DOCSLIB.ORG

Newsmaker of the Year: the Power Player

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Newsmaker of the Year: the Power Player NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR NATURE|Vol 462|24/31 December 2009 THE POWER PLAYER As a physicist, he found a way to capture atoms and won a Nobel prize. Now he is marshalling scientists and engineers to transform the world’s biggest energy economy. Eric Hand profiles the US energy secretary, Nature’s Newsmaker of the Year. TEVEN CHU is heading home on a bright Chu plans to tackle climate change by reviving the day in October. His motorcade of government cars scientific and technological urgency of the Manhattan powers up the slope of Cyclotron Road, past the fra- Project — enlisting some of the nation’s best minds to find Sgrant stands of eucalyptus and through the guard a way to power the world without ruining it. His plans start station at the entrance of Lawrence Berkeley National Labo- at home, where he is trying to push the ponderous DOE to ratory. The vehicles continue along Chu Road and come to support riskier research that could yield huge dividends. a stop near the top of the hill. With a budget of US$27 billion, the department runs The man after whom the road is named heads into Build- 17 national laboratories, oversees America’s nuclear ing 50, which housed his office for the five years that he stockpile and manages the environmental clean-up after ran this laboratory overlooking the University of Califor- the early nuclear age. It is the largest source of funds for nia, Berkeley. Inside an auditorium, 225 former colleagues physical-science research in the United States, and this year await his arrival. Some wear suits; others slouch in hooded Chu had a much bigger pot to dole out. Just one month sweatshirts and sandals. There is an eager anticipation in into his tenure, Congress gave the agency $37 billion in the air, and moments before Chu arrives, the crowd grows economic stimulus money — funds that Chu is steering quiet. Orange-vested security guards, armed with walkie- towards renewable energy, nuclear power, carbon-seques- talkies, open the doors, and Chu walks down to the podium, tration pilot plants and projects to modernize the electric his entourage trailing. grid, all of which should help to solve the climate problem. “It’s very good to be back here,” he says, flipping open his “They say that necessity is the mother of invention and this computer. “You people know I do my own PowerPoints. is the mother of all necessities,” he says. “So we’re going to That has not changed.” He launches headlong into a fast- get the mother of all inventions. And it’s not going to be paced and scattered talk that leaps across dozens of topics, just one, it has to be many.” all under the banner of climate change. He clicks ahead to the crucial slide — the one that shows actual measure- Hands-on manager ments of rising global temperatures outpacing what would In the 1980s, Chu made his name scientifically by trapping be expected without all the carbon dioxide that humans atoms using lasers tuned with the utmost precision. Now have spewed into the atmosphere. “Here’s the evidence,” he he is applying that same mastery of detail to a vastly more says. “I have to play this over and over again.” complex system: an agency of 100,000 people working on Such is his task back in Washington DC, where Chu now all aspects of energy and nuclear issues. works as Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Some Washington veterans have questioned whether a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet — the first Chu’s research talent and hands-on style of management Nobel-prizewinning scientist to hold such a high office in will serve him well, both at the DOE and amid the harsh the US government. political environment of the nation’s capital. He has made He is charged with transforming the world’s biggest some mistakes, notably in his dealings with Congress. But energy economy, and he has assumed the role of persuader- nearly a year into his tenure, Chu has proved that he is a in-chief, trotting before Congress to explain the science of quick learner. He has established himself as a voice that can climate change and his plans for combating it. Meeting reg- be trusted by politicians of various stripes. He has helped ularly with representatives and senators, he targets sceptics