December 2005 NEWS Volume 14, No. 11 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews Baltimore to Host 2006 APS March Meeting Three Undergraduates Receive ore than 6000 physicists mechanics; thermoelectric from around the world energy conversion; solid state APS Apker Awards Mwill descend on the implementations of cavity QED; Baltimore Convention Center spallation neutron sources; fore- for the 2006 APS March Meeting, front methods and limits of lithog- to be held March 13-19 in raphy; and polymeric templating. Baltimore, Maryland. It is the There will also be a special work- largest annual gathering of profes- shop, sponsored by the APS sional physicists in the country. Forum on Education, on teach- This year, the scientific pro- annual prize and award session, ing quantum mechanics with gram will feature more than 90 a one-day workshop on profes- interactive computer-based tuto- invited sessions and 550 con- sional skills development for rials. The workshop is free to all Nathaniel Craig Matthew Paoletti David Miller tributed sessions, on topics rang- women physicists, a panel registrants. Photo credit: Shelly Johnston ing from condensed matter discussion with AIP and APS On Saturday, March 11, the The LeRoy Apker Award is given for outstanding research accom- physics, materials physics, high journal editors, and a High School APS Division of Polymer Physics plishments in physics by an undergraduate. Two categories are recog- polymer physics, chemical and Teachers' Day on Tuesday, will host a special short course on nized, one for an undergraduate at an institution that grants the PhD, biological physics, fluid dynam- March 14. polymers in existing and emerg- and the other for an undergraduate at an institution that does not ics, laser science, computational In addition to the regular tech- ing patterning technologies, with grant the PhD. Normally, there is one award each year in each cate- physics, industrial and applied nical program, there will be eight a specific focus on the materials gory. This year, however, in an unusual but not unprecedented move, physics, and atomic, molecular half-day tutorials offered on requirements. The ability to cre- the selection committee recommended, and the APS Executive Board and optical physics, as well as Sunday, March 12, on spintronics; ate high-resolution, periodic pat- approved, three recipients: one in the non-PhD category, and two in numerous other subfields. Special molecular magnetics; current terns within a polymer thin-film the PhD category. scheduled events include the interpretations of quantum is the basis of photolithography in The non-PhD recipient is Matthew Paoletti of Bucknell University, microelectronics processing, and who, working under the supervision of Tom Solomon, did his research Conference Addresses Problems of polymers are among the best can- on "Experimental Studies of the Effects of Chaotic Mixing on Advection- didates for next-generation lithog- Reaction-Diffusion Systems." At Bucknell, Paoletti won the Lowry Sustainable Development Worldwide raphy technologies. Prize for most outstanding physics major, the Phi Beta Kappa Award By Ernie Tretkoff Physics (SAIP) and the United From a science policy stand- for most outstanding research, and the Miller Prize for the best honor's thesis. He is now pursuing graduate studies at the University of About 350 people from over 70 Nations Educational, Scientific, and point, Baltimore is a particularly Maryland. nations attended the World Cultural Organization (UNESCO). advantageous location for one of One of the PhD recipients is Nathanial J. Craig of Harvard, who Conference on Physics and At the conference, four main the largest physics meetings of Sustainable Development from did his award-winning work in the laboratory of Charles Marcus, on themes were discussed: Physics and the year. In addition to the usual "Tunable Non-local Spin Control in a Coupled Quantum Dot System". October 31 to November 2 in Health, Physics and Economic “Contact Congress” booths at the In a display of versatility, he intends to work on string theory in Durban, South Africa. Development, Physics Education, meeting, the APS Office of graduate school at Stanford. The purpose of the conference and Energy and Environment. These Public Affairs (OPA) is organiz- The other PhD recipient is David Miller of the University of Chicago. was to bring the international themes were chosen because these ing Congressional visits for His research project, titled "Search for high energy axions with the CAST physics community together to are areas where physics has made Wednesday and Thursday, March calorimeter" was carried out at CERN and was done under the super- develop plans for addressing some major contributions in the past and Baltimore continued on page 6 vision of Juan Collar. Like Craig, Miller will pursue his graduate work of the problems of sustainable devel- where physics can make significant at Stanford, after completing his experimental work at CERN. opment. The conference also served