APS NewsA P S N E W SJANUARY1998 THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 7, NO 1

Try the enhanced APS News-online: [http://www.aps.org/apsnews]

Inside�NewsCommunication, APS Centennial AreSessler’s Top Priorities in 1998 ................. 2

Incoming APS President Andrew Sessler outlineshis priorities for the Society in the coming year.

The Sad Story of Heisenberg’sDoctoral Oral Exam .................................... 3

Heisenberg almost failed his PhD thesis defense.

IN BRIEF ....................................................... 3The Department of Energy (DOE) announced theteam that will operate Brookhaven.

Michels Gains Broader PerspectiveDuring Fello wship Year .............................. 4

Outgoing APS Congressional Fellow spent the pastyear learning the ins and outs of Washington politics.

Optical Storage, Atom T raps Featured atAnnual Laser Science Meeting ................. 5

Optical and laser scientists from around the worldgathered in Long Beach, California, for the ILS-XIII Conference.

Endorsement of Senate NRIA-1998 BillCulminates Year -Long Efforts By APS .... 6

The APS officially endorsed a bipartisan SenateBill that calls for a doubling of federal fundingfor scientific research over the next decade.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ........................ 7Lipkin on nuclear superconductivity.

ZERO GRAVITY ........................................... 7The 1997 Darwin Award goes to a high flyer.

FELs, Biological Physics Featured atSESAPS Meeting ......................................... 7

The highlights of the 63rd Annual APS Southeast-ern meeting at Vanderbilt University.

Chiral Perturbation Theory, DiscreteSymmetries Highlight1997 Nuclear Physics Meeting .................. 8

The latest research topics featured at the annual fallmeeting of the APS DNP.

Two APS Publications to beDiscontinued ............................................... 8

Physical Review B-rapids and Physical ReviewAbstracts will be discontinued.

APS James C. McGroddy Prize for NewMaterials ....................................................... 8

The APS Council voted to establish the APS JamesC. McGroddy Prize for New Materials.

APS Nomination Forms ............................. 9Nomination for APS Fellow/Nomination Ballot

Two Young Physicists to Receive 1998APS Apker Awards ................................... 10

Anna Lopatnikova and Cameron Geddes werenamed recipients of the 1998 Apker Award fortheir research achievements as undergraduates.

Announcements ................................. 11

The Back Page ................................. 12Bernard Ortiz de Montellano on the problem ofpost-modern multiculturalism and scientific illit-eracy.

SPECIAL EDUCATION INSERT

Three APS Constitutional Amendments ApprovedThe 1997 ballot also included three constitutional amendments, approved by

the APS Council upon recommendation of the APS Committee on Constitutionand Bylaws. All three were approved by more than 80% of the votes cast. Specifi-cally, the stated APS objective was amended to better articulate the Society’sconcern for science education and public affairs and to include activities in thoseareas. Article II of the Constitution now reads, “In the firm belief that an under-standing of the nature of the physical universe will be of benefit to all humanity,the Society shall have as its objective the advancement and diffusion of the knowl-edge of physics.”

The remaining two amendments concerned the value of the variable (X) as itapplies to units losing representation on Council. The first (Article VIII) wasintended to stabilize the Council representation of several APS units with mem-bership levels that fluctuated near the value of X, which is 3% of the total APSmembership. The second (Article IX) applies the same policies to the APS geo-graphical sections. For details see APS News, February and June 1997.

Members of TheAmerican Physi-

cal Society have electedJames S. Langer, a profes-sor of physics at theUniversity of California,Santa Barbara, to be theSociety’s next vice-presi-dent. Langer’s termbegins on January 1 ,when he will succeedJerome Friedman (Massa-chusetts Institute ofTechnology), who willbecome president-elect.Langer will become APS president in2000. The 1998 president is Andrew Sessler(Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) (see inter-

Langer Chosen as APS Vice-President in 1997 Election

view, page 2).In other election re-

sults, Daniel Kleppner ofthe Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology waselected as chair-elect ofthe Nominating Com-mittee, which will bechaired by Wick Haxton(University of Washing-ton) in 1998. TheNominating Committeeselects the slate of candi-dates for vice-president,general councillors, and

its own chair-elect. Its choices are thenvoted on by the APS membership. BeverlyK. Berger (Oakland University), CynthiaMcIntyre (George Mason University),Roberto Peccei (University of California,Los Angeles), and Helen Quinn (StanfordLinear Accelerator Center) were electedas general councillors.

Vice-PresidentJames S. Langer was born in Pittsburgh

in 1934. He received his Ph.D. in math-ematical physics under the supervision ofR.E. Peierls at the University of Birmingham,England in 1958. He joined the Physics De-partment at Carnegie Mellon Universityin 1958. In 1982, he became professor ofphysics and a member of the Institute forTheoretical Physics at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara, serving as itsdirector from 1989 to 1995. The 1997 re-cipient of the APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize,Langer’s research generally has been in thetheory of nonequilibrium phenomena incondensed matter. His specific areas ofinterest have been quantum many-bodytheory of transport in solids, the kineticsof first-order phase transitions includingnucleation and spinodal decomposition,dendritic pattern formation in crystalgrowth and, most recently, the dynamicsof earthquakes and fracture.

Langer’s most recent national commit-tee service includes stints as chair of theAPS Division of Condensed Matter Phys-ics; chair of the APS NominatingCommittee (1995); chair of the PhysicsSection of the AAAS (1992); and chair ofthe Panel on Research Opportunities andNeeds, Materials Science and Engineer-ing Survey, National Research Council(NRC) (1986-89).

In his candidate’s statement, Langeridentified three outstanding responsibili-ties of the APS and its leadership: (1) to

Life APS member, Roger K. Crouch, a payload specialist aboard the 83rd flight of theUnited States Space Shuttle, Columbia, volunteered to take with him an APS paperweightcommemorating the 100 year anniversary of the electron and 50 year anniversary of thetransistor. The framed paperweight and certificate of authenticity (pictured here) as wellas a collage of pictures from the mission prepared by NASA were formally presented toAPS Executive Officer, Judy Franz, and Treasurer, Thomas McIlrath at the AmericanCenter for Physics on November 20, 1997. The momento is on display at APSheadquarters in College Park, MD.

(Continued on page 4)

Shuttle Physics

continue to play a leading role among U.S.scientific societies in making the case foradequate and stable national investmentsin research; (2) to maintain the health ofthe APS meetings and especially its jour-nals, in light of the move towardselectronic publications; and (3) to sustainbroad-ranging outreach and educationalprograms to keep the public better in-formed about physics research, andencourage young students to consider ca-reers in physics.

However, he also emphasized a moreimportant and challenging underlying is-sue: that of maintaining the vitality ofphysics as an intellectual discipline, whichhe believes can be best accomplished bybroadening the horizons of physics be-yond a fixed set of research topics. Inparticular, he cited the plethora of phys-ics-based instrumentation and the rapidlyincreasing power of computers that havegiven rise to a rich array of fascinating

The APS is pleased to announce that Reviews of Mod-ern Physics was released on the World Wide Web onDecember 8, 1997 and will be accessible to all usersfree of charge until July 1, 1998. APS members whowish to continue to access RMP-online after July 1, 1998may register a subscription. Pricing information will be

FREE Access to Reviews of Modern Physics Onlineannounced as it becomes available. Please visit RMP-online at http://rmp.aps.org . Questions and commentsare welcome and should be sent to the APS AssociatePublisher at 301-209-3202 (telephone), 301-209-0844(fax), or assocpub@aps.org (e-mail).

EducationOutreach

Insert

APS News January 1998

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APS NewsCoden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132Series II, Vol. 7, No. 1 January 1998© 1998 The American Physical Society

Editor: Barrett H. RipinNewswriter: Jennifer OuelletteProduction: Elizabeth Buchan-HigginsCoordinator: Amy Halsted

APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, monthly,except the August/September issue, by The American PhysicalSociety, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, (301)209-3200. It contains news of the Society and of its Divisions,Topical Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information onmeetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its com-mittees and task forces, as well as opinions.

Letters to the editor are welcomed from the membership. Lettersmust be signed and should include an address and daytime tele-phone number. The APS reserves the right to select and to editfor length or clarity. All correspondence regarding APS News shouldbe directed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, CollegePark, MD 20749-3844, email: letters@aps.org.

Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publication de-livered by Periodical Mail. Members residing abroad may receiveairfreight delivery for a fee of $20. Nonmembers: Subscriptionrates are: domestic $160; Canada, Mexico, Central and SouthAmerica, and Caribbean $180; Air Freight Europe, Asia, Africaand Oceania $210.

Subscription orders, renewals and address changes shouldbe addressed as follows: For APS Members—Membership De-partment, The American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse,College Park, MD 20740-3844, membership@aps.org. For Non-members—Circulation and Fulfillment Division, American In-stitute of Physics, 500 Sunnyside Blvd., Woodbury, NY 11797.Allow at least 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes,please send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible,include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests from sub-scribers for missing issues will be honored without charge onlyif received within 6 months of the issue’s actual date of publi-cation.

Periodical Postage Paid at College Park, MD and at additionalmailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News,Membership Department, The American Physical Society, OnePhysics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844.

APS COUNCIL 1998

PresidentAndrew M. Sessler, Lawrence Berkeley LaboratoryPresident-ElectJerome Friedman, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyVice-PresidentJames S. Langer, University of California, Santa BarbaraExecutive OfficerJudy R. Franz, University of Alabama, Huntsville (on leave)TreasurerThomas McIlrath, University of Maryland (on leave)Editor-in-ChiefMartin Blume, Brookhaven National LaboratoryPast-PresidentD. Allan Bromley, Yale University

General CouncillorsDaniel Auerbach, Beverly Berger, Virginia Brown, Jennifer Cohen,Charles Duke, S. James Gates, Donald Hamann, William Happer,Cynthia McIntyre, Helen Quinn, Roberto Peccei, Paul Peercy, Susan Seestrom,Virginia Trimble, Ronald Walsworth, Sau Lan Wu

Chair, Nominating CommitteeWick C. Haxton

Chair, Panel on Public AffairsRuth H. Howes

Division and Forum CouncillorsSteven Holt (Astrophysics), Eric Heller, Gordon Dunn (Atomic, Mo-lecular and Optical), Robert Callender (Biological), Stephen Leone (Chemi-cal), Joe D. Thompson, David Aspnes, Arthur Hebard, Zachary Fisk(Condensed Matter), Warren Pickett (Computational), Guenter Ahlers(Fluid Dynamics), James Wynne (Forum on Education), Gloria Lubkin(Forum on History of Physics), Matt Richter (Forum on Industrial &Applied Physics), TBA (Forum on International Physics), Dietrich Schroeer(Forum on Physics and Society), Andrew Lovinger (High Polymer), DanielGrischkowsky (Laser Science), Howard Birnbaum (Materials), JohnSchiffer, TBA (Nuclear), Henry Frisch, George Trilling (Particles andFields), Robert Siemann (Physics of Beams), Roy Gould, William Kruer(Plasma)

ADVISORS

Sectional RepresentativesJohn Pribram, New England; Peter Lesser, New York; Perry P. Yaney,Ohio; Joseph Hamilton, Southeastern; Stephen Baker, Texas

Representatives from Other SocietiesRonald Edge, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP

Staff RepresentativesBarrett Ripin, Associate Executive Officer; Irving Lerch, Director ofInternational Affairs; Robert L. Park, Director, Public Informa-tion; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Ad-ministrative Editor; Reid Terwilliger, Director of Editorial OfficeServices; Michael Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer

Andrew Sessler (Lawrence BerkeleyLaboratory assumed the APS presidencyon January 1st, 1998. In the followinginterview, he outlines his prevailingconcerns and priorities for the Society inthe coming year.

Q If you had to pick one over-ridingtheme to define the underlying

common denominator for your prioritiesas APS president, what would it be?

AFirst and foremost, I would saycommunication. By that I mean

communication with the general public,with politicians, and with students at alllevels of the educational ladder. It’s veryimportant that the public become moreaware of physics. We have a great story totell: all the accomplishments of the lastcentury and the exciting prospects for thefuture.

In addition, we need to foster bettercommunication with our own members.We have so many education and outreachactivities in the areas of K-12 education,women and minorities in physics, andpublic affairs, but very few APS membersare aware of what we’re doing. We knowthis from the recently completed mem-bership survey (see APS News, October1997), and I have also experienced it anec-dotally. Every time I talk with membersabout APS activities, they say, “Well, whydon’t you tell the members?” And I re-spond, “My God, all we do is tell themembers. The members don’t listen.”Editors note: See insert in this issue; Edu-cational Outreach.

Also, although the APS is a volunteerorganization, we do have a very large,highly skilled staff of about 200 — operat-ing under the direction of APS ExecutiveOfficer Judy Franz, Associate ExecutiveOfficer Barrie Ripin, Editor-in-ChiefMarty Blume and APS Treasurer TomMcIlrath — that is necessary to carry outall the functions we undertake, but themembership is often not aware of them.Better communication with our membersallows then to better communicate APSactivities to the general public. This in

turn ultimately helps us improve our com-munication with the general public, whichis, after all, one of our primary missions.

