NEWSApril 2005 Volume 14, No. 4 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews Physicists Head to Florida Coast for 2005 APS April Meeting Physicists will be heading down plasma physics, and to the Sunshine State later this computational physics. month for the 2005 APS April This meeting also Meeting, to be held in Tampa, serves as the 2005 Florida, April 16-19. The scientific divisional meeting of program will feature about 75 the Division of Par- invited sessions and more than 100 ticles and Fields. contributed and poster sessions, on Among the high- topics ranging from astrophysics, lights of the technical nuclear physics, particles and fields, program are a series of plenary lectures on a Photo Courtesy of Tampa Bay CVB AIP Report: Women, wide range of topics. Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, of the dent Helen Quinn of Stanford Men Progress at University of Colorado at Boulder University. Same Rate will talk about different perspec- Even More Einstein. The World By Ernie Tretkoff tives demanded by research and Year of Physics marches on in teaching. Other speakers include celebration of Einstein’s “miracle A report released in Febru- Stanford University’s Leonard year,” and several sessions at the ary by the Statistical Research Susskind, who will talk about the meeting are Einstein-centric. There Center of the American Insti- black hole information paradox, will be a special public lecture by tute of Physics (AIP) shows that and his Stanford colleague, Patricia Case Western Reserve University’s women in physics progress at Burchat, who will discuss the mys- Lawrence Krauss, bestselling the same rate as their male teries of heavy quarks. Additional author of The Physics of Star Trek, peers. The percentage of speakers will cover the use of on the mysteries surrounding women in faculty positions in gamma rays to probe supernova Einstein’s cosmological constant, physics and astronomy is con- remnants, black holes and dark which he once called his “biggest sistent with the percentage of matter; the physics of nanoscale blunder.” A Saturday evening ses- women who earned degrees in structures; the physics of accreting sion will review Einstein’s scientific Photo Credit: Colella Photo the past, the report says. While neutron stars; a new way of envi- legacy, outlining what is currently women are still a minority in On February 20, the APS helped kick off the World Year of Physics by sponsoring an sioning particles and their known and unknown. On Sunday, International Gala at the annual meeting of the American Association for the physics, the representation of interactions; and probing various speakers will discuss women in physics at all levels Advancement of Science (AAAS), held this year in Washington. AAAS was a subatomic matter with polarized Einstein’s friendships and collabo- co-sponsor of the event. An ice sculpture of Einstein, pictured here, was one of the continues to increase. electrons. rations with such eminent figures decorative elements. A page of pictures from the gala, including some of surprise “While almost half of high Other topics at the meeting in- See APRIL MEETING on page 5 “guests,” can be found on page 3. school physics students are clude the physics of extra girls, less than one-fourth of dimensions and warped fermions; bachelor’s degrees in physics various viewpoints on current visa US Could Soon Be Playing Second Fiddle are earned by women. After restrictions on international ex- this initial ‘leak’ in the change; recent developments in In Areas of Science and Technology pipeline, women are repre- string theory, including a talk by sented at about the levels we bestselling author Brian Greene of By Ernie Tretkoff would expect based on degree Columbia University; extrasolar production in the past,” says The US is in danger of losing its President Bush released his FY06 In a written statement about planets; communicating physics to leadership role in science and budget proposal, which proposed those trends, Burton Richter of the report. “There appears to non-physicists; and a special ses- be no leak in the pipeline at the innovation, according to a group cuts in many areas of research and SLAC said, “The knowledge cre- sion of award presentations that will of leaders in academia and indus- development while leaving the ation that leads to publications, faculty level in either physics feature the annual Lilienfeld lecture or astronomy.” try who released a report on overall budget for R&D nearly flat. patents, and products begins with by Robert Austin of Princeton, and February 16 at a press conference The Task Force called for increas- R&D. In an environment of height- See AIP Report on page 5 the retiring presidential address, in Washington, DC. ing federal spending on basic ened global competitiveness, the given this year by APS Past Presi- The report was issued by the research