contributions in the future, said Judy 2006 Policy for as a final international event for the Franz, APS Executive Officer and Printed Bulletin World Year of Physics. Secretary-General of IUPAP. Registrants for the 2006 APS The conference was sponsored After a day of opening plenary March Meeting will receive a free Fire When Ready, Gridley! by the Abdus Salam International sessions introducing the four CD-ROM of the March Meeting Center for Theoretical Physics themes, participants divided into Bulletin. Those who pre-register and (ICTP), the International Union of the four groups, and each group wish to have the two-volume printed Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), came up with three or four Bulletin should add $50 to the and the South African Institute of WCPSD continued on page 5 registration fee at the time of registra- tion. Individuals who register on-site at the meeting will have the option of Plasma Turbulence, ELM Insights purchasing the printed version for $50, based on availability. Prior to the Highlight 2005 DPP Meeting meeting, the entire program and Using the solar wind to study the dynamics of magnetic flux tubes in each individual day of the program will flow patterns of plasma, new insights space and laboratory plasmas. Two be available for downloading as pdfs. Computer terminals will be into plasma instabilities, and the special poster sessions focused on available at the meeting so that development of novel approaches physics research at the high school attendees can look up abstracts. Free to designing effective containment and undergraduate levels, featuring wi-fi will be available in the main walls for fusion reactors were among presentations from summer and the- lobbies of the convention center. the technical highlights of the 47th sis research by participating students. Further details about the 2006 policy Annual Meeting of the APS Division The DPP also scheduled a series are available online at http:// of Plasma Physics (DPP), held 2005 DPP Meeting continued on page 7 www.aps.org/meet/MAR06. October 24-28, 2005, in Denver, Colorado. More than 1500 attendees Photo credit: Vinaya Sathyasheelappa presented 1600 papers covering the Demonstrations As a capstone event of the World Year of Physics, APS is latest advances in plasma-based of plasma, its commissioning a work of art representing the WYP theme "Einstein research and technology. mystery, beauty, in the 21st Century". The work is being executed by the Washington In addition to the regular techni- and power, were Glass Studio, and, in addition to being installed in a suitable venue, cal program, the meeting featured available at the will be the subject of a poster that wll be distributed early in 2006. four mini-conferences throughout DPP-sponsored In the photo, Kendra Rand of the APS WYP team (left) watches as the week, on astrophysical explo- Plasma Sciences Michael Janis (center) of the Washington Glass Studio prepares a sions; reconnection and turbulence Expo. glass plate for firing in the kiln. His colleague Tim Tate (right) keeps in fluids and plasmas; status and a close eye on the proceedings. progress of the fast ignition concept for compressed fuel; and the 2 December 2005 NEWS This Month in Physics History Einstein’s Quest for a Unified Theory fter having become scientists, did work on the problem "It's such a very complicated build a dirty bomb. It's not simply famous for several bril- of unification. In 1918, Hermann thing that's hard to explain. That's a matter of tying a rod of cesium to Aliant breakthroughs in Weyl proposed a unification scheme what everybody kind of laughs at. a couple of sticks of dynamite and physics, including Brownian based on a generalization of They're all impressed it's such a running away." motion, the photoelectric effect, Riemannian geometry. Inspired by complicated thing and then they –Benn Tannenbaum, on dirty and the special and general Weyl’s work, Theodor Kaluza ask, 'What do you need it for?' " bombs, Associated Press, theories of relativity, Albert showed that by extending space- –Richard Steiner, NIST, on the November 1, 2005 Einstein spent the last thirty years time to five dimensions, one could electronic kilogram, The New York of his life on a fruitless quest for produce the Einstein equations in Times, October 16, 2005 "It's a disaster looming – a time a way to combine gravity and four dimensions, plus an extra set of bomb, say. The scientific commu- electromagnetism into a single equations that is equivalent to "Even those of us who are doing nity knows very little about it. It elegant theory. Maxwell’s equations for electromag- of the physics community. these experiments usually just 'shut scares me a lot." Einstein was motivated by an netism. The fifth dimension would up and calculate.' But in our off- – Gert Harigel, CERN, on chem- He also became more and more intellectual need to unify the forces be compact, curled up so small that absorbed in formal mathematical hours we do think about what it ical weapons dumped into the of nature.