IN THIS ISSUE: Prizes and March 2001 Awards NEWS Volume 10, No. 3 Insert A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews

2001 APS March Meeting Moves To Pacific Northwest The annual APS March Meet- be more appropriate for the session on biological policy issues. ing is well-known for featuring country’s cappuccino capital than “Ecosystems are a dynamic and exciting groundbreaking re- a lively discussion of the science complex network of biological and search in a broad range of and art of foam by Emory physical interactions,” she says. subjects: from condensed matter University’s Sidney Perkowitz (see “Introducing a new biological en- and materials physics, biological profile, APS News, July 1999). tity, such as a GEO, may potentially physics, and chemical physics, “Foam, bubbles and their patterns alter any of these interactions, but among other subfields. But the are widespread in nature and sci- evaluating all of these is unrealis- meeting also offers a wide variety ence, and in human culture, from tic,” and thus she believes that the of non-traditional topics relating to the birth of the goddess Aphrodite, most useful information for risk physics research, science policy, to artistic usage, to pleasing food assessment is likely to come from and public outreach. The 2001 and drink,” says the popular au- experiments that address sources conference — to be held 12-16 thor of Universal Foam: From of variability. March in Seattle, Washington — is Cappuccino to the Cosmos, released Another ethical challenge being no exception, featuring talks on the last year. Perkowitz will present the raised by the explosion of techno- physics of foam and earthquakes, human and scientific sides of foam Digital Imagery© copyright 2001 PhotoDisc, Inc. logical advances in basic biological secrets of successful hi-tech start- and survey current foam-related Seattle skyline and (inset) one of its most famous fictional residents, Dr. Frasier Crane. research is the potential physical ups, ethical issues associated with research, including Seattle-based the most dangerous volcano in the of the risks of GEOs — most nota- risk to human participants, such as genetically engineered organisms, efforts, to understand and apply its Cascade mountain range. While bly, the emergence of new viral stigmatization, discrimination in the future of physics in the national special dynamic and structural not a threat to the downtown area, diseases and the spread of invasive insurance and employment, inva- defense, and a panel discussion properties. some nearby communities lie di- (weed-like) characteristics — sum- sion of privacy, or breach of with physicists who have carved out He will be joined by the Univer- rectly in the path of devastating marize the available evidence confidentiality. Such concerns will successful second careers writing sity of Washington’s Steve Malone, mud-flows from the volcano, ac- addressing such risks, and discuss be the focus of Elisa Eiseman of the science fiction. who will discuss the physics of cording to Malone, although challenges for realistic risk assess- National Bioethics Advisory Com- A sampling of these sessions is both earthquakes and volcanoes scientists expect to have recogniz- ment to kick off a Monday morning See MEETING on page 5 offered below, along with a listing in the greater Seattle region. “Se- able precursors and hence ample of planned special events. APS attle may be known for its rain and warning of any future eruption. members are encouraged to gloom, but for serious environmen- Session A4, Ballroom 6E APS Holds Unit Convocation browse the full online epitome for tal impact they can’t begin to the meeting at http://www.aps.org/ compare to our earthquakes and Invasion of the GEOs meet/MAR01/baps.index.html. volcanoes,” says Malone. The city Recent highly publicized stud- (NoteNote: All room designations refer to lies inland from a classic subduc- ies suggest serious potential the Washington Convention Center tion zone, and hence is subject to environmental risks associated with unless otherwise noted.) earthquake shaking from three releasing genetically engineered major source zones — major organisms (GEOs), renewing pub- Bubble, Bubble, Toil and earthquakes were recorded in lic concerns over the evaluation Trouble 1949 and 1965 — as well as ash- and regulation of these products General physics lectures with a fall from volcanic eruptions. Chief in both domestic and international regional twist will be offered at a among the latter potential disas- arenas. LaReesa Wolfenbarger, an

Monday morning session on the ters is Mount Rainier, a staple of AAAS Environmental Fellow with Jessica Clark/APS physics of Seattle, and what could the Seattle area, and considered the EPA, will present an overview On January 27, more than 60 representatives from the 35 divisions, topical groups, forums and sections of the APS gathered at APS headquarters to hear about the society’s activities and to exchange information. Here, Director of Meetings and Conventions Donna Baudrau addresses the group on the three Kleppner, Lamb to Head NMD Study fundamental laws of meeting dynamics. Daniel Kleppner of MIT and Frederick K. Lamb of the University of Illinois will be the co-chairs of the Major Improvements Underway APS study on National Missile De- fense that was approved by Council at PROLA in November. The study will analyze a possible APS members who currently have Alamos National Laboratory, with boost-phase intercept system, and access to the Society’s Physical Review the original goal of creating a search- is on a very fast track, with a final Online Archive (PROLA), either through able index for Physical Review from report, to be approved by Council an institutional or a personal subscrip- See PROLA on page 6 and released to the public, targeted tion, will now be able to enjoy a variety for the end of the year. As Lamb re- of new and improved features. HIGHLIGHTS marked to the APS Panel on Public PROLA also has an expanded rep- Affairs (POPA), of which he is a ertoire of previously published Photo by William Edelstein member, the intention is for the study Photo courtesy of Daniel Kleppner material: Physical Review, Physical Re- to provide input to the decision- Daniel Kleppner Frederick K. Lamb view Letters and Reviews of Modern making process, not to comment on Frederick K. Lamb is the Brand and Professor of Physics at MIT and the Physics are online back to 1981. decisions already made. Kleppner Monica Fortner Professor of Physics Director of the Center for Ultracold When completed, the archive will agreed, saying “Our goal is to define at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Atoms. He is a member of the National consist of all of Physical Review back and clarify technical issues that can Champaign, and is Director of the Academy of Sciences, and the recipi- to 1893, all of Physical Review Letters be helpful to policy makers in for- Center for Theoretical Astrophysics ent of both the Davisson-Germer and back to its origin in 1958, and all of mulating our national strategy.” there. He has had extensive experi- Lilienfeld Prizes of the APS. His experi- Reviews of Modern Physics back to its George Trilling, President of the ence in defense-related studies, ence in public affairs includes service inception in 1929. The project is APS, noted that “the APS is ex- including being a member since 1989 on POPA from 1989 to 1992, and as scheduled for completion within this tremely fortunate that Dan of the University Scientists Program Chair of the APS Physics Planning calendar year. “PROLA can bring Kleppner and Fred Lamb, two out- of the Institute for Defense Analy- Committee from 1992 to 1996. 100 years of physics to every Alicia Chang/APS standing physicists, have agreed to ses. He chaired the advisory panel Further details about the NMD researcher’s desk,” says Barbara THE BACK PAGE devote a significant amount of their that recommended the boost-phase study can be found in the January is- Hicks, APS Associate Publisher. Irving Lerch on “To The PROLA project was first 8 Pledge or Not to Pledge: time over the next year to lead the NMD study to the APS Council. sue of APS News at http://www.aps.org/ An Oath for Scientists?” NMD Study.” Daniel Kleppner is the Lester Wolfe apsnews/0101/010103.html. prototyped by APS in 1993 at Los 2 March 2001 NEWS

is much simpler than what they’re “If I had been a congressman —Paul Steinhardt, Princeton Uni- Members in the Media saying, and also subtler.” assessing the project on a cost- versity, on the “dark energy” in the “ ” —Marlan Scully, Texas A&M Uni- benefit basis I might have been universe, Dallas Morning News, Ed. Note: Much press coverage in ✶✶✶ versity, Dallas Morning News, doubtful. But since the space sta- January 8, 2001. January was devoted to experiments “The idea of quantum informa- January 29, 2001 tion is up there it would be silly not ✶✶✶ that achieved the “stopping of light”. tion is in its infancy. We hope for ✶✶✶ to use the real estate.” “Brad Pitt, Julianne Moore, Tiger We begin with three sample quotes on wonderful things. Our imagination “These are terrible books, and —Richard Mewaldt, Caltech, on Woods and Lisa Ling can all give thanks this topic: hasn’t figured out what the possi- they’re probably a strong compo- doing science on the space station, Fi- to the turkey that gave its life not just to “We’ve been able to hold it there bilities are.” nent of why we do so poorly in nancial Times, January 12, 2001 be Thanksgiving dinner but to be the and just let it go, and what comes —David F. Phillips, Harvard- science.” ✶✶✶ specimen used in the first experiment out is the same as what we sent in. Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, —John Hubisz, North Carolina “It’s not something that particle that gave birth to LASIK.” So it’s like a freeze frame.” Harvard Crimson, January 19, 2001 State University, on his research into physicists wanted, desired, pre- —James J. Wynne, IBM, on the ex- —Ron Walsworth, Harvard ✶✶✶ errors in physics textbooks, AP, Janu- dicted or anticipated. This is periments (unfortunately fatal to the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, “What we’re talking about is ary 14, 2001 something we have been forced to turkey) that led to LASIK surgery, W New York Times, January 18, 2001 something which on the one hand ✶✶✶ consider because of observations.” Magazine, February issue.

