin.’ didates in the upcoming elections. Colorado Proposition 2. I wrote Council, the resolution passed by election procedure. Songwriter and iconic folk per- The year 1968 is a good starting the preceding letter in that issue roughly 2 to 1. Having now an open block former Bob Dylan penned those point. Buoyed by thousands of anti- defending the action, as the rep- This episode had an interesting of time, and seeing that any fur- lyrics more than 50 years ago. And war college students, Minnesota they became an anthem for young Sen. Eugene McCarthy nearly resentative of the APS Panel on personal aftermath. After my term ther role in APS governance was people who felt increasingly alien- upset President Lyndon Johnson Public Affairs (POPA). as a POPA member was finished, I closed, I decided to resume piano ated from their government, dis- in the first-in-the-nation New I was responsible for bringing was asked to run for Chair of POPA lessons and regular practice that I illusioned with their leaders, and Hampshire primary on March 12. the issue to the attention of POPA, and was told by the Nominating had stopped at age 16. I have never powerless to effect change by any Within days, sensing Johnson’s motivated by my longtime asso- Committee that I was very likely regretted this decision, which has conventional means, especially weakness, Robert Kennedy, then ciation with the Aspen Center for to be selected. Anticipating a heavy brought me great pleasure over in the Vietnam War that eventu- a New York senator, announced Physics. I believed not only that workload, I resigned a year early the years. ally claimed the lives of 55,000 his candidacy as well. Two weeks Proposition 2 was morally wrong, from a National Academy com- Americans and more than 10 times later, after Johnson unexpectedly but as an Aspen homeowner whom mission on which I had completed as many Vietnamese. Many young announced he would not stand for gay inlaws now felt uncomfortable two years of a three-year term. In Stephen L. Adler Americans simply dropped out, but re-election, Hubert Humphrey, his visiting, I felt that it trampled on my November 1995, I was informed Princeton, New Jersey others took to the streets, as Dylan vice president, jumped in. lyrically exhorted them to do. By the time Democrats con- We might be on the verge of another revolt, but this time not THE TIMES continued on page 6

KAVLI continued from page 1 neutrinos come in more than one the 1980s motivated by interest collaborator Neta gave the third flavor, and over the long journey in grand unified theories. Kajita talk in the keynote session on his 2016 Kavli Keynote Session Speakers from sun to Earth, they change into explained that one of the most involvement in the neutrino story, a flavor that could not be detected important background signals in which she framed as a tale of “indi- in Davis’ experiment. His colleague looking for proton decay turned out vidual courage, amazing persis- Herb Chen suggested in 1984 that to be atmospheric neutrinos, so it tence, and triumph over 40 years.” It a heavy water detector might be was important to understand their began, she said, as a simple question used to confirm this proposal. origin. In doing so, researchers — how does the sun shine? Queen's University McDonald remembered Chen found a deficit of muon neutrinos The basic scheme of nuclear calling up Los Alamos National compared to what was expected, a reactions was in hand, but John Laboratory and asking “Do you situation very similar to the solar Bahcall sought to answer the think we could borrow 4000 tons neutrino problem. Neutrino oscil- question in the early 1960s with of heavy water?” — about $1.2 lations were also proposed as the a solar model and detailed calcu- billion at the time. But careful solution, but Kajita noted, the lations. At about the same time, design brought the requirement deficit alone wasn’t proof. “We Ray Davis was proposing to detect down, and the group was able to really had to think harder to find solar neutrinos with a large tank convince Atomic Energy of Canada the cause of the deficit,” he said. of carbon tetrachloride. In 1968 to lend the heavy water to start the In the mid 1990s, the the first results came in and it was Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Kamiokande experiment found a good-news/bad-news situation. The first phase of data collec- a clue. There was a deficit in “The good news was that neutrinos Arthur McDonald tion began in November 1999, and muon neutrino flux for long paths were detected,” said Neta Bahcall. the final phase was completed in through Earth, but no deficit if “The bad news was [the flux] was December 2006, with final com- the path length was short. The three times lower than John pre- bined analysis published in 2013. interpretation is that the neutrinos dicted.” The discrepancy remained The payoff was the evidence that going the longer route had time to a mystery for 40 years. University of Tokyo electron neutrinos from the sun change into other flavors but the The solution was neutrino oscil- were changing into other flavors, ones taking a shorter path did not. lations, covered by the first two which brought the measured flux Unfortunately the difference was speakers. Neta recounted how in into good agreement with John not statistically robust. the intervening years she and John Bahcall’s calculations. McDonald To get the needed data, Kajita met, married, and had a family. concluded with a description of says, Kamiokande was upgraded During this time, however, John SNO’s plans for future neutrino to Superkamiokande, which begin had to withstand the criticism from experiments and expansion into operation in April 1996. “The particle physicists that “astrono- dark matter searches. detector worked very well,” he mers can’t calculate the sun to a Atmospheric neutrinos added. “It took only two years factor of three,” Neta said. The Takaaki Kajita Takaaki Kajita, leader of the to obtain the very important only alternatives were that Davis’ team at the Superkamiokande first result.” The confirmation of experiment was wrong or that experiment, then talked about the oscillations came in 2004, when current understanding of neutrino IAS role played by neutrinos created Superkamiokande was actu- physics was wrong. The experi- in cosmic ray interactions in the ally able to see a dip in flux at ment and theory were checked and atmosphere in proving the exis- a particular pathlength. Kajita rechecked, but few believed the tence of neutrino flavor oscilla- explained that future work at latter possibility, Neta recalled. tions. Little over 50 years ago, two Superkamiokande and other neu- John Bahcall died in 2005 hav- underground experiments — one in trino labs would include an effort ing mentored over 300 students South Africa the other in India — to understand the so-called mass and postdocs, with several other reported the first detection of atmo- hierarchy problem — because key astrophysical discoveries to his spheric neutrinos by observing the we only know the differences in name. He didn’t live to see the final muons they produced.With increas- squares of the masses we don’t stages of the Superkamiokande and ing depth, the muon flux produced know the order of the masses of SNO results, but as Neta concluded directly by cosmic rays decreases the neutrino flavors. in quoting astrophysicist Michael and plateaus to a level where the Remembering John Bahcall Turner, “John mastered the nuclear muons are produced by the pen- A key player in all of this was oven of the Sun and triumphed.” etrating atmospheric neutrinos. the late John Bahcall, a physicist The entire symposium can be The story then switches to who was at home both in theory and viewed on the APS Youtube chan- Neta Bahcall, with John proton-decay experiments of experiment. His wife and scientific nel at go.aps.org/1Ug0a1J June 2016 • 5

