bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Paleomagnetic field properties at high southern latitude
Authors: Lawrence K. P. , Tauxe L. , Staudigel H. , Constable C. G. , Koppers A. , McIntosh W. , Johnson C. L.
Published: January 2009

Statistical analyses of paleomagnetic data from lava flows are used to study geomagnetic field behavior on million year timescales. Previous paleomagnetic studies have lacked high‐latitude measurements necessary to investigate the persistence of geomagnetic anomalies observed in the recent and historical field and replicated in some numerical geodynamo simulations. These simulations suggest that reduced convective flow inside the tangent cylinder may affect the magnetic field at high latitude, whereas lower‐latitude observations are expressions of columnar/helical flow outside the tangent cylinder. This paper presents new paleointensity and paleodirectional data from 100 volcanic sites in the Erebus Volcanic Province (EVP), Antarctica, and 21 new age determinations by the 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating method. The new EVP data are combined with previously published paleomagnetic and geochronological results, providing 133 sites, 91 having radioisotopic dates. Modified Thellier‐Thellier paleointensity estimates are reported for 47 sites (37 have dates). Ages for the combined data set span 0.03 to 13.42 Ma. The 125 high‐quality EVP directional data selected from the merged data set have a non‐Fisherian distribution and a mean direction with an inclination anomaly of ∼3°, but 95% confidence limits include the prediction from a geocentric axial dipole. Virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) dispersions for Brunhes, Matuyama, and the combined 0–5 Ma data set are consistently high compared with values from middle‐ to low‐latitude regions regardless of the criterion used to determine transitional fields. With VGP latitude cut off at 45°, the dispersion (23.9 ± 2.1°) for the combined 0–5 Ma EVP data set is consistent with earlier high‐latitude data and paleosecular variation (PSV) in Model G but not with some more recent statistical PSV models. Mean EVP paleointensity of 31.5 ± 2.4 μT, derived from 41 high‐quality sites, is about half the current value at McMurdo (∼63 μT). The result is essentially independent of data selection criteria. High VGP dispersion and low‐intensity values support the global observation of anticorrelation between directional variability and field strength. Simulations of time‐varying dipole strength show that uneven temporal sampling may bias the mean EVP intensity estimate, but the possibility of persistently anomalous field behavior at high latitude cannot be excluded.
Long term variations in the frequency of polar mesospheric clouds in the Northern Hemisphere from SBUV
Authors: Shettle E. P. , DeLand M. T. , Thomas G. E. , Olivero J. J.
Published: January 2009

Earlier studies have indicated that there is a secular increase in the occurrence frequency of polar mesospheric clouds (PMC), along with an anti‐correlation with the solar activity. The combined data records from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV and SBUV/2) instruments provide the longest satellite record (28 years) of the PMC frequency of occurrence. This record has been analyzed to determine the long‐term variation in the PMC occurrence frequency in each of three latitude bands (54°–64°N, 64°–74°N, 74°–82°N). This analysis includes an adjustment for changes in the local time of measurement due to the satellite orbital drift, to take into account diurnal variations in the PMC frequency. Multiple linear regression fits using solar activity and time show that the occurrence frequency nearly doubles from solar maximum to solar minimum in all latitude bands. There is a long‐term increase in the occurrence frequency ranging from 7% per decade at 64°–74°N to 20% per decade at 74°–82°N. These secular increases are significant at the 95% level for the 74°–82°N and all latitudes combined. We find a time lag of half a year (with an uncertainty of one year) between the minimum solar activity and the maximum PMC activity, consistent with our previous findings for PMC albedo.
Mouse models of mitochondrial DNA defects and their relevance for human disease
Authors: Tyynismaa Henna , Suomalainen Anu
Published: January 2009