This Month in Physics History March 16, 1926: Launch of the First Liquid Fuel Rocket

For hundreds of years man lived As early as 1909, Goddard consid- the rocket. Heavy rubber tubing fed with the deficiencies of the solid, ered the idea of a liquid fuel rocket the oxygen into the rocket’s pressure gunpowder type rocket first de- utilizing hydrogen and oxygen. He con- line. As the rocket began to rise, this veloped by the Chinese in the 13th tinued his research after joining the hose had to be pulled free. The re- century, which were notoriously faculty at Clark University in Worces- sulting opening was rigged with a flap inaccurate and had declined steadily ter. In his studies he recognized that check value to slam shut and pre- in use as artillery improved in the solid fuels produced a lower exhaust vent loss of pressure. The late 19th century. One man who did velocity than could be obtained by the combustion chamber was equipped not accept these limitations was Dr. use of liquid fuels. However, a liquid with an igniter system containing Robert H. Goddard, a New En- fuel requires a continuous source of match heads and black gunpowder gland physics professor and oxidizer to be able to burn at a rate to provide the starting fire for igni- American rocket pioneer who capable of producing the rocket tion of the lox and gasoline when has become known as the father thrust desired. Thus, a means for they were forced into the combus- of modern rocket propulsion. combining the fuel and the oxidizer tion chamber. His groundbreaking work helped at the proper rates in the combus- Only a few steps were necessary in pave the pay for the now booming tion chamber had to be developed. the countdown and launch. First, an significance of rocket propulsion in The high pressures created by com- assistant using a blowtorch on a long the fields of military missilery and bustion required that the fuel and pole reached up and heated the igniter the scientific exploration of space. oxidizer be injected into the cham- casing until the enclosed match heads Born in 1882 in Worcester, Mas- ber under even higher pressure. caught fire and ignited the black pow- sachusetts, Goddard was staying After a number of design attempts, der. He then closed the pressure relief with his family at the suburban Goddard finally chose gasoline as the vent on the lox tank and quickly lighted recorded the occasion in his diary. larger and faster rockets. home of friends near Worcester fuel and liquid oxygen (lox) as the oxi- the alcohol soaked cotton in the “It looked almost magical as it rose, Yet it fell to others to fully re- when, on October 19, 1899, he dizer. Below - 297°F oxygen is a liquid burner. Next, Goddard piped oxygen without any appreciably greater alize his dream. Eighteen years climbed into an old cherry tree to at atmospheric pressures. At higher from the cylinder to the propellant tanks noise or flame, as if it said, ‘I’ve been after his successful demonstra- prune its dead branches. Instead, temperatures it vaporizes, and pro- at 90 pounds per square inch pres- here long enough; I think I’ll be go- tion at Auburn, Goddard’s he gazed at the sky and began day- duces tremendous pressures in closed sure. This forced gasoline and lox to ing somewhere else, if you don’t pioneering achievements came to dreaming about the possibility of a containers. Goddard used the pres- the combustion chamber, where the mind,’” he wrote, adding, “Some of life in the German V-2 ballistic device capable of one day going to sure of this gas to push both liquids igniter was still burning. With a loud the surprising things were the ab- missile, and he went on to be Mars. “I was a different boy when I simultaneously from their tanks, roar, the rocket motor fired. When the sence of smoke, the lack of very loud granted 214 separate patents in came down from that tree,” through separate pipes, to the com- rocket motor’s thrust exceeded the roar, and the smallness of the flame.” rocketry. Alas, the man who in Goddard once said, and he marked bustion chamber where they mixed weight, it rose a few inches from the After 2½ seconds of flight, the 1920 envisioned a rocket reach- the day as an anniversary and pri- and burned. To speed the vaporiz- ground, tethered only by the hose. With fuel was expended, the roar ceased ing the moon did not live to see vate holiday for the rest of his life, ing of the lox, he applied heat with a long rope, Goddard pulled a hinged abruptly, and the rocket fell to earth the arrival of the modern space since it was then that he essentially an alcohol burner. rod that yanked the hose away, and 184 feet away. It had reached an es- age; he died in 1945. NASA’s dedicated himself to the realization There was a pipe connection for the rocket was free to fly. The swing of timated speed of 60 miles per hour Goddard Space Flight Center in of space flight. the pressurizing gas between the lox this rod also unseated a spring loaded and the height of 41 feet. Although Maryland was established in his Goddard first attracted public tank and the gasoline tank. Safety valve, allowing lox to drip into the rudimentary and far from a practi- memory in 1959, and he is rec- notice for his work in rocketry in required that neither liquid should heated chamber surrounding the lox cal design, Goddard’s basic concept ognized worldwide as the first 1907, in a dramatic cloud of smoke pass through this pipe and mix with tank. The lox flashed into vapor, and was validated, and the event is con- scientist who not only realized the from a powder rocket fired in the the other before entering the com- the resulting gas pressure fed the liq- sidered comparable in its potentialities of missiles and space basement of the physics building of bustion chamber. Once the rocket uids to the combustion chamber. significance to the Wright Brothers’ flight, but also contributed directly Worcester Polytechnic Institute. To left the ground, this gas pressure Thus, after 17 years of theoreti- achievement of manned flight at Kitty in bringing them to practical real- their credit, school officials did not would be the only means for pump- cal and experimental work, Hawk. In the ensuing years, Goddard ization. In the words of Goddard expel him, subsequently granting ing fuel and oxidizer. Before launch, Goddard finally achieved flight of a continued to develop rockets, con- himself, “It is difficult to say what is him several leaves of absence to however, it was necessary to pres- liquid fueled rocket on March 16, trolling their motion by gyroscope, impossible, for the dream of yester- sustain his lifelong interest in and surize the system from an oxygen 1926, at his Aunt Effie’s farm in Au- steering them with small vanes thrust day is the hope of today and the devotion to rocket propulsion. cylinder located about 30 feet from burn, Massachusetts. Goddard into their exhaust jet, and building reality of tomorrow.”

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Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) Wolf (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), Ed Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer NEWS March 2001 3 Dresselhaus Reflects on Brief but Productive Term at DOE Editor’s Note: Mildred Dresselhaus, in the research itself become more the national labs for a summer of laboratories that can be used to an MIT professor who served as APS damaging and widespread. hands-on training. Many of them opt implement the hands-on training president in 1984, became Director of to go to a four-year college afterwards. programs that NSF will organize and Bearing in mind that nobody the Office of Science at the Department Working very closely with Rita Colwell fund. It’s a natural synergy. can predict the future, what of Energy in August 2000. She stepped Q and her staff at the NSF education down from office in January upon the would you like to see happen in division, we established a cooperative How has the role of the DOE inauguration of President Bush and re- the DOE in the coming year? agreement between DOE and NSF Qchanged over the years, and how turned to teaching and research at MIT. I would like to see a which expands the former DOE do you envision its role in the future? program by a factor of two. This What do you see as the A continuation of the course we summer twice as many youngsters I believe that the DOE is one primary policy issue started, namely, maintaining funding Q for the construction and operation of will be coming to the national labs to of the primary funding currently facing the DOE? A DOE facilities, but also expanding benefit from this hands-on training. agencies of physics research. It The DOE budget has basically funding for the research component The hope would be to increase that certainly funds more physics Abeen decreasing for the last 10 substantially. Sustained increased further by another factor of two the research than any of the other years (see The Back Page, APS News, funding for the next few years is needed following year. agencies. In my youth, the amount of Mildred Dresselhaus October 2000). Over the last for the Office of Science to provide money allocated to NSF, NIH and the Would you describe your decade, an increasing fraction of the our unique contribution to the team predecessor of the DOE was about the “The Office of Science experiences at the agency as Office of Science budget has gone effort in interdisciplinary research same. So I feel that the DOE at least Q positive? Was there anything in into the design, construction and — such as in the nanotechnology received a great deal of historically at one time was an equal operation of large facilities. With initiative — and in the development support from the research partner with these other agencies in your past experience that helped level budgets, the support for small of important new state-of-the-art community ... including the funding of research in the US. For prepare you for that position? group research has been seriously instruments and user facilities for this many APS members. That whatever reason, DOE has come on It was a great experience. I eroded. That is obviously not area of opportunity. Particularly timely kind of input is essential, harder times. This is partly a structural A think many people value an addressing national needs in terms are the special opportunities now problem. The NSF has sort of a opportunity to serve the nation and of being among the world’s leaders available for research in the US in high because it communicates to freewheeling independent identity. it was an opportunity to do exactly that: in the scientific fields represented by energy and nuclear physics, because Congress what is important That isn’t the case with DOE. Having serve the research community, and also DOE. To turn around the declining of the new facilities now coming online. to researchers.” the Office of Science buried a few serve the nation more generally. I was, budgets of the last decade, we need Research funding is needed here. We administrative layers below the myself, well established in the research annual increases on the order of need to regain lost ground, after 10 Secretary of