to bridge international divides, particularly between the and walks them through the data. “I say, ‘Come to my office United States and China. And he has lured some top sci- and we’ll talk about it’,” he explains. “At the very least you entists from industry and universities to join him at the can put a little doubt in their minds. If they’re so sure it’s DOE in his quest. natural causes, they may be less sure.” It helps to have a Carol Browner, Obama’s climate tsar, works often with Nobel prize, he adds. “Necessity is Chu as part of the president’s ‘green cabinet’, a group of sen- In confronting what he sees as the most pressing problem ior officials who oversee environmental matters. “I think facing the world today, Chu looks back in time to chart a the mother he’s going to turn out to be the best energy secretary ever,” way forwards. The Berkeley lab he once ran is the descend- of invention she says. Praise also flows from some Republican politi- ant of the Radiation Laboratory, where the physicist Ernest and this is the cians. Samuel Bodman, who led the DOE for former presi- Lawrence helped find ways to enrich uranium for the Man- dent George W. Bush, says that Chu has “shown skills as a hattan Project. Chemist Glenn Seaborg’s team discovered mother of all manager. I think it was an inspired choice by the president plutonium there, and theoretical physicist Robert Oppen- necessities.” to pick him.” heimer worked just down the hill before heading into the — Steven Chu Growing up in a New York suburb during the 1950s, New Mexico mountains to build the first nuclear bombs. Chu and his two brothers learned quickly that academic 978 © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved NATUREVol 462|24/31|Vol 462 December|24/31 December 2009 2009 NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR excellence — and competition — were family traditions. recalled nearly getting into a fist fight with Chu because The boys would watch College Bowl, a 1960s television quiz he was being “bossy about the lasers”, until a third student, show, and “the three of us would shout out answers and try who had studied with Chu at Rochester, explained to to beat the contestants”, recalls Morgan Chu, the youngest Bucksbaum: “It’s the way he always has been. Focused and brother and a high-profile lawyer in California. brusque,” says Bucksbaum. Chu’s father and mother fled China during the Second Chu’s graduate work using polarized light to probe C. OMMANNEY/GETTY World War and both did graduate work at the Massachu- atomic transitions was good enough for him to get a job setts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. The at Bell Labs in New Jersey, then a utopia for basic research. eldest son, Gilbert, followed the path of academic prestige Chu thrived there, but he also made sacrifices. As his work — accumulating science degrees from Princeton Univer- progressed, he spent more time away from home, says his sity in New Jersey and MIT before gaining an MD from ex-wife, Lisa Chu-Thielbar. Sometimes, she would smug- Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Morgan gle his first son, Geoffrey, under her overcoat onto the did a PhD in social science before heading to Harvard Law laboratory campus to catch some time with his father. “He School. Steven, on the other hand, was the A-minus stu- was always a scientist first and a father second,” says Chu’s dent who favoured tinkering over schoolwork. In a family second son, Michael, who doesn’t fault his father for the of Ivy Leaguers, he says he was the “academic black sheep”, singular focus that allowed him to achieve so much. “The who settled for the University of Rochester in New York, ambition was all intellectual and scientific. Steve never cared where he studied mathematics and physics. Family pres- about money. He didn’t even care about advancement,” says sures, he says, drove him — and frustrated him — early on, Chu-Thielbar. but once at Rochester, his facility for science flourished. After seven years at Bell Labs, Chu had a key insight “All of a sudden, the things they wanted me to do were very in 1985 into how to trap atoms. He crossed six lasers to natural,” he says. form what he called “optical molasses”, a goo of photons. On entering graduate school at Berkeley in 1970, Chu It slowed atoms nearly to a standstill, making them slug- began a love affair with lasers. The work that was