Q How has the Society evolved interms of how it interprets its mis-

sion over the last 100 years?

AOver the years the APS has evolvedinto a society with a social con-

science. Until 1972, the Society wasprimarily concerned with organizingmeetings and publishing its journals. Thatyear, the APS organized the Forum onPhysics and Society. Later in the decade,this gave rise to the Panel on Public Af-fairs, which dealt with physics and publicaffairs. In 1980, we formed the Commit-tee on the International Freedom ofScientists to address human rights issues,since, as Andrei Sakharov has said, “Theinterests of science must include the de-fense of members of the scientificcommunity from injustice.” Also in the1980s we formed committees on womenand minorities in physics. The PhysicsPlanning Committee was born in 1988 tofocus specifically on physics funding. Inthe 1990s we witnessed the formation ofthe Committee on Applications of Phys-ics and the Forum on Industrial andApplied Physics (FIAP). And just last yearwe established the Committee on Careersand Professional Development.

So we’ve evolved from an organizationconcerned only with physics, to an orga-nization concerned about the socialimpact of physics, and finally to an orga-nization concerned about the civil andhuman rights of physicists in this andother countries, as well as employmentopportunities for physicists. I think that’san important element for physics in thecoming century. Ilya Ehrenberg, one ofthe greatest Soviet writers of this century,said in Moscow, in 1966, “A person whohas only knowledge but no…conscience,this is not a person, but a half-finishedthing. Even if we are talking about a tal-ented physicist…” That’s still true inAmerica today.

QThe upcoming APS Centennialcelebration in 1999 will undoubt-

edly require a great deal of planningand effort in the coming year.

A Absolutely. The Centennialcelebration is our number one

priority for 1998. We have a team in placenow, with Brian Schwartz and FranmarieKennedy (see APS News, December 1997),and we’re working on a broad range ofprojects connected with that. It’s going tobe a very large, festive affair, and verymuch an international collaboration.We’re expecting more than 40 Nobellaureates to attend, who will be availableto interact with the public. We’re alsodeveloping projects designed to lastbeyond the Centennial celebration: aspecial issue of Reviews of Modern Physics,outlining the great accomplishments andthemes of physics in this century; a 27-foot wall chart depicting physicshighlights; a coffee table book for thegeneral public; and a collection of photosof famous physicists from this century.

Also, we’ve hired a large public rela-tions firm to assist us, not just with theCentennial, but with the whole issue ofcommunication. We, as physicists, havecertainly not been very good at commu-nicating, so maybe it’s time to goprofessional. However, this is a long-termobjective that cannot be accomplishedovernight. We’re hoping the Centennialcelebration will mark the start of a majornew direction for the APS. I feel it is thenext logical step in the Society’s continu-ing evolution: from building physics inthe U.S., to developing a social con-science, to being concerned aboutphysicists as well as physics. The next stepis fostering better communication of phys-ics to the general public.

Q Obviously an important compo- nent of communication is educa-

tion. Is this another top priority for theSociety?

AYes. The recent Campaign forPhysics, spearheaded by Nico

Bloembergen and Darlene Logan, raisedmore than $5 million for educationalactivities. The APS has been focusing agreat deal of effort on the Teacher-Scientist Alliance program, headed byEducation Director Ramon Lopez, whichis a way to encourage scientists to interactwith teachers and contribute to publicschools. I think it’s unclear to mostphysicists how they can contribute to theirlocal schools. Better communication isneeded to get them involved, whetherthey give a lecture, visit a class room, judgea science fair, or simply be a resource forteachers. I know a Livermore physicistwho set up an Email- Net a few years agowith local high school teachers. If theyget a question in class that they don’t knowthe answer to, they email him for theanswer. I’ve talked to some high schoolteachers in this area and they would loveto do that with scientists. It is lessthreatening than having a scientist comeinto your classroom, and can be quiteeffective.

The APS Division of Plasma Physicsjust sponsored a special day for more than1,000 school children at its meeting lastNovember in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,and other APS units have undertaken simi-lar efforts. In addition, many universitydepartments are making substantial out-reach efforts in K-12 and general publiceducation. For example, the Universityof Michigan holds free public lectures onphysics every fall on Saturday mornings,given by postdocs. The University of Illi-

Communication, APS Centennial Are Sessler’s Top Priorities in 1998

nois has a Cyber lab, a Saturday honorsprogram, teacher’s workshops, and nearly6000 children and 200 teachers in CentralIllinois and Chicago areas have enjoyedthe 63 physics traveling van shows givenbetween the program’s conception in1994 and the spring of 1996. There are alsomore than 200 hands-on science museumsthat have sprung up around the countryand are very popular. So a lot of effort isbeing made, and more needs to be made,in education.

QWhat is the APS doing to ensurethe continued economic health of

the physics enterprise?

AThere has been substantial effort forthe last year to garner support for a

bill to double the amount of R&D fund-ing in the U.S., spearheaded by [APS PastPresident] Allan Bromley (see APS News,November 1997) with the assistance of theAPS Office of Public Affairs, led by BobPark and Mike Lubell. This mustn’t bean isolated, one-time effort. Politiciansneed to appreciate that physics is a driv-ing engine to economic wealth, to ourquality of life, and especially to advancesin medicine. We wouldn’t have MRI, PETscans or CAT scans without physics. It’sall inter- related and we will need suffi-cient funding in the future for physicsresearch if this growth is to continue.

The public shouldn’t consider phys-ics to be irrelevant. We can accomplishthis by communicating the new role ofphysics, emphasizing that it does have arole in post-Cold-War society, just a dif-ferent one. For instance, physicists areaddressing what is inevitably going to bea significant problem for society in thenext 100 years, namely sources of energy,specifically fusion and solar energy.

Q Is there still room in the current tight budgetary climate for less

strategically focused research, whichmany scientists believe is equally nec-essary for the future of science andtechnology in this country?

A I think so. After all, beyond thepractical benefits of physics

research, there are significant intellectualcontributions. That’s a harder sell thesedays, but physics still has a lot tocontribute in purely intellectual areas. Forexample, high energy physics is grapplingwith the question of why there is morematter than antimatter, which ispresumably related to the question of CPnoninvariance. It’s a wonderful questionand we’re building B factories to try toanswer it. Another major question is,What is the origin of mass? We simplydon’t know why some particles, like theproton, are massive, while the electronhas almost no mass. So we are engaged inactivities like the Large Hadron Colliderto try to understand this problem.

These are two very fundamental philo-sophical questions in which the public

January 1998 APS News

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IN BRIEF• On November 25, 1997, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that

Brookhaven Science Associates, a team led by the Batelle Memorial ResearchInstitute of Columbus, Ohio, and the State University of New York at StonyBrook, will operate the laboratory. Core universities associated with BSA in-clude Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Yale. The new teamwill take over operations in 60 days, with a five-year, $2 billion contract to beawarded in January. It was clear that BSA was favored by most of the labora-tory scientists. The presidents of both Stony Brook and Batelle had previouslystated that restarting the fast-flux beam reactor would be a high priority if BSAwere chosen (“What’s New,” August 1, 1997). BSA picked John Marburger, aformer President of Stony Brook, to be Director. He is highly experienced.During construction of the SSC, Marburger was chair of the Board of Trusteesof Universities Research Association, which managed the ill-fated project.

This action follows termination of the contract with Associated Universi-ties Inc. John Marburger, the laboratory’s new director (past president ofSUNY-Stony Brook for 14 years) described the four goals of the new manage-ment: providing a new leadership team; continuing cutting-edge science;attention to environment, safety, and health issues; and “a solid and productiverelationship with the community.” “We cannot operate a public facility with-out public support,” he said.

In May 1923 Werner Heisenberg returned to Munich from Gottingen,

where he had been a visiting student, tofinish out his last semester while writinghis doctoral dissertation. KnowingHeisenberg’s reputation for controver-sial solutions to problems in quantumtheory, his Munich mentor, ArnoldSommerfeld, suggested that he write hisdissertation in the more traditional fieldof hydrodynamics.

Heisenberg also had to take the four-hour laboratory course in experimentalphysics offered by Prof. Willy Wien.Wien insisted that any physicist, includ-ing Sommerfeld’s brilliant theorists,must be fully prepared in experimentalphysics. Wien and Sommerfeld both saton the candidate’s final oral exam andboth had to agree on a single grade inphysics.

While Heisenberg struggled throughWien’s lab course (much to Wien’s

displeasure at the results), Heisenbergprepared his dissertation. He submittedhis dissertation, a 59-page calculationtitled “On the Stability and Turbulenceof Liquid Currents,” to the Munich fac-ulty on July 10, 1923. The topic arose froman earlier research contract Sommerfeldhad received from a company channel-ing the Isar River through Munich. Theproblem was to determine the precisetransition of a smoothly flowing liquid(laminar flow) to turbulent flow. It wasan extremely difficult mathematical prob-lem; in fact, it was so difficult thatHeisenberg offered only an approximatesolution. “I would not have proposed atopic of this difficulty as a dissertation toany of my other pupils,” wroteSommerfeld. The faculty accepted thethesis and Wien accepted it for publica-tion in the physics journal he edited, butwhen the mathematician Fritz Noetherraised objections in 1926, the results

The Sad Story of Heisenberg’s Doctoral Oral Examby David Cassidy

remained in doubt for nearly a quartercentury until they were finally con-firmed.

Acceptance of the dissertation broughtadmission of the candidate to the finalorals, where in this case trouble began.The examining committee consisted ofSommerfeld and Wien, along with repre-sentatives in Heisenberg’s two minorsubjects, mathematics and astronomy.Much was at stake, for the only grades acandidate received were those based onthe dissertation and final oral: one gradefor each subject and one for overall per-formance. The grades ranged from I(equivalent to an A) to V (an F).

As the 21-year-old Heisenberg ap-peared before the four professors on July23, 1923, he easily handled Sommerfeld’squestions and those in mathematics, buthe began to stumble on astronomy andfell flat on his face on experimental phys-ics. In his laboratory work Heisenberghad to use a Fabry-Perot interferometer,a device for observing the interference oflight waves, on which Wien had lecturedextensively. But Heisenberg had no ideahow to derive the resolving power of theinterferometer nor, to Wien’s surprise,could he derive the resolving power ofsuch common instruments as the tele-scope and the microscope. When an angryWien asked how a storage battery works,the candidate was still lost. Wien saw noreason to pass the young man, no matterhow brilliant he was in other fields.

An argument broke out betweenSommerfeld and Wien over the relativeimportance of theory and experiment.The result was that Heisenberg receivedthe lowest of three passing grades in phys-ics and the same overall grade (cumlaude) for his doctorate, both of whichwere an average between Sommerfeld’shighest grade and Wien’s lowest grade.

Sommerfeld was shocked. Heisenbergwas mortified. Accustomed to being al-ways at the top of his class, Heisenbergfound it hard to accept the lowest of threepassing grades for his doctorate.Sommerfeld held a small party at hishome later that evening for the new Dr.Heisenberg, but Heisenberg excused him-self early, packed his bag, and took themidnight train to Gottingen, showing upin Max Born’s office the next morning.Born had already hired Heisenberg as histeaching assistant for the coming school

year. After informing Born of the debacleof his orals, Heisenberg asked sheepishly,“I wonder if you still want to have me.”

Born did not answer until he had goneover the questions Heisenberg hadmissed. Convincing himself that the ques-tions were “rather tricky,” Born let hisemployment offer stand. But that fallHeisenberg’s worried father wrote to thefamed Gottingen experimentalist JamesFranck, asking Franck to teach his boysome experimental physics. Franck didhis best, but could not overcomeHeisenberg’s complete lack of interestand gave up the effort. If Heisenberg wasgoing to survive at all in physics it wouldbe purely as a theorist.

There is an interesting epilogue to thisstory. When Heisenberg derived the un-certainty relations several years later, heused the resolving power of the micro-scope to derive the uncertaintyrelations—and he still had difficulty withit! And again, when Bohr pointed out theerror, it led to emotional difficulties forHeisenberg. Likewise, this time a posi-tive result came of the affair:Heisenberg’s reaction induced Bohr toformulate his own views on the subject,which ultimately led to the so-calledCopenhagen Interpretation of quantummechanics.

David Cassidy (Hofstra College) is Secre-tary-Treasurer of the Forum on History ofPhysics. This article is excerpted from hisbook, Uncertainty, pp. 149-154, and mayalso be viewed at web site [http://www.hofstra.edu/Heisenberg] along withaddition material on Heisenberg.

would be very interested if the facts werepresented correctly, along with topics likethe significant absence of many solar neu-trinos — we’re only seeing a fraction ofwhat is theoretically expected — the ex-istence of dark matter, and whether theuniverse expands forever, or not. That’sone reason we hired a public relationsfirm.

Q Will the APS continue toemphasize the importance of

international collaboration?

