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BPA NEWS Board on Physics and Astronomy • National Research Council • Washington, DC • 202-334-3520 • [email protected] • December, 1997 challenges they face. tions was available only to concertgoers. The Physics of Within our lifetimes, improvements in Just a few generations ago, a trip Materials our understanding of materials have across the United States was a great transformed the computer from an exotic adventure. Today, jets whisk us safely by Venkatesh Narayanamurti, tool, used only by scientists, to an essen- across the continent or the oceans in only Chair, Committee on Condensed- tial component of almost every aspect of a few hours. Matter and Materials Physics and our lives. Computers enable us to keep Making these extraordinary accom- Dean of Engineering, UC Santa track of extraordinarily complex data, plishments possible are a wide variety of Barbara from managing financial transactions to polymeric, ceramic, and metallic materi- forecasting weather. They control auto- als, as well as the transistor, the magnetic mobile production lines and guide air- disk, the laser, the light-emitting diode, HE Committee on Condensed- craft around the world. and a host of other solid-state devices. TMatter and Materials Physics, which During the same period, telecommu- The development of these materials and was commissioned by the BPA to prepare nication has evolved from rudimentary devices depended on our ability to predict a volume of the new survey, Physics in a telephone conversations to instantaneous and control the physical properties of New Era, has just completed a short simultaneous worldwide transmission of matter. That ability is the realm of con- preliminary report entitled The Physics of voice, video images, and data. The cellu- densed-matter and materials physics Materials. The report highlights a num- lar phone is even unleashing us from (CMMP). ber of areas of forefront research and also telephone wires. Fifty years ago, the major intellectual points out in a popular format the role Almost every American can now challenge facing researchers in CMMP that this field plays in our lives. The enjoy, while relaxing in the living room or was to understand the physical properties following article draws from the text of driving the car or even while jogging, of nearly perfect single crystals of ele- the report, which is available in printed music of a quality that in previous genera- See “Physics of Materials” on Page 4 and electronic form from the BPA (see www.nas.edu/bpa). Introduction BPA Gathers on the West Coast Condensed-matter and materials Report of the Committee on Optical Science and Engineering physics has played a key role in many of the scientific and technological revolu- Unveiled tions that have changed our lives so HE Board on Physics and Astronomy all of physics in a way that does not in- dramatically in the last fifty years. The held its semiannual meeting at the volve comparing one branch of physics years ahead will see equally dramatic T Academies’ Beckman Center on the UC directly with another. advances, making this an era of great Irvine campus on November 1-2. Just scientific excitement for research in this New Survey of Astronomy and before the BPA convened, there were field. It is also a time of stress on the Astrophysics several special meetings at the Center to institutions that support the field. The launch new activities. On the morning of November 1, goal of the report The Physics of Materials Board member Tony Readhead convened is to give the reader a sense of what con- Physics Survey Overview a distinguished group of astronomers to densed-matter and materials physics is On October 31, former BPA chair begin preparations for the next survey of about—of the excitement that scientists David Schramm convened a group to astronomy and astrophysics. Among the feel, the importance of their work, and the plan the Overview volume of the new participants was John Bahcall, chair of the survey, Physics in a New Era. Most of the last Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey components of the survey are completed Committee, which published a report In this issue: or in progress, and it is time to begin work entitled The Decade of Discovery and on its capstone, the Overview, which will which carried on the tradition of the • The Physics of Materials. summarize the conclusions and priorities astronomy community of setting clear Page 1 of the various branches of physics and priorities for the field. George Field, who address a number of broad unifying chaired the committee that prepared • BPA Gathers on the West themes and common issues that affect all Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 1980s, Coast. Page 1 of physics. The group wrestled with the attended. Also present were the cochairs question of how to identify priorities for See “BPA Meeting” on Page 2 2 BPA News • December 1997 BPA Meeting There are many new approaches and also Board on Physics and Astronomy new ways to identify