once a gish enough to be held by the electromagnetic forces of an chore became the focus of an obsessive energy. “I’ve never additional laser. been that good at apportioning time,” he says. “When I A year later, in the winter of 1986, Chu glimpsed the got really excited about something, I would dig into it. It foundation of his Nobel prize through the windows of a turns out that is a quality that the best researchers have.” vacuum chamber. Sodium atoms, cooled in optical molas- Another Berkeley graduate student, Phil Bucksbaum, ses to 240 millionths of a degree above absolute zero, grew 979 © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fotonica Ed Elettronica Quantistica
    Fotonica ed elettronica quantistica http://www.dsf.unica.it/~fotonica/teaching/fotonica.html Fotonica ed elettronica quantistica Quantum optics - Quantization of electromagnetic field - Statistics of light, photon counting and noise; - HBT and correlation; g1 e g2 coherence; antibunching; single photons - Squeezing - Quantum cryptography - Quantum computer, entanglement and teleportation Light-matter Interaction - Two-level atom - Laser physics - Spectroscopy - Electronics and photonics at the nanometer scale - Cold atoms - Photodetectors - Solar cells http://www.dsf.unica.it/~fotonica/teaching/fotonica.html Energy Temperature LHC at CERN, Higgs, SUSY, ??? TeV 15 q q particle accelerators 10 K q GeV proton rest mass - quarks 1012K MeV electron rest mass / gamma rays 109K keV Nuclear Fusion, x rays, Sun center 106K Atoms ionize - visible light eV Sun surface fundamental components components fundamental room temperature 103K meV Liquid He, superconductors, space 1K dilution refrigerators, quantum Hall µeV laser-cooled atoms 10-3K neV Bose-Einstein condensates 10-6K peV low T record 480 picokelvin 10-9K -12 complexity, organization organization complexity, 10 K Nobel Prizes in Physics 2010 - Andre Geims, Konstantin Novoselov 2009 - Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle, George E. Smith 2007 - Albert Fert, Peter Gruenberg 2005 - Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch 2001 - Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman 1997 - Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips 1989 - Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul 1981 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur L. Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn 1966 - Alfred Kastler 1964 - Charles H. Townes, Nicolay G. Basov, Aleksandr M. Prokhorov 1944 - Isidor Isaac Rabi 1930 - Venkata Raman 1921 - Albert Einstein 1907 - Albert A.
    [Show full text]
  • Nobel Laureates Endorse Joe Biden
    Nobel Laureates endorse Joe Biden 81 American Nobel Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine have signed this letter to express their support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 election for President of the United States. At no time in our nation’s history has there been a greater need for our leaders to appreciate the value of science in formulating public policy. During his long record of public service, Joe Biden has consistently demonstrated his willingness to listen to experts, his understanding of the value of international collaboration in research, and his respect for the contribution that immigrants make to the intellectual life of our country. As American citizens and as scientists, we wholeheartedly endorse Joe Biden for President. Name Category Prize Year Peter Agre Chemistry 2003 Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989 Frances H. Arnold Chemistry 2018 Paul Berg Chemistry 1980 Thomas R. Cech Chemistry 1989 Martin Chalfie Chemistry 2008 Elias James Corey Chemistry 1990 Joachim Frank Chemistry 2017 Walter Gilbert Chemistry 1980 John B. Goodenough Chemistry 2019 Alan Heeger Chemistry 2000 Dudley R. Herschbach Chemistry 1986 Roald Hoffmann Chemistry 1981 Brian K. Kobilka Chemistry 2012 Roger D. Kornberg Chemistry 2006 Robert J. Lefkowitz Chemistry 2012 Roderick MacKinnon Chemistry 2003 Paul L. Modrich Chemistry 2015 William E. Moerner Chemistry 2014 Mario J. Molina Chemistry 1995 Richard R. Schrock Chemistry 2005 K. Barry Sharpless Chemistry 2001 Sir James Fraser Stoddart Chemistry 2016 M. Stanley Whittingham Chemistry 2019 James P. Allison Medicine 2018 Richard Axel Medicine 2004 David Baltimore Medicine 1975 J. Michael Bishop Medicine 1989 Elizabeth H. Blackburn Medicine 2009 Michael S.
