DOCSLIB.ORG

Rocks and Reactors: an Atomic Interpretation of Human Rights, 1941-1979

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Linda Marie Richards for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Science presented on May 1, 2014. Title: Rocks and Reactors: An Atomic Interpretation of Human Rights, 1941-1979. Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________ Jacob Darwin Hamblin The atomic age was enacted by many scientists as a way to realize health and human rights. Human rights were conceived in this context as rights to economic development, science education, and nuclear medicine. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) acted hand in hand with UN agencies and educators to spread nuclear knowledge and technology as a tool to advance health and human rights for peace and prosperity. UN agencies such as UNESCO, IAEA, and WHO standardized AEC interpretations of radiation exposure. Academics served as the glue to promote nuclear and health physics, research reactors and uranium prospecting. Technical experts traveled the globe to build nuclear infrastructure and institute ideas of radiation exposure that originated from the AEC. Trust in the ability of scientific experts to provide radiation health safety was central to the expansion and acceptance of nuclear technology worldwide. Willard E. Libby of the US Atomic Energy Agency, while admitting uncertainty, believed that under a certain threshold, radiation would not be dangerous. The international field of health physics, dominated by the AEC trained scientists, interpreted radiation danger with one particular and lasting trope: artificial radiation below natural background radiation levels was safe and acceptable. The construction of background radiation as “safe” by American and international agencies was a speculative and exclusive process. Radioactive accidents were interpreted by agencies and nuclear scientists as experiments to improve technology. The AEC created unethical human radiation experiments and disregarded democracy and individual human rights. The expansion of nuclear technology created impingements on human rights, health and peace of mind. This history calls for a meta-analysis based on both heath and human rights aims and impingements. Contaminated communities access radioactive contamination as a permanent and irrevocable bodily and intergenerational taint that violates human rights. Claims were made after the first use of nuclear weapons that pre-existing international law and rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” should protect people worldwide from dangerous, intergenerational radiation exposure. This can be seen in the experiences of the Navajo Nation with uranium mining and in anguished letters sent to Noble Prize winning chemist Linus Pauling during the fallout controversy. This history when transposed with the utopian hopes of nuclear scientists, questions the relationship between rationality, human rights, scientific ideology, regulations, ethics, and knowledge production during the Cold War. The exclusion from nuclear regulatory regimes of those who live contaminated by the nuclear fuel chain and in fear of nuclear pollution and weapons is a result of the lack of recognition of the integrity and sovereignty of one’s body as an inalienable human right. ©Copyright by Linda Marie Richards May 1, 2014 All Rights Reserved Rocks and Reactors: An Atomic Interpretation of Human Rights, 1941-1979 by Linda Marie Richards A DISSERTATION Submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented May 1, 2014 Commencement June 2014 Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation of Linda Marie Richards presented on May 1, 2014 APPROVED: Major Professor, representing History of Science Director of the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon request. Linda Marie Richards, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My experience at OSU has been phenomenal. My Major Professor, Jacob Darwin Hamblin, was an inspiration to me everyday in his writing, teaching and living. He is an embodiment of my favorite Wendell Berry quote “Be joyful, despite the facts.” He patiently, time after time, and with persistent good humor, helped me to articulate the ideas in this dissertation. He saw what I needed to do and he pushed me to stretch to accomplish more much than I ever thought possible. I am honored to have the good fortune to hold the proud distinction of being Prof Hamblin’s first student to earn their doctorate. I am also deeply grateful to so many others. Mary Jo Nye, for giving me this chance of a lifetime to study History of Science at OSU with her and in the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers at the Special Collections & Archives Research Center (SCARC). I thank her, my supportive SHPR chair, Ben Mutschler, and my committee members, Anita Guerrini, Michael Osborne, and Marisa Chappell, for their help, skill, support, warmth, guidance, wisdom, and encouragement. They taught me how to be a scholar. The archivists and staff at SCARC created a sacred space for research that I love to share with others. Anne Bahde, Cliff Mead, Trevor Sandgathe, Chris Petersen, Tiah Edmunson-Morton, Larry Landis, Elizabeth Nielsen, Natalia Fernández, Karl McCreary, and Ruth Vondracek led me to the documents that would speak to me and gave me a home. I am in debt to them and to the many helpful archivists stretching from the Navajo Nation to the Chemical Heritage Foundation to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The National Science Foundation, the Tokyo Foundation Sasakawa Young Leadership Fellowship Fund, the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima, and the Chemical Heritage Foundation made it possible for me to travel and learn. Because of their support, I met with many awe-inspiring people in the process of this work, who were generous in sharing their work, lives, feelings and ideas with me: Perry H. Charley, the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque NM, Lorraine Rekmans, Jamie Kneen and his family, Miningwatch Canada in Toronto, Elsie Mae Begay, Jeff Spitz of Groundswell Films, Oliver Tapaha, Charmaine White- Face, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Koko Kondo, Sakue Shimohira, Sumiteru Tanguchi, and the many other atomic survivors who testified during American University’s Hiroshima Nagasaki Nuclear Studies course. They, like so many of the students, staff and faculty at OSU, and our visiting lecturers, ignited my thinking with their work and lives. I am grateful to the many people whose support and help was essential, especially Mary Braun, Mina Carson, Christopher McKnight Nichols, Nancy Langston, Dwanee Howard, Steve Shay, Leopold Kammerhofer, Stephen Lawson, Greg Good, Laura Cray, Carol Urner, Doug Strain, Ronald Brashear, Toshihiro Higuchi, Stephanie Jenkins, Ron Doel, Kristine Harper, Laurel MacDowell, Kara Ritzheimer, Rodney Madison, Sharyn Clough, Jonathan Katz, Jody Roberts, Michal Meyer, Carin Berkowitz, Elsa Atson, Bruce Gagnon, Samantha Chisholm Hatfield, Jeffrey Sklansky, Gary Ferngren, Robert Fox, Paul Kopperman, Robert Peckyno, Ray Acheson, Heather Stinger, Paul Wanke, James Fleming, Allison Davis White Eyes, Steve Lawson, Peter Kuznick, and the OSU Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics Department. I am appreciative of each of my co-graduate students and my undergraduate students who encouraged me. This dissertation likely could never have been written if it were not for the Graduate Writing Center and Meghann Rhynard-Geil who translated my feelings and research into readable text. I still marvel that I ever even had this opportunity. This was only possible because of so many people who believed in me, from Southern Oregon University’s Master in Management program, to Betty LaDuke, to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom to my friends and family. My gratitude to my loving family is far beyond words. My heart is heavy that many of the Diné, Hopi and Lakota elders who shared with me their experiences and life ways are now gone. Anthropology Professor Deanna Kingston, who made such an impression on me with her leadership and the need for this work, also died of cancer. I felt her spirit and others beyond this realm must have looked out for me and sent swooping red tail hawks to remind me of what is important. I offer my dissertation tempered by this quotation from Lawrence Alan Rosenwald: “A deeper consolation is my certain sense that the problem is so acute that the solutions will probably start out by looking petty or awkward or peculiar.” For this, I apologize in advance. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1 1. Of Rights, Radiation and Reactors………………………………………………13 2. The Hidden Guns of the Atomic Frontier………………………………………..53 3. Pauling vs. Libby………………………………………………………………...90 4. The Circulation of Safety………………………………………………………...142 5. The Deciders……………………………………………………………………..184 6. In the Mundane………………………………………………………………......229 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….276 Archives…………………………………………………………………………….282 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..284 1 Introduction “Mr. Kennedy, Mr. MacMillon, WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO TEST” protest placard held by Linus Pauling, April, 1961 On April 24, 2014 the Republic of the Marshall Islands filed separate cases against each of the nine nuclear weapon states (U.S., Russia,
Recommended publications
  • THE NATIONAL FORUM the National CFIDS Foundation