Energy perhaps works world, I knew what it meant to do 15%. This past year, we managed to years of constant budgets and receding We have also built into the program against the visibility of physics in terms research, and I could understand the achieve a reasonably strong budget, amounts of research funding. The an evaluation procedure, so that we of funding nationwide. The advantages content of the research programs. I was the best in about 10 years. But once Office of Science received a great deal can see what to focus on, where to put and disadvantages of such an also sufficiently well known that people again, the lion’s share of the funding of support from the research more resources, where we need to administrative structure are arguable. were willing to listen to me. I found went to facilities. Overall, DOE has community in getting that message make changes. One new experimental Balance between the sciences is that the folks on the Hill really like done a very good job in providing across, including support from many aspect is an interface program to help very important. Unless there’s science, they want explanations of what research facilities to the nation. APS members. That kind of input is community college students make the enough physics being done, the scientists are doing, what the DOE We have a number of facilities that essential, because it communicates to transition to four-year colleges. Stu- progress of other fields will be im- programs are about, and the potential are under-utilized because funding has Congress what is important to dents in community colleges often are peded. The NIH budget is now benefits of these programs for society. seriously limited operating time, even researchers, as well as what is not as lacking certain classroom experi- about $20 billion, roughly 50% of Perhaps a lot of teaching and re- though the demand is there on the part important. ences they would normally get in a the total federal research support, search experience helps one to be able of the research community. So the US four-year college, so it’s difficult for while the physical sciences com- to present the fundamentals in a simple You maintain that the DOE is not reaping the full potential benefits those students to make the transi- prise about 20% of the total, with way. Having served on the boards of of their excellent research facilities. Qfacilities play an important tion; their academic records show a the DOE accounting for only various companies helped me with that More effective utilization of the most role in education, particularly in very difficult adjustment period. So maybe half of that. The repertoire communication, too. Also, I think all active facilities is critically needed. Even providing hands-on training for we implemented a summer program of the DOE has to be much broader the science policy work I’ve done over though we should be putting more budding young scientists. Are there where they would come and get than just the research that is done the years educated me in science policy money into research to maintain some any recent initiatives in this area? both classroom training and hands- at the facilities. It has to mirror so that I was better prepared when en- kind of balance between research and The DOE for many years has on experience to close that gap. more of the research opportunities countering some of these major issues facilities, the pressing nature of the fa- A had a very small education This program is an excellent ex- presently available to physics, in a real-world context. While it may cilities and the investment required to program, in which undergraduates ample of a new initiative that arose much of which is not facility-driven. not be necessary to always have a construct and operate them is a factor visit the labs in the summer. In as a collaborative venture between We don’t want physics to just be practicing scientist in these kinds of that works in favor of getting more recent years that program has NSF and DOE. It’s been a useful col- driven by facilities, we want phys- positions, it is a major advantage funds invested into facilities. We need focused heavily on women and laboration from the perspective of ics to be driven by research or most of the time, provided the per- to turn these trends around before the minorities, and also on community both sides. The NSF has a charter to ideas, with the facilities supporting son is one who can communicate consequences of this under-investment college students, bringing them to do science education. But DOE has that research. with the public, and desires to do so.

Scroll forward six weeks. A outcomes through assessment and research needs, the Science Com- INSIDE THE BELTWAY White House transition is never a teacher training. But none of them mittee is likely to stress alternate A Washington Analysis pretty sight, and this one didn’t dis- address all of the major science con- sources and conservation. appoint. cerns in the APS Council statement. In his “maiden” speech before The one-month election delay Still, it’s a long way to the legisla- the University Research Associates, sent members of the Clinton clan — tive finish line, and there will be many Boehlert also expressed strong in- many of whom had hoped for pro- opportunities for the APS members terest in passing the “Doubling Bill”, Bingo! APS Policy Planners motions in a Gore government – to weigh in on the final bill. which his right-wing predecessor, packing in record time. But just as Out of the chute, Vice President James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), had Score on Education and Energy “w” keys were disappearing from Dick Cheney, former CEO of the long held hostage. But translating By Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs West Wing work stations, and copi- Halliburton oil exploration com- that commitment into solid appro- ers were coughing up unflattering pany and all purpose guru, is priations may prove very difficult There’s nothing like 20-20 hind- formulate appropriate APS pictures of Dubya, the lights went dominating the energy terrain. He this year. Although science now has sight — except 20-20 foresight. positions. Taking a cue from out 3,000 miles away in California. is heading a task force charged many allies on Capitol Hill, the Bush- And when you’ve got it, flaunt it. So industry, we applied “just-in-time” Yeehaw, another bulls eye. En- with developing a national energy Cheney budget request they will I will. techniques and emerged from the ergy policy was also on the front policy focused on new energy receive is likely to have little in it More than half a year ago, the November 19, 2000 Council burner. supplies and energy efficiency. that will please research advocates. APS political sages put their heads meeting armed with two statements Here’s how the education land- The early line has increased pro- The top priorities for the new together, pondered the imponder- that fueled our audacity: Energy scape is shaping up. At least ten duction of fossil fuels leading the administration are hefty cuts in taxes, able and tried to forecast the hot Policy for the 21st Century (http:// major bills will be in the congres- policy picks, accompanied by re- big increases for K-12 education, and issues for the next administration. www.aps.org/statements/ sional hopper come the end of laxed environmental standards to plus ups for military salaries and Science education and energy 00.3.html) and a Policy Statement on March: GOP leadership bills that accomplish that goal. nuclear missile defense. Even the policy bubbled to the top. Impos- K-12 Science and Math Education embrace Bush’s devolution and But the Bush-Cheney plans DOD’s R&D budget, which during sible, we said. Too wonkish, too (http://www.aps.org/statements/ choice proposals, Democratic lead- could run into a buzz saw on Capi- his campaign President Bush prom- cerebral. No political pizzazz. 00.5.html). ership and liberal Democratic bills tol Hill, where the House Science ised to boost by $20 billion, will be But often, life in Washington is Then, along with the rest of that retain many federal controls, Committee is preparing to tackle held in check, pending a full review nothing more than a craps shoot. America, we sat numbly and New Democrat bills that try to strike the same issue. Staunch environ- by the service chiefs. Only NIH is So, we rolled the dice, used some watched the Disney show from a middle course, physicist Vern mentalist Sherwood Boehlert, a expected to emerge unscathed. body english and watched as, gasp, Florida, until the Supreme Court told Ehlers’s (R-MI) package and physi- moderate New York Republican, With science not even a small the cubes came up reading science us that boots and Stetsons would set cist Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) bill that who now chairs the committee, blip on the White House radar education and energy policy. Hal- the inaugural fashions. Yeehaw! We emphasize science and math educa- identified energy, environment and screen, the action on R&D has al- lelujah, now what? had scored one bulls eye. The “Edu- tion. All the bills add significant K-12 science education as his top ready shifted to Capitol Hill. It’s still No choice but to rev up the cation President” was moving into money to federal education pro- three priorities for this session. In its winter, but the odds are that it will policy engine, call in the experts and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. grams, and all try to improve quest to identify long term energy be a long, hot summer. 4 March 2001 NEWS