    [Show full text]
  • Having a Good Time: a Triumph of Science & Technology
    UDC’s Office of Research & Graduate Studies, SEAS, LSAMP, & STEM Center Invite You to a Seminar on Having a Good Time: A Triumph of Science & Technology Presented by Dr. William D. Phillips, NIST Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1997 © Robert Rathe © Robert Rathe Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 Time: 12:30 PM Location: Building 41-A03 Abstract: People have long been interested in timekeeping. In the 18th century, this interest became particularly keen because of technological demands: the need for accurate navigation on the high seas. While many people believed that the answer to sufficiently good timekeeping at sea would be found in astronomical measurements, it was earthbound engineering that literally won the prize. The construction of accurate seagoing clocks revolutionized navigation in the 18th and 19th centuries. The advent of even more accurate clocks—atomic clocks—in the 20th century gave birth to a new revolution in navigation—the Global Positioning System. This ever-more advanced system for satellite navigation owes its success both to excellent engineering and to seemingly arcane science. Dr. William D. Phillips is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he leads the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics with Dr. Steven Chu, now Secretary of Energy, and with Dr. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, an Algerian-born French physicist, “for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.” With a physics bachelor’s degree from Juniata College in Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from MIT, Phillips started his career at NIST only a few years after it left UDC’s Van Ness campus for its location in Gaithersburg.
    [Show full text]
  • Nobel Lectures™ 2001-2005
    World Scientific Connecting Great Minds 逾10 0 种 诺贝尔奖得主著作 及 诺贝尔奖相关图书 我们非常荣幸得以出版超过100种诺贝尔奖得主著作 以及诺贝尔奖相关图书。 我们自1980年代开始与诺贝尔奖得主合作出版高品质 畅销书。一些得主担任我们的编辑顾问、丛书编辑， 并于我们期刊发表综述文章与学术论文。 世界科技与帝国理工学院出版社还邀得其中多位作了公 开演讲。 Philip W Anderson Sir Derek H R Barton Aage Niels Bohr Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Murray Gell-Mann Georges Charpak Nicolaas Bloembergen Baruch S Blumberg Hans A Bethe Aaron J Ciechanover Claude Steven Chu Cohen-Tannoudji Leon N Cooper Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Niels K Jerne Richard Feynman Kenichi Fukui Lawrence R Klein Herbert Kroemer Vitaly L Ginzburg David Gross H Gobind Khorana Rita Levi-Montalcini Harry M Markowitz Karl Alex Müller Sir Nevill F Mott Ben Roy Mottelson 诺贝尔奖相关图书 THE PERIODIC TABLE AND A MISSED NOBEL PRIZES THAT CHANGED MEDICINE NOBEL PRIZE edited by Gilbert Thompson (Imperial College London) by Ulf Lagerkvist & edited by Erling Norrby (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) This book brings together in one volume fifteen Nobel Prize- winning discoveries that have had the greatest impact upon medical science and the practice of medicine during the 20th “This is a fascinating account of how century and up to the present time. Its overall aim is to groundbreaking scientists think and enlighten, entertain and stimulate. work. This is the insider’s view of the process and demands made on the Contents: The Discovery of Insulin (Robert Tattersall) • The experts of the Nobel Foundation who Discovery of the Cure for Pernicious Anaemia, Vitamin B12 assess the originality and significance (A Victor Hoffbrand) • The Discovery of
    [Show full text]
  • Reversed out (White) Reversed
    Berkeley rev.( white) Berkeley rev.( FALL 2014 reversed out (white) reversed IN THIS ISSUE Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory Tabletop Physics Bringing More Women into Physics ALUMNI NEWS AND MORE! Cover: The MAVEN satellite mission uses instrumentation developed at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory to explore the physics behind the loss of the Martian atmosphere. It’s a continuation of Berkeley astrophysicist Robert Lin’s pioneering work in solar physics. See p 7. photo credit: Lockheed Martin Physics at Berkeley 2014 Published annually by the Department of Physics Steven Boggs: Chair Anil More: Director of Administration Maria Hjelm: Director of Development, College of Letters and Science Devi Mathieu: Editor, Principal Writer Meg Coughlin: Design Additional assistance provided by Sarah Wittmer, Sylvie Mehner and Susan Houghton Department of Physics 366 LeConte Hall #7300 University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-7300 Copyright 2014 by The Regents of the University of California FEATURES 4 12 18 Berkeley’s Space Tabletop Physics Bringing More Women Sciences Laboratory BERKELEY THEORISTS INVENT into Physics NEW WAYS TO SEARCH FOR GOING ON SIX DECADES UC BERKELEY HOSTS THE 2014 NEW PHYSICS OF EDUCATION AND SPACE WEST COAST CONFERENCE EXPLORATION Berkeley theoretical physicists Ashvin FOR UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN Vishwanath and Surjeet Rajendran IN PHYSICS Since the Space Lab’s inception are developing new, small-scale in 1959, Berkeley physicists have Women physics students from low-energy approaches to questions played important roles in many California, Oregon, Washington, usually associated with large-scale of the nation’s space-based scientific Alaska, and Hawaii gathered on high-energy particle experiments.