and evaluate what (Continued from Page 1) works. The physics survey should also Robert C. Dynes, Chair address the role of faculty members in University of California, San Diego of the NRC’s Committee on Astronomy improving high-school science education. and Astrophysics, which was created in Could a high-school physics course serve Robert C. Richardson, Vice Chair Cornell University response to the recommendation of the as a foundation for learning other natural Bahcall Report that a continuing commit- sciences? Should high-school science be Ira Bernstein tee be established to carry out short-term taught in a way that blends the sciences Yale University studies in between the major decadal and is not bound by disciplinary bound- Steven Chu surveys. The chairs of the sponsoring aries? Can the university community be Stanford University Boards—the Board on Physics and As- mobilized to help high-school teachers Val Fitch tronomy and the Space Studies Board— and administrators to address these Princeton University participated along with former Commis- issues? The Board enthusiastically en- sion member Jerry Ostriker. With sup- dorsed pursuing these issues and encour- Ivar Giaever aged Dr. Lederman to continue develop- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute port from the National Science Founda- tion and the National Aeronautics and ing a plan for a component of the physics John Huchra Space Administration, the new decadal survey treating education. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics survey is expected to get under way early Computational Physics Nathan Myrhvold (pending) next calendar year. Microsoft Corporation David Arnett reported on a program- BPA Meeting initiation meeting that he led to consider Anthony C. S. Readhead The Board itself was convened in the a study of computational physics. The California Institute of Technology afternoon of November 1 by newly- group concluded that computation is R. G. Hamish Robertson installed BPA Chair Robert Dynes, faculty playing such an important role in physics, University of Washington member of the Physics Department and both in simulation and modeling as well Kathleen C. Taylor Chancellor of the University of California as data integration and visualization, that GM R&D Center San Diego campus. New BPA members there should be a study of this area as part of the physics survey. The Board encour- J. Anthony Tyson Val Fitch (Princeton), Kathleen Taylor Lucent Technologies (GM R&D Center), and George age Dr. Arnett to work with the BPA staff Whitesides (Harvard University) were to develop a study plan. George M. Whitesides welcomed. The Board congratulated Harvard University Biological Physics fellow-member Steven Chu on his receiv- David Wilkinson ing the Nobel Prize for his work in trap- Steve Chu discussed biological phys- Princeton University ping and cooling of atoms. ics with the Board. He recounted the The Board is developing studies in a results of a program initiation meeting NRC Staff number of cross-cutting areas: education, that Steve Block chaired, which con- Dr. Donald C. Shapero, Director computational physics, and biological cluded that a study of the “New Biology” Dr. Robert L. Riemer, Associate Director physics. should be undertaken. The study that Dr. Daniel F. Morgan, Program Officer Block’s group developed is motivated by Natasha Casey, Program Associate Education the need for the field of biology to rein- Grace Wang, Project Assistant Leon Lederman reported on a pro- vent itself in the post-genomic era, mov- gram-initiation meeting on education to ing toward a more quantitative approach. develop a focus on education for the The Board applauded this result and physics survey that he recently led. Be- encouraged the NRC’s Board on Biology The Board on Physics and Astronomy is a continuing cause an important audience for the to take the lead in developing this study. interdisciplinary body with expertise spanning the physics survey will be physics depart- Dr. Chu emphasized that physicists have various subfields of physics, astronomy, and ments, one of the major topics to be made and continue to make important astrophysics. It serves as a focal point in the National addressed by a study of physics education contributions to biology and that there- Research Council for issues connected with these fore, there should be a component of the fields. The activities of the Board are supported by in the context of the physics survey will be funds from the National Science Foundation, the the role of the departments in improving physics survey that addresses “biological Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, physics education for undergraduates, physics.” The Board encouraged Dr. the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including not only those who are potential Chu, Ivar Giaever, and Hans Frauenfelder the National Institute of Standards and Technology, physics majors, but also students who will (attending the BPA meeting on behalf of and private and other sources.