Qualitative and quantitative changes in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been shown to be common causes of inherited neurodegenerative and muscular diseases, and have also been implicated in ageing. These diseases can be caused by primary mtDNA mutations, or by defects in nuclear‐encoded mtDNA maintenance proteins that cause secondary mtDNA mutagenesis or instability. Furthermore, it has been proposed that mtDNA copy number affects cellular tolerance to environmental stress. However, the mechanisms that regulate mtDNA copy number and the tissue‐specific consequences of mtDNA mutations are largely unknown. As post‐mitotic tissues differ greatly from proliferating cultured cells in their need for mtDNA maintenance, and as most mitochondrial diseases affect post‐mitotic cell types, the mouse is an important model in which to study mtDNA defects. Here, we review recently developed mouse models, and their contribution to our knowledge of mtDNA maintenance and its role in disease.
Computers in physics instruction
Authors: Schwarz Guenter , Kromhout Ora M. , Edwards Steve
Published: January 2009

THE PHENOMENAL IMPACT of the modern digital computer on our society has not bypassed physics instruction. As early as the late 1950's and early 1960's research was going on at the Universities of Michigan and Illinois on computers in science and engineering education. Development of the field was stimulated by two conferences in 1965 at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Washington. The reports on these conferences are basic references for anyone wishing to look further into the subject. The number and variety of current projects in the field is increasing rapidly, as indicated by the sections devoted to the subject at annual meetings of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
The Earth's radiation belts
Authors: White R. Stephen
Published: January 2009

EIGHT YEARS of space experimentation have elapsed since James A. Van Allen, George H. Ludwig, Carl E. McIlwain and E. C. Ray discovered the earth's radiation belts with a Geiger counter on the Explorer 1 satellite. Almost every flight since has offered the opportunity of finding a different particle, a new energy distribution or an unusual space or time variation.
Ignored intellect: Pierre Duhem
Authors: Miller Donald G.
Published: January 2009

THIS YEAR MARKS the 50th anniversary of the death of Pierre Duhem, one of France's greatest intellects. His work encompasses thermodynamics, physical chemistry, hydrodynamics, elasticity, electricity and magnetism as well as the history and philosophy of science. In his 32 years of scientific activity, he published without collaborators more than 350 papers and 21 books for which a nearly complete bibliography exists. (Some of the work is in many volumes, some in several editions, and some in translation.) His work in the philosophy of science has received continuing attention. His work in the history of science in the middle ages is well known to historians of science.
Space inversion, time reversal and particle-antiparticle conjugation
Authors: Lee T. D.
Published: January 2009

THE MORE WE LEARN about symmetry operations—space inversion, time reversal and particle-antiparticle conjugation—the less we seem to understand them. At present, although still very little is known about the true nature of these discrete symmetries, we have, unfortunately, already reached the unhappy state of having lost most of our previous understanding. Let us, therefore, review the gradual evolution of our past concepts of these discrete symmetry operations.
A debate on preprint exchange—Con: Criticism of the proposed Physics Information Exchange
Authors: Pasternack Simon
Published: January 2009

I AM CONVINCED that the Physics Information Exchange (PIE) proposed by Moravcsik constitutes a serious threat to physics communication and to the physics research community. In the name of improved physics communication it would undertake to distribute an unedited, unrefereed, uncontrolled collection of documents many times larger than any physics journal. It would have a blanket exemption from the regulations of the physics journals, from the real needs of research physicists, from economic reality and from the integrity of the English language.
Instrumentation for space physics
Authors: Bostrom Carl O. , Ludwig George H.
Published: January 2009

I N ATTEMPTING TO DESCRIBE the present status of instrumentation in “space physics” one is faced with the problem of defining terms. Space physics may be interpreted broadly to include (1) all experimental areas of physics in which the use of balloons, rockets, satellites, or space probes offer some advantage, and (2) ground based measurements of “space” phenomena. In category 1 are included all the in situ measurements of the environment (from the atmosphere to interplanetary space) as well as some areas of astronomy, astrophysics, lunar and planetary physics, geodesy, and meteorology. Examples of measurements in category 2 are solar and magnetic observatory measurements, ionospheric studies using radio propagation characteristics, auroral observations, etc. Clearly, a listing of the disciplines that might be considered part of space physics would be quite long and each of these areas uses a specialized and complex set of instrumentation that is worthy of detailed description.
Paths to quantum theory historically viewed
Authors: Hund Friedrich
Published: January 2009