Peter Adams 1937-2016 NASA

Peter Adams, longtime editor with the APS Physical Review journals, died on April 16, 2016. Adams joined the editorial office in 1969, while it was located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he carried out research in condensed matter physics. He played a key role in the split of the single Physical Review into Physical Review A through D, and in 1970 he became the first full- time editor to lead Physical Review B, a position he held until 2012. Peter Adams During his 47 years at the APS, tor for PRB in 1996, Peter took Adams also held appointments as me under his wing,” says Daniel deputy managing editor and deputy Kulp, Interim Editor in Chief editor in chief of the journals. In and Editorial Director of the APS Seasonal changes in the appearance of streaks on the steep slopes of Mars may indicate that boiling water plays a those roles he was responsible for journals. “Just about everything I role in shaping the surface. the design and development of a know about editorial work came computer-based UNIX project to from him. Peter was always open to RESEARCH continued from page 1 move all editorial operations, data sharing his knowledge and insight Compared to a smooth-surface saw a mixture of oxygen, neon, Review Letters attempts to explain management, journal-page composi- with the entire editorial staff. For OLED, this bio-inspired device and magnesium that is most com- the origin of a 750 GeV signal tion, and printing into the digital era. emitted more light and also had a monly found in more massive found last year at the LHC. The “When I joined APS as an edi- ADAMS continued on page 6 wider angle of illumination. white dwarfs, and trace amounts observation has generated many Turmoil on the Red Planet of silicon that are associated with theory papers and, if confirmed, Experiments suggest that boil- the formation of neutron stars. would imply the existence of sur- ing water may be causing changes Lunar Iron Points to Nearby prising new particles. Three of Education & Diversity Update on the surface of Mars, as reported Supernova the papers center around some by Masse et al. (Nature Geosci. Researchers studying lunar soil new 750 GeV bosons: a pion-like boson associated with a new type 2017 Graduate Education and Bridge Program doi:10.1038/ngeo2706). Recently, samples have uncovered high lev- els of an iron isotope (60Fe) con- of strong force (Y. Nakai et al., Conference spacecraft observations of the planet’s steep slopes have revealed sistent with fallout from a nearby Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 151802), a APS will hold the 2017 Graduate Education Conference and Bridge discolorations that lengthen and supernova about 2 million years Higgs-like boson that couples to Program Conference jointly at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta on Feb- shorten according to the seasons. ago. Nearby supernova might be new kinds of fermions (G. Li et ruary 10 - 12. The conference will feature plenary talks on physics Such streaks could indicate flowing connected with extinctions on al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 151803), graduate education, as well as panels and interactive discussions water or brines — salty solutions Earth. Besides emitting deadly or a boson that is the supersym- on diversity. Student programming includes networking, a graduate formed from water percolation. But radiation, these events also spew metric partner of a hypothetical student poster session, and professional development opportuni- in the thin Martian atmosphere, out elements such as 60Fe, which fermion called the goldstino (C. ties. Email [email protected] for more information. liquid water is expected to either can settle on planetary bodies Petersson and R. Torre, Phys. Rev. freeze or evaporate very quickly. 2017 Physics Teacher Education Coalition To simulate what may be happen- NASA Conference ing on Mars, Masse et al. carried The 2017 Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Confer- out lab experiments at pressures ence is the nation's largest meeting dedicated to educating typical of the red planet (less than 1% of Earth’s sea-level pressure). physics teachers. It will take place February 17 - 18 at the Hyatt They let a small amount of ice melt Regency Atlanta. The conference features workshops, poster ses- on top of a sand-covered slope, sions, panel discussions on best practices, and presentations by then watched the meltwater per- national leaders in physics teacher education, as well as excellent colate downwards through the sand networking opportunities. The