IN THIS ISSUE: Prizes and A P S N E W S Awards MARCH 2000 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 9, NO. 3 Insert (Try the enhanced APS News-online: http://www.aps.org/apsnews) APSCelebrate News APS a Century 100 of years Physics APS Gears Up For Minneapolis March Meeting Madness or those physicists with a taste for paranormal. Among them is Joel Fsomething different, the 2000 APS Achenbach, a journalist with The Wash- March Meeting — to be held March 20 - ington Post. Achenbach will describe his 24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota — offers a experiences visiting the set of the popu- host of unusual sessions in addition to lar TV series “The X Files”; traveling to the usual technical symposia, covering Roswell, NM; meeting with the Mars So- an equally broad range of topics. ciety; interviewing a man with plans to Adventurous attendees will have the build his own spaceship to Alpha opportunity to hear speakers tackle the Centauri; and being hypnotized in a ho- continuing flood of pseudoscientific tel room to determine whether he himself claims; learn how to succeed with a had ever been abducted by aliens. He technology-based start-up venture; hear will be joined by Michael Shermer of The reports on the latest research in the Skeptics Society and Robert Park, APS burgeoning field of econophysics; and director of public affairs and author of discover how science can influence legal the forthcoming book Voodoo Science decisions in the nation’s courtrooms. (see page 3). (Session G8, Tuesday A far-from-exhaustive sampling of a morning, 101H) few of these sessions is provided below, A second session, “The Skeptical In- along with a listing of planned special quirer,” will explore a broad range of Moore photo Tyler Mary Visitors Bureau; & Photo courtesy of the Long Beach Area Convention photo from www.venturafiles.com/ Ventura Jesse from www.jyanet.com/mtm/episodes.htm; events (see page 3). APS members are controversial paranatural topics. Paul Kurtz Minneapolis, the so-called “City of the Lakes,” will host the 2000 APS March Meeting. The city is also encouraged to browse the full online of the Committee for the Scientific In- home to two icons of popular culture Mary Tyler Moore as Minneapolis TV news person Mary epitome for the meeting at vestigation of Claims of the Paranormal Richards, and the equally indefatigable wrestler-turned-governor Jesse “The Mind” Ventura. (insets). www.aps.org/meet/MAR00/baps/ will discuss the history of hauntings and index.html. Unless otherwise indicated, seances dating back to the notorious Fox all room listings refer to the Minneapolis sisters in 1848, who, along with other al- High School Physics Teachers Convention Center. leged mediums, were discredited as The Truth is Out There. frauds. His colleague, Joe Nickell, will in Short Supply Pseudoscience and superstition are ram- tackle the elaborate mythology — and pant in our society, albeit frequently occasional hoax, such as the notorious hen Guilford High School in having difficulty finding qualified draped in the language and symbols of “alien autopsy” film — that has sprung W Connecticut abruptly found itself candidates, according to Michael science, conclude the featured speakers up around the modern UFO craze, along in need of a physics teacher this fall, Neuschatz, a senior research associate in at two sessions focusing on the foolish with the popular fascination with alien science department chairman Bruce AIP’s Education and Employment and occasionally fraudulent claims of the Continued on page 3 Faitsch discovered firsthand the Statistics Division. At private schools, difficulties of locating qualified high where 41% of principals reported school physics teachers. The Fairfield searching for a physics teacher, 40% had Inside… Nanotechnology Teacher’s Agency confirmed his difficulty in finding qualified candidates. suspicions when he contacted them for This seems to be in keeping with na- NEWS help: physics teachers are in short supply, tional trends. A recent survey of schools To Advance and Diffuse the Knowledge Symposium at of Physics .................................................... 2 at least in the state of Connecticut. and staffing conducted by the Depart- Outreach and community service. The need for qualified physics ment of Education’s National Center for That Voodoo That You Do .......................... 3 March Meeting teachers is particularly critical in light of Education Statistics forecast a need of Bob Park skewers his favorite targets in a brand a recent study by the American Institute about 2.4 million teachers from 1998 new book. ollowing in the wake of President of Physics (AIP), which found that over through 2008. However, Neuschatz cau- Microfluidic Technologies on the Rise at Clinton’s “major new National the last decade, the proportion of high tions that this figure must be viewed in DFD Meeting ................................................ 