A P S N E W S DECEMBER 1998 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 7, NO. 11 APS News[Try the enhanced APS News-online: [http://www.aps.org/apsnews] APS Centennial 33 March 20-26, 1999 Months to Go www.aps.org/centennial George Trilling Elected APS Vice-President embers of The American Physical The 1999 president is Jerome Friedman Trefil of George Mason University. experimental particle physics, and has in- M Society have elected George H. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Several minor amendments to the APS cluded studies of hadron interactions and Trilling, a professor emeritus at University [Look for our annual interview with the Constitution were also approved by the resonances, electron-positron annihilation of California, Berkeley and senior faculty incoming APS president in the January membership in order to permit electronic at high energy, and colliding beam experi- physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National 1999 APS News.] ballots in future membership-wide elec- ments and detectors. Within the APS, Laboratory, to be the Society’s next vice- In other election results, Michael S. tions and proposed Constitutional Trilling served on the Physics Planning president. Trilling’s term begins on 1 Turner of the University of Chicago and amendments. The Society hopes that elec- Committee and as Chair of the Division of January 1999, when he will succeed James Fermilab was elected chair-elect of the APS tronic balloting will increase voter Particles and Fields. He is presently a DPF Langer (University of California, Santa Nominating Committee, which will be participation, lower expenses, and reduce Divisional Councillor. Barbara), who will become president-elect. chaired by Daniel Kleppner of MIT in the environmental impact generated by In his candidate’s statement, Trilling Trilling will become APS president in 2001. 1999. The Nominating Committee selects the mailing of paper ballots to each APS identified the Society’s general meetings, the slate of candidates member. Confidentiality and accuracy of education and outreach, and communica- for vice president, gen- electronic ballots would be assured, al- tion with the membership as priorities for eral councillors, and its though members preferring to vote on a the APS. He supports emphasizing pre- own chair-elect. Its paper ballot would retain that option for sentations by outstanding speakers on choices are then voted the foreseeable future. topics of general interest to help maintain on by the APS mem- interest in general meetings. Finding ways bership. Elected as new Vice-President to make undergraduate physics education general councillors Born in Poland, Trilling received his PhD more valuable and attractive could help were Philip H. in 1955 from the California Institute of combat the reduced numbers of physics Bucksbaum of the Uni- Technology, joining the University of majors in many universities. With regard versity of Michigan; L. Michigan in 1957 as assistant professor of to outreach and research support, Trilling Craig Davis of the Ford physics. Three years later he moved to advocates working with other professional Research Laboratory; the University of California at Berkeley, societies to play a leading role in inform- Leon Lederman of the serving as Department Chair in 1968-72, ing the government and general public George Trilling Michael S. Turner Illinois Institute of and as Director of the Physics Division of about the importance of R&D over a broad APS Vice- President APS Chair-Elect, Technology and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labora- range of scientific fields, particularly em- Nominating Committee Fermilab; and James tory in 1984-87. His research is in continued on page 6 Inside Physicists Win Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry CENTENNIAL n October, the 1998 Nobel Prize Centennial Travel Awards for NY State in Physics was awarded to Horst High School Teachers ................................ 2 I Elucidating the Stormer of Columbia University, and Dan A Century of Physics ................................. 3 1975 - 1985: Images Tsui of Princeton, University, for their Hall Effect Senior/Retired Member Breakfast ............ 3 discovery of the fractional quantum Hall The Hall effect is named after Grand Reunion at the Centennial ............ 3 effect at Bell Labs in 1982. They share the prize with Robert Laughlin of Stanford Edwin Hall, who in 1879 observed NEWS University, who explained the puzzling that electrons moving longitudinally Rooney Tackles Wide Range of S&T Issues as Congressional Fellow .............. 