AI believe international collaborationsevolve naturally from the day-to-day

interactions of scientists as they go abouttheir work. For example, the Departmentof Energy has provided $500 million forthe Large Hadron Collider, and theplasma physicists for a very long timehave had an international collaborationon fusion physics. Another example is thatU.S. radio astronomers are designing a mil-limeter wavelength telescope in Chile, andSLAC has initiated a major collaborationwith the Japanese on linear colliders. How-ever, although they arise from the grassroots of the scientific enterprise, these in-ternational activities often reach the pointwhere they require formal agreements anddiscussions at a higher level than that ofscientists interacting with scientists. Often,the APS, through the efforts of APS Direc-tor of International Scientific AffairsIrving Lerch, can and does play an impor-tant role in that regard.

QWhat do you feel will be the mostpressing issues for the Society as it

enters the 21st century?

A The most immediate pressingconcern for the future is the

transition to electronic publishing. We’reundergoing great changes. Nobody knowsexactly where we’re headed, and it’s avery important issue since much of ourSociety’s activities rely on surplus incomefrom publications. So we have to makethe transition with care and caution andpresumably we will, under the capabledirection of Marty Blume and ThomasMcIlrath.

I would also hope to see the APS con-tinue to broaden its view of what physicsis to accommodate emerging new disci-plines and avoid splintering intonumerous smaller societies, as has hap-pened in the past. For example, at presentmore than half of the new PhDs are goinginto industry, so we have to be sensitive

Andy Sessler At a Glanceo Undergraduate studies in math-

ematics at Harvard University. PhDin atomic and nuclear structurephysics from Columbia University,1953.

o Worked with Hans Bethe on el-ementary particle physics beforejoining faculty of Ohio State Uni-versity. Research inlow-temperature and acceleratorphysics.

o Moved to Lawrence Berkeley Labo-ratory in 1962, serving as directorfrom 1973 to 1980. Currently asenior scientist. Also a Trustee ofAssociated Universities Inc.

o Chaired the Federation of Ameri-can Scientists from 1989 to 1991.Co-founder of Scientists forSakharov, Orlov and Sharansky, forwhich he received the first APSNicholson Medal for humanitarianservice in 1994.

o Extensive APS service over the yearsincludes chairing CIFS, POPA, CAP,and the Division of Physics ofBeams. Helped establish the FIAP,CIFS and the PPC, on which he alsoserved.

o Recipient of E.O. Lawrence Awardin 1970 and Wilson Award in1997. Fellow of the APS, AAAS,and the New York Academy of Sci-ences. Member of the NationalAcademy of Sciences.

o Considers physics to be a �socialsport� and enjoys the personal in-teractions as much as the science.

to that. FIAP is now the biggest unit ofthe APS, and has developed a jobs enginethat’s quite effective for acquiring posi-tions. The APS must educate professorsabout what it’s like in industry these days,because most of them have never beenemployed in industry. Those who haveworked in that realm did so many decadesago. Educating industry is equally impor-tant, because so many industrialemployers prefer to hire engineers in in-stead of physicists. We must convinceindustry that the new generation of physi-cists is a different breed with a lot to offer,with a flexibility that just isn’t found inpeople trained in other professional lines.

Werner Heisenberg (~1927)

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APS News January 1998

4

Michels Gains Broader Perspective During Fello wship Year

fundamental questions in the physical,biological and engineering sciences. “Wemust include the most vigorous of theseemerging areas within our physics labora-tories and academic physics departments,”he said. “That means that we must makeroom for new topics and the young scien-tists who will lead us in new directions.”

While acknowledging that there are noeasy solutions to these challenges, Langerbelieves that the APS can play a key rolein terms of increasing awareness of theseissues by encouraging debate, by empha-sizing their importance, by activelyseeking out new opportunities, and by de-voting a major part of the Society’s energyto the task of maintaining the breadth andvitality of physics. “If we fail to take ad-vantage of new opportunities — if weexclude them from our definition of ‘phys-ics’ — then eventually, but inevitably,physics in the U.S. will contract, and ournation’s scientific strength will decline ac-cordingly,” he said.

Chair-Elect, NominatingCommittee

Kleppner received his Ph.D. from Har-vard University in 1959, where heparticipated in the invention of the hy-

drogen maser with Norman F. Ramsey.He joined the faculty of M.I.T in 1966,where he is now the Lester Wolfe Profes-sor of Physics and Associate Director ofthe Research Laboratory of Electronics.A past recipient of the Davisson-GermerPrize and the Lilienfeld Prize of the APS,his research interests are in experimentalatomic physics, high precision measure-ments and quantum optics. Currentresearch includes quantum chaos, stud-ies of hydrogen at extremely lowtemperatures, and ultra precise spectros-copy. He is the co-author of two textbooks.Within the APS, Kleppner has served aschair of the Division of Atomic, Molecularand Optical Physics, as a Councillor-at-Large, and on several other committeesincluding the Physics Planning Commit-tee, which he joined in 1988 and chairedfrom 1992-96.

In his candidate’s statement, Kleppnerpraised the Society’s strong tradition ofleadership by outstanding members fromevery area of physics, and pledged to guidethe APS Nominating Committee in iden-tifying the best potential leaders andencouraging them to run for APS office.“In view of the serious problems cur-rently confronting physics, and indeed all

of science, it is vital that we maintain thistradition and continue to draw our lead-ership from the very best talent in ourcommunity,” he said.

General CouncillorsBerger has been a faculty member at

Oakland University since 1977. She re-ceived a Ph.D. in physics from theUniversity of Maryland in 1972 and heldpostdoctoral positions at the Universityof Colorado (JILA) and Yale University.Berger’s research is in the area of theo-retical gravitational physics. Recent workincludes Monte Carlo simulations forquantum cosmology, chaotic dynamics ofMixmaster universes, and the applicationof symplectic PDE solvers to the numeri-cal study of cosmological singularities.She is a member of the APS Divisions ofAstrophysics, Computational Physics,and Particles and Fields. During the pasttwo years, she founded and served as thefirst chair of the APS Topical Group inGravitation. She has also served on orga-nizing committees for internationalconferences and on an NSF panel on fu-ture directions in gravitational physics.

“I believe that society would benefitimmensely if everyone had a good grasp

of the fundamentals of physics, its questfor objectivity, and the methods it hasadopted in its research,” Berger said inher candidate’s statement. “Regrettably,the infrastructure for scientific discoverythat has served us so well in the 20th cen-tury may be at risk in the 21st.” Shebelieves that the APS can play a pivotalrole in re-energizing positive public atti-tudes towards physics through itslobbying activities for resources, andshould continue to provide a forum forconnections among physicists — both tech-nical interactions and internationalcollaborations which could prove essen-tial to the future of physics.

McIntyre is a theoretical physicist anda Commonwealth Assistant Professor ofphysics at George Mason University. Herresearch focus is on the electronic andoptical properties of semiconductorheterostructures. Most recently she hasinvestigated electron-phonon scattering instructurally modified semiconductorheterostructures. She received her Ph.D.in physics from the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology in 1990, and wasawarded the Chancellor’s PostdoctoralFellowship to study at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego, and the National

1997 Election Results (Continued from page 1)

Grappling with a changing economicclimate for science, and seeking to

foster bipartisan discussion on controver-sial science and technology related issuesare just a few of the challenges faced byJoseph Michels, who spent the past yearlearning the ins and outs of Washingtonpolitics firsthand as an APS CongressionalFellow. The APS Congressional Fellow-ship program is intended to provide apublic service by making available indi-viduals with scientific knowledge andskills to members of Congress, few ofwhom have a technical background. Inturn, the program enables scientists tobroaden their experience through directinvolvement with the legislative and po-litical processes.

Michels elected to spend his fellow-ship year as a legislative assistant in theCongressional office of Senator JosephLieberman (D-CT), who has long beenactive in science and technology issueson Capitol Hill. Lieberman is currentlythe ranking Democrat on the Acquisi-tions and Technology Subcommittee ofthe Senate Armed Services Committee,which oversees nearly all of defense re-search and helps direct U.S. strategicrelationships with other countries. “Iwanted to combine my interest in busi-ness and trade with an internationalcomponent,” said Michels of his reasonsfor selecting Lieberman’s office. “Thiswas a way to have science and technol-ogy integrated into an economic andstrategic interest, rather than just to be anisolated fellow working on esoteric issuesthat really didn’t fit into anything else theoffice was doing.”

One of Michels’ first activities as aFellow was to help organize a bipartisanscience and technology caucus last Feb-ruary, in conjunction with the offices ofSenators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Bill Frist(R-TN) and John Rockefeller (D-WV).“The intent was to advance the debate onfederal involvement in science fundingfrom the partisan wars of the 104th Con-gress, namely, at what point does federalspending constitute corporate welfare,picking winners and losers among com-peting companies,” he said. The

three-hour caucus heard from a panel of11 experts including former Under Secre-tary for Technology, Dr. Mary Good, IBMSenior Vice President for Research Dr.Paul Horn, and Dr. Charles M. Vest, Presi-dent of MIT. Several months later, thefour Caucus Senators banded together tohelp resolve Congressional conflict overthe Advanced Technology Program(ATP).

According to Michels, the ATP was arelatively obscure program initiated dur-ing the Bush Administration, intended todevelop an industry-driven national R&Deffort by funding research at businessesinvolved in attacking problems related tomanufacturing or production. WhenPresident Clinton took office, he toutedthe program as a new model for federalresearch and development efforts andsought a sharp increase in funding. Witha raised profile, the ATP became the ob-ject of bitter partisan strife, with somemembers of Congress holding it up as anexample of the government funnelingmoney to large corporations and interfer-ing in the marketplace.

In order to break the logjam, a 60-dayreview was requested, and during that pe-riod the four senators participating in theFebruary science and technology caucusdrafted some suggestions for changes inthe ATP that would keep the integrity andgoals of the program intact while ensur-ing that it remained “pre-competitive” byonly funding projects before any one com-pany has a proprietary interest in them.Most significantly, grants will only bemade to consortia, with the aim of foster-ing alliances between academia andindustry, and large companies are not eli-gible to be single applicants. The finalverdict on the program is still out, but “Ithink this will prove to be a success story,”said Michels. “There are still some sena-tors who are never going to love thisprogram, but it’s certainly easier for themto swallow now, as well as being morefocused in its mission.”

Michels also worked preparing testi-mony on declining procurement budgetsfor defense-related R&D for SenatorLieberman to present to the Acquisitions

and Technology Subcom-mittee of the Senate ArmedServices Committee. “Theredidn’t seem to be a clear ef-fort within the Departmentof Defense to support re-search and industrialcollaborations that wouldhelp ensure that we retainour lead in semiconductormanufacturing by remainingat the cutting edge of the tech-nology,” said Michels.

As an example, he points to the U.S.semiconductor industry, which was bol-stered substantially in the early 1980s byDARPA’s orchestrated effort withSEMATECH to build a consortium ofsemiconductor manufacturers and equip-ment makers. While it didn’tsingle-handedly save the industry, the ef-fort certainly contributed to its currentprosperity, as did the previous decadesof DOD investment in mathematics, com-puter science and thin film fabrication,among other areas. But interest has wanedat a time when, says Michels, investmentis more important than ever to nationalsecurity, especially as the nature of war-fare continues to change. “To succeed inthis new environment, we need to domi-nate information technology,” he said.

Michels says he has gained a broaderperspective on the scientific enterprise asa result of his fellowship year. Instead offocusing his energies on one small area ofresearch, he was asked to view R&Dacross the full spectrum of U.S. scienceand technology efforts, encompassing uni-versities, national laboratories, andindustry. While his background in semi-conductor physics and entrepreneurialexperience certainly served him well, hestill had to familiarize himself with thecomplex area of defense research. “It’s awhole different world than civilian re-search, with a very directed mission, inthat it must contribute to the strategicinterests of U.S. national security,” he said.

He also gained a greaterappreciation and under-standing of how the contextin which the science andtechnology establishmentoperates has changed fromWorld War II to the end ofthe Cold

War. “Today, it’s impor-tant to view science andtechnology as contributingto an innovation cycle incor-

porating America’s competitiveness, toits national defense, and to the well-be-ing and high standard of living enjoyedby the American people,” he said. “Thatargument must be made in order to jus-tify the current levels of funding. It mustbe viewed as an investment, rather thanan entitlement.”

Michels received his B.S. in physics,with a minor in English, from LaSalleUniversity in 1986, and his D.Phil. in ex-perimental condensed matter physicsfrom Oxford University’s PembrokeCollege in 1994. Prior to his fellowshipyear, he was employed by theSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,which in collaboration with Universitadi Firenze in Italy, developed the ultra-violet coronograph spectrometer (UVCS)aboard the Solar and Heliospheric(SOHO) satellite. Based at the NASAGoddard Space Flight Center, Michelshelped develop the observing plan for theUVCS instrument, as well as participat-ing in the ongoing research in solar physicsby SOHO instruments.

A member of the U.S. team for the 1987Pan American Games, and a contenderfor the 1988 and 1992 Olympics in row-ing, he also rowed for Oxford in the annualboat race against Cambridge, a nationalevent in England that garners worldwidemedia attention. Two years before com-mencing his studies at Oxford, Michelswas a founding partner of This Old HouseRenewed, a self-started and managed reno-vation firm in Philadelphia.

There is still time to apply for the 1999 APS Congressional Fellowship.The application deadline is JANUARY 15, 1998. See Announcements on page 11.