    THE NATIONAL FORUM the National CFIDS Foundation

    THE NATIONAL FORUM The National CFIDS Foundation Vol. 27, No. 1 – Summer 2021 NCF ANNOUNCES NEW GRANT RECIPIENT By Alan Cocchetto, NCF Medical Director April 22, 2021 – Copyright 2021 The National CFIDS Foundation is pleased to announce their latest research grant recipient, Dr. Jack Wands. Dr. Wands is a Professor of Gastroenterology and Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Wands' proposal which is titled, “Aspartate asparaginyl beta- hydroxylase (ASPH) as an etiologic factor in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)” has received $65,000 from the National CFIDS Foundation. Dr. Wands has over 600 peer-reviewed medical journal articles in publication. According to the Foundation, there is evidence that ASPH may be accumulating in the cells of CFS patients. As such, this can dramatically impact the body's response to oxidative stress and hypoxia. Wands has planned both in-vitro as well as in-vivo studies in an attempt to understand the upregulation of ASPH on cell migration and signaling through various cellular pathways following exposure to an oxidative injury. Wands will also be comparing CFS patient samples with those of hepatic cancer patients with cancer-related fatigue. In addition, Wands has evidence that ASPH overexpression may be a risk factor for the early development of cancer which may be associated with CFS before the disease becomes clinically apparent or in other words, CFS as a pre-malignancy. Wands has observed this in pancreatic cancer patients. This is of importance since the National Cancer Institute has previously reported that CFS has been associated with increases in pancreatic cancer.
  • The Making of an Atomic Bomb

    The Making of an Atomic Bomb

    (Image: Courtesy of United States Government, public domain.) INTRODUCTORY ESSAY "DESTROYER OF WORLDS": THE MAKING OF AN ATOMIC BOMB At 5:29 a.m. (MST), the world’s first atomic bomb detonated in the New Mexican desert, releasing a level of destructive power unknown in the existence of humanity. Emitting as much energy as 21,000 tons of TNT and creating a fireball that measured roughly 2,000 feet in diameter, the first successful test of an atomic bomb, known as the Trinity Test, forever changed the history of the world. The road to Trinity may have begun before the start of World War II, but the war brought the creation of atomic weaponry to fruition. The harnessing of atomic energy may have come as a result of World War II, but it also helped bring the conflict to an end. How did humanity come to construct and wield such a devastating weapon? 1 | THE MANHATTAN PROJECT Models of Fat Man and Little Boy on display at the Bradbury Science Museum. (Image: Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory.) WE WAITED UNTIL THE BLAST HAD PASSED, WALKED OUT OF THE SHELTER AND THEN IT WAS ENTIRELY SOLEMN. WE KNEW THE WORLD WOULD NOT BE THE SAME. A FEW PEOPLE LAUGHED, A FEW PEOPLE CRIED. MOST PEOPLE WERE SILENT. J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER EARLY NUCLEAR RESEARCH GERMAN DISCOVERY OF FISSION Achieving the monumental goal of splitting the nucleus The 1930s saw further development in the field. Hungarian- of an atom, known as nuclear fission, came through the German physicist Leo Szilard conceived the possibility of self- development of scientific discoveries that stretched over several sustaining nuclear fission reactions, or a nuclear chain reaction, centuries.
  • Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl. Atoms

    Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl. Atoms

    ATOMS PEACE WAR Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission Richard G. Hewlett and lack M. Roll With a Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall and an Essay on Sources by Roger M. Anders University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London Published 1989 by the University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission; work made for hire. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hewlett, Richard G. Atoms for peace and war, 1953-1961. (California studies in the history of science) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Nuclear energy—United States—History. 2. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—History. 3. Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969. 4. United States—Politics and government-1953-1961. I. Holl, Jack M. II. Title. III. Series. QC792. 7. H48 1989 333.79'24'0973 88-29578 ISBN 0-520-06018-0 (alk. paper) Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii List of Figures and Tables ix Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall xi Preface xix Acknowledgements xxvii 1. A Secret Mission 1 2. The Eisenhower Imprint 17 3. The President and the Bomb 34 4. The Oppenheimer Case 73 5. The Political Arena 113 6. Nuclear Weapons: A New Reality 144 7. Nuclear Power for the Marketplace 183 8. Atoms for Peace: Building American Policy 209 9. Pursuit of the Peaceful Atom 238 10. The Seeds of Anxiety 271 11. Safeguards, EURATOM, and the International Agency 305 12.
  • Marie Curie and Her Time