LETTERS Kansan Dissects Soft Creationism Moorad Alexanian’s letter in the enough to conclude, beyond a rea- doubt on the age of the Earth. This January APS News is a useful ex- sonable doubt, that it has occurred. doesn’t belie his comment about Claim Many Artists Used Optical Devices ample of the new “soft” approach That is why the overwhelming ma- Young Earth Creationists in and of of creationists which is becoming jority of Americans still believe in a itself, but it calls into question his “The Back Page” article in the De- as aids. For example, he points out increasingly widespread. Typically, Creator.” motives in making the comment cember 2000 APS News discusses the that Caravaggio, who was criticized it uses many of the techniques of Note here (1) A claim which about Brush near the beginning of long-standing argument that the Dutch by his peers for working in cellars familiar old-style creationism but would be big news to people work- this letter. You’ll find there (http:// master Johannes Vermeer used a cam- with limited lighting, didn’t leave be- dressed up in more intellectually ing in the field. This claim is typically origins.swau.edu/) things designed era obscura as an aid to painting. The hind any preparatory studies for his respectable language and with a supported by repetition, which ac- to convince you coal and sediments article is interesting in itself, and also in very complex compositions. considerably narrowed attack tually is a very effective propaganda could have been rapidly deposited, conjunction with another article in Hockney argues that Caravaggio (usually limited to evolution). technique. (2) The use of legal rather radiometric dating is highly unreli- another publication. An article by used a camera obscura and traced It is a useful exercise to dissect than scientific language regarding able, much of geology can be Lawrence Wechsler in the January 31, directly onto the canvas. He believes his letter and expose all the un- verification. (3) The forced choice— explained by worldwide Flood, etc. 2000, “New Yorker” presents an in- that many other artists did similar stated assumptions and logical if A is wrong, then (my) B must be Note that they have real scientists triguing and controversial theory by things. jumps. He first says that all those right. In this case it’s done as descrip- working for them. the contemporary British painter, Jo- Hockney himself has been work- who believe in a Creator are not tive. Note also the Wedge—you He notes that the fundamental seph Hockney. Hockney claims he was ing with a camera lucida (which can’t Young Earth Creationists (as accept the evidence for human evo- question of origins may not be a struck by the fact that, in a compara- have been used in the fifteenth cen- claimed by Brush in the November lution OR believe in a Creator. scientific question. If not, then he tively short time, artists progressed tury since it wasn’t invented until 1807). issue). I urge you to go back and He wants us to teach that evolu- says we may need to look to an from not using (presumably not un- Hockney’s evidence for his theory re-read Brush’s back page; you’ll see tion and cosmology are “working Intelligent Designer. (1) There is no derstanding) perspective to using it with about the development of realism in he didn’t make that claim. This is assumptions”. Again, let’s examine: such thing as a scientific question, remarkable skill and accuracy. He cites art is all indirect, and he is careful to the first instance of the “Wedge “Unlike physics, evolution and cos- only a scientific way of looking for an observation by the German art his- credit the genius of the artists for the Strategy”, which is to make a mology are sciences in the sense of answers. (2) This method may or torian Norbert Schneider, who said that quality of the resulting work. He re- forced choice between science and forensic science.” Note that cosmol- may not work for specific kinds of “It remains a source of continual as- gards the (supposed) optical devices (their kind of) religion. They un- ogy is given in counterpoint to questions. (3) He and anyone else tonishment that so infinitely complex a as tools, which skilled people can use derstand that if they can force this physics here. Imagine a sentence are welcome to look for answers genre should develop in so brief a space much more effectively than others. choice, in our culture, science will starting, “Unlike physics, acoustics in non-scientific ways. They merely of time, indeed within only a few de- Needless to say, there is a great deal of lose. is...”. Creationists try to set aside spe- aren’t welcome to pass them off as cades of the fifteenth century, skepticism in the art world about He says Darwin’s evolution in- cial status for evolution (and science, especially in public especially in view of the constraints Hockney’s ideas. But it is interesting cludes the origin of life. It doesn’t; sometimes cosmology) because it in- schools. imposed upon it by the individual that there is evidence that optical de- it’s only a theory about its develop- cludes dealing with the past. This is The voters in Kansas, most requirements of the patrons.” vices may have contributed to the ment. Later on he says “What false on several counts. (1) Nearly strongly in the Republican primary, Not coincidentally, in Hockney’s production of great works of art, hun- people object to is the teaching of all physics relies on indirect evidence. rejected the people who attempted view, is that this development in ar- dreds of years ago as well as more an atheistic worldview in the guise We don’t see quarks or phonons, we to inject religion into the state sci- tistic technique coincided with the recently. of science. Students of faith ought infer their effects. (2) There is con- ence standards. This didn’t happen development of lenses. He believes Matthew Lybanon not to come out of biology classes siderable “benchtop evolution” now, accidentally. It required vigilance that many artists used optical devices Naval Research Laboratory with the notion that there is no even finding biotech applications, and a collaborative effort of scien- God.” There are two assumptions and much of the past Universe is di- tists and many other people with An Energy Crisis of Neglect here. The most obvious is the idea rectly observable along our past light diverse backgrounds, including When the OPEC oil embargo twenty-seven in the White House, that if someone becomes an athe- cone (we “see” the microwave back- clergy. Some of what we’ve learned struck in the seventies, President but the number of them used for ist, someone must have taught ground and primordial galaxies). (3) can be found on the website of Kan- Carter, dressed in a sweater and sit- domestic heating is negligible. Yet them atheism. There is no recogni- The crucial criterion for science is sas Citizens for Science, http:// ting in front of a wood fire, called it their potential is vast. What TIME tion that someone might come to confrontation with experimental www.kcfs.org. I also recommend the “the moral equivalent of war”. The called “The Physicist’s Fire” delivers conclusions independently. Sec- data, which comes in many forms. National Center for Science Educa- country responded strongly - for five kilowatts of radiant power (see ondly, though he rightly condemns He names a number of famous tion, http://www.natcenscied.org. one thing people turned en masse http://www.texasfireframe.com) at the mixing of theology (or anti-the- physicists who were Christians, and I urge readers to particularly be to their own wood-burning fire- 30% efficiency, with minimum ology) into science class, it is clear two biologists who are atheists. (True alert for “Intelligent Design”, the places. maintenance. And only a small from his letter that what he means in the case of Dawkins, questionable latest repackaging of creation sci- Today the energy crisis is really fraction of homes heated with by atheism is the idea that life arose with regard to Darwin). Better join ence which is attracting many more serious than in the seventies. wood fires instead of electricity and developed “entirely by natu- Our Club (the smart guys) and re- educated persons (medical doc- The cost of heating with natural gas would save thousand of megawatts. ral means.” He believes ject demon evolution. He is a member tors, engineers, and humanities is soaring, California is experienc- It is obvious that the physics intervention by God along the way of the staff of the “Earth History Re- grads seem highly susceptible). Al- ing rolling blackouts, and the community should be centrally in- is required, and teaching science search Center”, (headquarters at though it may be “creation science problem is not the very temporary volved. I hope the April APS without including this is atheism. Southwestern Adventist University) in a cheap tuxedo” as L. Krishtalka one of an embargo, but of deep in- meeting will feature papers on our (Since he apparently believes God which states as its goal, “Our mis- has said, this tux seems able to im- ternal problems of supply and energy problems, and that we shall created everything, are we sup- sion is to develop a view of origins press many people who are not demand, of depletion of natural re- stop neglecting a problem that falls posed to mention that in every that is scientifically credible, and con- experts. No part of the country is sources, and of neglect by policy squarely within our professional science class in every field of sci- sistent with the Biblical account of immune. We in Kansas fought back makers and professionals in the field. jurisdiction. ence? And all other classes?) He origins, for a world that has largely publicly, which drew a lot of press. Today we have about fifty Lawrence Cranberg says, “The evidence for evolution- abandoned belief in its Creator.” Look in your back yard. million fireplaces in America and Austin, Texas ary transition of humans from This organization promotes a Adrian L. Melott apelike ancestors is not abundant great deal of material designed to cast University of Kansas Microscopic Halos Favor Recent Creation Here is a creation/evolution is- test means the Creator uniquely Physicists Have a Distorted Sense of History sue pertaining to nuclear designed both the Po halos and the physicists, astrophysicists, and granites to spotlight Genesis’ literal In the January 2001 issue of APS When religion and state power are battle. That was a very wise commit- cosmologists. I have reported six-day creation of the visible cos- News, Morton K. Brussel took issue combined, then the religion is, of ment on their parts, because it led to a Earth’s foundation rocks, the mos and its seventh-day memorial. with Freeman Dyson’s characteriza- course, going to get exactly as violent great flowering of religious thought un- granites, contain microscopic ha- (See http://www.halos.com for tion of religion as a force for as the furtherance and maintenance burdened by the needs of furthering los traceable to the alpha decay of more on this topic.) In 1997 I pub- building community, citing the of state power requires it to be. Be- and maintaining the power of the state. certain primordial Po isotopes. lished a new cosmic model based Taliban in Afghanistan and other cause religion is not some external force This was good for religion, not bad. Their short half-lives demand al- on a finite, nonhomogeneous, famous cases of religious abuse of field put upon the world, but a human This is one reason why American are most instant creation of the host vacuum-gravity universe with a citizens as his reason. adaptive enterprise that can be adapted so religious. Because we vastly im- rocks, prior to the Po decaying nearby cosmic Center (C), and The actions of the Taliban don’t and fitted to many functions — as is proved Western religion by unhooking away. Geologists resisted accepting showed it accounts for the 2.73K represent the power of religion by also true with science. it from the burdens and temptations this result; so two decades ago I CMB, the CMB at higher z, and the itself. The aim of the Taliban is to Why are the Taliban so violent, of state power. challenged them to sustain their ob- Hubble redshift relation. More re- build a religious state, to tie all secu- when the Koran preaches peace and But at whose feet can we lay the jections by: (i) duplicating just one cently, see http://xxx.lanl.gov/ for lar political power to religious justice? Any religious group that suc- horrific abuses of the Stalinist and Po-218 halo in an annealed piece year 2001, I reported it also ac- authority. Most if not all of the ugly ceeds in securing and maintaining state Maoist regimes? of granite, and (ii) synthesizing a counts for six other of big bang’s abuses of citizens by religious or- power in a violent land is going to have The aim of Marxism-Leninism small piece of granite to confirm major predictions. ganizations in the history of the adapted their religious belief system so was to create a state based not that it can form naturally. To me Robert V. Gentry world — the witch hunts, the Cru- that it supports the violence needed to upon religion, but on science. Marx- the prolonged silence about this Knoxville, Tennessee sades, the violent struggles between achieve that state power. ist-Leninists deeply believed that Catholics and Protestants, the per- The founding fathers and moth- there was a rational, scientific way Letters Policy Now Online secution of native religions by ers of America were right to value a to engineer an economy, and a ra- APS News encourages our readers to submit letters to the conquering colonial forces, the separation of religion and state to tional, scientific way to engineer the editor. The best way to do this is to send them to [email protected]. Taliban, etc, came about because the extent that they would lay down lifestyles and belief systems of ev- Our policy on publishing letters can be found on the web at secular political power was tied to their precious fragile human lives eryone under their state power, into http://www.aps.org/apsnews/letters.html religious authority. fighting for it on the bloody field of See LETTER on page 7 NEWS March 2001 5