in the physical sciences federal government must provide Task Force on the Future of Ameri- and engineering. the investment capital for long DHS Is Rare Bright Spot in can Innovation, a group that According to the report, the term research.” includes the APS and 13 other fastest growing economies are “It is easy to ignore long-term FY2006 R&D Budget organizations associated with gaining on the US in R&D invest- See PLAYING SECOND on page 7 business and academia. ment. In fact, as a percentage of for R&D within the DHS, which Titled “The Knowledge GDP, funding for physical science Homeland security is one of is the fastest growing sector for Economy: Is the United States research in the US has been in the few areas that will see R&D in the federal budget. Losing its Competitive Edge?,” the decline for 30 years. In contrast, HHighlights substantial increases in the pro- The FY2006 budget request report presents a set of bench- between 1995 and 2002, China posed FY2006 federal budget, for the DHS Science and marks in several key areas meant doubled the percentage of its GDP according to Penrose C. to help policymakers assess US invested in research and develop- World Year of Physics Gala Technology (S&T) Directorate Photo Spectacular (“Parney”) Albright, assistant is about $1.4 billion, a signifi- high-tech competitiveness. In ment, and intends to continue to 3 secretary for science and tech- cant increase from three years each of the six key areas—educa- increase spending. Furthermore, nology in the Department of ago, when the total budget was tion, workforce, knowledge since the 1980’s, in the US there Homeland Security (DHS). $640 million. Albright attrib- creation, research and develop- has been a shift in the source of Speaking at a March 1 briefing uted this growth to the interest ment investment, the high tech funding from government to hosted by the American Asso- of Congress and the Bush ad- economy, and specific high tech private funding, with the private ciation for the Advancement of ministration in science and sectors–statistics show that the US sector now providing more than 8 Science (AAAS), Albright technology as it applies to is in danger of falling behind other 68 % of R&D funds. Private fund- The Back Page provided an overview of the homeland security. countries. ing tends to cycle with business Publication and the Internet: FY2006 budget and future plans The Task Force made these patterns and focus on short-term Where Next? See DHS on page 7 By Michael E. Peskin announcements shortly after results rather than basic research. 2 April 2005 NEWS This Month in Physics History Energy and Mass are Equivalent First, some quotes relating to Hans Bethe, Nobel Prize winner and former APS President, who died in March: “The thing that impressed me the most was that he had very muddy In September 1905, Einstein process was seen in 1932: the shoes and all the students called him Hans. So he was just the opposite of reported a remarkable conse- conversion of mass into energy. a European professor. That was part of his greatness. He was totally un- quence of his special theory of With their apparatus John pretentious and never tried to be bigger than he was.” relativity: if a body emits a cer- Cockcroft and E.T.S. Walton —Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, The New York Times, tain amount of energy, then the bombarded a 7Li nucleus with a March 8, 2005 mass of that body must decrease proton of energy 125 keV. The by a proportionate amount. As resulting fragments, 2 α-par- “Hans came in with a pencil and paper and made more sense of what he explained in a letter to a ticles, had slightly less mass in total was coming out of the computer than the people who wrote the code.” friend, “The relativity principle than the original 7Li + p, but they —Edward Kolb, Fermilab, The Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2005 in connection with the Maxwell flew apart with an energy of 17.2 equations demands that the MeV. Using the known masses of “Bethe systematically laid the theoretical foundations for nuclear mass is a direct measure for the the incoming and outgoing par- energy contained in bodies; light ticles, it was possible to verify physics with such clarity and care that they could be used to support Photo Credit: AIP major applications: stars and, later, reactors and bombs.” transfers mass... This thought is The first photograph showing the creation Einstein’s equation explicitly. 2 —Frank Wilczek, MIT, The Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2005 amusing and infectious, but I of a pair of particles, revealed by the fog E=mc is the underlying prin- cannot possibly know whether spots they make in passing through the ciple behind nuclear fission and “ The biggest piece of advice he gave me—and my success is partly due the good Lord does not laugh at wet air of a “cloud chamber.” The two fusion.