conference will directly precede the and boil at the interface between 2017 AAPT Winter Meeting. wet sand and air. The boiling water ejected sand grains, forming piles Is your institution interested in joining PhysTEC? Institutions that that collapsed, leaving dark-col- are involved in or wish to become involved in preparing preservice ored streaks reminiscent of those physics teachers are invited to join the Physics Teacher Education seen on Mars. The results suggest Coalition (PhysTEC). Go to phystec.org/webdocs/Join.cfm for more that even modest quantities of boil- information. ing water could be a key factor shaping the planet’s surface. This White Dwarf Isn’t Like Iron isotopes in lunar soil samples are consistent with a nearby supernova Fall 2016 APS National Mentoring Community occurring 2 million years ago. Conference the Others The first white dwarf with an Lett. 116, 151804). The fourth (W. The National Mentoring Community Conference will be held Octo- within the blast zone. Since this almost purely oxygen atmosphere isotope has a radioactive half-life S. Cho et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, ber 21 - 23, 2016 at the University of Houston. This conference has been discovered in new data of 2.6 million years, finding high 151805) proposes that the signal will feature plenary talks by Louisiana State University Professor from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. levels of it in a geological sample is not due to a 750 GeV particle Gabriela Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Laser Interferometer The oxygenated dwarf is one of imply a fairly recent (and close) at all, but to some even heavier Gravitational-Wave Observatory project that detected gravitational about 32,000 in the survey, but its supernova. The supernova hypoth- particles that decay via a cascade waves in 2015; Florida Institute of Technology Professor Hakeem spectrum reveals an atmosphere esis — first proposed in 1999 — is to lighter particles along with pho- Oluseyi, who appears regularly on eight television series, including with a unique chemistry, challeng- supported by recent observations of ton pairs of about 750 GeV. By as co-host of the Science Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science; ing scientists’ understanding of 60Fe in the Earth’s oceanic crust. the fall of 2016, the LHC should and scientist-turned-STEM-education-policy researcher and stellar evolution. As they age, stars But the unworked surface of the have collected enough data to National Science Foundation data scientist Dr. Frances Carter- with less than 8 to 10 solar masses Moon is a better record. Fimiani et determine whether the hint is a real Johnson, expert on using socio-cultural factors to broaden typically become white dwarfs. al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 151104) signal or a statistical fluctuation. participation in STEM. There will also be mentoring and career These dense, Earth-sized objects obtained lunar soil samples from (Adapted from the Physics article workshops, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates / Grad form once hydrogen and helium the Apollo missions. They found “Explaining a 750 GeV Bump”.) have been largely consumed and the ratio of 60Fe to total iron was School Fair, an undergraduate research poster session, a NASA 15 can no longer fuel the fusion that around 1 part in 10 , which is CERN tour, and much more! Visit go.aps.org/nmc-conference to register counteracts gravity. The remaining about 10 times higher than the and learn more. hydrogen and helium float to the measured background. Cosmic- surface, where they dominate the ray interactions — another pos- Join the APS Undergraduate Mentoring Community visible emission spectrum. Kepler sible source of 60Fe — could not The APS National Mentoring Community (NMC) is an effort to et al. (Science 352, 67), however, account for this high concentra- increase the number of African American, Hispanic American, and found a dwarf whose spectrum was tion. (Adapted from the Physics Native American undergraduates obtaining physics bachelor’s dominated by oxygen lines, sug- article “Supernova Footprint on degrees. NMC connects students with faculty mentors and sup- gesting the outer layer of hydro- the Moon.”) ports those relationships with resources and networking gen and helium disappeared as Theorists Tackle a 750 GeV opportunities. Register to become an NMC Mentor at www.aps. the white dwarf formed. Instead Bump Theorists seek to explain a 750 org/nmc of hydrogen and helium, they A quartet of papers in Physical GeV anomaly. 6 • June 2016