VIEWPOINT… zero gravity Swimming Against the Tide Diligent readers of APS News may then releasing it again with the infor- appeared, Nature issued the following recall a “Viewpoint” in last year’s Au- mation it carried intact. The New York statement, referring to its own press gust/September issue entitled “End Times got wind of this story, and fea- release about Dr. Hau’s paper: “Effec- the Embargo” (http://www.aps.org/ tured it on the front page on January tive immediately, Nature is lifting the apsnews/0800/080010.html) , 18, almost 2 weeks before the PRL pub- embargo on THIS STORY ONLY. Re- which took Science and Nature to task lication date. The PRL group, leaders ports have already appeared for their strict policy of forbidding Ron Walsworth and Mikhail Lukin at concerning a similar paper published news coverage on research submitted the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for in another journal, and making men- to them for publication, until the ar- Astrophysics, were free to talk about tion of the Nature study. In view of the ticle actually appeared in print. The their results, and the news story con- existence of the other, unembargoed, “Viewpoint” contrasted this with the centrated mainly on their work. The paper, we have decided it is in policy of APS that actively encourages leader of the other group, Dr. Lene everybody’s interest for the two stud- news about physics in the media, re- Vestergaard Hau, was not in the same ies to be discussed together. Please gardless of whether the peer-reviewed position. “Citing restrictions imposed note, however, that this is an excep- version has yet seen the light of day. by the journal Nature, where her re- tional case. In general, we will not lift In January, events conspired to pro- port is to appear, Dr. Hau refused to an embargo on a paper just because duce a head-to-head clash between discuss her work in detail,” accord- one media source has mentioned it.” these two policies, with a result that, at ing to the story in the Times. It is cause Ironically, Nature’s press release be- least in this writer’s opinion, further for amazement and dismay that sci- gins: “Stopping light sounds like the exposed how silly, artificial and contra- entists, who after all are providing equivalent of King Canute’s attempt to dictory the embargo idea is. Two papers the material on which the journals halt the incoming tide on an English were slated for near-simultaneous pub- depend, will voluntarily submit to the beach.” The analogy with King Canute lication, one in Nature and the other in whims of editorial policy even when is equally appropriate to Nature’s own Physical Review Letters. The two differ- they are made to suffer thereby. embargo policy. Stopping the tide on ent groups had each made essentially That’s almost the end of the tale— an English beach is no more difficult the same experimental breakthrough, Dr. Hau gets muzzled by Nature’s than shoring up a monopolistic prac- bringing a light signal to a complete halt embargo. But there is one more wrinkle: tice in the face of genuine competition. in a specially prepared medium, and later the same day that the Times story —Alan Chodos

Meeting, from page 1 SPECIAL EVENTS Saturday and Sunday mission, a federal advisory commit- the opportunities for physicists March 10-11 tee addressing issues in basic continue to expand,” she says. 8:00AM - 5:00PM science research involving human “This is truly a time for physicists Convention Center, Rm. 602 participants. She will describe two to make their mark in the start-up Short course on recent ad- recent reports proposing recom- world.” Also featured in the session vances in polymer computer mendations in this regard. “Both of is Lisa Dhar of Lucent Technolo- simulations, sponsored by these reports make it clear that gies/Bell Laboratories, who will the APS Division of Polymer Physics. the protection of research par- describe the incubation of a new Sunday, March 11 ticipants is key to conducting commercial venture within that 7:30AM - 3:00PM ethically sound research,” she company focusing on high-density Westin Hotel, 5th Avenue Rm. says. “Our goal is to develop holographic recording media and Career and Professional guidelines by which important storage systems. Development Liaison Work- basic research can proceed while Session E2, Ballroom 6B shop, featuring a luncheon making sure that the rights and keynote address by John welfare of human research par- Putting the Physics Poate, vice president and chief technology officer of ticipants are not compromised.” Back into Phiction Observatory USGS/Cascades Volcano Axcelis, one of the largest Session C23, Room 606 The view is southeast of Mount Rainier in Washington. So-called “hard” science fiction semiconductor equipment makes a serious attempt to portray manufacturers in the world. Does Size Matter? science and scientists as accurately actual practice, in contrast to the phosphorescence phenomenon, Monday, March 12 Secrets of Successful as possible, often by using scien- desiccated accounts usually polyfluorene light-emitting devices, 6:30AM - 7:30AM Start-Ups tists as principal characters, and found in textbooks and scientific and the development of an organic Convention Center High-tech start-ups are a mag- scientific problem solving as a ma- publications,” he says. Sidney solid state injection laser at Lucent Get a jump-start on the day net for engineers, MBAs and jor plot element. John Cramer, a Perkowitz will also be on hand Technologies/Bell Laboratories. with the fourth annual APS Run for Health. venture capitalists alike, but the vi- physics professor at the University for an encore appearance, dis- Session N4, Ballroom 6E 5:30PM - 6:30PM of Washington, is the author of two cussing some common challenges tal role of physicists in their success Convention Center in presenting physics in the popu- The Future of Physics in is often overlooked. A Monday af- such novels: Twistor, about “small” Presentation of 2001 APS ternoon session will focus on science in a university physics re- lar media, illustrated with the National Defense prizes and awards for out- roles for scientists at start-ups, search laboratory, and Einstein’s examples from his books, lectures While silicon CMOS technol- standing contributions to particularly female scientists like Bridge, in which the 1993 cancella- and television appearances. ogy has served us well for 30 physics. Hilary Lackritz of ACLARA tion of the SSC project is played out Session T1, Ballroom 6A years, ever-diminishing feature 6:30PM - 7:30PM BioSciences, Inc., who will give a against a fictional background of sizes are causing DARPA and Convention Center Ballroom realistic assessment of the re- breakthrough discoveries, alien Optoelectronics Goes other agencies and laboratories Welcome reception. Tuesday, March 13 wards and risks in the start-up contact, wormholes and time Organic associated with the Department 7:30AM - 9:30AM travel. During a Wednesday after- Nanostructured organic opto- of Defense to look beyond sili- world. “Size usually does matter, Westin Hotel and in this case, small size can noon session on successful electronic materials and devices con to possible, equally CSWP/FIAP Networking equal independence, entrepre- physicist writers, he will discuss his have the potential to generate a revolutionary alternatives. Ac- Breakfast, open to all (men neurship, and other advantages experiences in writing and publish- revolution in telecommunications, cording to Jane Alexander, and women) with an interest that are hard to come by in ing hard science fiction, and how information processing display and DARPA’s deputy director, the in issues pertaining to women Dilbert’s corporate world,” says this relates to the general problem transportation, according to Larry agency is investing in a variety of in physics. Breakfast: $15 Lackritz. “For those who want of public appreciation, perception Dalton, a researcher with the Uni- technologies and approaches to ($5 for students) constant excitement, change and and (more frequently) mis-percep- versity of Washington and the extend electronic device design 3:00PM - 5:00PM Convention Center, 6th floor lobby rapid opportunities to have an tion of science. University of Southern California. beyond the traditional CMOS ap- Physical Review Drop-In Also featured in the session is He will kick off a Wednesday morn- proach, including leveraging impact in the technical world, Reception. start-up companies offer wonder- Michael Riordan of the Stanford ing session on the topic by quantum effects, using spin effects 6:00PM - 8:00PM ful challenges.” Linear Accelerator Center, au- describing a number of impressive in semiconductors, developing Westin Hotel Her enthusiasm is shared by thor of The Hunting of the Quark new prototype devices and phe- electronics based on molecular self- Alumni reunions, hosted fellow speaker Laura Smoliar, and Crystal Fire. He will discuss nomena using new materials, assembly, and understanding by various universities, labo- manager of device reliability at Sili- how development of a strong including frequency agile oscilla- biologically inspired systems. Other ratories and companies. con Light Machines, who will narrative often relies upon hav- tors with bandwidths on the order talks will focus on current research Wednesday, March 14 discuss the essential contributions ing strong characters, illustrated of 100 Ghz; large angle 3-D opti- for potential national defense ap- 1:00PM - 2:30PM Convention Center physicists make and the various with examples of central charac- cal beam steering; optical plications at the Naval Research Back by popular demand, ters in his books. “I have built my gyroscopes; acoustic spectrum Laboratory, MIT’s pioneering Lin- positions they hold in high-tech students can enjoy a compli- start-ups. “As the high-tech narratives around larger-than-life analyzers; and novel phased ar- coln Laboratory, Boeing, and the mentary lunch with an expert economy continues to heat up, es- physicist characters, who help me ray radar systems. Other session University of Maryland. on a topic of interest to them. pecially in telecommunications, to portray how physics occurs in speakers will discuss the electro- Session C4, Ballroom 6E 6 March 2001 NEWS