January 1998 APS News

5

Optical and laser scientists fromaround the world gathered in Long

Beach, California, October 12-17, 1997, forthe thirteenth annual InterdisciplinaryLaser Science Conference (ILS-XIII),which combined fundamental studies oflaser interactions with atoms, molecules,clusters, plasmas and materials with re-search on emerging applications. Theconference serves as the annual meetingof the APS Division of Laser Science, inconjunction with the Optical Society ofAmerica (OSA). First held in Dallas,Texas, in 1985, the ILS series was estab-lished to survey the core laser scienceareas, including lasers and their proper-ties, nonlinear optics and ultrafastphenomena, the physics of laser sources,lasers in physics and chemistry, and otherapplications.

A special plenary session on Mondayafternoon featured a keynote address byCarl Wieman (University of Colorado)on new studies in Bose-Einstein conden-sation, preceded by a ceremonial sessionmarking the presentation of the 1997Schawlow Prize to Erich Ippen (MIT) andCharles Shank (Lawrence Berkeley Labo-ratory). The conference also featured fourcritical review presentations, a featurefirst introduced in 1995 to highlight excit-ing new developments in laser science byrecognized experts. This year, the fourspeakers and their topics includedWolfgang Ketterle (MIT) on Bose-Einsteincondensation and the atom laser; NasserPeyghambarian (University of Arizona)on polymer optoelectronics; DanielChemla (Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory) on recent advances in singlemolecule spectroscopy; and KatherineHall (MIT) on the progress and outlookfor all-topical ultrafast switching.

Optical StorageCharles Brucker of Eastman Kodak

gave a Monday morning tutorial on opti-cal storage materials, reviewing thedesign, fabrication and performance is-sues for the deposited thin film layerstacks used in current and potential

future generation optical disk storage me-dia. According to Glenn Sincerbox of theUniversity of Arizona, who reported onrecent advances in the enabling technolo-gies and materials for holographic datastorage, “Holographic storage technologyhas the potential of providing high capac-ity, rapid access and fast retrieval ofdigitally stored information.”

In a later tutorial on Monday, DonaldCarlin of Sarnoff Corp. summarized sev-eral developing optical storagetechnologies: near-field optical storage;electron-trapping optical memories; two-photon memories; and persistent holeburning. According to Carlin, some of theremaining technical challenges includedevelopment of improved storage mate-rials, improved diode lasers, and compactoptical systems. In addition, “New tech-nologies must be aimed at consumerproducts to be pervasive,” he said. “Anemerging technology must be embracedby a number of major manufacturersworldwide in order to have the hope ofbeing accepted as a standard.” The newstorage products must also bring over-whelming advantages to users as magneticstorage devices continue to improve.

Atom Traps and Cold CollisionsUsing spectroscopy of weakly bound,

excited molecules formed by collisions ofultra-cold atoms in an optical field to yieldtheir ground-state atomic scattering prop-erties, new Nobelist William Phillips ofNIST reported in a Tuesday morning ses-sion on the observance of unambiguousevidence of the effect of radiative retarda-tion on the molecular spectra. Other NISTresearchers have developed a new tech-nique for observing collisions at very lowrelative velocities, which was used to mea-sure rates of spin-polarized Penningionizing collisions for both fermionic andbosonic isotopes of xenon. The same grouphas found that the collision rate of atomsarranged in an optical lattice is suppressedby at least a factor of two when it has ther-malized, in comparison to atoms in thefree state.

Quantum ComputationSeveral speakers reported on the sta-

tus of various schemes for quantumcomputation. A research group at LosAlamos National Laboratory is investi-gating two proposed quantum computertechnologies: nuclear magnetic resonance,in which nuclear spins are used to storequantum information, and trapped ions,in which quantum information is storedin the atomic quantum levels. They re-cently demonstrated quantumcomputation with cold, trapped calciumions. Scientists with the Weapons ScienceDirectorate are investigating the use ofelectron-nuclear double resonance withlaser-pulse induced selection electronicexcitation control for quantum comput-ing applications.

In addition, researchers at the Califor-nia Institute of Technology are developinga scheme by which quantum networksmight be realized. According to HideoMabuchi, these networks would consist ofspatially separated quantum nodes con-nected by quantum channels. The nodeswould generate, process and store quantuminformation, and consist of the internalstates of a collection of atoms. The chan-nels would transport quantum states anddistribute entanglement by way of photons.

Hyperpolarized Noble Gas MRIResearchers at the University of Michi-

gan have used laser optical pumpingtechniques to enhance the polarization ofnoble gas isotopes, including helium-3 andxenon-129, for magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). According to Timothy Chupp, al-though helium-3 is particularly suitable forlung and air space imaging, xenon-129 is ofinterest because xenon gas crosses theblood-gas barrier, is dissolved in the blood,and is carried to tissue where magnetiza-tion can build up and be imaged. Usingthis approach, scientists at the UniversitatMainz in Germany performed the firstclinical survey of he-3 MRI of the lungs ofhealthy probands, as well as patients suf-fering from various lung diseases.

Photorefractive Keratectomy andRetinal Physiology

Researchers at Summit Technology,Inc. have developed a next- generationlarge area excimer laser refractive work-station which uses a unique, patented,single-use laser disc to treat myopia, hy-peropia, and both myopic and hyperopiccompound astigmatism. The EmphasisLaserDisc contains all the required infor-mation that is necessary to impart thedesired corneal surface shape transforma-tions to achieve the intended refractiveoutcome. In a related area, Donald Hoodof Columbia University described newtechniques that allow the study of singleclasses of cell, such as rod or cone recep-tors, and rod onbipolars. Also, a relativelynew multi-stimulation technique allowsfor simultaneous recording from manylocalized regions. Hood illustrated histechniques with studies of light adapta-tion of the normal retina, as well as withstudies of the abnormal activity of dis-eased retinas.

Optics in EntertainmentThrough advances in plasma tube and

optical coating technologies, laser manu-facturers have met the ever-increasingdemands of the entertainment industrywith improved output power, color bal-ance, and packaging of white ion lasers.According to Kurt Klavuhn of Spectra-Physics Lasers, who spoke at a Mondaymorning session, these advancementsprovide more flexibility and versatilityfor further advancing the cutting edge oflaser entertainment displays. For ex-ample, Robert Martinsen of theCorporation for Laser Optics Researchdescribed a new projection display,called Color Visiona. The display usespulsed, solid state lasers with a modula-tion technique known as acousto-opticline writing to create images exhibiting aunique combination of brightness, spa-tial resolution, and chromatic strength,specifically suited for large area displaysin bright ambient lighting.

Optical Storage, Atom Traps Featured at Annual Laser Science Meeting

Research Council’s ResearchAssociateship Award for postdoctoralstudy at the Naval Research Laboratory.She has served on the ResearchAssociateship Programs Advisory Com-mittee for the National Research Council,the APS Committee on the Status ofWomen In Physics, and the American In-stitute of Physics Advisory Committeeon Physics In Two Year Colleges.

McIntyre identified two fundamentalissues currently affecting physics researchand education in the U.S.: the amount offederal funding for research and develop-ment, and the production of physics PhDsat universities. In addition to increasingefforts to further facilitate the employ-ment prospects for young physics, “Wemust continue to develop new and cre-ative methods to effectively communicatewith our nation’s executive branch andcongressional leaders on the contributionsof physics research to society,” she said.She specifically suggests that members ofCongress or their staff be invited to at-tend special technical presentations atannual APS meetings for a day, targetedto their interests.

Peccei is Dean of the Division of Physi-cal Sciences of the College of Letters and

Science at UCLA, a position he has heldsince November 1993. He is a particletheorist whose principal interests lie inthe area of electroweak interactions andin the interface between particle physicsand cosmology. Born in Italy, he com-pleted his secondary school in Argentina,and came to the U.S. in 1958 to pursue hisuniversity studies in physics. He obtaineda Ph.D. from MIT in 1969. After a briefperiod of postdoctoral work at the Univer-sity of Washington, he joined the faculty ofStanford University in 1971. In 1978 he re-turned to Europe as a staff member of theMax Planck Institute in Munich, Germany.He joined the Deutsches Elektron Synchro-tron (DESY) laboratory in Hamburg,Germany, as the Head of the TheoreticalGroup in 1984 before returning to the U.S.in 1989, joining the faculty of the Depart-ment of Physics at UCLA. Within the APS,Peccei served for three years on the Divi-sion of Particles and Fields ExecutiveCommittee, chairing the unit in 1993.

In his candidate’s statement, Pecceinoted the changing realities of federalfunding for research and the impact onthe job market for physicists. To help ad-dress the latter, he hopes to foster theorganization of more career workshops,

as well as other APS activities designedto help raise awareness of physicists aboutemployment issues. Like Langer, he alsobelieves that the physics community willbenefit by broadening its borders to incor-porate new fields at the edges of exploration,as well as fostering the existing subdisci-plines. “In a tight fiscal climate, wherechoices need to be made, the difficulty ishow to maintain the breadth without di-minishing the strengths of the individualsubfields,” he acknowledged, adding thatthe APS can play a useful role by publiclyemphasizing the unity of physics to dampenany partisan squabbles.

Quinn is a theoretical particle physicistat Stanford Linear Accelerator Center,where she also leads the laboratory’s edu-cation and outreach efforts. She receivedher PhD from Stanford University in 1967and held positions at DESY and HarvardUniversity before returning to SLAC in1977. Her research is focused on under-standing the nature of the breaking of CPsymmetry in weak interaction processes,as well as the mechanisms that ensure itsmaintenance in strong interaction pro-cesses. She is currently an activeparticipant in the development of the ex-perimental program for the SLAC B

factory, designed particularly to study CPviolation in the decays of B mesons,where it is expected to manifest itself in avariety of decays and thus provide tests ofStandard Model predictions and probesfor beyond Standard Model effects. Shehas served in the APS Division of Particlesand Fields Executive Committee and as amember of the Panel on Public Affairs,and is currently on the Executive Com-mittee of the Forum on Education.

According to her candidate’s state-ment, Quinn’s interest in serving as anAPS Councillor stems from her beliefthat while the APS is a strong organiza-tion, it needs to evolve significantly in theface of current realities. In particular, sheis concerned about the impact of elec-tronic publishing on the Society’s journals,and a growing desire for smaller, morefocused meetings by many APS members.“For many of my colleagues, APS meet-ings are no longer a prime professionalactivity, and even divisional meetings arelarger and more general than the meet-ings young scientists prefer to attend,” shesaid. She is also interested in seeking waysto expand the APS role in outreach andeducation, working in tandem with otherprofessional societies.

1997 Election Results (Continued)

APS News January 1998

6

In November, the APS Executive Boardofficially endorsed the bipartisan Na-

tional Research Investment Act of 1998(NRIA), a Senate bill (S.1305) that callsfor a doubling of federal funding for basicscientific, medical and pre-competitiveengineering research over the next decade.The bill was announced at a press confer-ence in October, along with the release ofa unified statement endorsed by the APSand 106 other scientific, engineering andmath organizations (APS News, Decem-ber 1997). Like the Senate Bill, thestatement calls for a doubling of the fed-eral budget for research by the year 2009,although the bill focuses specifically onincreases in civilian research.

The event marks the culmination of aseries of activities instigated by the APSOffice of Public Affairs just over a yearago, with strong support from then-APSPresident D. Allan Bromley (Yale Uni-versity), who had made federal supportfor science a priority of his presidentialtenure. According to APS Director ofPublic Affairs Michael Lubell, in the fallof 1996, when the framework was beingset for the FY1998 federal budget, the out-look for science was not good. The mostoptimistic scenario was a freeze at FY1997funding levels, with more dire projectionsfrom the American Association for theAdvancement of Science (AAAS) predict-ing as much as a 5% cut in funding levelsfor many science and technology pro-grams.

As word spread throughout the scien-tific community, two APS divisions inparticular — nuclear and high energy phys-ics — sent out a call for action to theirmembers, who in turn began to flood theadministration with letters encouragingcontinued strong federal support of sci-ence. This had some effect on thepresidential budget request for FY1998submitted to Congress in February 1997,which asked for small increases for sci-ence research, as high as 3% increase forsome programs.

In the meantime, Bromley met withthe presidents of several other profes-sional societies — including the AmericanChemical Society (ACS), the AmericanMathematical Society (AMA), the Ameri-can Astronomical Society (ASA), and theAmerican Institute of Physics (AIP),among others — with an eye towards or-ganizing a joint effort. The result was aJoint Society Statement released inMarch, calling for a 7% increase acrossthe board for science funding in FY1998(APS News, April and May 1997).

A key point of the joint statement wasthat the sciences are interdependent andtherefore one had to view federal researchinvestment comprehensively, not just in-dividual disciplines. Furthermore, itmaintained that investments in researchare critical to a number of national needs,including economic growth, health, na-tional security, and quality of life. “It wasa first in terms of a real call for a compre-hensive approach to science, and it askedfor a specific number, instead of just theusual ‘science is good’ type of message,”said Lubell.