    Marie Curie and Her Time

    Marie Curie and Her Time by Hélène Langevin-Joliot to pass our lives near each other hypnotized by our dreams, your patriotic dream, our humanitarian dream, arie Curie (1867–1934) belongs to that exclu- and our scientific dream.” sive group of women whose worldwide rec- Frederick Soddy wrote about Marie that she was Mognition and fame have endured for a century “the most beautiful discovery of Pierre Curie.” Of or more. She was indeed one of the major agents of course, it might also be said that Pierre Curie was the scientific revolution which allowed experimen- “the most beautiful discovery of Marie Skłodowska.” tal investigation to extend beyond the macroscopic It is difficult to imagine more contrasting personali- world. Her work placed the first stone in the founda- ties than those of Pierre and of Marie. In spite of that, tion of a new discipline: radiochemistry. And Curie’s or because of that, they complemented each other achievements are even more remarkable since they astonishingly well. Pierre was as dreamy as Marie was occurred in the field of science, an intellectual activ- organized. At the same time, they shared similar ideas ity traditionally forbidden to women. However, these about family and society. accomplishments alone don’t seem to fully explain the near mythic status of Marie Curie today. One hundred years ago, she was often considered to be just an assistant to her husband. Perhaps the reason her name still resonates is because of the compelling story of her life and her intriguing personality. The Most Beautiful Discovery of Pierre Curie The story of the young Maria Skłodowska leaving In this iconic photograph of participants at the Fifth her native Poland to pursue upper-level studies in Solvay Conference in 1927, Marie Curie is third from Paris sounds like something out of a novel.
  • Fizzling the Plutonium Economy: Origins of the April 1977 Carter Administration Fuel Cycle Policy Transition

    Fizzling the Plutonium Economy: Origins of the April 1977 Carter Administration Fuel Cycle Policy Transition

    Fizzling the Plutonium Economy: Origins of the April 1977 Carter Administration Fuel Cycle Policy Transition The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Williams, Peter King. 2010. Fizzling the Plutonium Economy: Origins of the April 1977 Carter Administration Fuel Cycle Policy Transition. Master's thesis, Harvard University, Extension School. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37367548 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Fizzling the Plutonium Economy: Origins of the April 1977 Carter Administration Fuel Cycle Policy Transition Peter Williams A Thesis in the Field of History for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University May 2010 © 2010 Peter Williams Abstract This study examines the scientific advocacy that shaped President Carter’s April 1977 policy decision to block the domestic implementation of so-called “plutonium economy” technologies, and thereby mandate the use of an “open” or “once–through” fuel cycle for U.S. nuclear power reactors. This policy transition was controversial, causing friction with U.S. allies, with the nuclear power industry, and with Congress. Early in his presidential campaign, Carter criticized the excessive federal financial commitment to developing plutonium-based reactors and adopted the view that the weapons proliferation risks of plutonium economy technologies were serious and needed to be addressed.
  • Abragam a & Bleaney B. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Transition Ions. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1970. 7

    Abragam a & Bleaney B. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Transition Ions. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1970. 7

    ® CC/NUMBER 28 This Week's Citation Classic JULY 13, 1992 Abragam A & Bleaney B. Electron paramagnetic resonance of transitionions. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1970. 700 p. [Ecole Normale. Paris, France, and Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford. England] This book covers both experimental and theoretical His proposal was for a gigantic vol- aspects of electron paramagnetic resonance, for ume, including spin resonance stud- the 3d, 4d, 5d, 4f, and 5f transition groups. It has ies of ions in semiconductors and at remained the standard work on the subject for 20 years. [The SCI® indicates that this book has been defect sites. This would have been far cited in more than 3,160 publications.] larger than the 700 pages that were published by the Oxford University Press in 1970. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance As professor at the Ecole Normale in Paris, he gave a different set of lec- Brebis Bleaney tures every year. (He complained that if Clarendon Laboratory he lectured on his own subject of mag- University of Oxford netic resonance, the students were not Oxford OX1 3PU interested, while if he lectured on one England of their subjects, they knew much more The first experiments on electron about it than he did.) Nevertheless, he paramagnetic resonance in Oxford had ready sets of lecture notes cover- 1 were made by Desmond M.S. Bagguley ing the theory of electron paramag- in 1945 and extended to low tempera- netic resonance of transition ions. 2 tures by R.P. Penrose and myself in These formed the second part of our 1947. Anatole Abragam came to Ox- book, apart from a chapter on the Jahn- ford in 1948 from Paris, and his doc- Teller effect that he added later, before toral thesis under Maurice Pryce de- I had finished writing the first part of veloped the theory of magnetic experimental aspects.
  • Literary, Subsidiary, and Foreign Rights Agents