Magnetic Storage Industry Continues to Grow and Grow... By Robert M. White

When the only way of creating creasing need for a middle level of Figure 1 bits was through a keyboard, it was automated data management tools. difficult to imagine ever needing Standards are also being developed more than perhaps hundreds of to define the management and con- megabytes of storage on a PC. How- trol of data objects so different ever, with digital images and storage devices can easily work to- networks, PC’s will soon easily re- gether on a network. However, for quire 100 gigabytes. Corporate physicists, the interesting story is at storage requirements are mind-bog- the physical level. The figure of merit gling. The amount of data in storage is how many bits can be corporations are creating is grow- stored in a square area. This metric ing at a rate of 100% per year. One has increased by nearly a factor of talks about terabytes and petabytes. ten million since IBM introduced the Companies are establishing dedi- disk drive in 1956. It is remarkable cated networks for storage (storage that this dramatic improvement in area networks, or SANS). EMC, the storage has been based on an elec- leader in providing storage solutions, tromechanical technology — the is approaching $5B in sales. hard disk drive (HDD) that depends Cross sections of read sensors used in hard disk drives today. In the bottom synthetic spin valve, the bottom magnetic layer (CoFe) is part of a (two-layer) synthetic antiferromagnet, which is pinned by a “real” antiferromagnet (IrMn). In the spin filter device, Storage, like networking, has sev- upon maintaining a read/write sty- there is a layer of copper on top, which provides additional scattering and enhances the magnetoresistance. eral levels. At the upper level, there lus 5 nm from a data surface that is are applications like “datamining” moving at 40 m/s! history, over 100% per year. This Experimental studies indicate that demonstrated in the lab. This indi- and “data warehousing.” As the Storage densities today are in- growth is leading to lower storage this effect is associated with interfa- cates that superparamagnetism amount of data grows, there is in- creasing at their highest rate in prices, currently approximately 10¢ cial scattering. When the may not be as limiting as originally Figure 2: HDD Technology Demonstrations per megabyte. Another interesting magnetizations are parallel, major- feared. In fact, we believe we should fact about storage is that a 1% de- ity spins can scatter both forward be able to achieve 1 Terabit/in2 (see crease in price leads to a 4% increase into the other magnetic layer or Figure 2). in demand. The corresponding ra- backward into the layer from which There are two strategies currently tio for semiconductors is only 1.5. the spin originated. Anti-parallel being pursued toward this goal. One Before describing the most recent magnetizations restrict the scatter- is to increase the volume of the bit developments in recording, let us ing. This structure is therefore cell by making it deeper. One way of review the basics. In digital magnetic referred to as a spin “valve.” doing this is to record perpendicu- recording, “1’s” and “0’s” are stored This effect was first discovered at lar to the plane of the medium. This in the form of magnetic transitions low temperatures and required will require new writing and reading or the absence of magnetic transi- large fields to align the moments in designs as well as new signal pro- tions in a longitudinally, magnetized the two magnetic films. Subsequent cessing, or “channel” techniques. coating. These data may be recorded research led to room temperature The second strategy is to increase circumferentially around circular operation with magnetoresistances the coercivity of the medium mak- tracks on a disk or serially along a above 10% in fields of a few oersteds. ing it more “resistant” to thermal tape. Originally, these magnetic coat- In a recording application, one of switching. The difficulty with this ings consisted of magnetic particles the magnetic layers is pinned by plac- approach is that increasing the co- embedded in a binder. Today, the disk ing it adjacent to an antiferromagnet. ercivity also makes it more difficult in a hard disk drive consists of a very In order to reduce the influence to write. Nevertheless, there is a very thin sputtered film on an aluminum of magnetostatic fields from the interesting solution — thermally as- or glass substrate. Tapes may still pinned layer on the free layer, an sisted writing! If the material can be This graph shows the areal densities demonstrated since 1990 as well as the target of the contain iron particles or evaporated oppositely magnetized layer is added “designed” so that its coercivity de- National Storage Industry Consortium (NSIC), a consortium of companies such as IBM, films. Data is written onto the me- making the pinned layers look like a creases with temperature, then the Seagate, Quantum, Read-Rite, etc. involved in the hard disk drive (HDD) industry. dium by an electro-magnetic synthetic antiferromagnet. Figure 1 simultaneous application of a mag- transducer consisting of a copper coil shows several cross sections of GMR netic field and heating will enable with a highly permeable core which heads used in drives today. The writ- writing on high coercivity media. This PROLA, from page 1 is photo lithographically produced. ing coil and reading sensors are is not unlike what occurs in a tradi- the legacy data used to typeset the this feature is currently limited for For many years, data was read deposited on the back vertical sur- tional magnetooptic recording journals. Soon thereafter the Naval Re- the time being to the 1997 APS jour- by inductively sensing the magnetic face of a small block or slide. The system today. What is particularly ap- search Laboratory joined to provide nals. Subscribers can now view fields associated with the magnetic bottom surface of the slider contains pealing about this idea is that the scanning on a cooperative basis. APS references displayed with abstracts, transitions in the medium. In 1990, channels, which guide the flow of “footprints” associated with the took over direct management of the while non-subscribers may purchase IBM introduced a magnetoresistive air when the slider rides above the magnetic field gradient and thermal project in the summer of 1997 and individual articles from PROLA with sensor. Since the amplitude of the spinning disk. This flow of air cre- gradient can be made different so moved it entirely in house in May, 1998. their credit cards. Each year the most readback signal is proportional to ates a stiff suspension that maintains that their intersection results in a Mark Doyle, a physicist in the Long recent content will be updated as ma- the width of the recording track, in- the fixed and incredibly small spac- very small-recorded spot. Island office who is Manager of Prod- terial is transferred into PROLA from troducing the more sensitive ing between the writing and reading The “Terabit Challenge” will uct Development, took over the current journal files. magnetoresistive transducer meant elements and the data surface. require a deeper physical under- project, and by the end of the year the Those who will be using PROLA’s it was possible to reduce the track A major challenge today lies in standing of nanoscale magnetics. server was launched with an archive search capabilities will be pleased to width thereby increasing the track the media. The thin magnetic film It will also very likely require new of online copies of Physical Review hear that replacing the current search density. The initial magnetoresistive consists of approximately 100 Å of discovery. It is interesting to note from 1985 through 1996. The ma- engine is a top short-term priority for sensors employed permalloy, an al- an alloy of cobalt. It is prepared by that the continual march of areal jority of the collection consists of the PROLA staff. Material dating be- loy of Ni and Fe, which has a sputtering which gives it a granular density to higher values has ben- scanned images of the printed jour- fore 1981 will be added continually, magnetoresistance of 2%. That is, structure. Typical grain sizes are 20 efited from such relatively recent nals available as either GIF images and the new reference linking fea- there is a 2% change in the resis- Å. If there are N grains within a bit fundamental discoveries as the or as PDF files. In addition to the ture will be extended to all of PROLA, tance when the magnetization cell the signal, being coherent across magnetic force microscope, the gi- scanned images, the front and back along with the integration of links to changes from being aligned with the the cell, is proportional to N2 while ant magnetoresistive effect, and matter of the articles is rekeyed. citing articles. Bandwidth-challenged current to being perpendicular to it. the noise varies as N. Therefore, the spin-dependent tunneling. PROLA uses this, coupled with a bib- users will also soon have the option to This is referred to as the anisotropic signal-to-noise is proportional to N. Last year, IBM announced a 250 liographic database, as the basis for download lower-resolution PDF files. magnetoresistive effect. As the bit cell decreases with increas- MByte drive with a one-inch form- its search index and reference link- Future plans include implementing This attack on track density was ing density, if the SNR is to remain factor, the so-called micro drive. One ing. Full text searching will be new external linking resources, and greatly aided by the discovery in constant, the grains must be made can hardly imagine the storage ap- available using optical character rec- rescanning all of the articles from 1985- 1988 of the “giant” magnetoresistive smaller. However, if the grains be- plications if the perpendicular or ognition on the scanned images. 1996 at the higher quality level. In effect (GMR). Albert Fert and his col- come too small, they become hybrid magnetic-optical technolo- The quality of the pre-1985 ma- addition, the APS has entered into an leagues in France discovered that the thermally unstable. This is referred gies described above are employed terial has been improved by scanning agreement with the Library of Con- change in magnetoresistance in the to as the superparamagnetic effect in this form-factor! the articles at a higher resolution. In gress to provide a long-term plane of a sandwich of two magnetic and leads to degradation of data. Robert M. White is University Pro- response to membership requests, in- repository for the files that are in films separated by a thin conductor, The first estimate of the fessor, Electrical and Computer ternal article references are now linked PROLA, and is negotiating for a live such as copper, depended upon the superparamagnetic limit to record- Engineering, and Director of the Data to external resources (at AIP and mirror site at a major university to fur- relative orientation of the magneti- ing density was 40 Gbits/in2. Slightly Storage System Center at Carnegie SLAC, among other sites), although ther improve access and availability. zations in the two magnetic films. more than 50 Gbits/in2 has been Mellon University. NEWS March 2001 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS

