A P S N E W S APSMAY 1996 THE AMERICAN P HYSICALNews SOCIETY VOLUME 5, NO 5 INSIDE THE BELTWAY Shifting Political Winds Open a Window of Opportunity for Science by Michael S. Lubell, APS Director of Public Affairs t may seem absurd to suggest that By the time the second session opened IPat Buchanan’s win in New Hamp- at the beginning of January, however, shire or Steve Forbes’ victories in with their confrontational approach Delaware and Arizona could have any- suffering a battering in public opinion thing to do with science policy in polls, the House freshmen, under great Washington, particularly since Bob Dole pressure from their more seasoned has practically wrapped up the Repub- leadership, finally capitulated. Al- lican nomination for president. But though the president had given Buchanan and Forbes’ rejection of the considerable ground in agreeing to a balanced budget imperative, the cen- seven-year balanced budget plan terpiece of 1995 GOP spending plan, scored by the conservative economists and their emphasis on tax reform could in the Congressional Budget Office, PHYSICS have serious implications for future fed- Washington observers generally agreed eral support of science. Let’s take a that the White House had achieved a closer look at the still unfolding story. significant political victory. Privately, many Republicans acknowledged as NEWS For more than a year, from November much, as well. of 1994 until January of 1996, Wash- ington was awash with the rhetoric of Therefore, it was no accident that shortly the Contract with America. That 10- after the president’s State of the Union IN 1995 point document, which the Republicans Address, with the government once had ridden to victory in the last elec- again functioning, the GOP leadership P hysics News in 1995 is a summary Physics (AIP) Public Information Di- tion, framed most of the legislative decided on a month-long break in the of the year’s research highlights. It vision, the report had previously debate during the first session of the congressional schedule to give House appears for the third year as a special been published annually by Physics 104th Congress. Although three items and Senate members time at home to section in this issue of APS News. The Today, until 1989. In 1992, the APS ultimately passed both Houses and re- repair the political damage they had booklet covers the most important decided to publish Physics News as ceived the president’s signature, the suffered. Of course, Senate Majority research results of 1995. Highlights a trial service to its members, and others did not. And when the session Leader Dole also badly needed the re- in physics and government, physics elected to continue publication based finally ended in December, the nation cess to concentrate on his campaign history, and physics education are on the positive response. was left with much of its government for the presidential nomination. also covered. shut down, largely as a result of the Articles are selected and prepared balanced-budget impasse between By the time Punxsutawney Phil saw his Edited by Phillip Schewe and Ben by members of the APS and other President Clinton and the Republican shadow in early February and withdrew Stein of the American Institute of AIP member societies. House freshmen. Throughout the year, to his burrow for six more weeks of that ardent group of representatives, winter, the Contract with American had elected on a tide of promised reform, vanished from the Washington scene, had been the most unabashed support- Beller International Lecture at DAMOP Meeting ers of the Contract with America. (continued on page 3) The second Beller International Lecture will be given by Serge Haroche in the opening Plenary Session of the DAMOP meeting in Ann Arbor, MI on May 15. The subject of Haroche’s talk is “Quantum Measurements and Decoherence Studies with Single Atomic in Cavities.” Dr. Haroche is a fellow of the APS and is at the INTERNATIONAL NEWS Lab de Physics de l’Ens, Paris, France. Workshops Explore Future of Telecommnunications, The Beller International Lectureship Fund was endowed by the estate of Esther E-Publications Hoffman Beller in 1993. Earnings from the fund are used to pay for honaria and stipends for distinguished foreign scientists to speak at APS meetings. It is assumed UNESCO Electronic Publishing in Science — Representatives from the APS, that, in turn, societies abroad will ask U.S. physicists to lecture at their meetings. libraries, academia, and scientific publishers gathered at UNESCO headquarters The first Beller Lecturer was presented by Joachim Trümper at Unity Day of the in Paris, France, on 19 February for an expert conference on electronic publish- April 1994 APS/AAPT Joint meeting. ing in science. Organized by UNESCO and ICSU Press, the conference was intended to explore the current tools and standards, as well as legal and ethical issues associated with the revolution in information technology. IN THIS ISSUE “Electronic publishing has radically altered scientific transactions in the physical sciences,” said Irving Lerch, APS director of international scientific affairs, add- Physics News In 1995 Inside .......................................................................... 1 ing that growing numbers of scientists exchange frontier information in freely INSIDE THE BELTWAY .................................................................................. 1 distributed non-refereed preprints, while journal publishers are rapidly moving International News .......................................................................................... 1 to restricted-access online archival journals. Physicists To Be Honored at 1996 May Meeting ............................................. 2 IN BRIEF ........................................................................................................ 3 In fact, a new regime of electronic or “gray” media, characterized by hypertext Opinion ........................................................................................................... 4 and linked graphical displays, is subsuming many aspects of traditional print CAREER CORNER ........................................................................................ 6 exchanges. Questions remain as to whether this will further impede the availabil- Physics Success Stories Provide Tool for Scientists ...................................... 6 ity of scientific literature in developing and “redeveloping” countries, or will Announcements ............................................................................................. 7 facilitate access to it. Another issue, according to Lerch, is whether electronic The Back Page ............................................................................................... 8 publishing will unite colleagues or dissipate much-needed — and increasingly APS Meeting News ................................................................................. Insert limited — resources. This was the focus of a workshop organized by the UNESCO Physics News in 1995 Supplement ........................................................... 1-24 Physics Action Council working group on telecommunications networks for sci- ence and APS on the fist day of the conference. (continued on page 2) APS News May 1996 Physicists To Be Honored at 1996 DAMOP Meeting The APS will honor three physicists in May for their contributions to the fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics and particle physics. The 1996 Will Allis Prize, Davisson-Germer Prize, and Dannie Heineman Prize will be presented during the annual spring meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP), 15-18 May, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Recipients, citations, and brief biographical information are provided below. 1996 WILL ALLIS PRIZE Germer Prize is intended to recognize Roy J. Glauber hattan Project and did postdoctoral and encourage outstanding work in Harvard University work for the Institute for Advanced Study Endowed in 1989 by AT&T, GE, GT&E, atomic physics or surface physics. at Princeton and at the Swiss Federal IBM, and Xerox Corporation to recog- Citation: “For important contributions to Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, and has nize and encourage outstanding research the mathematical physics of quantum Thomas Francis Gallagher served on the editorial boards of several into the behavior of ionized gases. optics and short-wavelength scattering.” University of Virginia technical journals, including Nuclear Physics B and the Journal of Mathemati- Chun C. Lin Citation: “For his elucidation of the Glauber has been the Mallinckrodt Pro- University of Wisconsin characteristics and collisional behavior fessor of Physics at Harvard University cal Physics. Glauber has been a member of highly excited states of atoms.” since 1976. He received his Ph.D. in of the Advisory Board for the Program Citation: “For advancing the under- 1949 from Harvard University. He for Science and Technology for Interna- standing of the microscopic behavior of Gallagher was born in Bronxville, New worked as a staff member on the Man- tional Security at MIT since 1983. ionized gases through his innovative York in 1944. He received a BA in and pioneering studies of excitation in physics from Williams College in 1966 electron and ion collisions with atomic and an MA and a Ph.D., both in phys- International News (continued from page 1) and molecular targets.” ics from Harvard University in 1968 and 1971, respectively. After a year as a The