THE TIMES continued from page 4 BOUCHET continued from page 1 vened in Chicago that August, ing. Even though Perot again played Edward Bouchet Kennedy had been assassinated and the role of Republican spoiler, Institute) in Trieste, Italy, and the youth vote was in full revolt. Clinton did not really need much has only grown from there, says 2016 Edward Bouchet Award Inside the convention hall the scene help, as he ran his popular vote total Ronald Mickens, a physicist at This year’s recipient is Pablo Laguna at the Georgia Institute of Technol- was far from serene, but it paled to just shy of 50 percent and cap- Clark Atlanta University who ogy. His award citation reads “For contributions to numerical relativity and by comparison with the rioting tured the Electoral College 379-159. edited a 2002 volume on Bouchet astrophysics; in particular, on the simulation of colliding black holes.” He outside. But establishment lead- As the balance of the 2016 and received the APS Bouchet received the award at the 2016 APS April Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. ers ignored the anti-establishment election year unfolds, the politi- award in 2008. “[Bouchet’s] Pablo Laguna received his degree in physics from fracas on the streets and anointed cal landscape has a whiff of 1968. name got out into the public, and the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitan at Iztapa- Hubert Humphrey the Democratic Young voters, once again, have lost so everyone now wants to claim a lapa in 1981 and his Ph.D. in physics from the standard-bearer. faith in the establishment, as they piece of him.” University of Texas at Austin in 1987. In 1992, he Voters craving change, espe- rally around the candidacy of Sen. That his name would one day joined the Department of Astronomy and Astro- cially young anti-war voters, saw Bernie Sanders. This time it’s not adorn awards, honor societies, physics at Pennsylvania State University. He was Humphrey as Johnson-lite, and because they are opposing a war, academic conferences and insti- promoted to associate professor in 1998 and to without their support, he lost the but because they see Washington tutions around the world would professor in 2000. He was named associate direc- election. Richard Nixon, his oppo- policies as unfair to the average probably have surprised Bouchet, tor of both the Center for Gravitational Wave Phys- nent, easily captured the Electoral American, and the status quo given that he did not receive major ics and the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry in 2001. In 2008, he became professor College 301 to 191 (segregationist offering them little hope for a bet- recognition in his lifetime. Edward Pablo Laguna in the Schools of Physics and of Computational George Wallace received 46), but ter future. Bouchet was born in New Haven, Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Laguna Nixon eked out only a narrow 0.7 Connecticut, on September 15, As two Pew Research Center is founding member and was first director of the Center for Relativistic As- percent victory in the popular vote. 1852. He grew up at a time when studies, one in 2015 and one this trophysics at Georgia Tech until 2013 when he became chair of the School American science was in its Earlier that year Republicans May, have documented, the por- of Physics. His research is in computational astrophysics, investigating infancy, practiced by a few mem- had been split, with New York tion of U.S. families classified astrophysical phenomena involving binary systems with black holes and/ bers of the educated elite, often Gov. Nelson Rockefeller leading as middle class has shrunk from or neutron stars. Laguna was named a Fellow of the American Physical the East Coast liberal wing and 62 percent in 1970 to 43 percent outside the university system. Society in 2008 and elected to the Mexican Academy of Science in 2007. popular California Gov. Ronald in 2014. The shrinkage has been Bouchet was, needless to say, Reagan leading a rapidly growing widespread, with 203 of 229 met- not from that socioeconomic class. conservative movement. But at ropolitan areas surveyed between His father worked as a janitor at about Cope’s project to educate remains far below their representa- their August convention in Miami 2000 and 2014 showing that pat- Yale and served as a deacon of black students in math and sci- tion in the U.S. population. And the party easily united around tern. In 53 areas the decline was at New Haven’s oldest black church, ence. Bouchet fought for years to some of the disparity’s causes Nixon, who accepted his nomi- least 6 percent. and his parents were active in get the school to buy laboratory echo factors from Bouchet’s time. nation with these words: “When For the average American, the city’s abolitionist scene. He equipment. (Bouchet’s few records Several historically black colleges the strongest nation in the world wages have stagnated for more graduated high school in 1868 include some of these requests.) He and universities have shuttered their can be tied down for four years in than 30 years. And since 1999, and became the first black stu- nevertheless remained at ICY until physics departments recently, and dent to attend the private Hopkins 1902, when he was fired, along Vietnam with no end in sight, when the median household income, others are under threat of closure, School (essentially a feeder school with the rest of the staff, as the the richest nation in the world can’t adjusted for inflation, has declined notes Theodore Hodapp, Director for Yale), where he graduated at school moved out of Philadelphia manage its own economy … then by 7 percent, according to the U.S. of Education and Diversity at the top of his class. In 1870 he and transitioned from an aca- APS. Mickens adds that the heavy it’s time for new leadership … .” Census Bureau. became the second black student demics-focused institution to one recruitment of women and minority Eight years later, after Rep. For these voters Donald Trump, to enter Yale. oriented toward vocational educa- science undergraduates into dual- Gerald Ford had been appointed the presumptive Republican nomi- The climate at Yale was not tion — a move strongly backed degree engineering programs start- under the 25th Amendment to fill a nee, has particular appeal. I spoke exactly welcoming — students by prominent African-American ing in the 1980s drained the pool of vice-presidential vacancy in 1973; to one of them yesterday — I’ll sang racist songs at graduation, leader Booker T. Washington. potential physics Ph.D. candidates. after Nixon had resigned on the call him Fred — who told me and Bouchet was unable to join Bouchet moved often dur- Recently founded programs now eve of a 1974 House impeachment “Any change is better than more any of the university’s secret soci- ing the rest of his life, teaching aim to reverse these trends and vote; after Ford had been sworn of the same.” He said he knows that eties, making him one of only four at schools in Saint Louis, Ohio, retain talented minority students in in as Nixon’s