    Literary, Subsidiary, and Foreign Rights Agents

    Literary, Subsidiary, and Foreign Rights Agents A Mini-Guide by John Kremer Copyright © 2011 by John Kremer All rights reserved. Open Horizons P. O. Box 2887 Taos NM 87571 575-751-3398 Fax: 575-751-3100 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.bookmarket.com Introduction Below are the names and contact information for more than 1,450+ literary agents who sell rights for books. For additional lists, see the end of this report. The agents highlighted with a bigger indent are known to work with self-publishers or publishers in helping them to sell subsidiary, film, foreign, and reprint rights for books. All 325+ foreign literary agents (highlighted in bold green) listed here are known to work with one or more independent publishers or authors in selling foreign rights. Some of the major literary agencies are highlighted in bold red. To locate the 260 agents that deal with first-time novelists, look for the agents highlighted with bigger type. You can also locate them by searching for: “first novel” by using the search function in your web browser or word processing program. Unknown author Jennifer Weiner was turned down by 23 agents before finding one who thought a novel about a plus-size heroine would sell. Her book, Good in Bed, became a bestseller. The lesson? Don't take 23 agents word for it. Find the 24th that believes in you and your book. When querying agents, be selective. Don't send to everyone. Send to those that really look like they might be interested in what you have to offer.
  • Concept and Types of Tourism

    Concept and Types of Tourism

    m Tourism: Concept and Types of Tourism m m 1.1 CONCEPT OF TOURISM Tourism is an ever-expanding service industry with vast growth potential and has therefore become one of the crucial concerns of the not only nations but also of the international community as a whole. Infact, it has come up as a decisive link in gearing up the pace of the socio-economic development world over. It is believed that the word tour in the context of tourism became established in the English language by the eighteen century. On the other hand, according to oxford dictionary, the word tourism first came to light in the English in the nineteen century (1811) from a Greek word 'tomus' meaning a round shaped tool.' Tourism as a phenomenon means the movement of people (both within and across the national borders).Tourism means different things to different people because it is an abstraction of a wide range of consumption activities which demand products and services from a wide range of industries in the economy. In 1905, E. Freuler defined tourism in the modem sense of the world "as a phenomena of modem times based on the increased need for recuperation and change of air, the awakened, and cultivated appreciation of scenic beauty, the pleasure in. and the enjoyment of nature and in particularly brought about by the increasing mingling of various nations and classes of human society, as a result of the development of commerce, industry and trade, and the perfection of the means of transport'.^ Professor Huziker and Krapf of the.
  • Transcript by Rev.Com Had Seating for 100 People, and Would Have Been the Emergency Senate Chamber

    Transcript by Rev.Com Had Seating for 100 People, and Would Have Been the Emergency Senate Chamber

    Joanne Freeman: Major funding for Back Story is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, and the Robert and Joseph Cornel Memorial Foundation. Ed Ayers: From Virginia Humanities, this is Back Story. Brian Balogh: Welcome to Back Story, the show that explains the history behind today's headlines. I'm Brian Balogh. Ed Ayers: I'm Ed Ayers. Joanne Freeman: I'm Joanne Freeman. Ed Ayers: If you're new to the podcast, we're all historians. Each week, we explore the history of one topic that's been in the news. Joanne Freeman: Now, picture a luxury hotel. Attentive staff buzz around serving drinks to thirsty golfers who've just come in after playing 18 holes; but behind a false wall, there's a blast door intended to keep out radiation from a nuclear bomb. Nobody who works here knows, but this is where the American president, senators, and congressmen will hide out if America comes under attack by nuclear weapons. Sounds like a James Bond movie, right? Joanne Freeman: We're going to start off today by going underground to a secret facility standing by not far from here. Garrett Graff: ... I ever went to was the Greenbrier bunker, which would have been the congressional bunker and relocation facility during the course of the Cold War. Brian Balogh: This is the writer and historian, Garrett Graff. Garrett Graff: It was this bunker hidden under this very fine golf resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The resort is still used as a annual congressional retreat.
  • I. I. Rabi Papers [Finding Aid]. Library of Congress. [PDF Rendered Tue Apr