2 phenomenon in terms of quasiparticles along a metal strip (under the influence of an electric field) will, if Peter Rooney reflects on his year as a legisla- a year later. The award will be officially Curtis Hendrickson/National High Magnetic Field Laboratory tive assistant in the Congressional office of presented at the Royal Swedish also subject to a magnetic field Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). A non-superconducting, 33-tesla magnet that Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, is used for continuing research into the perpendicular to the plane of the strip, Distinguished Traveling Lecturer Program in Laser Science .......................................... 2 Sweden later this month. Stormer and quantum Hall effect. be deflected toward the side of the Tenure Task Force Submits Final Report .... 3 Tsui, both APS Fellows, shared the 1984 strip. Because of this, an excess of The APS Task Force on Academic Tenure pre- Oliver Buckley Prize, which Laughlin won ratory at Bell Laboratories from 1992-98, charge will build up one side of the sented its final report in September. two years later. The trio also shared the and is now a professor of physics at Co- strip. This Hall voltage is proportional Executive Board Reaffirms 1995 EMF 1998 Medal of the Franklin Institute for lumbia University. Born in 1939 in Henan, to the strength of the magnetic field. Statement ..................................................... 3 their work associated with the fractional China, Tsui received his PhD in physics That is, a plot of Hall voltage (or Physical Review Focus .............................. 5 quantum Hall effect. in 1967 at the University of Chicago, and equivalently the electrical resistance Meeting Briefs ............................................. 6 Organic, Polymer and VCSE Lasers Highlighted Born in 1950 in Visalia, California, has been a professor at Princeton Uni- of the material to the sideways current at ILS-XIV; Plasma Processing, Electron Swarms Laughlin received his PhD in physics in versity since 1982. flow) versus field strength would be Highlight 1998 GEC; DNP Holds 1998 Fall 1979 at the Massachusetts Institute of Two other APS Fellows shared the linear. All of this can be explained in Meeting. Technology. He has been a professor of 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Walter terms of classical physics. OPINION physics at Stanford since 1989. Stormer Kohn, a physicist at the University of Later, the Hall effect would be studied Science Policy and Science Community ..... 4 in a very different setting. This time the William R. Brinkley summarizes biologist’s was born in 1949 in Frankfurt/Main, Ger- California, Santa Barbara, and John Pople, view of U.S. science policy. many, and earned his PhD in physics a chemist at Northwestern University electrons are those moving in the two- How Duct Tape Sealed My Place 1977 at Stuttgart University. He was a were cited for their contributions to the dimensional world at the interface continued on page 6 in History ...................................................... 5 supervisor of the Physical Research Labo- continued on page 6 Max Sherman DEPARTMENTS Zero Gravity ................................................. 4 1998 Ig Nobel Prizes Announcements ......................................... 7 CRITICAL CENTENNIAL MEETING DEADLINES The Back Page ............................................ 8 Charles Duke of Xerox shares his strategies for getting value from industrial R&D. Student Travel Grant Applications Post Deadline Abstracts 2/19/99 (See Announcement, page 7) 12/15/98 (Posters only) Holt Elected Rush Holt (D), an APS Early Registration 1/15/99 Housing and Tours Deadline 2/20/99 member, was elected to the US House of See Enclosed APS Meeting Announcements for complete Representatives in the 12th Congressional Centennial Meeting Abstract and Registration Information District in New Jersey. APS News December 1998 Rooney Tackles Range of S&T Issues as Congressional Fellow rappling with defense R&D issues, These experi- developing, science and technology issues G supporting efforts to restructure the ences provided are going to be very important in policy R&D tax credit, and lobbying to double valuable back- [This fellowship is] a making.” federal investment in R&D in the decade ground for Rooney wonderful experience, even Overall, Rooney pronounced his fellow- are just all in a day’s work for Peter Rooney, as he tackled a better than I could have ship year “a wonderful experience, even the 1998 APS Congressional Fellow. broad range of sci- ““ better than I could have anticipated,” and “““anticipated. Rooney spent the past year as a legisla- ence-related issues praised the experience, professionalism, tive assistant in the Congressional office as a Congressional Peter Rooney effectiveness and strong involvement in of Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Fellow. A significant 1998 APS Congressional Fellow science issues of Senator Lieberman and lending his technical expertise on a vari- portion of his time