6 F Speakers at the 52nd annual DFD meeting in Nanotechnology Initiative” announced in his school students who take physics has context, since the forecast is based on new Orleans focused on emerging applica- remarks at Caltech on January 21, the APS risen substantially, from about 20% to speculative assumptions about teacher tions for microfluidic technologies. will present a special symposium at the 28% (see APS News, November 1999). continuation rates, class size, and student First Online Graduate Physics Textbook March meeting to acquaint the physics Yet a 1993 AIP survey found that, of the to teacher ratio. The department also Hits the Web ................................................. 6 Warren Siegel, a high energy physicist at SUNY- community with the details of the initiative, 30% of public school principals seeking acknowledges that as much as one-third Stony Brook’s C.N. Yang Institute for and to review some of the legislative and to hire a physics teacher in the prior three of this projected demand will most likely Theoretical Physics, is offering an online text- budgetary hurdles it must still overcome. years, more than one-third reported Continued on page 7 book on quantum and classical field theory free of charge. One of the participants in the symposium will be Evelyn L. Hu, director of QUEST (the Wilson Memorial Tribute Planned ............ 6 The APS April meeting will feature a memo- NSF Science and Technology Center for rial session in honor of the late Robert Wilson. Quantized Electronic Structures) at the Uni- This Month in Physics History ................. 6 versity of California, Santa Barbara, who The First Transmission of Speech. pointed out that Richard Feynman foreshad- OPINION owed the Nanotechnology Initiative in 1959 LETTERS ...................................................... 4 when he spoke about ‘There’s Plenty of VIEWPOINT .................................................. 4 Room at the Bottom’. According to Hu, Presi- Alan Chodos on quantum justice dent Clinton’s request for a national My Opinion—Others May Differ ............... 5 David Markowitz muses on God, Physics, and investment in Nanotechnology underscores the Gender Wars. the importance of this area of research, the Scientists Must Speak Out ........................ 5 breadth of expertise it will draw from, and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on why the range of applications which it will ben- Congress needs to hear from scientists. efit. Other participants in the symposium will DEPARTMENTS be Patricia M. Dehmer, Associate Director for Zero Gravity ................................................. 4 Basic Energy Sciences at DOE; Thomas A. The Physicists’ Bill of Rights. Weber, Director of the Materials Research Announcements ......................................... 7 Division of the NSF; and Robert C. Dynes, Positions available at APS and AJP; 2000 Apker Awards; NAGPS seeks grad student responses Chancellor of the University of California at to online survey; Fellowship nomination dead- San Diego. The symposium will be chaired lines. by James Langer, President of the APS. The Back Page ............................................ 8 The symposium will take place Wednes- David Moncton on the policy battles around the SNS. day, March 22, between 5:30 and 7 pm. APS News March 2000 To Advance & Diffuse the Knowledge of Physics 100 Years of the American Physical Society Excerpts from an exhibit displayed at the APS Centennial Meeting. Curator: Sara Schechner, Gnomon Research Exhibit Director: Barrett Ripin Outreach and Community Service II With contributions by Harry Lustig, R. Mark Wilson, and others. K-12 Education The APS has led the way in improving K-12 science education. The Teacher Scientist Alliance Institute is a national program that brings scientist volunteers into school systems to develop hands-on, inquiry-based curricula. High School Teachers’ Days are a feature of many APS meetings. The Campaign for Physics recently raised $5 million dollars in support of educational programs. Ramon Lopez, past APS director of education and outreach, with children. Public Information With the formation of the Panel on Public Affairs in 1975, APS had a vehicle to offer the physicists’ view on matters of public concern, such as the viability of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Activity was notched up significantly with the establishment of a Washington, DC, office in 1984. What’s New, op-eds, and a mass- media fellowship program for physicists who want to become reporters are some of the ways that APS works to improve public awareness of the value of science. Government Relations Today