2001 APS Fellowship Nomination Deadlines Good Works (and Good Work) at the For submittal information see: http://www.aps.org/fellowships APS Editorial Office DIVISIONS International RIDGE, NY—In addition to pro- In 2000, the APS Astrophysics ...... 05/01/01 Physics ...... 04/02/01 Atomic, Molecular, Industrial and Applied cessing the 24,000 or so Editorial Office Optical ...... 03/31/01 Physics ...... PAST manuscripts that come into the and BNL together Biological Physics ...... 04/02/01 Education...... 04/15/01 APS Editorial Office each year, donated nearly Chemical Physics ...... PAST staff members here have found 23,000 pounds of Computational TOPICAL GROUPS time to engage in a number of food for needy in- Physics ...... 04/14/01 Few Body Systems .. 04/10/01 good works. Most of these ben- dividuals and Condensed Matter ...... PAST Precision Measurement efit the local food drive in families in the area. Fluid Dynamics ...... PAST Fund. Const...... 04/02/01 Brookhaven Township, in east- In addition, sev- Polymer Physics ...... 04/15/01 Instruments and ern Long Island’s Suffolk eral times a year a Laser Science ...... 04/02/01 Measurement ...... 04/02/01 Materials Physics ...... PAST Shock Compression . 04/02/01 County, and are conducted in gift basket is cre- Nuclear Physics ...... 04/02/01 Gravitation ...... 04/02/01 conjunction with Brookhaven ated and displayed Particles & Fields ...... 04/02/01 Magnetism and Its National Laboratory (BNL). in the lunchroom. Physics of Beams ..... 03/15/01 Applications ...... 04/02/01 Others are inspired by the holi- Staff members Journal Services staff with gifts for their adopted family. Plasma Physics ...... 04/02/01 Plasma Astrophysics .. 04/02/01 day spirit. contribute the con- Standing: Carla Lamberti, Donna Vassil, Danielle Buckley, Statistical and Nonlinear Many of the 120 staff mem- tents, the basket is Patti Merlo, Jennifer O’Brien, Maria Poko, Jennifer Lukert, FORUMS Physics ...... 04/02/01 bers contribute and participate, arranged and Joyce Masterson, Mary Ann Kirchner, Rose Ellen Walls, Janet Spinelli; sitting: Donna Kalista, Kathy Occhino, Enessa Physics & Society ..... 04/02/01 but Senior Editorial Administra- wrapped attrac- History of Physics ..... 04/02/01 APS GENERAL ...... 06/01/01 Fusco, Mary Jane Meyer, Maria Asaro, Carol Morales, tive Assistant Barbara Maddaloni tively, and Marie Sauer, Dawn Musraca. deserves credit for keeping these Maddaloni sells the efforts going over the last ten raffle tickets. “We get $50 to assistant for Physical Review B, years. Once a month Maddaloni $100 or more for each basket,” brought the idea of family Help Bring Sound Science to undertakes to send around a do- Maddaloni reports. “It depends sponsorship to her department. nation envelope for staff who on how much people want what’s The family was anonymous but US Arms Control Policy want to give a few dollars to the in it. The Beanie Baby basket did the number and ages of its The Union of Concerned Sci- • Working with Local Media (Fri- food drive. With the proceeds, especially well, and so did the members were known so that entists invites you to attend a series day, 2:30-3:30PM) usually $80-$100, one of a team bath towels and toiletries basket. gifts could be chosen of issue briefings on National Mis- • Educating Congress on Arms of volunteer shoppers buys We did another one with cou- appropriately. sile Defense and other US arms Control Policy (Friday, 4-5PM) staple foods at a warehouse store. pons for movie rentals plus all the So when they weren’t hard at control policy issues, and training The meetings are self-con- Maddaloni also monitors the bin trimmings: popcorn, chips, drinks work turning editors’ instruc- workshops on how scientists can tained, and it is not necessary to in the lunch room where staff de- and snacks.” Raffle proceeds tions into actions or getting work effectively with the media and attend them all. posit their own donations of supplement the other monthly ready for their own holiday cel- members of Congress on these For more information on non-perishable foods and the collections. ebrations, the Journal Services issues. These events will coincide the events or to RSVP, con- boxes of soda cans contributed This past December, the staff shopped for toys, other with the APS March meeting in Se- tact John Spykerman at UCS for their deposit value. Each entire Journal Services gifts, and foods so that the fam- attle, and will take place at the by Friday, March 9 via phone month the purchased and do- department at the Editorial ily could have a wonderful Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle (202) 223-6133 x113 or nated items are picked up by a office adopted a needy family, Christmas complete with a on Thursday evening, March 15 email: [email protected] or representative from the central identified through a local non- feast. According to Iris Gordon, and Friday afternoon, March 16. visit the UCS information booth feeder pantry, and from there the profit human services agency, Assistant Manager in Journal These meetings are designed in the Exhibit Hall at the APS food is divided among local agen- and conspired to give them the Services, “We all got a whole lot to inform scientists and engineers meeting by Wednesday, March cies and volunteer groups that best Christmas ever. Danielle more from this experience than attending the APS March meeting 14. If you can’t attend the meet- offer the food to those in need. Buckley, a journal services we gave.” about critical US security policies ings, but are interested in that scientists can - and should - becoming involved in arms con- play an important role in setting. trol policy issues, join ArmsNet Topics include: — UCS’s email network for sci- • National Missile Defense and entists and engineers working APS UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS the Bush Administration to bring sound science to US (Thursday 6-9PM, with dinner) arms control policy. For more in- STUDENT COMPETITION • US Nuclear Weapons Policy formation, email (Friday noon-2PM, with lunch) [email protected]. ▼ 2001 APKER AWARDS For Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research in Physics Endowed by Jean Dickey Apker, in memory of LeRoy Apker Letter, from page 4 DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATIONS reprint of a research publication one rational scientific whole. human practice of religion. Two awards are normally made • Students who have been or senior thesis (unbound) But these idealistic scientific Frankly, I am appalled at the dis- each year: One to a student at- enrolled as undergraduates at 4. A 1000-word summary, socialists committed atrocities torted and selective sense of history tending an institution offering a colleges and universities in written by the student, describ- numbering in the millions. These that seems common in the physics Physics PhD and one to a stu- the United States at least one ing his or her research were purely rational atheist community. Millions of people died dent attending an institution not quarter/semester during the 5. Two letters of recommenda- atrocities, and a large percentage under the banner of a more scien- offering a Physics PhD year preceding the JUNE 15, tion from physicists who know of the victims were religious tific way to live and and OOPS, we • Recipients receive a $5,000 2001 deadline. the candidate’s individual con- followers who refused to renounce forget. Because we’re all upset at award; finalists $2,000. They • Students who have an excel- tribution to the work submitted their religious faith in the name of religion, because Galileo got put on also receive an allowance for lent academic record and 6. The nominee’s address and scientific socialist atheism. celebrity house arrest by the Pope. travel to the Award presen- have demonstrated excep- telephone number during the By the way, Lenin himself came (During a time when women ac- tation. tional potential for scientific summer. from a physics family. His father was cused of being witches, and • Recipients’ and finalists’ home research through an original a student of Lobachevsky, his heretics without close connections institutions receive $5,000 and contribution to physics. FURTHER INFORMATION brother studied physics before he to the Pope, were hanged or burned $1,000, respectively, to sup- • Only one candidate may be See http://www.aps.org/praw/ was executed for terrorism against alive by the hundreds, let’s consider port undergraduate research. nominated per department. apker/descrip.html the Tsarist state, and the original what almost happened to Kepler’s • Recipients, finalists and their APPLICATION PROCEDURE career plan of young Vladimir mother, for example....) home physics departments The complete nomination pack- DEADLINE Ulyanov was to study physics, pos- Let’s get over ourselves, please, will be presented with plaques age is due on or before JUNE 15, Send name of proposed candi- sibly under Lobachevsky as well. and look at human history in a less or certificates of achievement. 2001 and should include: date and supporting information Millions of human beings were hysterical and more balanced man- The student’s home institution 1. A letter of nomination from by JUNE 15, 2001 to: Dr. Alan slaughtered in the 20th century in ner, one that doesn’t inevitably lead is prominently featured on all the head of the student’s aca- Chodos, Administrator, Apker the name of so-called scientific us to a simplistic victimization sce- awards and news stories of the demic department Award Selection Committee; The socialism. It is just as fair, or unfair, nario between science and religion. competition. 2. An official copy of the American Physical Society; One to blame those deaths on the general Human history is a much more rich • Each nominee will be granted student’s academic transcript Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD human practice of science, as it is to and complex story than that. a free APS Student Member- 3. A description of the original 20740-3844; Telephone: (301) blame the atrocities committed by Patricia Schwarz ship for one year upon receipt contribution, written by the stu- 209-3268, Fax: (301) 209-3652, religious state power on the general Pasadena, California of their completed application. dent such as a manuscript or email: [email protected]. 