replacement without Trump is not well versed in foreign members of his class not to do so. Virginia, and Texas. He never physics, led by the Fisk-Vanderbilt ever having run for either vice pres- policy, military matters or econom- Nevertheless, he graduated sixth married and had no children, but Masters-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, ident or president; and after Ford ics, but he believes that someone in a class of 124, and was the first he was a member of the Franklin the leading producer of minority had pardoned Nixon for any crimes who has been successful in busi- African American elected to the Institute in Philadelphia and the Ph.D.s in physics and astronomy. he had might have committed in the ness “will know how to shake up honor society. American Academy of Political The APS Bridge Program, started Watergate Scandal, Georgia Gov. the system and make things work.” Alfred Cope, a philanthropist and Social Science, and was in 2009, is positioned to increase Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer who As I’ve traveled around the and board member of the Institute active in the NAACP. His status the fraction of physics Ph.D.s had become a nuclear engineer, country, I’ve met many Freds. for Colored Youth (ICY), a private, among America’s educated elite awarded to underrepresented captured the White House for the Their stories differ in specifics, but Quaker-run school in Philadelphia, didn’t shield him from the hor- minority students to equal the frac- Democrats. Many political histori- they are eerily the same in their heard about Bouchet and recruited rors experienced by black people tion of physics bachelor's degrees ans today attribute Ford’s narrow general perceptions. him to teach there, but encouraged during his time; at one point he granted to these groups, with 1976 loss to his pardon of Nixon Any candidate for public office him to stay on at Yale for his doc- was severely beaten after bumping African-American students likely two years earlier. this year who ignores the grow- torate first. Bouchet agreed to do so into a prominent white lawyer in to make the largest gains. And the Carter’s success was short- ing disaffection, disillusionment, only after Cope offered to finance Lawrenceville, Virginia. Bouchet Society’s new National Mentoring lived. In 1980 Ronald Reagan capi- and despair of young and middle him with a $1,500-per-year sti- died at 66 of heart failure in New Community is providing mentoring talized on the realignment of the class voters does so at his or her pend. Bouchet’s Ph.D. thesis was Haven in 1918, the same year to more than 100 underrepresented South’s racially driven politics and own peril. At the presidential level, on measuring refractive indices. Elmer Imes became the second minority physics students. the Rust Belt’s disaffected working the danger is greatest for Hillary His advisor was Arthur Wright, African-American to earn a Ph.D. Meanwhile, for minority class voters, and trounced Carter Clinton, whom most voters see as who had earned Yale’s first physics in physics. physicists who have made major in both the popular vote and the the embodiment of the establish- Ph.D. (and the first in the U.S.) in The dreams Bouchet might have contributions to the field, the visi- Electoral College. For another 12 ment they have grown to distrust. 1861. No known copy of Bouchet’s held of helping inspire African- bility provided by the APS Bouchet years Republicans held sway in But the peril is also there for doctoral thesis remains, Mickens American achievement in science Award is “crucial to being a role national elections. anyone running for Congress. As says, but his experiments probably ultimately ran into powerful head- model to peers and students,” says Finally, in 1992, businessman Dylan wrote in 1964: tied into then-growing interest in winds from those who thought Nadya Mason, a physicist at the Ross Perot’s independent can- Come senators, congressmen/ geometrical optics and mineralogy. black students should focus on University of Illinois at Urbana- didacy provided an opportunity Please heed the call/Don’t stand Bouchet left almost no written vocational rather than academic Champaign and current chair of the for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in the doorway/Don’t block up the records, so it is unknown whether subjects, and didn’t come to frui- APS Committee on Minorities. “It’s to defeat incumbent Republican hall/For he that gets hurt/Will be he wished to pursue an academic tion in his lifetime. But during four one of the biggest things we do to President George H.W. Bush. He he who has stalled/There’s a battle career, for which he was clearly decades of teaching, Bouchet edu- increase the visibility of underrep- did so with only 43 percent of the outside/And it is ragin’/It’ll soon qualified. But Mickens suspects he cated hundreds of students, many resented physicists.” But she adds, popular vote. shake your windows/And rattle likely didn’t even consider the pos- of whom went on to professional noting the continued underrepre- In truth, it took Democrats until your walls/For the times they are sibility, since American higher edu- careers. “Certainly it is impos- sentation of African-Americans and 1996 to regain their national foot- a changin’. cation institutions were not open sible to assess the far reaching other groups in physics, “The work to hiring black faculty members. influence of Dr. Bouchet upon the that needed to be done in Bouchet’s Instead, Bouchet began teaching at hundreds of persons whose lives day still has to be done today.” the ICY in fall of 1875. In addition he touched,” wrote Lillian Allen, Further Reading ADAMS continued from page 5 to physics, he taught chemistry, who attended Lincoln School in Ronald E. Mickens, many generations of editors, he was Executive Officer Kate Kirby. astronomy, geography, physiology Gallipolis, Ohio, when Bouchet ed., Edward Bouchet, The First a mentor and a colleague.” Adams graduated from the and entomology, earning a modest was principal there, and who went African-American Doctorate “We are grateful for all that University of Wales, Aberystwyth, salary of $1,200 per year (around on to become head of music edu- (World Scientific Publishing Peter contributed to the devel- and in 1964 obtained his Ph.D. in $25,000 in today’s dollars). cation at in Company, 2002). opment and evolution of the Physics from Imperial College Unfortunately, his benefactor, Washington, DC. “Edward Bouchet Becomes the Physical Review journals over London. He was elected a Fellow Cope, died the year Bouchet began Despite much progress since First African American Ph.D. in his long career in the Editorial of APS in 1972, and was a Fellow at ICY, and the school’s remaining 1876, the number of African- Physics,” This Month in Physics Office at Ridge,” adds APS Chief of the UK’s Institute of Physics. managers were less enthusiastic Americans earning physics Ph.D.s History, APS News (June 2007). June 2016 • 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS Reviews of Modern Physics