Despite Bromley’s appearance onCSPAN plugging the joint statement,along with ACS President Paul Ander-son, initial response from Congress wasmixed. Rep. George Brown (D-CA), theranking Democrat on the Science Com-mittee and a long-time supporter ofscience, was sympathetic, but didn’t thinkit could be done. Science Committee

Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) ac-knowledged the cause was worthy, butinitially declined to endorse anythingmore than a flat budget for FY1998.

However, subsequent press coverageby National Public Radio, the Washing-ton Post, the National Journal, AssociatedPress, Business Week, and U.S. News andWorld Report, as well as editorials on theimportance of investment in science inthe Wall Street Journal and New YorkTimes, kept the issue in the public eye. Inaddition, by the end of June the numberof societies and organizations endorsingthe Joint Statement had reached 48, repre-senting a broad-based coalition of 1.5million scientists, engineers and math-ematicians. As budget hearings began inthe Senate in May, Sensenbrenner eventu-ally modified his position toaccommodate the possibility of a 3% in-crease in science funding.

Encouraged by the response, the mem-ber societies of the joint coalition dividedthe eight weeks from May 1 to the end ofJune, which is the key time when appro-priations bills are crafted, and took turnsalerting their memberships to write let-ters to Congress. “It was like passing abaton from one society to the next,” saidFrancis Slakey, Assistant Director of APSPublic Affairs, of this unique approach.“By staggering the letter-writing cam-paigns, we made sure that the message ofthe importance of increasing federal fund-ing for science was pounded out weekafter week.”

As another first, several societies con-tributed funds to place an ad making thecase for science in the June 16th issue ofRoll Call. The biweekly publication cov-ers the activities of Congress and parts ofthe Administration, and is one of the mostwidely read publications on Capitol Hill.In addition, the Office of Public Affairsapproached the mayors of several citiesin the districts of key appropriators, per-suading about 20 of them to endorse aletter detailing the importance of invest-ment in science to the future of America’scities.

Several society presidents also paidpersonal visits to key Congressional of-fices to emphasize the need for thegovernment to look seriously at investingin research. And during the Joint APS/AAPT Spring Meeting in April, the APSDivisions of Laser Science and Atomic,Molecular and Optical physics, in con-junction with Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI),organized a reception on the Hill featur-ing 12 hands-on science demonstrations.“I think many members of Congress hadthought about science primarily as eso-teric scratchings on a blackboard,” saidSlakey of the demos’ effectiveness in com-municating the message of the benefits ofscience. “For the first time they were see-ing things that grew out of science thatwere part of their experience, so there wassome real contact between science andtheir daily lives. It wasn’t just lecturemode.”

This flurry of lobbying activity by thescientific community ultimately yieldedimpressive results, especially when con-sidered in light of the dire forecasts of 5%cuts being cited one year ago. Accordingto Lubell, while the FY1998 budgetdoesn’t grant a 7% increase for sciencefunding across the board, there are sub-stantial increases for most science andtechnology programs averaging between5% and 8%. For example, DOE’s basicenergy sciences went up 8.6%, the plasma

and fusion budget went up 5%, the NIHreceived a 7.1% increase, the core pro-grams of NIST went up 5.5%, and the NSFbudget rose nearly 6%.

The coalition also expended consider-able effort to help foster cooperationbetween Senators Phil Gramm (R-TX)and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) on the devel-opment of the new bipartisan NRIA,which makes science a national fundingpriority. Pete Domenici (R-NM), thechair of the Budget Committee, also threwhis support behind the bill, as did JeffBingaman (D-NM). In fact, Domenicivowed to make the bill a priority. Whilethere is currently no equivalent bill in theHouse, Brown is offering an investmentbudget outlining Democratic prioritiesfor discretionary spending in general thatwould increase scientific R&D by 5% ayear, which is not incompatible with thegoal of doubling research in ten years. “Ithink Brown deserves credit for keepingthe flame burning in the House while allthis other effort was taking place in theSenate,” said Lubell.

Other societies are expected to followthe APS’ example in officially endorsingthe NRIA. Gramm and Lieberman areconfident they can round up the 51 co-sponsors needed to ensure passage in theSenate, but they will need the grass-rootslobbying support of the expanded joint

coalition representing 3 million mathema-ticians, engineers and scientists from 106societies. Thus, the coalition’s work is farfrom over. “Without the confidence thatthe scientific community is really behindthis, this kind of legislation has a way ofbeing tabled,” said Lubell.

Among the lessons learned from thepast year’s activities is that by workingtogether to send a compelling, unifiedmessage, scientists can have a muchgreater impact on science policy than byworking individually. Also, the experi-ence proved that members of Congressdo listen to scientists and would like tohear from them. “They interpret silenceas an indication that there’s no problem,or that scientists don’t consider their workto be relevant enough for the governmentto pay attention to it,” said Lubell. “If youjust expect somebody else to carry themessage forward into Congress, it’s notgoing to have any effect.”

APS members interested in more informa-tion, or participating in current and futureefforts on behalf of science funding, shouldcontact Michael Lubell [lubell@aps.org] orFrancis Slakey [slakey@aps.org] at the APSOffice of Public Affairs, 202-662- 8700. Thefull text of both the Joint Society Statementand the Unified Statement can be found onthe APS Web page [www.aps.org].

Endorsement of Senate NRIA-1998 Bill Culminates Year-Long Efforts By APS

APS VIEWS

THE 7 PERCENT SOLUTION

Science & Engineering Fuel the Economy�

�Since World War II, fully half of America�s total economic growth hassprung directly from technological innovation� Most of this wealth-creatinginnovation is a direct result of research that has been underwritten by thefederal government.�

� The Washington Times, January 3, 1997

�Academic research in science has a �social rate of return� in the form oflower prices, better products, and higher productivity that exceeds 20percent� serious funding for science is a vital national investment.�

� U.S. News and World Report, May 19, 1997

But the Public Investment inR&D Is Sinking�

We Must Increase the PublicInvestment in R&D...

Recently, 1,500 economistswere asked: �If the FederalGovernment wanted to increaselong-term economic growth, which one policy would have the most positiveimpact?� The number one response, beating all other responses by four toone, was �Spend more on Education and Research & Development.�

� Wall Street Journal, March 6, 1997

�The lag time between basic research and application is often 20 years,� saysDavid Gergen, Editor at Large, U.S. News and World Report. The economy isstrong, a benefit of past public investments in science and engineering. Cut-ting the investment cuts future economic growth.

A 7% Increase Keeps America on the Path to a Balanced Budget.

�A 7% increase strikes a balance between the current fiscal pressures andthe need to invest in activities that enable long-term economic growth andproductivity.�

� Leaders representing 1.5 million Scientists, Mathematicians,and Engineers, March 4, 1997

�Congress finds that an increased level of investment in basic science isessential to maintaining the position of the U.S. as technological leader ofthe world. The purpose of this Act is to double the Federal funding forscience over 10 years.�

� S. 124, National Research Investment Act of 1997

January 1998 APS News

7

LETTERS

The debate in October 1997 APS Newsbetween John Michael Williams andStuart Pittel on “Nuclear Superconduc-tivity” has lost sight completely of itsbasic physics and history. The term wasfirst used by David Pines at the 1957Rehovot Conference on Nuclear Struc-ture to point out that the new BCS theory,which was at that time far from being ac-cepted, might also apply to nuclei. Itsuggested that any weak attractive inter-action will give rise to coherentmany-body states for the particles nearthe Fermi surface and an energy gap intheir excitation spectrum.

At the same 1957 conference GiulioRacah independently described the samephysics for atoms and nuclei in group-theo-

Nuclear Superconductivity

retical language. The bottom line wasclearly stated by John Bardeen at that timein explaining the difference between BCSand Bose condensation. Cooper pairs arenot bosons; they are overlapping fermionpairs where the size of a given pair is muchlarger than the mean distance betweenpairs, and where the Pauli principle is cru-cial. I used these ideas of Bardeen andRacah in my quantum mechanics bookto show the unity of physics between vari-ous fields, rather than nitpicking overminor differences, and attempted to urgeothers to follow the precedent set byDavid Pines in encouraging communica-tions between different areas.Harry J. LipkinWeizmann Institute of ScienceRehovot, Israel

zero gravity

1997 DARWIN AWARD WINNERThe Darwin Award is presented every year to an individual (or the remains thereof),

who has done the most to remove undesirable elements from the human gene pool.The 1995 winner was the fellow who was killed by a Coke machine which toppledover on top of him as he was attempting to tip a free soda out of it. In 1996 the winnerwas an air force sergeant who attached a JATO (rocket) unit to his car and crashed intoa cliff several hundred feet above the roadbed.

The 1997 winner is Larry Waters of Los Angeles — one of the few Darwin winnersto survive his award-winning accomplishment. Larry’s boyhood dream was to fly.When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming apilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. When he was finally discharged,he had to satisfy himself with watching jets fly over his backyard.

One day, Larry decided to fly. He went to the local Army-Navy surplus store andpurchased 45 weather balloons and several tanks of helium. The weather balloons,when fully inflated, would measure more than four feet across. Back home, Larrysecurely strapped the balloons to his sturdy lawn chair. He anchored the chair to thebumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with the helium. He climbed on for a testwhile it was still only a few feet above the ground. Satisfied it would work, Larrypacked several sandwiches and a six-pack of beer, loaded his pellet gun— figuring hecould pop a few balloons when it was time to descend— and went back to the floatinglawn chair.

He tied himself in along with his pellet gun and provisions. Larry’s plan was tolazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard after severing the anchorand in a few hours come back down.

Things didn’t quite work out that way. When he cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his jeep, he didn’t float lazily up to 30 or so feet. Instead he streaked into theLA sky as if shot from a cannon. He didn’t level off at 30 feet; he leveled off at 11,000feet. At that height he couldn’t risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance theload. So he stayed there, drifting, cold and frightened, for more than 14 hours.

Eventually Larry found himself drifting into the primary approach corridor of LosAngeles International Airport. A United pilot first spotted him. He radioed the towerand described how he’d passed a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed theexistence of an object floating 11,000 feet above the airport. LAX emergency proce-dures swung into full alert and a helicopter was dispatched to investigate. LAX is righton the ocean. Night was falling and the offshore breeze began to flow. It carried Larryout to sea with the helicopter in hot pursuit. Several miles out, the helicopter caught upwith him. Once the crew determined that he was not dangerous, they attempted toclose in for a rescue but thedraft from the blades wouldpush Larry away wheneverthey neared.

Finally, the helicopter as-cended to a position severalhundred feet above Larry andlowered a rescue line. Larrysnagged the line and washauled back to shore. The dif-ficult maneuver wasflawlessly executed by the he-licopter crew. As soon asLarry was hauled to earth, hewas arrested by waiting mem-bers of the LAPD for violatingLAX airspace. As he was ledaway in handcuffs, a reporterdispatched to cover the dar-ing rescue asked why he haddone it. Larry stopped, turnedand replied nonchalantly, “Aman can’t just sit around.”

The Southeastern Section of the APS(SESAPS) held its 63rd annual meet-

ing, 6-8 November 1997, at VanderbiltUniversity in Nashville, Tennessee. In-vited speakers covered such topics asmaterials and biophysics research withfree electron lasers, nuclear physics, sol-ids and molecular dynamics, optics,physics teaching, astrophysics, high en-ergy physics, chaos in quantum systems,and computational physics in the physicscurricula. In addition, Vanderbilt hostedtwo one-day workshops prior to the meet-ing, one on radioactive ion beams, andanother on condensed matter/free elec-tron laser physics. The Society of PhysicsStudents organized a session for studentpapers in conjunction with the SESAPSmeeting, presenting the Marsh W. WhiteAward for the best paper given at the ses-sion.

APS Associate Executive OfficerBarrett Ripin spoke on career opportuni-ties for physicists during an interactiveThursday afternoon session, reviewing thecurrent status of the physics job marketand outlining short- and long-term strate-gies being undertaken by the APS to helpimprove the employability of physicistsin various sectors. Later that evening, sci-entists from Vanderbilt and three otherSoutheastern universities staged a phys-ics demonstration program. And LaurieMcNeil (University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill), chair of the APS Commit-tee on the Status of Women in physics,led session participants in a panel discus-sion on the topic of balancing familyobligations with a physics career on Fri-day afternoon.

Physics with Intense RadiationAccording to Vanderbilt University’s

Norman Tolk, who spoke at a Friday af-ternoon session on physics with intenseradiation, the Vanderbilt Free ElectronLaser’s (FEL) tunability, high intensityand short pulse structure make it idealfor (1) studying the electronic and vibra-tional structure of small and wide bandgap semiconductors, and (2) achievingnon-thermal wavelength-selective materi-als alterations. In the first instance,scientists have been able to verify two-photon absorption measurements in Ge.The FEL has also greatly facilitated inter-nal photoemission heterojunction banddiscontinuity measurements, without theneed for complex modeling. With regardto the latter, Tolk has used the FEL todemonstrate strongly wavelength-selec-tive ablation in chemical vapor depositeddiamond.