    [Show full text]
  • The Election—IV Steven Weinberg
    3/26/13 The Election—IV by Steven Weinberg, Garry Wills, and Jeffrey D. Sachs | The New York Review of Books The Election—IV NOVEMBER 8, 2012 Steven Weinberg, Garry Wills, and Jeffrey D. Sachs Barack Obama; drawing by John Springs Steven Weinberg The presidency of Barack Obama began to fail on January 6, 2009, a fortnight before the president was inaugurated. Only on that day, the first day of a new Congress, the rules of the Senate could have been changed by a simple majority vote. That was the last opportunity to revise the rule that requires sixty votes to limit a filibuster. Of course, no president-elect or president has authority to change the Senate rules, but this president- elect had ample means to exert pressure on senators. For instance, he could have confronted Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, with the prospect of administration support for the nuclear waste disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, whose worst drawback was its unpopularity in Nevada. Alas, Barack Obama proved himself to be no Lyndon Johnson. Even though Democrats would have a majority in both houses of Congress for the next www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/08/election-4/?pagination=false 1/10 3/26/13 The Election—IV by Steven Weinberg, Garry Wills, and Jeffrey D. Sachs | The New York Review of Books two years, the Republican ability to filibuster in the Senate meant that bipartisan compromise would be needed to pass any legislation or approve any appointments. This sort of compromise may have been congenial to President Obama anyway, but after January 6 it was unavoidable.
    [Show full text]
  • Steven Chu William R
    Steven Chu William R. Kenan Jr. Professor and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology Physics CONTACT INFORMATION • Administrative Contact Donna Fung Email [email protected] Tel 6504979039 Bio BIO Steven Chu is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology in the Medical School at Stanford University. He has published over 280 papers in atomic and polymer physics, biophysics, biology, bio-imaging, batteries, and other energy technologies. He holds 15 patents, and an additional 9 patent disclosures or filings since 2015. Dr. Chu was the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy from January 2009 until the end of April 2013. As the first scientist to hold a Cabinet position and the longest serving Energy Secretary, he recruited outstanding scientists and engineers into the Department of Energy. He began several initiatives including ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy), the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was personally tasked by President Obama to assist BP in stopping the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. Prior to his cabinet post, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was active in pursuit of alternative and renewable energy technologies, and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, where he helped launch Bio-X, a multi-disciplinary institute combining the physical and biological sciences with medicine and engineering. Previously he was head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Dr. Chu is the co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping, and has received numerous other awards.
