June 2004 NEWS Volume 13, No. 6 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews International Physics Community Joins Forces for Innovation Task Force Unveils New 2005 World Conference in South Africa Advocacy Campaign On April 20, at a press confer- As part of the celebration of the made to society in the past, and Several international confer- America, and the Middle East, as well ence in Washington, DC, leaders World Year of Physics 2005, formulate a plan for the contribu- ences have been scheduled for as from more developed countries, from industry and academia UNESCO, ICTP, IUPAP and the tions that it can and should make 2004 on these topics, and will serve and the organizers hope to be able unveiled an advocacy campaign South African Institute of Physics in the future. The conference is as preparatory meetings for the to provide travel grants for as many to illustrate the importance of (SAIP) will sponsor a World Confer- partially a follow-up to a broader 2005 World Conference—the first as half of the attendees. basic research to the future of ence on Physics and Sustainable United Nations World Summit on time the international physics com- “Physics has contributed greatly American innovation, economic Development, to be held October Sustainable Development held in munity will focus its collective to the health and economic well growth, and job creation. 31-November 2, 2005, in Durban, Johannesburg in the summer of attention on these themes, and the being of people around the world. Targeted at policy makers and South Africa. The APS will be a 2002. Four themes have been cho- interplay between them. However, the contributions have the general public, the initiative co-sponsor and help with the sen: physics and economic Attendance of about 500 people not led to equal progress in all parts will seek to reverse a decline in organization. development; physics and health; is anticipated. Conference organiz- of the world,” said APS Director of federal investment in basic The conference will review the energy and the environment; and ers are particularly eager to attract International Affairs Amy Flatten. research in the physical sciences contributions that physics has physics education. participants from Africa, Asia, Latin See SOUTH AFRICA on page 5 and engineering through paid ad- APS Council Honors George Pake vertising and traditional lobbying APS Council Approves Statements on and outreach to policy makers Subordinates and on Referencing At its April meeting, the APS Coun- on Capitol Hill. cil passed a memorial resolution on the The new initiative is spon- At its April meeting, Council continued its involvement with ethical March 4 death of esteemed physicist sored by the Task Force on the issues. Two additional statements relating to ethics were passed, one George Pake: Future of American Innovation, on the treatment of subordinates, and one on proper referencing The Council of the American which includes the APS and 13 practices in journal articles. The statement on subordinates is posted Physical Society notes with great sad- other organizations associated on the APS web site at http://www.aps.org/statements/. The statement ness the death of George E. Pake with business and academia. Spe- on referencing appears there also as a supplement to Statement 02.2: (1924-2004). A pioneer in the field cifically, the task force is calling Guidelines for Professional Conduct. of nuclear magnetic resonance, his on the federal government to The texts of these two statements follow. early work helped establish it as a grow the budgets of key Statement on Treatment of Subordinates powerful tool to study condensed research agencies by 10-12% per Subordinates should be treated with respect and with concern for matter systems important in phys- year over the next five to seven their well-being. Supervisors have the responsibility to facilitate the ics, chemistry, and biology. years. These agencies include the research, educational, and professional development of subordinates, Shortly after he began his (serving on the President’s Science National Institute for Standards to provide a safe, supportive working environment and fair compen- scientific career, his common and Advisory Committee). and Technology, the National sation, and to promote the timely advance of graduate students and sense, wisdom, fairness, and per- As the founding director of the Science Foundation, the Depart- young researchers to the next stage of career development. In addi- ceptive insight into human Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, ment of Energy’s Department of tion, supervisors should ensure that subordinates know how to appeal relations, combined with his scien- he assembled and led a research Science, and the Department of decisions without fear of retribution. tific brilliance, led him to be called laboratory imbued with a vibrant Defense’s Research Accounts. Contributions of subordinates should be properly acknowl- upon to assume responsibilities of spirit that has had a profound Basic research