November 2007 Volume 16, No. 10 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews Carl Wieman on APS NEWS “The Curse of Knowledge” A PublicAtion of the AmericAn PhysicAl society • www.APs.org/PublicAtions/APsnews Page 8 Seven Apker Finalists Meet in Washington Physics Fans Get Chance to Win World’s Smallest Trophy A nanoscale football field and Tube videos demonstrating some scope. Even this version is em- helmet, created in silicon and metal aspect of physics in football. The bedded in an identical design on by physicists of the Craighead re- winner will receive the trophy and the scale of millimeters, so it will search group at Cornell University $1000. be visible to the naked eye. The in Ithaca, NY, will be awarded as a In the nanoscale trophy, the tiny plaque will be mounted on a prize in APS’s football video con- width of the yard lines will be stand, and the winner will receive test. about a thousand times thinner micrographs that show the design The contest is an APS public than a strand of human hair. This through an electron microscope as outreach effort to get football fans design will be embedded in a more well. interested in physics. Participants detailed microscale design, visible Craighead’s lab, also respon- in the contest will create short You- using an ordinary optical micro- TROPHY continued on page 5 2007 Nobel Prize Honors GMR Discovery Albert Fert (Université Paris- the use of the term “spin valve” for Sud, Orsay, France) and Peter various GMR devices. Albert fert and Peter grünberg, Grünberg (Forschungszentrum Jül- Magnetic sensors and the read- winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize for the discovery of giant magne- ich, Germany) have won the 2007 heads in high density computer stor- Photo by shelly Johnston toresistance, both published their Nobel Prize in physics for the dis- age media are among the common work in APs journals. APs has The APS Apker Award is given annually for outstanding covery of giant magnetoresistance devices to benefit from GMR, and now made their papers describing research by an undergraduate. finalists are chosen in two (GMR), the phenomenon at the nonvolatile, low-power, high-densi- their work, (Physical Review B39 categories: from institutions that award PhD degrees, and heart of read-heads in high density ty magnetic random access memory 4828 (1989) and Physical Review Letters 61 2472 (1988)) “free to from institutions not awarding the PhD. the finalists meet hard drives and other devices that (MRAM) may soon replace dynam- with the selection committee for a day of interviews, which Read,” so that they are accessible require highly sensitive detection of ic random access memory (DRAM) on the internet without a subscrip- this year took place on september 16 in downtown wash- magnetic fields. in personal computers. Arguably, tion. ington. the committee then recommends recipients in each GMR is the dramatic variation in the most promising GMR-derived “free to read” is an open Ac- of the two categories to the APs executive board. shown in the electrical resistance of multilay- applications are still in their infan- cess initiative that allows anyone, including authors, readers, institu- the picture are the seven finalists. left to right: stephen Po- ered thin film structures that occurs cy; spin-selective active devices, procki (the college of wooster); scott bender (santa clara tions, and funding agencies, to pay with application of a magnetic field. such as transistors, are only now be- a one-time fee to make articles university); matthew becker (university of michigan); silviu The applied field changes the rela- ing perfected, but they have already published in APS journals avail- Pufu (Princeton university); Jeffrey thompson (yale univer- tive orientations of magnetic regions inspired a new term in the scientific able to all readers at no cost and sity); Vernon chaplin (swarthmore college); and bryce gad- in some of the layers. When the nomenclature: spintronics. Poten- without a subscription. Any article in Physical Review A-E, Physical way (colgate university). the recipients of the Apker Award fields in adjacent layers are aligned, tially, spin-selective components will be featured in the December APS News. Review Letters, and Reviews of electrons with spins oriented paral- may even offer a practical avenue to Modern Physics is eligible to be lel to the fields (up electrons) pass optical and quantum computers. made free to read. readers will easily from one layer to another, and In fact, the APS anticipated this have access to the PDF and post- Eight Physicists Honored antiparallel (down) electrons are year’s Nobel by recognizing Fert script versions of the Free to Read articles through the APS online at November Division Meetings strongly scattered, leading to low and Grünberg, along with Stuart journals. free to read articles are resistivity for up electrons. If ad- Parkin of IBM, for their GMR dis- marked online with a special icon. Five APS prizes and awards will a