8 March 2001 NEWS THE BACK PAGE To Pledge or Not To Pledge: An Oath for Scientists? By Irving Lerch In his play, A Man for All Seasons, ety pays the bills and demands that the conduct of science will be arbi- Robert Bolt puts the following its interests be considered. Physi- trarily curtailed. words into Thomas More’s mouth cists, engineers, architects and Different cultures and religions as More tries to explain to his wife others whose labors directly affect place different interpretations on his reasons for defying the King the public welfare must demon- prescriptions such as limiting one’s and thereby condemning himself: strate competence and work to socially and environmen- “When a man takes an oath, Meg, accountability. Increasingly, basic tally constructive ends. What is he’s holding his ownself in his own and applied science connects with socially and environmentally con- hands. Like water. And if he opens technology to accelerate profound structive to one group is blatant his fingers then, he needn’t hope to social change. Science has pro- exploitation or ineffective drivel to find himself again.” longed our lives, taken us to the another. And behaviors based on At the end of the 15th century, planets, given us an understanding one interpretation may be judged Leonardo da Vinci, aside from pro- of life and the stars, and has also unproductive or contrary to pub- viding his patron, the Duke of Milan, made possible the greatest carnage lic welfare in another time. To be with dozens of innovative designs in human history. The life sciences effective, therefore, all such pre- for machines of war, nonetheless are now amassing the knowledge scriptions must be subjected to suppressed his work on yet another and wherewithal to fundamentally intense rounds of negotiation and invention, submarines, “on account alter this planet’s biological order. argument. There will have to be com- of the evil nature of men, who In short, science promises us eter- promise arising from such would practice assassination at the nal life or immediate extinction. consultations, and this process must bottom of the sea.” It would appear be renewed continuously as circum- that Leonardo apprehended a spec- An Oath for Scientists stances and local mores change. trum of horrors and drew a line Some of the world’s great scien- Ethics must be integrated into over which he would not tread. But tists have long championed an oath the education of technologists and the line was his alone. for scientists, including Nobelists scientists, and should include an This stratagem would be codi- Albert Einstein, Joseph Rotblat, examination of the impact that sci- fied in 1627 by Sir Francis Bacon Abdus Salam, Maurice Wilkins and ence and technology has had on in his Utopian tract, The New John Kendrew. But many more have society. There must also be an on- Atlantis, in which he reported a kind resisted the call. The proponents going dialogue among and between of scientific oath for scientist and were often motivated by their hor- scientists and the public, especially technologists. He described an ror of the poisonous outcome of at the interface of the societal im- elaborate enterprise, very much science applied to war and their pacts of innovation and research. like our own, consisting of travel- sense that a prescription must be By “dialogue,” I do not mean the

ers who collect the scientific output found to restrain the development one-sided effort of specialists to Alicia Chang/APS of various nations, scholars who of future terrors — even if it meant “educate” the public. While most Irving Lerch catalog written reports, those who expurgating the range of scientific lay people want to understand the study and collect technologies, sci- inquiry. But many other eminent canons of science and technology tists. A few writers, such as Daniel But the devils lay many traps for entists who develop their own lines scientists have reacted with equal and the impact of future discover- Sarewitz in his 1996 book, Fron- the unwary. John Wiens of Colo- of inquiry, pedants who order the distaste, remembering all too ies, they prefer that this discussion tiers of Illusion: Science, Technology, rado State University, in a 1997 collected information into a kind clearly the last American experi- occur within the framework of a and the Politics of Progress, have ar- journal article, warned about the of encyclopedia, and a council of ment with oaths for scholars which true exchange. gued that basic research can and insidious results if scientists become the whole to decide on the disposi- sought to cleanse academia of all For example, the findings of sci- should be focused on societal prob- too closely associated in their own tion of this knowledge. The vestiges of ideological socialism in ence, in their purest form, are lems and that researchers should and the public mind with the pro- narrator then adds, “We have con- the 1950s, with disastrous results. cultural expressions which contain publicly anticipate the potential cess and outcome of their work. sultations, which of the inventions Of course, there are important intellectual, artistic and literary negative aspects of their work. As “Perhaps the most pernicious and and experiences which we have dis- historical distinctions between the stimulation. The discoveries of ex- early as 1974, the UNESCO Gen- subtle effect of advocacy is on the covered shall be published, and professions — where an act of tra-solar planets, the “freezing” of eral Assembly declared, “Each interpretation of results. Even if a which not; and take all an oath of swearing an oath constitutes a dec- light in space, the exploration of the Member State should strive to use study is objectively framed and con- secrecy for the concealing of those laration of commitment to the human genome — all these carry scientific and technological knowl- scientiously designed and analyzed, which we think fit to keep secret; public welfare — and the sciences, fascination and beauty. But cosmol- edge for the enhancement of the the findings still must be placed in a though some of those we do reveal which have traditionally not directly ogy and evolution threaten belief cultural and material well-being of context,” Wiens wrote. “[Irving sometimes to the State, and some served the public. Nonetheless, the systems, and genetic engineering is its citizens, and to further the Langmuir] drew attention to what not.” numbers and varieties of ethical accompanied by a long shadow of United Nations ideals and objec- he called ‘pathological science,’ in The quotes from Bacon and Bolt codes have proliferated as learned fear over our biological heritage tives.” The statement put national which researchers unknowingly lose bracket our contemporary con- and professional communities sense and environment. interest and the culture of science their objectivity in interpreting data cerns. There is the ethical and moral public unease and depreciating con- Another important element is on the same platter, even though that are near detection limits when dimension of the scientific enter- fidence, usually measured in that big science is, by and large, a these undertakings occupy the an- much is riding on the results.” prise contained within our own appropriations levels for research state-funded enterprise, and legis- tipodes of public policy. Objectivity in science is an ab- commitment to society and our and declining student enrollments latures worldwide have imposed an We are besotted with devils, with solute necessity. Free exchange higher ideals, and our strong im- — despite the fact that polls consis- ever more elaborate filigree over contradictions, with warring im- assures objectivity by permitting pulse to protect society from the tently put scientists and science at public accountability. Even the very pulses that defy resolution. We are critical evaluation and the continu- darker fruits of our aptitude — the apex of public esteem. large private science and technol- awed with what the scientific intel- ous testing of results and presumably those undertakings An oath is a public declaration ogy sector has been transformed lect can achieve, yet wary of the conclusions. So if we are to develop that demean the human condition. and therefore an element in public by economics and the changing impact on society as our power and sustain open dialogue, it must These impulses confront us with discourse. But for such a dialogue face of intellectual property rights grows. We now suspect that we can contain a built-in barrier imperme- immediate problems. One era’s to be effective, the vocabulary and law. This process has widened the alter the planet, destroy civilization, able to the predilections, political morality will not do for all time. The culture must provide a context political dimensions of the public feed starving mankind, cure and sentiments and factual misunder- sensibility of a 20th century author within which an ongoing exchange face of science and is integral to create horrendous diseases. We standing that characterize all open to a 16th century historical figure is possible. The question is whether any exchange between the public seek the patronage, support and discussion. It requires a civility and does not provide us with insights we can construct a global edifice and scientists. In 1993, the US Con- admiration of the public at large, an honesty of all participants rarely to guide us through the manifold acceptable and valid for all profes- gress passed the Government but resist interference, controls and manifest in human affairs. layers of today’s turbulent affairs. sions and sciences and the public. Performance and Results Act participation. We resent the unedu- Irving Lerch is director of interna- Nor does Francis Bacon’s secretive But even if we succeed in achieving (GRPA), which requires federal cated fear of millions who question tional scientific affairs for the American society make sense in the global a sound foundation on which a agencies to compose strategic our intentions and competence, Physical Society. intellectual venture that defines consensus can be built, can we find plans and annual performance but are tongue-tied when we try to This article was abstracted from a contemporary science. If we have the key for guiding science in the evaluations. The public dialogue is explain our capacities and motives. paper presented in a symposium of the learned anything in the postwar name of social virtue without the becoming more complex. We savor the admiration and re- same title at the Annual Meeting of AAAS era, it is that secrecy will not com- risks inherent in conferring power spect we are immersed in, yet are in San Francisco on February 19, 2001. pel evil genius to remain ignorant, over the conduct of science on an The Devils Within confused by the increasing alien- The opinions expressed in this article are nor our colleagues to be virtuous. authoritarian meritocracy? The It is not only government that ation of the young who have turned those of the author and not necessarily The simple fact is that our soci- risk, of course, is that freedom in seeks accountability from scien- away from science. those of the APS.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].