Colloquium: Non-Markovian dynamics in open quantum systems Heinz-Peter Breuer, Elsi-Mari Laine, Jyrki Piilo, and Bassano Vaccini

An ongoing theme in quantum physics is the interaction of small quantum systems with an environment. If that environment has many degrees of freedom and is weakly coupled, it can often be reasonable to treat its decohering effect on the small system using a "memoryless," or Markovian description. This Colloquium shows that for many phenomena a more refined, non-Markovian, treatment is necessary. The suite of de- veloping theoretical tools is reviewed, with which recent progress on this problem has been based. dx.doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.88.021002 journals.aps.org/rmp

IBM continued from page 3 pollution forecasting and preven- ages IBM’s Watson and related “The true drivers of change on the tion. He is collaborating with orga- cognitive technologies to utilize African continent will be technolo- nizations that IBM has traditionally Big Data to improve the way of life gies, and the ability for us in Africa not partnered with, such as the Bill in developing countries. “This is a to take a science-driven view to and Melinda Gates Foundation new way of thinking about artificial impact change and make a differ- and USAID. He has also initiated intelligence and cognitive comput- ence is what I am most proud of. It Project Lucy in 2013, which lever- ing as helpful to Africa,” he says. keeps me going every day.”

ELECTION continued from page 1

Chair-Elect, Nominating Committee

David B. MacFarlane, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Stanford University “If elected, I would be both honored and diligent in taking on the task of persuading outstanding candidates to stand and believe I have a background and relevant experience for this role.”

2016 David D. Meyerhofer, Los Alamos National Laboratory APS National Mentoring Community “The APS has a number of issues that it needs to continue to work on ... If chosen, I will work with the Nominating Committee to develop a slate of candidates who Conference can further these efforts and represent the Society at all levels.”

International Councilor

Carlos Henrique De Brito Cruz, University de Campinas, Brazil “The Physics community has grown in the U.S. and abroad and there are many opportunities for enhancing the instruments and means for international collabora- tion in research and education.. As an International Councilor I can contribute to this, drawing from my experience in developing international collaborations at the São Paulo Research Foundation in Brazil...” OCTOBER 21  23, 2016 at the University of Houston Houston, Texas Marta Losada, Universidad Antonio Narino, Colombia “Furthering research in physics as well as physics education in Colombia has been a top priority during my professional career... My more recent interest is in devel- Plenary talks on mentoring research oping new and alternative teaching approaches and strategies for undergraduate physics courses.” Panels and discussions on mentoring best practices NASA tours Career workshops and panels General Councilor Undergraduate research poster session Andrea Liu, University of Pennsylvania “As a General Councillor, I will work to strengthen the APS by helping it to better Networking opportunities serve its diverse members and to engage with all potential members. I will also focus on helping the APS to continually rethink and improve its efforts to commu- And much more nicate the contributions and value of physics to policymakers, funding agencies and society at large.”