physicist in A-Division’s X-group, jacent regions have fields pointing coveries with the 1994 McGroddy Fert’s PRL paper was featured be awarded this month, honoring concentrating on fluid instabilities in opposite directions, both spin up Prize for New Materials. as one of Prl’s “top ten” in a se- eight physicists for their work in and high gain inertial confinement and spin down electrons are strongly While the Nobel Laureates made ries that ran in APS News in 2002- plasma physics and fluid dynam- fusion (ICF) targets. Lindl’s work in 2003. see www.aps.org/publica- scattered, and the resistance is high their discoveries independently, both tions/apsnews/200303/prl-6.cfm. ics. The 2007 James Clerk Maxwell ICF has spanned a wide range of top- for all electrons. It is the spin-based published their fundamental work Prize, Dawson Award and Rosen- ics including high gain target designs explanation for GMR that has led to bluth Award will be presented during for lasers and particle beams, hydro- NOBEL PRIZE continued on page 5 the annual meeting of the APS Divi- dynamic instabilities in ICF, implo- sion of Plasma Physics, to be held sion symmetry and hohlraum design, Monica Plisch, Catherine Mader Join APS Education Team November 12-16, 2007, in Orlando, high energy electron production and Two physicists have recently in science education and out- Florida. The 2007 Fluid Dynamics plasma evolution in hohlraums, and joined the APS education depart- reach because “I wanted to do Prize and Andreas Acrivos Award the physics of compression and igni- ment. Monica Plisch will be the something where I could make a will be presented during the annual tion. first Assistant Director of Educa- difference.” She believes she can meeting of the APS Division of Fluid tion. She will direct the Physics affect a lot of lives through im- Dynamics, to be held November 18- 2007 John Dawson Award for Teacher Education Coalition proving science education. 20 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Excellence in Plasma Physics Re- (PTEC), a network of universi- As part of her work at Cor- search 2007 James Clerk Maxwell Prize ties devoted to improving phys- nell, Plisch developed a labora- Andrea M. Garofalo John Lindl ics teacher preparation, and lead tory course in nanotechnology Columbia University Lawrence Livermore National efforts within PhysTEC, the for freshmen. She also organized Laboratory Gerald A. Navratil APS/AAPT-led teacher prepara- workshops and a summer insti- Citation: “For 30 years of con- Columbia University tion program. tute for physics teachers. The tinuous plasma physics contributions Michio Okabayashi In addition, a new consultant workshops, held at Cornell as in high energy density physics and Princeton Plasma Physics Labo- in the education department, well as several satellite locations, inertial confinement fusion research ratory Catherine Mader, will work provided a chance for teachers to on projects related to the APS/ Photo by Ken Cole learn about contemporary phys- and scientific management.” Edward J. Strait Lindl is currently the Chief Sci- AAPT initiative to double the num- ics, especially nanoscience, and General Atomics Monica Plisch, Assistant Director of Education entist for the NIF Programs Director- ber of undergraduate physics ma- receive training on new hands- ate at Lawrence Livermore National Citation: “For experiments that jors. Plisch and Mader both started ics from Cornell University in 2001. on activities for their classrooms. Laboratory, where he works with demonstrated the stabilization of the work at APS on September 4. She then spent a year teaching phys- The activities were developed by the major participants in the NNSA resistive wall mode and sustained “As APS works on improv- ics and math at Wells College in teams of scientists and teachers, and stewardship program to develop a operation of a tokamak above the ing physics education at all levels, upstate New York. In 2002 she ac- equipment for implementing activi- national plan for ignition on NIF. conventional free boundary stability Monica and Cathy will enable us to cepted a position at Cornell Univer- ties was available through the CNS Lindl received his PhD in astro- limit.” have a far greater impact in many sity, where she was the Director of lending library. The workshops also physics from Princeton University Garofalo received his Laurea de- areas,” said Ted Hodapp, APS Di- Education Programs at the Center served as an opportunity to build in 1972. He joined Lawrence Liver- gree in Nuclear Engineering from the rector of Education. for Nanoscale Systems (CNS). relationships between teachers and more National Laboratory in 1972 as HONORS continued on page 5 Plisch earned her PhD in phys- Plisch says she decided to work PLISCH continued on page 2 2 • November 2007 APS NEWS Members in the Media This Month in Physics History “It’s almost unfair that the uni- cessfully at private universities.” November, 1887: Michelson and Morley report verse is teasing us in this way.