THE ACTUAL COURSE of history is a complicated network. In the development of science it is less complicated than in political history because in science there is more internal consistency and more compulsion from the object of study. But in science history, too, we have chance and accident along with consistency and consequence. Let us now consider how far the growth of quantum theory, the different ways it has actually gone, has been by consistency and how far by chance.
Physics in West Germany
Authors: Lüscher Edgar
Published: January 2009

IN WEST GERMANY the training of physicists is influenced by the organization of the school system with its scheme of intensive academic training for a small number of students and by the high social esteem for humanistic and literary culture, which the schools both reflect and enforce. When he comes to take employment, the German physicist faces a choice among industrial laboratories, government service, university research institutes and the institutes of the Max Planck Society. If he chooses either of the last two alternatives (and possibly also some of the others), he will find himself in an environment where small research groups operate under the very strong influence of a dominant senior personality whose interests usually determine the direction of research. Advancement comes mainly by succession to a professorial chair or the directorship of a research institute of one's own.
The two Ernests—I
Authors: Oliphant Mark L.
Published: January 2009

ON 11 JANUARY 1939 after a visit to Berkeley, I wrote a letter to Ernest Lawrence that contained the following paragraph:

“I find it very difficult to thank you for the magnificent and instructive time which I had in Berkeley. It was truly fine of you to be so liberal of time and of thought on my behalf. I know of no laboratory in the world at the present time which has so fine a spirit or so grand a tradition of hard work. While there I seemed to feel again the spirit of the old Cavendish, and to find in you those qualities of a combined camaraderie and leadership which endeared Rutherford to all who worked with him. The essence of the Cavendish is now in Berkeley. I am sincere in this, and for these reasons I shall return again some day, and I hope very soon.”
Entropy in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
Authors: Kritz Arnold H. , Sandri Guido
Published: January 2009

SINCE ANCIENT TIMES describing the behavior of macroscopic matter in terms of dynamic principles that govern its microscopic constituents has fascinated physicists. Foundations of the modern understanding were laid by Ludwig Boltzmann in the latter part of the 19th century. From physical arguments concerning the probable number of binary collisions (the Stosszahlansatz based on the principle of molecular chaos), Boltzmann deduced a “kinetic” equation satisfied by the probability distribution function.
Niels Bohr's contribution to epistemology
Authors: Rosenfeld L.
Published: January 2009

When I was staying at Yukawa's Institute in Kyoto two years ago, I had occasion to discuss Bohr's ideas with the great Japanese physicist, whose conception of the meson with its complementary aspects of elementary particle and field of nuclear force is one of the most striking illustrations of the fruitfulness of the new way of looking at things that we owe to Niels Bohr. I asked Yukawa whether the Japanese physicists had experienced the same difficulty as their Western colleagues in assimilating the idea of complementarity and in adapting themselves to it. He answered, “No, Bohr's argumentation has always appeared quite evident to us;” and, as I expressed surprise, he added, with his aristocratic smile, “You see, we in Japan have not been corrupted by Aristotle.”
Science and the government
Authors: Seitz Frederick
Published: January 2009

About four centuries ago, our ancestors in Europe brought back into sharp focus a method of reasoning about the material world—namely science—which the Greeks had used on and off to some advantage for nearly a millennium, first in their own Aegean culture and then in the Greek culture that blossomed both in Egypt and under the Romans. The reawakening in Renaissance Europe, which occurred after several centuries of critical probing of the Greek manuscripts following the Crusades, was heralded by men such as Bacon and Descartes, who acted as sentinels along the highway which the new dynamic civilization of the West was traversing in the new age. These men realized that the coupling of the scientific method to the peculiar institutions of the new Europe, with its spirit of liberalism, its scholarship, and its devotion to technology for both adventure and conserving labor, could open a vast new universe of knowledge and power to man. It is interesting to note in passing that the brilliant young Descartes was optimistic enough to believe that the entire scientific revolution could come into golden fruition in his own lifetime as a result of his own efforts. He plunged into his life's work with this goal in mind. Actually, the golden age of science that Bacon and Descartes foresaw has not been reached until this century. In fact, science passed through two stages before reaching the one we are now witnessing, in which technological progress is very directly related to scientific discoveries.
The publication charge plan in physics journals
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

