October 2005 NEWS Volume 14, No
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October 2005 NEWS Volume 14, No. 9 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews APS Mourns Loss of APS Members Elect Kadanoff, Bienenstock To Presidential Line President-Elect John Bahcall APS members elected Leo Kadanoff, pro- fessor emeritus, at the University of Chicago ohn N. Bahcall, president-elect of as president-elect, and Arthur Bienenstock of APS, passed away on August 17, Stanford University as APS vice-president in J2005 at age 70. He was the the 2005 general election. The two men will Richard Black Professor of assume these offices on January 1, 2006. Astrophysics at the Institute for Because of the death of former APS president- Advanced Study in Princeton. elect John Bahcall in August (see related story), In a message to all APS members, Kadanoff immediately becomes APS vice-pres- APS President Marvin Cohen said ident, while vice-president John Hopfield of “John was one of the great masters of Princeton moves up to become president-elect. Leo P. Kadanoff and Arthur Bienenstock theoretical astrophysics, and we were Hopfield will become APS president in 2006, very fortunate that he decided to succeeding current President Marvin Cohen, to be followed by Kadanoff in 2007 and Bienenstock in 2008. devote time to serve in the presiden- In other election results, Margaret Murnane of the University of Colorado/JILA was elected chair-elect tial line of the APS. Last spring, due of the APS Nominating Committee, which is responsible for proposing a slate of candidates each year to declining health, he announced his for the Society's general election. Christina Back (General Atomics) and the University of Maryland’s intention to step down as president- John Bahcall Wendell Hill were elected as general councilors, while Albrecht Wagner of DESY and the Univesity of Hamburg (Germany) will be the Society’s new international councilor. elect, but his death only a few months is now John Hopfield (succeeding later comes as a great shock. His loss Kadanoff received his PhD from Harvard in physics, and followed up with a postdoc in Copenhagen. Bahcall). He taught at the University of Illinois (1962-1969), Brown University (1969-1978), and then moved to will be keenly felt, both as a physi- Bahcall’s most widely recognized cist of outstanding achievements and the University of Chicago. He has served as vice-president of the Urbana Chapter of the NAACP, as a achievement in astrophysics was his member of both the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory and the Board of Physics and ability, and as a leader in the scientif- calculation of the predicted neutrino ic community. On behalf of all the Astronomy of the National Research Council (US), and twice as Director of the University of Chicago flux from the sun. This was the Materials Lab. Kadanoff has won the APS Buckley and Onsager Prizes, the National Medal of Science members of the APS, I want to express theoretical impetus for the experi- my deep sympathy to his wife, Neta, (US), and la Grande Médaille d’Or of the French Academy of Sciences. His theoretical work has focused ment conducted by Raymond Davis on condensed matter and statistical physics, and he helped establish the scaling and universality basis of and his family.” to detect solar neutrinos, which led Because he had announced his phase transition theory. ultimately to the discovery that neu- Bienenstock received his PhD in applied physics from Harvard in 1962. After an NSF Postdoctoral intention to step down, a special elec- trinos have mass and that the flavor tion was held this summer to insure Fellowship, he joined Harvard’s Division of Engineering and Applied Physics in 1963. He joined Stanford of the neutrinos oscillates as they University’s Materials Science and Applied Physics Departments in 1967. In 1978, he took on the Stanford the proper succession in the APS pres- propagate from the sun to Earth. This idential line. The new president-elect Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory directorship. In November, 1997 he was confirmed as the Associate APS Mourns Loss continued on page 3 Director for Science of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and remained in that position until 2001. Bienenstock served as an APS general councilor, on the APS Committee on Twenty Troupes Pack ‘em In to Applications of Physics, on the Audit Committee, on the Panel on Public Affairs, and as chair of the Ethics Committee. See Physics on the Road Murnane is a Fellow of JILA and is a member of the faculty in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado. She received her PhD degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in By Ernie Tretkoff 1989. She remained at Berkeley for one year as a postdoctoral fellow, before joining the