in the US over See COUNCIL on page 7 leadership, a circumstance that effect on industrial research and the last few decades has led to persisted for the rest of his career. played a decisive role in the breakthrough technologies that He served with distinction as a creation of the modern computer. have spawned entirely new in- Integral Looks at the Cosmos leader in the academic world (at The American Physical Society dustries. Notable examples Washington University in St. Louis), has commemorated his manifold include lasers, the integrated Through Gamma Glasses the professional world (chairing contributions by establishment of circuit, fiber optics, the Internet, the Pake Report on the Status of the George E. Pake Prize. The APS and global imaging systems. Scientists have Physics for the National Academy Council expresses deep sympathy Such innovations in turn cre- opened a new win- of Sciences, and serving as APS to his wife, children, grand- ate jobs; the semiconductor dow in the study of president), and the public world children, and many friends. industry alone has created the formation of 226,000 jobs with worldwide elements in the uni- Crushing a Light Bulb sales of $166 billion. Basic verse with a new research at American universi- space-based gamma At the High School Physics ties has created 4,000 spin-off ray telescope called Teachers’ Day in Denver on May companies with an estimated INTEGRAL http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0403/17gammaray/ 3, Cindi Allmendinger and Andrew 1.1 million employees and an- (INTErnational Zwick examine the filaments of nual worldwide sales of $232 Photo Credit: ESA, F. Lebrun (CEA-Saclay) Gamma Ray Astro- three-way bulbs to understand billion. And according to Rob- physics Laboratory), The central regions of the Milky Way as seen by Integral how the bulbs are wired. This ert Shaw, a Nobel laureate in launched by the in gamma rays. The brightest 91 objects in this image activity was presented by Larry economics, at least 50% of the European Space were classified by Integral as individual sources, while Woolf, whose contributions to the nation’s economic growth over the others appear too faint to be properly characterized Agency in 2002. APS Teachers’ Days are supported the last 50 years has come from at this stage. At the APS April by the General Atomics Sciences technological innovation. meeting, researchers on the collabo- source of gamma rays in the Education Foundation. Photo Credit: Edward Lee Yet US federal investment in ration reported on the scientific universe. Gamma rays are often basic research continues to highlights to date of the project. created in the radioactive decays decline. While the GDP nearly Gamma ray photons are a mil- of short-lived elements inside the gamma ray sky ever seen and doubled from $6 trillion in 1980 lion times more energetic than such cosmic sources as superno- the other measures the energies HHighlights to $12 trillion today, federal those of visible light, and can pass vae and novae. Other sources of the gamma rays with unprec- investment in R&D in the physi- through matter with hardly any include pulsars and micro- edented accuracy. The telescopes cal and mathematical sciences interaction. Even more powerful quasars. work in tandem with an X-ray and engineering plummeted than X-rays, they are nonetheless Launched in October 2002, monitor and an optical camera. 8 37%. President Bush’s FY05 blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. Integral uses two specially According to Roland Diehl of the The BackPage: budget request continues the Hence, gamma ray astronomy is designed gamma ray telescopes Max Planck Society in Garching, Science, Govern- trend of previous administra- ment, and the largely space-based. to register these elusive rays. One Germany, this is the first time Public Interest By tions. The overall research Positron annihilation is one provides the sharpest images of See GAMMA on page 3 Harold Varmus. See TASK FORCE on page 4 2 June 2004 NEWS This Month in Physics History Making Superatoms “I wore short skirts and had being able to touch a planet and long, blond hair. People would say: move it from one orbit to another.” June 5, 1995: First Bose Einstein Condensate ‘You don’t look like a physicist.’ —Joseph Stroscio, NIST, on nanotech, Sometimes it can take brought light to a complete Well, what did they want me to do, CNN.com, April 15, 2004 awhile for experiment to catch stop. grow a beard?” ✶✶✶ up with theory in physics. In March 1999, scientists —Helen Quinn, SLAC, on being a “Anybody who does credit card Predicted in the 1920s, it at the NIST facility in woman in physics, Los Angeles Times, transactions across the Internet— would be 75 years before the Gaitherburg, MD, nudged April 11, 2004 sorry, you’ve been had, because actual creation of the first Bose super cold atoms into a beam ✶✶✶ somebody will be listening and they Einstein condensate (BEC) in to create a device that shoots “Who will be the next genera- just stole your credit card number,” the laboratory.