Under the “publication-charge plans” of most American physics journals, income needed to meet publishing expense is derived not only from subscription and dues payments, but also from a charge against authors' institutions at a fixed rate per page. The charge is not obligatory, editorial acceptance of articles being unaffected by its payment or nonpayment, but nearly all institutions, companies, and agencies supporting research have accepted the moral obligation of meeting it.
Lasers and coherent light
Authors: Schawlow A. L.
Published: January 2009

It is often possible to make a clear division between pure and applied physics, although at times the dividing line is indistinct. Seldom has the distinction been so completely blurred as it is in those areas of research related to optical masers, or lasers. In this field new advances in devices and techniques immediately make possible new experiments of fundamental importance. New scientific knowledge is very quickly translated into new devices.
Crystallography
Authors: Fankuchen I.
Published: January 2009

The Sixth General Assembly and International Congress of the International Union of Crystallography, which convened in Rome during the period from September 9 to 18, 1963, was a far cry from the first Congress of the Union which was held at Harvard University from July 28 to August 3, 1948. The Union actually had been founded two summers earlier at a conference held in London in 1946. The first and sixth meetings form an interesting study in contrasts. At that delightful first Congress, there was a total of about 85 papers presented, including a few invited addresses. Everyone gave his own paper. Actually, there was ample time for this personal presentation. While there were some joint sessions, these occurred only on two mornings of the six-day meeting and the conflicts were not serious. By way of contrast, at the Sixth Congress there were somewhat more than five hundred papers grouped under 21 different topics and at times as many as five simultaneous sessions. Another aspect of the most recent Congress, one which markedly influenced its general character, was the almost universal application of the rapporteur system. This system had been initiated three years earlier at the 1960 meeting in Cambridge, England, and, while it had been only partly successful there, it had been hoped that the experience gained in Cambridge would lead to a more successful application of the rapporteur system at the larger meeting in Rome. Alas, these hopes were not realized. After having faithfully attended every session possible, this reporter felt that scientifically the meeting was almost a complete loss as far as he was concerned. No paper, as discussed by a rapporteur, made a vivid impression on him. It is unfortunately true that the use of the rapporteur system removes any personal contact between the author of a scientific work and the audience. There was naturally a wide range in the quality of the reports by the rapporteurs; some of them quite obviously had not taken their assignments seriously and did poor jobs. A few had worked very hard but, despite their most valiant efforts, the impact of the research being described could simply not come through.
II. Phase transitions
Authors: Donnay Gabrielle
Published: January 2009

Of the forty papers contributed at the symposium on phase transitions, nine unfortunately came after the deadline and thus will not appear in the printed abstracts. The symposium was divided into eleven sessions, three of which were devoted to invited one-hour lectures.
Automation
Authors: Abrahams S. C.
Published: January 2009

For most crystallographers, the twin problems of how to measure integrated intensities accurately and how to measure them quickly are of daily concern. An open session of the IUCr Commission on Crystallographic Apparatus, called specifically to discuss these problems, provided a high point of the Sixth Congress. This session contained six invited papers, followed by a vigorous informal discussion held with less rigid attention to time than most other sessions.
American physics comes of age
Authors: Van Vleck J. H.
Published: January 2009