    [Show full text]
  • Programme 70Th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 27 June - 2 July 2021
    70 Programme 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 27 June - 2 July 2021 Sessions Speakers Access Background Scientific sessions, Nobel Laureates, Clear guidance Everything else social functions, young scientists, to all viewing there is to know partner events, invited experts, and participation for a successful networking breaks moderators options meeting 2 Welcome Two months ago, everything was well on course to celebrate And yet: this interdisciplinary our 70th anniversary with you, in Lindau. anniversary meeting will feature But with the safety and health of all our participants being the most rich and versatile programme ever. of paramount importance, we were left with only one choice: It will provide plenty of opportunity to educate, inspire, go online. connect – and to celebrate! Join us. 4 PARTICIPATING LAUREATES 4 PARTICIPATING LAUREATES 5 Henry A. Joachim Donna George P. Hartmut Michael M. Adam Hiroshi Kissinger Frank Strickland Smith Michel Rosbash Riess Amano Jeffrey A. Peter Richard R. James P. Randy W. Brian K. Barry C. Dean Agre Schrock Allison Schekman Kobilka Barish John L. Harvey J. Robert H. J. Michael Martin J. Hall Alter Grubbs Kosterlitz Evans F. Duncan David J. Ben L. Edmond H. Carlo Brian P. Kailash Elizabeth Haldane Gross Feringa Fischer Rubbia Schmidt Satyarthi Blackburn Robert B. Reinhard Aaron Walter Barry J. Harald Takaaki Laughlin Genzel Ciechanover Gilbert Marshall zur Hausen Kajita Christiane Serge Steven Françoise Didier Martin Nüsslein- Haroche Chu Barré-Sinoussi Queloz Chalfie Volhard Anthony J. Gregg L. Robert J. Saul Klaus William G. Leggett Semenza Lefkowitz Perlmutter von Klitzing Kaelin Jr. Stefan W. Thomas C. Emmanuelle Kurt Ada Konstantin S.
    [Show full text]
  • Nobel Laureates
    Nobel Laureates Over the centuries, the Academy has had a number of Nobel Prize winners amongst its members, many of whom were appointed Academicians before they received this prestigious international award. Pieter Zeeman (Physics, 1902) Lord Ernest Rutherford of Nelson (Chemistry, 1908) Guglielmo Marconi (Physics, 1909) Alexis Carrel (Physiology, 1912) Max von Laue (Physics, 1914) Max Planck (Physics, 1918) Niels Bohr (Physics, 1922) Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (Physics, 1930) Werner Heisenberg (Physics, 1932) Charles Scott Sherrington (Physiology or Medicine, 1932) Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger (Physics, 1933) Thomas Hunt Morgan (Physiology or Medicine, 1933) Sir James Chadwick (Physics, 1935) Peter J.W. Debye (Chemistry, 1936) Victor Francis Hess (Physics, 1936) Corneille Jean François Heymans (Physiology or Medicine, 1938) Leopold Ruzicka (Chemistry, 1939) Edward Adelbert Doisy (Physiology or Medicine, 1943) George Charles de Hevesy (Chemistry, 1943) Otto Hahn (Chemistry, 1944) Sir Alexander Fleming (Physiology, 1945) Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (Chemistry, 1945) Sir Edward Victor Appleton (Physics, 1947) Bernardo Alberto Houssay (Physiology or Medicine, 1947) Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius (Chemistry, 1948) - 1 - Walter Rudolf Hess (Physiology or Medicine, 1949) Hideki Yukawa (Physics, 1949) Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (Chemistry, 1956) Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee (Physics, 1957) Joshua Lederberg (Physiology, 1958) Severo Ochoa (Physiology or Medicine, 1959) Rudolf Mössbauer (Physics, 1961) Max F. Perutz (Chemistry, 1962)
    [Show full text]
  • The Equivalence Principle
    Do Quantum Systems Break The Equivalence Principle? Timir Datta Physics and Astronomy department University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 And Ming Yin Physics/Engineering Department Benedict College Columbia, SC 29204 Keywords: Gravity, Inertial response, Equality of Free Falls, Einstein’s Principle of Equivalence, Breaking the principle of equivalence, Anubis balance, Aryabhata, John Philoponus, Benedetti Giambattista, Simon Stevin, Robert Hook, Edme Marriotte, Gravitational response of a composite system, Hall Effect, George Johnstone Stoney, Quantum Hamiltonian for a conductor in gravity, Gravitational response of elastic and rigid lattice, Gravity-induced field, Gravity-induced polarization, Tolman experiment, Fairbank, -Dessler controversy. Overview: Gravitational response of real objects is a fascinating topic. Einstein formalized the Galileo-Newton ideas of equality of free falls into “the complete physical equivalence” or the Principle of Equivalence [Albert Einstein, The meaning of Relativity, 5th ed. Princeton, (1921)]. This principle (EP) introduced physical content into the mathematical postulate of general covariance [W. Pauli, Theory of relativity, Dover, New York (1981)] and led to General Relativity. However, in this article we point out that in a gravitational field, g, the bulk response of an electrically neutral but atomistic test mass is model dependant. Depending on the particular quantum approximation scheme, opposing results for the gravity induced (electric) polarization Pg have been reported. For instance, Pg is small and oriented anti- parallel to g, if the deformations of the positive background lattice is neglected [L.I. Schiff, PRB, 1, 4649 (1970)]. But, it is 105 larger and opposite in direction in the elastic lattice approximation [A. J. Dessler et al, Phys.Rev, 168, 737, (1968); Edward Teller, PNAS, 74, 2664 (1977)].