faculty at Twenty traveling physics demon- Washington State University in 1990. In 1996, Murnane moved to the University of Michigan, and in stration troupes have been on the road all across the country this year, using Election Results continued on page 7 grants from the APS Physics on the Road program, part of the celebration were asked “what is physics?” most of the World Year of Physics. These answered “I don’t know.” After the DOE Report Highlights Promising shows are reaching schools and com- show, the students had an understand- Areas of Solar Energy Research munity groups in many areas, includ- ing of physics as a branch of science ing poor, inner city, and rural areas that relates to motion, or at least replied By Ernie Tretkoff workshop held in April by the where children would not otherwise that “I don’t know, but it looks cool and Sunlight has great potential DOE Office of Basic Energy have had the opportunity to see such Bernoulli's principle in action at the fun to me.” Other Physics on the Road to supply the world with abun- Sciences. Over 200 scientists a show. Purdue Physics on the Road show. groups report similar increases in stu- dant clean energy, but more representing academia, national Students of all ages watched these dent’s interest in physics after students research needs to be done to laboratories, and industry in the exciting and sometimes explosive has also been rewarding for us at APS attended a demonstration. make solar power competitive United States and abroad attend- shows. They touched liquid nitrogen to be able to help these programs.” The Carolina Physics on the Road with fossil fuels, according to a ed the workshop. The report is clouds, made their hair stand up on end The Physics on the Road grants also group (whose motto is “CPR gets your recent Department of Energy similar in scope to a report with a Van de Graaff generator, and give some visibility to these groups, heart pumping”) from the University (DOE) report. The report, Basic released two years ago on marveled at bed of nails demonstra- which reach thousands of young of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has Research Needs for Solar Energy research needed for the hydrogen tions, spinning bicycle wheel gyro- people but often receive little recog- used the grant to expand and formal- Utilization, lists promising pri- economy. scopes, and many other demonstra- nition. ize its program, especially develop- ority research directions for solar Sunlight is by far the largest tions, all while learning about physics. Some teams have used the grants ing collaborations with other outreach energy. carbon-neutral energy source, As reported in APS News in to travel farther or do more shows, Physics on the Road continued on page 6 The report is the result of a the report notes. More energy February, the 20 Physics on the Road some have expanded their shows and reaches Earth from the sun in grant recipients were chosen from created more demonstrations, and Cohen Sends Message to Gulf Coast Physicists an hour than is used on the plan- among forty applicants. Each group some have worked to make demos et in an entire year. Yet solar In a message to APS members in the Gulf Coast region affected by received $10,000 for supplies, vehicle that incorporate topics recommended electricity currently provides Hurricane Katrina, APS President Marvin Cohen said, in part, " On behalf maintenance, room and board for par- or required by state or national only approximately one mil- of APS, I'm writing to express my sincere hope that all of you and your fam- ticipants, and other costs associated science standards. lionth of the total electricity sup- ilies are safe, and to offer the help of the Society over the coming weeks and with performing physics demonstra- The University of Texas at ply. World demand for energy months as you seek to rebuild your departments, laboratories and workplaces. tions. Funding was provided by the Brownsville and Texas Southmost is expected to more than double If we can assist you in any way in your efforts to recover from this devas- National Science Foundation, the College Physics Circus traveled around by 2050. “Finding sufficient sup- tating tragedy, please contact our Director of Membership, Trish Lettieri, at Department of Energy’s Office of the Rio Grande area, reaching thou- plies of clean energy for the [email protected] or 301-209-3272. Our thoughts are with you." The full mes- Science, and the National Institute of sands of middle school students with future is one of society’s most sage is on the APS web site. Standards and Technology. their show, called Si! Tu Puedes ser un daunting challenges,” the report Those who can offer assistance to affected members of the physics com- “The shows are great because they Cientfico! (Yes! You can be a scien- states.