Although in 1919 I was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, my parents properly felt that it would be a salutary experience for me to spend a summer on another campus. At that time, the University of Chicago had the preeminent graduate summer school in physics; so I went there at the end of my junior year, and took as part of my program a course in optics under Professor Michelson. Although he was 67 years old, he was vigorous both mentally and physically, even playing tennis at the Quadrangle Club. He had a pedagogical system of his own. There was no final written examination; instead, every week he would interrupt his lectures to send some quivering student to the blackboard to explain a topic that he, Michelson, had previously presented. This system has much to be said in its favor. It insures that the students keep abreast of the lecture material and are clear in their exposition. I can remember that when Michelson felt the presentation was not lucid, he made some such remark as, “How would you expect a beginner to understand what you are saying?”
Local expansion of Painlevé VI transcendents around a fixed singularity
Authors: Kaneko Kazuo
Published: January 2009

We study special solutions of the sixth Painlevé equation with generic values of parameters whose linear monodromy can be calculated explicitly. We give two kinds of special solutions. One is the meromorphic solutions at a fixed singularity and the other is the solutions expressed in the Puiseux series at t=0. We give the respective character of these special solutions.
Magnetic and transport properties of Co2MnSnxSb1−x Heusler alloys
Authors: Paudel Moti R. , Wolfe Christopher S. , Patton Heather , Dubenko Igor , Ali Naushad , Christodoulides Joseph A. , Stadler Shane
Published: January 2009

We present the magnetic, structural, and transport properties of the quaternary Heusler alloys Co2MnSnxSb1−x (x=0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0), which have been theoretically predicted to be half-metallic. Magnetization measurements as a function of applied field show that the saturation moment for x=1 (Co2MnSn) is near the Slater–Pauling value of 5μB; however, the moment for x=0 (Co2MnSb) falls far short of its predicted value of 6μB. Resistivity as a function of temperature was measured from 5 to 400 K, and a phase transition from a half-metallic ferromagnetic phase to a normal ferromagnetic phase was observed between 50 and 80 K for all of the alloys. At low temperature (10 K<T<40 K), the resistivity ratio was found to vary as R(T)/R(T=5 K)=A+BT2+CT9/2, where the T2 term results from electron-electron scattering, whereas the T9/2 term is a consequence of double magnon scattering.
Reduction in the field-dependent microwave surface resistance in YBa2Cu3O7−δ with submicrometric BaZrO3 inclusions as a function of BaZrO3 concentration
Authors: Pompeo N. , Rogai R. , Augieri A. , Galluzzi V. , Celentano G. , Silva E.
Published: January 2009

In order to study the vortex pinning determined by artificially introduced pinning centers in the small-vortex displacement regime, we measured the microwave surface impedance at 47.7 GHz in the mixed state of YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin films, where submicrometric BaZrO3 particles have been incorporated. As a function of the BaZrO3 content, we observed that the absolute losses slightly decrease up to a BaZrO3 content of 5%, and then increase. We found that the magnetic-field-induced losses behave differently in that they are not monotonic with increasing BaZrO3 concentration. At small concentration (2.5%) the field-induced losses increase, but large reduction in the losses themselves, by factors up to 3, is observed upon further increasing the BaZrO3 concentration in the target up to 7%. Using measurements of both surface resistance and surface reactance, we estimate vortex pinning-related parameters. We found that BaZrO3 inclusions introduce deep and steep pinning wells. In particular, the minimum height of the energy barrier for single vortices is raised. At larger BaZrO3 content (5% and 7%) the phenomenon is at its maximum, but it is unclear whether it shows a saturation or not, leaving room for further improvements.
Room-temperature ferromagnetism in Zn and Mn codoped SnO2 films
Authors: Liu S. J. , Liu C. Y. , Juang J. Y. , Fang H. W.
Published: January 2009

Room-temperature ferromagnetism was observed in Mn and Zn codoped SnO2 films grown on c-cut sapphires by using pulsed laser deposition technique. The valence of Mn ions in the codoped films is determined to be 2+ from x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy. Moreover, the ferromagnetism is affected by the carrier concentration of the films. This result is consistent with the carrier-mediated model.
Living and working at Harwell
Authors: Langsdorf Alexander
Published: January 2009