    [Show full text]
  • Nobel Laureates Published In
    Nobel Laureates Published in Science has published articles by Nobel Prize® Laureates since the award’s inception! Award categories include Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. Listed here are prize winning authors from 1990 to the present, with the number of articles each laureate published in Science. Science is considered one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals and is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). CHEMISTRY MEDICINE Physics 2009 2009 2007 Venkatraman Ramakrishnan—UK ............10 Elizabeth H. Blackburn—US ................................6 Albert Fert—France ...............................................1 Thomas A. Steitz—US ............................................28 Carol W. Greider—US ..................................................1 Ada E. Yonath—Israel ..................................................1 Jack W. Szostak—US ...................................................9 2006 John C. Mather—US ............................................1 2008 2008 Osamu Shimomura—US ........................................7 Françoise Barré-Sinnoussi—Germany ........6 2005 Martin Chalfie—US .......................................................6 Luc Montagnier—France .....................................11 John L. Hall—US .....................................................3 Roger Y. Tsien—US ...................................................14 Harald zur Hausen—France ...................................2 Theodore W. Hänsch—Germany ................2 2007 2007 2004 Gerhard Ertl—Germany
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2017
    67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences Annual Report 2017 The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Contents »67 th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry) »6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences Over the last 67 years, more than 450 Nobel Laureates have come 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry) Science as an Insurance Policy Against the Risks of Climate Change 10 The Interdependence of Research and Policymaking 82 to Lindau to meet the next generation of leading scientists. 25–30 June 2017 Keynote by Nobel Laureate Steven Chu Keynote by ECB President Mario Draghi The laureates shape the scientific programme with their topical #LiNo17 preferences. In various session types, they teach and discuss Opening Ceremony 14 Opening Ceremony 86 scientific and societal issues and provide invaluable feedback Scientific Chairpersons to the participating young scientists. – Astrid Gräslund, Professor of Biophysics, Department of New Friends Across Borders 16 An Inspiring Hothouse of Intergenerational 88 Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Sweden By Scientific Chairpersons Astrid Gräslund and Wolfgang Lubitz and Cross-Cultural Exchange Outstanding scientists and economists up to the age of 35 are – Wolfgang Lubitz, Director, Max Planck Institute By Scientific Chairpersons Torsten Persson and Klaus Schmidt invited to take part in the Lindau Meetings. The participants for Chemical Energy Conversion, Germany Nobel Laureates 18 include undergraduates, PhD students as well as post-doctoral Laureates 90 researchers. In order to participate in a meeting, they have to Nominating Institutions 22 pass a multi-step application and selection process. 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences Nominating Institutions 93 22–26 August 2017 Young Scientists 23 #LiNoEcon Young Economists 103 Scientific Chairpersons SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME – Martin F.
    [Show full text]