Neal Weiner, New York University “The APS provides an important structure to help foster and encourage young scientists, to help us take advantage of the diverse talent that could be brought into the field, and to improve scientific literacy in society. As a Councilor, I intend to help support and develop these programs and help make the APS as effective as it can be in the current era.” go.aps.org/nmc-conference 8 • June 2016

Nuclear Energy, Global Warming, and the Politicization of Science By Spencer Weart

wo quirks of physics pose an existential threat to civiliza- groups of senators. Stephen Schneider, in particular, reached Ttion. In 1939, Frederic Joliot and two colleagues found out to the media and wrote for the public. He faced acid that when a uranium nucleus is struck by a neutron and fis- criticism from some colleagues: the sound bites necessary sions, it emits two or three neutrons. That allows an explosive for television lacked the lengthy caveats and subtleties that chain reaction. They did not predict this; it just happens to they felt a true scientist must deploy. Wasn’t it better to stick work out that way. And in 1859, John Tyndall found that two to writing scientific papers, and trust that the facts would

triatomic molecules, H2O and CO2, absorb infrared radiation ultimately persuade governments to adopt correct policies? but not visible light. That causes our planet’s greenhouse By the late 1980s many leading climate scientists were effect. He did not predict this; it just happens to work out saying that governments should vigorously restrict emissions. that way. Today, if the United States and Russia were to use In response the fossil-fuel industry launched a coordinated all their nuclear bombs, there is a good chance that vital public relations campaign to raise doubts about the validity ecosystems would be ruined, and agriculture and civilization of climate science. A lobbying effort meanwhile approached would collapse. The same outcome is likely if we continue Congress and officials behind the scenes. Millions of dollars, on the current trajectory of burning fossil fuels. eventually hundreds of millions, subsidized everything from book publications to primary election campaigns. Many "It was inevitable that scientists familiar with these people with anti-regulation convictions independently sup- quirks of nature would become deeply engaged ported the campaign. Not only scientific results were called into question. Far in politics, and that science itself would become more than before, individual scientists came under vicious politicized." and scurrilous personal attack; some had to call for police protection or take up legal defense of their privacy and Whether either of these existential threats will come to reputations. The attacks spread beyond the personal. The pass depends mainly on policy choices, that is, politics. So Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which reported it was inevitable that scientists familiar with these quirks of the unanimous consensus of scientists representing the nature would become deeply engaged in politics, and that world’s governments, was denounced by one widely-read science itself would become politicized. In this essay I will blogger as “guilty of nothing short of making the science sketch the specific path that was followed in each case and Spencer Weart fit their political agenda” [1]. A well-publicized scientist draw some general conclusions. pointed to ambiguous quotations cherry-picked from a trove First, the nuclear case. It wasn’t politicized — it was born any case both sides agreed that the real issue was to prevent of stolen emails as indicating a “conspiracy to commit fraud” political. Joliot’s team fully understood the potential impli- billions of deaths from nuclear war: by slowing weapons [2]. A leading U.S. senator repeatedly called global warming cations of their measurement when they planned it. Within development (Pauling) or by improving deterrence (Teller). a “hoax” [3]. It was an assault, beyond any historical prec- months of their publication of the number of neutrons per The public debate was mirrored in private by government edent, on the public’s trust in the objectivity and integrity of fission, the world’s premier scientist, Albert Einstein, brought insiders, including Teller and Sakharov. The result was a an entire scientific community. uranium to the attention of the world’s premier politician, 1963 ban on tests in the atmosphere, but not underground. The nuclear and climate cases have much in common. Franklin Roosevelt. By 1943, before any atomic bombs The negotiations for the ban marked an improvement in Both began without noticeable partisan polarization, but split existed, scientists in the Manhattan Project were planning Cold War relations, so the effort was a partial success for all. sharply into left vs. right as soon as government policies to take political action after the war’s end by going to the There were troubling side effects. First, the debate divided came into question. In particular, the issue of regulation of public with an information campaign. They meant to impress and polarized. People on the political left came to despise an important industry naturally divided people with differ- upon everyone the dreadful potential of atomic warfare ... Teller’s side as tools of militarists, while those on the right ent ideological commitments. In both cases scientists were and the hopeful potential of peaceful nuclear energy. That despised Pauling’s side as dupes of the Communists. Either deeply involved both inside the corridors of government and was the traditional outsiders’ route to politics: Explain mat- way, the debate weakened the traditional public image of in appeals to the public, but got into trouble if they tried to ters to the public, and trust that appropriate official policies all scientists as objective, remote