During the same ses-sion, Maurizio Ferconi,also of Vanderbilt, de-scribed recent attempts toselectively enhance chemi-cal reactions with infraredradiation, which to datehave had limited success.The development of newlasers such as the FEL andultrafast tabletop lasers,and the potential for mate-rials processing andbiomedical applications,have rekindled interest inthis area. Ferconi’s team isimplementing state-of-theart computational tech-niques — using classicaland quantum moleculardynamics — to both mol-ecules and solids under

intense infrared radiation.Finally, scientists at the University of

Illinois are using “nanoshocks” — tiny butpowerful shock waves measuring 100 mi-crometers in diameter, with a samplethickness of 1 micrometer and a total vol-ume of a few nanograms — to studyanthracene, a model molecular crystal,and myoglobin, a molecularnanomachine. Generated by high powerpicosecond laser pulses in solids via laserablation, the nanoshock produces largeamplitude displacements from the equi-librium geometry. The subsequentultrafast material relaxation processes aremonitored by ultrafast vibrational or vis-ible spectroscopy.

Biological PhysicsThe use of physical techniques has

become very important in understandingthe pathophysiology of sickle cell disease,according to Daniel Kim-Shapiro of WakeForest University, who spoke on Satur-day morning. In particular, light scatteringand absorption studies have been used tomeasure the kinetics of sickle cell hemo-globin polymerization anddepolymerization (melting). These haveled not only to an increased understand-ing of the disease, which affects about 1out of 600 people of African descent inthe U.S. alone, but has also led to im-proved treatment strategies. Kim-Shapirois currently conducting investigationsinto the phenomenon of polymer melt-ing in sickle cell hemoglobin, which iskey to determining whether polymersthat reach the lungs melt before they en-ter the oxygen deficient tissues.Specifically, he has been exploring thekinetics of oxygen binding to the poly-mers, using time-resolved lineardichroism, followed by laser photolysis.

Multimedia Tools in PhysicsTeaching

Several sessions were organizedaround current issues in, and new ap-proaches to, physics teaching, particularlyin the area of new computer andmutlimedia tools. On Friday afternoon,Aaron Titus of North Carolina State Uni-versity addressed the issue of integratingmultimedia and physics problems to en-hance students’ success at solvingproblems. In a recent study of students’responses on Web-based homework ques-tions, he found that merely presenting avideo of motion described in a given phys-ics problem is not the most effective useof multimedia materials. Rather, multi-media-focused problems, where datarelevant to solving the problem is embed-ded in a video or animation, may be thebest use of multimedia in physics prob-lem solving.

According to L.W. Martin of NorthPark University, the updated softwarepackage Mathematica 3.0 features a newinterface designed to allow more naturalentry of traditional mathematical nota-tion, and the entire documentation iselectronically searchable, making it idealfor use in upper-level physics courses forstudents completing assignments, sincethe mathematics becomes secondary tothe physics. As occurred when calcula-tors became widely available, thequestion remains as to how to use the newtool most effectively to help students learnphysics, without distracting them with thecomputer, and Martin discussed severalpossible methods for implementingMathematica into physics courses.

FELs, Biological Physics Featured atSESAPS Meeting

APS News January 1998

8

Chiral Perturbation Theory, Discrete Symmetries Highlight1997 Nuclear Division Meeting

The latest research results in chiralperturbation theory, discrete sym-

metries, and weak interactions and spinstructure were among the topics featuredat the annual fall meeting of the APS Di-vision of Nuclear Physics (DNP), heldOctober 5-8, 1997 in Whistler, BritishColumbia, Canada. The meeting con-sisted of a plenary session in memory ofChien-Shiung Wu, five invited sessions,24 contributed sessions, and four mini-symposia on, respectively, B solarneutrinos, neutral currents in atoms andnuclei, the contribution of quark sea andgluons to nuclear structure, and order andchaos in nuclei.

A town meeting was also held on Tues-day afternoon to provide an opportunityfor a large segment of the nuclear sciencecommunity to contribute to the ongoingdiscussion regarding future challenges andpriorities for the field. On hand to guidethe discussion were Peter Rosen, newlyappointed associate director of the DOE’s

Office of High Energy and NuclearPhysics, and Robert Eisenstein, the NSF’sassistant director for mathematical andphysical sciences. In addition, three par-allel workshops were presented prior to,but in conjunction with, the DNP meet-ing on Sunday, October 5: one on discretesymmetries, another on electromagneticdynamics of mesons and nucleons, andthe third on radioactive beams andnuclear astrophysics.

Plenary SessionAlong with a short scientific biogra-

phy of Wu, the plenary session that kickedoff the conference included a presentationby Carl Wieman of the University ofColorado on his recent measurements ofatomic parity violation, which has nowbeen observed in numerous atoms suchas cesium, particularly the first measure-ment of a nuclear anapole moment.Brookhaven’s Maurice Goldhaber dis-cussed various aspects of the study of

neutrinos emitted in weak decay pro-cesses, for which work Wu is chieflyknown. There is an ongoing investigationin this area of research by the Japan-USAKamiokande collaboration of atmo-spheric and solar neutrinos.

Vincent Yuan of Los Alamos NationalLaboratory closed the session with a talkon compound-nuclear neutron resonancesfor fundamental and applied physics. Ac-cording to Yuan, experiments usingepithermal neutrons interacting withcompound-nuclear resonances serve awide range of scientific applications. Forexample, transmission changes correlatedto the polarization reversal in incidentneutrons have been used to study parityviolation in the compound nucleus formany different targets. Neutron reso-nances can also be used to determine thepolarization of neutron beams. Finally,the motion of target atoms results in anobserved temperature-dependent Dop-pler broadening of resonance line widths,which can be used to determine tempera-tures on a fast time scale of onemicrosecond or less.

Chiral Perturbation TheorySeveral speakers at a Tuesday morn-

ing session concentrated on recentdevelopments on applying chiral pertur-bation theory (CPT) to study nucleon andhyperon properties such as masses, mag-netic moments, and weak decays, as wellas photo- and electro-production of pionson nucleons near thresholds. For ex-ample, according to Norm Kolb of theSaskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory,threshold photoproduction of pions offnucleons is one of the few low-energyphenomena for which QCD-based effec-tive field theories can be formulated andtested. He has used model-independentlow-energy theorems, as well as CPT, topredict the leading order terms of the s-wave electric dipole amplitude atthreshold for these reactions, which arein good agreement with recent experimen-tal measurements. In addition,measurements of neutral-pion productionfrom the deuteron may soon provide pio-neering tests of CPT in a nuclear system.

Electroproduction of pions on nucle-ons near threshold is one of theexperiments for which CPT can makeclear predictions, according to Henk Blokof Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit, whoalso spoke at the session. In particular,this process represents a very sensitive testof various ingredients of the calculations,since the model-independent term due tothe charge of the pion is absent. Data onthe proton have been taken at theNIKHEF facility in Amsterdam and atthe MAMI facility in Mainz. In both cases,Blok reported, the scattered electron andthe residual proton were detected in twohigh-resolution magnetic spectrometers,which can measure the full angular dis-tribution of electroproduction of pionson nucleons in just a few settings.

Discrete SymmetriesDuring a Wednesday afternoon ses-

sion, Shelley Page of the University ofManitoba described an experiment cur-rently underway at TRIUMF which willprovide unique information on the weaknucleon-nucleon interaction from a mea-surement of parity violation inproton-proton scattering at 221 MeV. Ac-cording to Page, the beam energy ischosen to isolate a single partial wave con-tribution to the parity-violatingasymmetry, thus providing the cleanestpossible interpretation of the results, andthe first direct measurement of the weak

Two APS Publications to beDiscontinued

Due to drastically decreased demandfor the print version of Physical ReviewAbstracts, the publication will be discon-tinued as of January 1, 1999. The last issueof PR Abstracts to be printed will be theDecember 15, 1998 issue so that the Ameri-can Physical Society may fulfill itsobligations to nonmember subscribers.Demand for the print version of PR Ab-stracts decreased sharply soon after theAPS made PR Abstracts available onlinefree of charge. (Please visit this URL:http://publish.aps.org/DLO/abs.html.)The severe drop in print subscription hasmade it economically unfeasible to con-tinue print production. The APS will notbe accepting any new or renewed mem-ber subscriptions to PR Abstracts as ofJanuary 1, 1998.

With the July 1, 1997, release of Physi-cal Review B Online, which covers the fullcontents of PRB1, PRB15, and PRB-RapidCommunications, the APS accomplishedone of its more important goals, which isto distribute the largest component ofPhysical Review on the World Wide Web.As an attempt to make at least one smallpart of PRB available to APS members onthe Web as soon as possible, Physical Re-view B-Rapid Communications Online wasreleased on July 1, 1996 and was made

available to members only. Because ofthe current duplicate coverage of PRB-Rapid Communications articles in bothonline offerings, PRB-Rapid Communica-tions as a separate publication will bediscontinued as of July 1, 1998. The APSis no longer accepting any new or re-newed subscriptions to PRB-RapidCommunications.

The APS would like to emphasize thatit is discontinuing PRB-Rapid Communi-cations as a separate publication onlybecause of duplicate coverage and that ithas no intentions to alter the availabilityof any of its online journals. The APS iscommitted to bringing to its membershipand to the scientific community at largequality physics research at affordableprices, and the electronic medium is seenas one possible means to achieve that ob-jective.

Questions or comments about mem-ber subscriptions should be directed tothe APS Membership Department atmembership@aps.org (e-mail), 301-209-3280 (telephone), or 301-209-0867 (fax).Questions or comments about nonmem-ber subscriptions should be directed tothe APS Associate Publisher atassocpub@aps.org (e-mail), 301-209-3283(telephone), or 301-209-0844 (fax).

APS James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials

The APS Council voted unanimously to establish the APSJames C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials. TheMcGroddy Prize endowment was provided through a gener-ous donation by IBM. This prize supercedes the NewMaterials Prize that was funded by IBM from 1975 through1994 on a yearly basis.

The purpose of the McGroddy prize is to recognize andencourage outstanding achievement in the science and appli-cation of New Materials. This includes the discovery of newclasses of materials, the observation of novel phenomena in known materials leadingto both fundamentally new applications and scientific insights, and shall also includetheoretical and experimental work contributing significantly to the understanding ofsuch phenomena. The award will initially be $5,000, plus a certificate or suitablemedal citing the contribution made by the recipient and a travel allowance to attendthe meeting of the Society at which the award is bestowed. Nominations are open toscientists of all nationalities irrespective of where their work has been carried out.

The prize is named for James C. McGroddy, Director of the IBM Research Divi-sion, who started his career at IBM as a materials physicist, studying the properties ofSi, GE, and various III-V compounds. McGroddy received the APS Pake Prize in 1995for his scientific accomplishments and leadership.

meson-nucleon coupling constant. A sec-ond long data run has just been completedat TRIUMF. Because the measurementsare sensitive to a wide variety of systemicerrors which must be monitored and con-trolled, the current major focus is onreducing system errors.

Weak Interactions and SpinStructure

Type II supernova and neutron star-starneutron mergers are candidate sites forthe production of certain heavy nuclei,according to Gail McLaughlin of INT inSeattle, who spoke on Monday afternoon.In these environments, nucleosynthesistakes place in the presence of a neutrinoflux. Depending on the intensity of theflux, neutrino interactions with heavy nu-clei can play an important role indetermining final abundances. Thus,knowledge of the relevant weak interac-tion cross sections is an importantingredient in determining the astrophysi-cal site and conditions during which thisnucleosynthesis occurs. In addition,nuclear scattering can impact the nuclearflow during nucleosynthesis, and theneutrino flux experienced by a nucleusdepends on the hydrodynamic condi-tions. Therefore, said McLaughlin, “Thestudy of neutrino scattering in a rapidlyexpanding environment typical of thepost-core-bounce supernova helps to dis-criminate between various outflowscenarios.”

The �Other� Giant DipoleResonance

On Tuesday afternoon, Umesh Gargof the University of Notre Dame reportedon an investigation of the ISoscalar GiantDipole Resonance (ISGDR). An exotic“squeezing” mode of collective nuclearvibration, this resonance is best describedas “a hydrodynamical density oscillationin which the volume of the nucleus re-mains constant and the state can bevisualized in the form of a compressionwave oscillating back and forth throughthe nucleus,” said Garg, comparing thepressure wave to a sound wave. Since theexcitation energy of the ISGDR is directlyrelated to the nuclear compressibility, histeam used the K600 spectrometer at theIndiana University Cyclotron Facility tomeasure inelastic scattering of 200 MeVparticles at 0 degrees, where the angulardistribution of the ISGDR could be clearlydistinguished from that of the nearby high-energy octupole resonance. They alsoemployed the difference-of-spectra tech-nique pioneered in the study of the giantmonopole resonance to obtain the clearestevidence yet for the ISGDR.

Intermediate Energy HadronProbes

Cooler storage rings with internaltargets offer excellent possibilities tostudy threshold production of mesons,according to Hans Calen of Sweden’sUppsala University, who spoke at aWednesday morning session. The ex-perimental program at the CELSIUSring of the Svedberg Laboratory inUppsala has lately focused on n mesonproduction in proton-proton and pro-ton-deuteron collisions, as well as inproton-neutron collisions using deute-rium as a target. For these studies, histeam developed a detector setup with thecapability to detect forward-movingcharged particles together with photonsfrom neutral meson decays. It also allowsfor a kinematically complete determina-tion of the meson production events inmost cases, and has enabled measure-ments very close to threshold.