    I. I. Rabi Papers [Finding Aid]. Library of Congress. [PDF Rendered Tue Apr

    I. I. Rabi Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 1992 Revised 2010 March Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms998009 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm89076467 Prepared by Joseph Sullivan with the assistance of Kathleen A. Kelly and John R. Monagle Collection Summary Title: I. I. Rabi Papers Span Dates: 1899-1989 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1945-1968) ID No.: MSS76467 Creator: Rabi, I. I. (Isador Isaac), 1898- Extent: 41,500 items ; 105 cartons plus 1 oversize plus 4 classified ; 42 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Physicist and educator. The collection documents Rabi's research in physics, particularly in the fields of radar and nuclear energy, leading to the development of lasers, atomic clocks, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to his 1944 Nobel Prize in physics; his work as a consultant to the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and as an advisor on science policy to the United States government, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during and after World War II; and his studies, research, and professorships in physics chiefly at Columbia University and also at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
  • Thephysiologist

    Thephysiologist

    Published by the American Physiological Society – Integrating the Life Sciences from Molecule to Organism THEPHYSIOLOGIST March 2016 • Vol. 59/No. 2 89th President of APS Jane F. Reckelhoff A Matter of Opinion I am very honored and humbled to have Warning: Watch been chosen by the members of the American Out for Predatory Physiological Society to represent them as the 89th President beginning in April 2016. I would Publishers like to thank the membership for their support. I would also like to thank the mentors I have had Because of the publication schedule for along the way who have shaped my career as a The Physiologist, I am writing this piece physiologist. I have been a member of APS for the shortly after the New Year! Hopefully, past 25 years, and the Society has not only shaped each of you had an opportunity to relax, Jane F. Reckelhoff my scientific career but given me opportunities to enjoy family and friends, and, most be of service to fellow physiologists by allowing importantly, begin considering how to me to serve on various APS committees. I consider take advantage of the 6.6% increase in the role of President as another opportunity to serve the Society and am the NIH budget. While I too am looking excited to begin the task. forward to 2016, I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that even predatory As I read the editorials by my predecessors, I believe the Society faces Open Access (OA) publishers took some old challenges and also some new ones. I just listened to Ben time off over the Holidays.
  • Electron-Positron Pairs in Physics and Astrophysics

    Electron-Positron Pairs in Physics and Astrophysics

    Electron-positron pairs in physics and astrophysics: from heavy nuclei to black holes Remo Ruffini1,2,3, Gregory Vereshchagin1 and She-Sheng Xue1 1 ICRANet and ICRA, p.le della Repubblica 10, 65100 Pescara, Italy, 2 Dip. di Fisica, Universit`adi Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy, 3 ICRANet, Universit´ede Nice Sophia Antipolis, Grand Chˆateau, BP 2135, 28, avenue de Valrose, 06103 NICE CEDEX 2, France. Abstract Due to the interaction of physics and astrophysics we are witnessing in these years a splendid synthesis of theoretical, experimental and observational results originating from three fundamental physical processes. They were originally proposed by Dirac, by Breit and Wheeler and by Sauter, Heisenberg, Euler and Schwinger. For almost seventy years they have all three been followed by a continued effort of experimental verification on Earth-based experiments. The Dirac process, e+e 2γ, has been by − → far the most successful. It has obtained extremely accurate experimental verification and has led as well to an enormous number of new physics in possibly one of the most fruitful experimental avenues by introduction of storage rings in Frascati and followed by the largest accelerators worldwide: DESY, SLAC etc. The Breit–Wheeler process, 2γ e+e , although conceptually simple, being the inverse process of the Dirac one, → − has been by far one of the most difficult to be verified experimentally. Only recently, through the technology based on free electron X-ray laser and its numerous applications in Earth-based experiments, some first indications of its possible verification have been reached. The vacuum polarization process in strong electromagnetic field, pioneered by Sauter, Heisenberg, Euler and Schwinger, introduced the concept of critical electric 2 3 field Ec = mec /(e ).