from politics, and benign. do both. would follow. Meanwhile a few leaders took the insiders’ Second, radioactivity itself came to be seen as uniquely Results were mixed. Scientists were united in their efforts route: They privately approached policy makers within the and horribly evil. Two medical physicists who had supported to make people fear nuclear war, and they contributed sig- U.S. government with advice (in particular, whether the first the test ban, John Gofman and Arthur Tamplin, applied to nificantly to preventing it ... so far. Scientists were successful atomic bombs should be used on cities). civilian nuclear industry the argument that even low levels at first in fostering a civilian nuclear industry, but disagree- Immediately after the war ended, the “atomic scientists” of radiation had a potential for widespread harm. Many oth- ment among experts contributed to limiting this success. A gave interviews to journalists, wrote articles, gave public ers, for example the Union of Concerned Scientists, likewise sustained effort to tell the world it must act to avert global speeches, and held classes on atomic science for eager groups turned to criticizing the safety of civilian reactors. Ultimately warming was quite successful in a few European nations, of Congressmen and Senators; meanwhile some privately governments placed strict limits on emissions of radioactive but in most nations the progress has been too little, too late. counseled officials and diplomats. One aim was to secure substances — far stricter than they permitted for comparably The chief difference between the cases is that the exis- international control over atomic weapons. That effort failed. carcinogenic and mutagenic substances from other industries tential threat of nuclear war has diminished, while that of Another aim was to secure civilian control and promotion (for example, coal-fired power plants). It is an open question climate change has grown. There are several reasons why of a peaceful nuclear industry. That effort triumphed in the whether this was a success for the politics of science. climate has proved intractable. For one, chauvinism and 1946 Atomic Energy Act. militarism are potent but diffuse foes, whereas the fossil fuel And so it continued. Some scientists worked strictly industry and right-wing ideology are vast and well organized "We need to broadcast a human-level explanation through government channels, like the JASON group offer- concentrations of power. Today scientists must defend not ing secret advice to the Department of Defense. Others were of how the scientific community manages to arrive only particular individuals, not only particular scientific wholly outsiders, like the Union of Concerned Scientists, at trustworthy conclusions." results, but science itself: our methods and our community. founded in 1969 to agitate against plans to build anti-bal- Experience shows that in such a struggle, facts are not always listic missiles (ABMs). The apogee of the insiders was the convincing (even when they are understood, which is rare). Presidential Science Advisory Committee, which made sig- Next, the climate case. This was only gradually politi- We need to broadcast a human-level explanation of how the nificant contributions to policy. President Richard Nixon dis- cized. To be sure, by 1960 a few noted scientists had warned scientific community manages to arrive at trustworthy con- banded the committee when some members publicly opposed both the public and policy makers that there was a long-term clusions. It is the obligation of every scientist to participate ABMs and other administration priorities. It’s not easy to be risk of dangerous climate change from humanity’s CO2 emis- in this crucial enterprise. both an insider and a public advocate. (In the Soviet Union, sions. But they were not certain the risk was real, so the only References when Andrei Sakharov published his opposition to ABMs he policy they advocated — persistently, for decades — was 1. climatedepot.com, go.aps.org/1RJu9KZ was likewise expelled from his insider role.) better coordination and funding for climate research. They 2. americanthinker.com, go.aps.org/1RJuD3OJ Science itself, the claim to knowledge, became politi- did get some money, but coordination remained sketchy. 3. ames Inhofe, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming cized in the biggest battle of the early decades. Opponents A turning point was a 1983 report issued by insiders at Conspiracy Threatens Your Future (WND Books, Washington, of nuclear weapons tests, led by physical chemist Linus the Environmental Protection Agency, predicting danger- DC, 2012). Also see press release at go.aps.org/1RJu0r8 Pauling, pointed with alarm to the radioactive fallout. The ous impacts from fossil fuel emissions. President Ronald radioactivity might be far below the background radiation Reagan’s administration, hostile to anything that might Spencer Weart is Historian Emeritus of the American In- level, but this small addition, spread across the entire global stimulate regulation of industry, saw the report as a political stitute of Physics Center for History of Physics. His books population, must cause millions of cancers and birth defects. attack. They attacked it in return, opening a caustic public include The Rise of Nuclear Fear and The Discovery of Other scientists, led by physicist Edward Teller, insisted that debate. The issue was taken up on the left by environmen- Global Warming. This article is adapted from a presenta- at such levels the harm from radioactivity is negligible. To talists (including the Union of Concerned Scientists). Again tion at a 2016 APS April Meeting session organized by the this day the question has not been settled definitively. In scientists were called on to give tutorials to journalists and Forum on Physics and Society.

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