January 1998 APS News

9

The American Physical SocietyThis form is also available at: http://www.aps.org/exec.nomform.html

NOMINATION BALLOT

Council and Committee Positions(To be Completed by Members of the Society Only)

Please Attach Appropriate Supporting Biographical Documentationd

For Vice-President

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

For General Councillor

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

For Chairperson-Elect, Nominating Committee

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

For Membership on the Nominating Committee

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

(Continued on Reverse)

The American Physical Society

Nomination for APS Fellow

To be sent to:Fellowship Program

The American Physical SocietyOne Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844

If space is inadequate, please use separate sheet to answer and attach to form.

Name in full of person nominated: ____________________________________________________________________(First Name) (Middle Name) (Last Name)

Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date nominee became a member of the APS: ___________________________________________________________

Appropriate division(s) to assess nomination: __________________________________________________________

Supporting Data

Nominee’s Academic Background

College/University Location Major Field Degree Year Awarded

Professional Honors ________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nominee’s Employment Background

(please specify under “Duties” whether academic, administrative, or research)

Position Employed By Duties Dates of Employment

(Continued on Reverse)

1998 AWARD FOR OUTSTANDINGDOCTORAL THESIS RESEARCH

IN PLASMA PHYSICS

Established in 1985 and now endowed byGeneral Atomic.

Purpose: To provide recognition to exceptionalyoung scientists who have performed originaldoctoral thesis work of outstanding scientificquality and achievement in the area of plasmaphysics.

Nature: The annual award consists of $2,000,a certificate citing the accomplishments of therecipient, and an allowance of up to $500 fortravel to attend the annual meeting of the Divi-sion of Plasma Physics at which the award willbe presented.

Send name of proposed candidate and support-ing information before 1 April 1998 to: RonaldM. Gilgenbach, Dept of Nucl Engr, Univ ofMichigan, Cooley Bldg #N Campus, Ann ArborMI 48109; Phone: (313) 763-1261; Fax: (313) 7634540; Email: ronald_gilgenbach@um.cc. umich.edu

1998 JAMES CLERK MAXWELLPRIZE FOR PLASMA PHYSICS

Established in 1975 by Maxwell Technologies,Inc.

Purpose: To recognize outstanding contribu-tions to the field of plasma physics.

Nature: The prize consists of $5,000 and a cer-tificate citing the contributions made by therecipient

Rules and Eligibility: The prize shall be foroutstanding contributions to the advancementand diffusion of the knowledge of properties

of highly ionized gases of natural or laboratoryorigin. The prize shall ordinarily be awarded toone person but a prize may be shared when allthe recipients have contributed to the same ac-complishments. Nominations are active forthree years.

Send name of proposed candidate and support-ing information by 1 April, 1998 to: RobertJames Goldston, PPPL, Princeton Univ, POBox 451, Princeton NJ 08543-0451; Phone:(609) 243-3172; Fax: (609) 243 2100; Email:goldston@pppl.gov

1998 EXCELLENCE IN PLASMA1998 EXCELLENCE IN PLASMA1998 EXCELLENCE IN PLASMA1998 EXCELLENCE IN PLASMA1998 EXCELLENCE IN PLASMAPHYSICS RESEARCH AWARDPHYSICS RESEARCH AWARDPHYSICS RESEARCH AWARDPHYSICS RESEARCH AWARDPHYSICS RESEARCH AWARD

Established in 1981 with support from Friendsof the Division of Plasma Physics

Purpose: To recognize a particular recent out-standing achievement in plasma physicsresearch.

Nature: The award consists of $5,000 to bedivided equally in the case of multiple win-ners, and includes a certificate citing thecontributions made by the recipient or recipi-ents, to be presented at an award ceremony atthe Division of Plasma Physics Annual Meet-ing Banquet.

Rules and Eligibility: Nominations are opento scientists of all nationalities regardless ofthe geographical site at which the work wasdone. It may be a given to a set of individualsas well as to individual scientists, as appropri-ate, to honor those who make essentialcontributions to the cited research achieve-ment. Nominations are active for three years.

Send name of proposed candidate and support-ing information by 1 April, 1998 to: Bruce A.Remington, L-473 LLNL, UCL, PO Box 808,

Livermore CA 94551; Phone: (510) 423-2712;Fax: (510) 422 8395; Email: remington@llnl.gov

1998 NICHOLSON MEDAL FORHUMANITARIAN SERVICE

Established in 1994 by the Division of PlasmaPhysics and the Forum on Physics and Societyand is sponsored by the friends of DwightNicholson.

Purpose: To recognize the humanitarian as-

AWARD NOMINATIONS SOUGHTPlease refer to the APS Membership Directory, pages xxi-xxxvi, or the APS home page for complete information regarding rules and eligibility requirements.

Among the one-hundred or so APS Fellows attending the Washington, DC regionreception were William Phillips (NIST, 1997 Nobel Prize) on the left shaking handswith a fellow, Ramon Lopez (Director, APS Education Department) and JeromeFriedman (MIT, APS President-Elect and Program Chair of the reception).

pect of physics and physicists.

Nature: The honor consists of the NicholsonMedal and a certificate which includes the ci-tation for which the recipient has beenrecognized.

Send name of proposed candidate and support-ing information before 1 April 1998 to: ArnoldKritz, Physics Department, Lehigh Univ., 16Memorial Dr. E, Bethlehem, PA 18015;Phone: (610) 758-3930; Fax: (610) 758-5730;Email: kritz@plasma.physics.lehigh.edu.

Washington, DC Area APS Fellows ReceptionHeld November 12th.

APS News January 1998

10

Two promising young physicists have beennamed by the APS as recipients of the 1998

Apker Award for their research achievements asundergraduates. Anna Lopatnikova and CameronG. Geddes will each receive a $3000 stipend, a cer-tificate, and a travel allowance to attend the 1998Joint APS/AAPT Spring Meeting in Cincinnati,Ohio, in April, where the award will be presented.They will also be invited to present papers at anappropriate technical session during the meeting.The committee generally tries to select two win-ners each year, one from a PhD-granting institutionand one from a predominantly undergraduate in-stitution.

Lopatnikova graduated from MIT in 1997 and isbeing honored for her thesis entitled, “Renormalization-Group Theory of Superfluid-ity and Phase Separation of Helium Mixtures Immersed in Aerogel.” Her workreproduced and explained several new experimental features, such as a phase separa-tion between two superfluid phases, a critical point imbedded within superfluidity,and the occurrences of a superfluid phase with very low 4He concentrations. Thisresulted in the publication of one paper in Physical Review B, as well as a follow-uppaper recently submitted, and has suggested new experimental directions. She hasbeen awarded fellowships from both the NSF and Bell Laborato-ries to pursue graduate studies in physics.

Specifically, Lopatnikova’s work on the renormalization grouptheory for helium-mixture phase transitions immersed in a dis-ordered porous medium involved the coupled mappings of bulkand surface probability distributions of quenched disorder in thesystem, and the mastery of the random-field and random-bondproblems of critical phenomena. She successfully completed thisvery difficult calculation that only a few full-time condensedmatter physicists in the world can do, since it requires taking intoaccount subtle physical effects, factorizing and then interlacingsuperfluidity and criticality with the connectivity, tenuousnessand randomness properties of aerogel. Since then, she has ob-tained results in the question of the existence or non-existence of

Two Young Physicists to Receive 1998 APS Apker Awardsa gap in the excitation spectrum of quantum mag-netic systems, with relevance to high-temperaturesuperconductivity.

Geddes graduated from Swathmore College in1997 with a degree in physics and high honors, thelatter received in part because of his excellent thesisresearch in plasma physics, entitled, “SpheromakEquilibrium Studies on SSX.” In fact, he was awardedthe William C. Elmore Prize as the top physicsgraduate at the college. His thesis is based on someof the initial experiments performed on theSwarthmore Spheromak Experiment at the school’snew Magnetofluids Laboratory.

The experiment’s ultimate goal is to simulateconditions in solar flares (100,000 degrees C) for a

very short time (100 millionths of a second) in order to study fundamental magnetofluidprocesses. Using techniques borrowed from magnetic confinement fusion, the team isable to generate a hot ring of magnetized plasma called a spheromak. Geddes charac-terized the magnetic structure of these spheromaks using arrays of magnetic probes ofhis own construction, and using his own analysis, fit the data to various models. Healso made presentations of this work to members of the Swathmore Board of Trustees,and at the 1996 APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Anna Lopatnikova Cameron G. Geddes

Apker selection dinner – Committeemembers (rear,left to right): StevenRalph (Emory), June Matthews (MIT),Harry Lustig (APS), Kumar Patel(UCLA), Barrie Ripin (APS) andFinalists (front, right to left): Scott Hill,David Ginger, Stuart Norton, JulieHoff, and Cameron Geddes. FinalistAnna Lopatnikova and selectioncommittee members Robert Schrieffer(Florida State) and Laurence Marshall(Gettysburg College) are missing fromthe photo.

Nomination for APS Fellowship(continued)

Nominee’s most significant contributions and principal publications (list four publications):

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Suggested Citation to Appear on Fellowship Certificate if Nomination is Approved (30 words or less):

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Supporting Paragraph Enlarging on the Citation and Indicating the Originality and Significance of

the Contributions Cited:_________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sponsor’s Data (Each nominee must have two sponsors who are members of the APS.) (PLEASE

PRINT):

1 Sponsor’s Name:______________________________________ Signature:_______________________________

Sponsor’s Address:_____________________________________________________________________________

Sponsor’s Recommendation: ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

2 Sponsor’s Name:_____________________________________ Signature:________________________________

Sponsor’s Address:_____________________________________________________________________________

Sponsor’s Recommendation: ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

3 Additional Information Recommended: (a) Curriculum Vitae ___________________ Date

or Biographical Information

(b) Supporting Letters

PLEASE NOTE: To facilitate this nomination, be sure you have answered every question.

Enclose original and duplicate of nomination form.

For information on deadline dates for specific units consult the APS WWW home page(http://aps.org) under the Prize, Awards & Fellowship button, or call the

APS Honors office at (301) 209-3268.

NOMINATION BALLOT

Council and Committee Positions (continued)

For Chairperson-Elect, Panel on Public Affairs

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

For Membership on the Panel on Public Affairs

Nominee: Affiliation:

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

Signature and Address of Nominator

__________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Please send your nominations to:The American Physical Society

One Physics EllipseCollege Park, MD 20740-3844

Attn: Amy Halsted(301) 209-3266

fax: (301) 209-0865email: halsted@aps.org

The deadline is 31 January 1998.

January 1998 APS News

11

CAUGHT IN THE WEB

Notable additions to the APS Web Server. The

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Now Appearing in RMP…Reviews of Modern Physics is a quarterly journal featuring review articles andcolloquia on a wide range of topics in physics. Titles and brief descriptionsof the articles in the January 1998 issue are provided below.

Instability, turbulence, and enhanced transport in accretion disksSteven A. Balbus and John F. Hawley examine the dynamics of accretion disks, whichare ubiquitous in astrophysics as engines for consolidation of mass. A major newadvance is the appreciation of the important role played by magnetic fields in thedisk dynamics.

Theoretical methods for the atomic many-body problemJ. Sapirstein reviews the highest-accuracy calculation methods in the theory ofmultielectron atoms, with a view to applications in subatomic physics.

Quantum tunneling in nuclear fusionNuclear fusion below the Coulomb barrier exhibits quantum tunneling in a many-dimensional space, and this review by Akif Baha Balantekin and Noburu Takigawadiscusses both the theory and experimental aspects of this phenomenon.

The quantum-jump approach to dissipative dynamics in quantum opticsThe present capability in quantum optics to monitor the state of individual atomscalls for more versatile theoretical tools than have traditionally been used in thisarea. Martin Plenio and Peter Knight describe formalisms that have been recentlydeveloped for this purpose, to replace the older density-matrix formalism.

Nonlinear optical response of semiconductor and molecularnanostructuresVolrath M. Axt and Shaul Mukamel present a formalism for describing the electro-magnetic excitation of condensed systems. Using a particle-hole representation,they derive well-known models that are used in semiconductor and molecularphysics.

Application of superconducting quantum interference devices to nuclearmagnetic resonanceYakov S. Greenberg describes the unique properties of SQUIDs as detectors in NMRstudies, and he reviews the applications that have been made to date.

Stochastic resonanceThe enhancement of weak signals by noise is called stochastic resonance. LucaGammaitoni, Peter Hänggi, Peter Jung and Fabio Marchesoni review the experimentalphenomena and the corresponding theoretical understanding.

If you would like to subscribe to RMP, please add it to your invoice or contact

The American Physical SocietyAttn: Membership DepartmentOne Physics EllipseCollege Park, MD 20740-3844Phone: (301) 209-3280Email: membership@aps.org

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Science andTechnology CentersDEADLINE FOR PREPROPOSALS:FEBRUARY 12, 1998

The National Science Foundation(NSF) announces that the new pro-gram solicitation for Science andTechnology Centers (STC) IntegrativePartnerships is now available. This so-licitation will only be available on theNSF home page. The web addresswhere the solicitation can be found is:http://www.nsf.gov/od/osti

The NSF established the Science andTechnology Centers (STC) Program in1987 to fund important basic researchand education activities and to encour-age technology transfer and innovativeapproaches to interdisciplinary pro-gram. The centers have theopportunity to explore new areas andbuild bridges among disciplines, insti-tutions, and other sectors. They offerthe basic research community a sig-nificant mechanism to take a longerterm view of science and explore bet-ter and more effective ways to educatestudents.

Major ResearchInstrumentationDEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS:JANUARY 30, 1998

The National Science Foundation

(NSF) announces the electronic publi-

cation of the solicitation for the Major

Research Instrumentation (MRI) Pro-

gram. This publication will only be

available on the NSF home page and

will not be made available in hard copy.

The MRI solicitation can be found at:

http://www.nsf.gov/od/osti

Experience has proven that this is an

excellent opportunity for NSF to part-

ner with academic institutions for the

acquisition of state-of-the-art, high-cost,

research instrumentation and for the

development of the next-generation re-

search instrumentation. This

instrumentation must be accessible for

both research and research training pur-

poses thus fostering NSF’s core strategy

of integrating research and education.

Distinguished Traveling Lecturers in Laser Science

The Division of Laser Science announces the appointment of three new Distin-guished Traveling Lecturers in Laser Science and their talk titles:

• Lee Casperson, Portland State University, Instabilities and chaos in lasers,waterfalls, and other physical systems;

• Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Atom coolingand trapping, Bose-Einstein condensation, and atom lasers;

• Carlos Stroud, University of Rochester, Electronic wave packets in atoms,Schrodinger cat-like states, and fractional dynamical revivals.

They join the continuing DTLs:• Philip Bucksbaum, Univ. of Michigan, High-Field Laser Physics;• Geraldine Richmond, Univ. of Oregon, Surface Non-Linear Optics;• Jagdeep Shah, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Semiconductor Quantum Optics.

The DLS invites applications from host schools for awards for the DistinguishedTraveling Lecturer Program. The DTL Awards are intended to bring distinguishedlaser scientists to predominantly undergraduate colleges and universities for two-day visits, which generally include lectures and informal meetings with faculty andstudents. Details about the program and the application procedure may be found onthe DLS Web Site at http://www.physics.wm.edu/~cooke/dls/p_dtl.html

DEADLINES DATES FOR APPLICATIONS AREJANUARY 15 AND JUNE 15, 1998.

Units• Topical Group on Magnetism pages up-

dated• Forum on International Physics Elec-

tions page updated

Meetings• Meetings homepage redesigned• Meeting Calendar updates

NEW

January 15 Deadlines

1998-1999 APS/AIP Congressional Science FellowshipsThe American Physical Society and The American Institute of Physics are currentlyaccepting applications for their 1998-1999 Congressional Science Fellowship Pro-grams. Fellows serve one year on the staff of a senator, representative, or congressionalcommittee.

For information and/or applications:APS/AIP Congressional Science Fellowship Programs529 14th Street, NW, Suite 1050Washington, DC 20045(202) 662-8700 • email: opa@aps.org

See the December issue of APS News or APS and AIP home pages: www.aps.org andwww.aip.org for details about the program and application procedure.

APS Mass Media Fellowship Program - Summer 1998For information and/or applications:

APS Mass Media Fellowship Program529 14th Street, NW, Suite 1050Washington DC 20045(202) 662-8700 • email: opa@aps.orghttp://aps.org/public_affairs/Media.html (includes PDF application forms)

See the December issue of APS News or APS home page (www.aps.org) for detailsabout the program and application procedures.

March Meeting Electronic AbstractSystem Problem

The APS Meetings Department wishes to thank everyone for their patience withthe unfortunate computer problems we experienced during the March98 abstract dead-line in December. We have made every attempt to notify abstract authors whoseabstracts were lost, to resubmit. We apologize for any inconvenience this may havecaused our members, and assure you that we are working diligently to implementsafeguards against future system failures. If you have any questions about your ab-stract, contact abs-help@aps.org or call 301-209-3290.

The March program will be posted to the web on or about January 8. At the timewe post the program to the web, notification will be sent to authors informing them oftheir session assignment. Please check the program on the web to ascertain that yourabstract is included, and let us know immediately if it is not.

APS News January 1998

12

THE BACK PAGE

The Back Page is intended as a forum to foster discussion on topics of interest to the scientific community. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the APS, its elected officers, or staff. APS News welcomes and encouragesletters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues.

Postmodernists and adherents of the“social studies of science” school claimthat science is in crisis because it can nolonger claim to be an objective or accu-rate reflection of the real world. Thesecriticisms have been shown to be falla-cious and to stem from a serious lack ofscientific knowledge by P.R. Gross andN. Levitt, who quote and refute numer-ous postmodern gurus, such as JacquesDerrida, in Higher Superstition (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins Press, 1994). This lack ofknowledge was also shown in the gull-ible publication of Allan Sokal’s parodyas a serious article in a leading culturalstudies journal, Social Text. As Sokal haspointed out, the editors published an ar-ticle “which any competent physicist ormathematician would realize… was aspoof” because it critiques science as he-gemonic, culturally determined andsubjective. Both Gross and Levitt’s bookand Sokal’s article have provoked muchcomment.

The interaction of postmodernismwith multiculturalism has not drawn asmuch attention, but it can have seriousconsequences, because proponents ofpostmodernist approaches are heavily in-volved in K-12 education. Claims madeinclude (1) other “ways of knowing” areas valid or better than science; (2) “Euro-science” is motivated by capitalism andimperialism; (3) people of color are morespiritual and moral than Europeans; (4)the paranormal is a valid scientificallyproven fact; and (5) myths are valid expla-nations of natural phenomena. The endresult of a wide adoption of these ideaswould be to decrease an already deplor-ably small participation of minorities inscience.

Feminist philosophers of science andpostmodern critics argue that science is aset of conventions produced by the par-ticular culture of the West at a particularhistorical period, rather than a testablebody of knowledge describing the “real”world. They claim that the agenda, meth-odology, and conclusions of science aredetermined by the interests of the male-dominated capitalist system. Post-modernists state that because science is justa “situated” mode of discourse and not re-flective of the real world, other modes ofdiscourse (such as those that include intu-ition, magic and religion) are comparableto, and may even be superior to, “Western”science. These critiques claim that the ad-vent of quantum physics, and particularlythe Heisenberg uncertainty principle, hasshown that physics can no longer providereliable information about the world andhas lost its claim to objectivity. Similarly,the term “chaos theory” is used to convincethe scientifically naive that science can nolonger make reliable or accurate predic-tions.

Hunter Havelin Adams, the author ofthe “Portland Baseline Essay in Science,”a text used by teachers in numerous largeurban schools, makes the same claims ina widely used text in Afrocentric science:“Nobody has a monopoly on truth....There is no one correct way of knowing:There are ways of knowing. And

Post-Modern Multiculturalism and Scientific Illiteracyby Bernard Ortiz de Montellano

Western conceptual methodology cannotdiscover any more basic truths to explainthe mysteries of creation than can a sym-bolic/intuitive methodology.” The thesisis that Western science is inferior to thatof people of color because it proceedsfrom evil motivations. Adams continuesthat Western science “has as its main con-cern, nonethical considerations such ascost effectiveness.” Multiculturalists alsoclaim that Western science is method-ologically inferior because it ismaterialistic and relies only on naturallaw, neglecting the supernatural. SaysAdams, “For the ancient Egyptians, aswell as contemporary Africans world-wide, there is no distinction and thus noseparation between science and religion.”

A common thread that runs throughmuch of multicultural literature is thatpeople of color are more spiritual thanwhites. Among Afrocentrics, a groupcalled melanists attribute this to higherlevels of melanin. A few of the propertiesattributed to melanin include supercon-ductivity, electromagnetic absorption atall frequencies, extremely sensitive mag-netic susceptibility, and the ability tofunction as a microcomputer and processinformation. Melanin is supposed to regu-late all physiological and psychological

processes in humans. Black athletes sup-posedly have superior coordination andreflexes because of their melanin. Mela-nin is also responsible for the superiorintelligence, the potential extra-sensoryability, and the greater spirituality ofBlack people.

Postmodern multiculturalists empha-size spirituality by claiming that it isreally an “alternative scientific para-digm.” A similar strategy is to claim thatmyths are accurate eyewitness testimo-nies about reality. For many years,religious (mythic) explanations were thebasis on which people explained theworld. Even in the West, religion was theprime explanatory source for both natu-ral and supernatural phenomena. Thesuccess of science and technology, andsubsequent disillusionment with religion,have lead to an acceptance of science asan explanatory source, as a validationmechanism and perhaps even as a sourceof truth. Science has in fact become thesecular religion of the West, in a very par-ticular sense.

However, scientific illiteracy is ram-pant. The rate of scientific illiteracy inthe U.S. was found to be 95% in a studyby William Hively [American Scientist,

Sept/Oct 1988], with similar results inother developed countries. Thus, althoughmany people believe in “science” as anexplanatory mechanism, they believe init religiously — that is, by faith — not be-cause they understand scientificprinciples. Such people can be victimizedor deluded by others who take advantageof their illiteracy and claim the “prestige”of science using scientific language to sup-port their fictitious claims. Much of theNew Age mantra consists of putting oldwine (mediums, chi, chakras) into the newbottles of pseudoscience: channeling,energy flows and the laws of thermody-namics, and “technobabble.”

One of the possible consequences ofbelieving that myths are as true, or truer,than science is an adherence tocatastrophism and Young Earth Creation-ism. Both fundamentalist creationists andpostmodern multiculturalists are forcedto deny the validity of most scientific dis-ciplines. A prime example of this is a 1995book by Vine Deloria, entitled Red EarthWhite Lies, which claims, among otherthings, that the earth is very young, thatthe Biblical flood actually occurred, andthat there was single Ice Age.

According to Deloria, the Earth’s pre-history is described by the following

scenario. Prior to the flood, the earth wascovered by a thick water vapor canopyand there was no rain; therefore, rivers inNorth America were dug out by rapidglacier melting. Also before the flood,there was a much higher concentration ofCO

2 in the atmosphere than at present.

This had a number of consequences. First,higher carbon dioxide concentrations ledto gigantism and to longevity, thus vali-dating both Biblical and Indian mythsabout giants and people living hundredsor years. Then, a comet or meteor com-posed almost wholly of ice and watercollided with the Earth, dumping ice inmassive amounts on the magnetic polesand precipitating an ungodly amount ofrain on temperate regions. This catastro-phe caused both the Flood and the Ice Age.The cold water dissolved much of the car-bon dioxide, reducing it to its presentlevels.

After this, Deloria makes numerousoutlandish claims, such as that Indianpetroglyphs are eyewitness images of di-nosaurs such as Stegosaurus, and thatIndians were eyewitnesses to the explo-sion of the volcano, Mount Multnomah,which geologists date to the Miocene Era,25 to 27 million years ago. To do this,

Deloria rejects fundamental principles ofgeology, such as erosion, plate tectonicsand radioactive dating. He also denies thevalidity of most of modern biology, phys-ics and astronomy. Regretfully, this bookhas received laudatory reviews in the lead-ing anthropological journal [Mohawk1996) and by the magazine of the Ameri-can Indian Science and EngineeringSociety (Pierce 1995).

Postmodern multiculturalist pseudo-science has consequences that shouldconcern us. Adams’ Portland BaselineEssay is widely used in urban school dis-tricts with large African-Americanpopulations. Deloria is active in the In-dian science education movement. Thetragedy is that not only are minoritiesgreatly under-represented in science, butthat their children are being exposed topseudoscience in the classroom.Postmodernism is not just an academicparlor game in this case. As scientists,we should make clear our opposition topseudoscience in any guise. We shouldensure that at a minimum, schools arenot engaged in disseminating pseudo-sci-ence.

I am very sympathetic to the plight ofeducators in large poor urban districts,and agree with their goals to improve theself-esteem and achievement of their stu-dents. The idea that Africans arebiologically superior to whites, for ex-ample, is attractive to teachers in thesedistricts who lack the scientific knowl-edge to properly judge pseudoscientificclaims.

However, worthy goals cannot beachieved through improper means.Teaching pseudoscience, regardless ofmotive, will only further impair the abil-ity of minority students to succeed insociety. We should also urge that childrenin large poor urban districts, who are mostin need of it, benefit from the systemicreform of science education. Rigorous andaccurate multicultural science teaching ispossible. We do not have to settle formagic and religion parading in the guiseof science.

Bernard Ortiz de Montellano is in the An-thropology Department at Wayne StateUniversity. A longer version of this article,with bibliography, appeared in the October1997 issue of the APS Forum on Physics andSociety’s newsletter.

“Claims made include (1) other “ways of knowing”are as valid or better than science; (2) “Euro- sci-ence” is motivated by capitalism and imperialism;(3) people of color are more spiritual and moral

than Europeans; (4) the paranormal is a valid sci-entifically proven fact; and (5) myths are valid

explanations of natural phenomena.”