The giant but youthful research laboratories in England and Europe are much less well known to Americans than the great foreign universities. This situation is changing as an increasing number of American physicists are making extended visits to laboratories such as Harwell, in England. The movement is made possible by the world-wide relaxation of security restrictions in the “basic” sciences, reactor engineering, and thermonuclear research as well as by the removal of classified work to separate sites. Today Harwell, for one, directly employs non-Commonwealth scientists including Americans while other visitors are “attached”, meaning on leave from their regular posts and not paid by Harwell. And I should say at once that the enthusiasm of Egon Bretscher, head of Nuclear Physics, has sparked many visits to Harwell by American physicists.
The Mössbauer effect: A conference report
Authors: Lieberman David S. , Lüscher Edgar
Published: January 2009

Despite the fact that the University of Illinois campus is “centrally isolated” more than 80 physicists (including the discoverer, Rudolf Mössbauer) from 23 university, government, and industrial laboratories in eight foreign countries and the United States converged on Allerton House, the University of Illinois conference retreat, on June 5. They came to report their most recent, unpublished experiments and to present and discuss their ideas for future research in the exciting field of recoilless gamma-ray absorption. The meeting was held as an On-Site Advisory Meeting to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; it was arranged in less than six weeks by Hans Frauenfelder of the University of Illinois with the support and cooperation of Max Swerdlow (Solid State Directorate, AFOSR). All discussions were informal and it was assumed that everyone at the meeting knew everything published on the Mössbauer effect. At each of three half-day sessions several related problems were presented.
Signal Corps centennial
Authors: Zahl Harold A.
Published: January 2009

In June 1960, the US Army Signal Corps celebrated its 100th birthday. In looking back a century, it is apparent that the combat record of this proud Corps and the research so closely interwoven with the force its wartime endeavors brought to bear in conflict, is, in part at least, a story of physics as it unfolded during the past four generations of our Nation's history.
Francis A. Jenkins
Authors: Helmholz A. C.
Published: January 2009

Francis A. Jenkins, professor of physics at the University of California in Berkeley, died of cancer on August 3, 1960, at the age of 61.
Experiments in magneto-fluid dynamics
Authors: Alpher R. A.
Published: January 2009

Magneto-fluid dynamics deals with the motion of electrically conducting gases and liquids in the presence of magnetic fields. The macroscopic description of such motions involves the coupling of the equations of hydrodynamics and Maxwell's equations. For velocities small compared to that of light, and if one neglects displacement and charge convection currents, the coupling in the equations of motion occurs through a Lorentz body force term—a term involving the current density j and the magnetic induction, B, viz., j×B/c. The requirement of Lorentz invariance effects the introduction of the coupling into Maxwell's equations, so that one calculates j from the generalized Ohm's law j = σ(E+V×B/c), where σ is the fluid conductivity, E the electric field intensity and V the fluid velocity. Both j×B and V×B are basically nonlinear terms, whence the already uncomfortable situation with nonlinearities in hydrodynamics is quite considerably aggravated. Linearization on the one hand and “simple” experiments on the other must be invoked to convey a physical feeling for the phenomena to be expected from this coupling.
Manpower in high energy physics
Authors: Braden Charles H. , Fregeau Jerome H. , Frye Glenn M.
Published: January 2009

One of the important questions repeatedly raised by various scientific advisory panels and by the Congress has been that of the scientific manpower required for high-energy physics. Concern has been expressed that the “glamour” of high-energy physics and the large amounts of money being spent were attracting an excessive number of people away from other worthwhile areas of basic research or from necessary work in applied science and in defense laboratories.
Projected output of physicists
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

There is now available a “Projection of Earned Degrees to 1969–70” issued in September 1959 by the Office of Education of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The document also lists the number of degrees actually awarded in the period 1947–48 to 1957–58. Also available from the same office is a compilation of degrees awarded in physics in the period 1947–48 to 1957–58 inclusive. The Office has not attempted, for publication at least, to project the number of future physics degrees. The present paper makes such an attempt. It is limited to a projection of degrees at the baccalaureate level, which is uncertain enough. To go on to advanced degrees involves projections of projections which are quite obviously unreliable.
Boulder Conference on Molecular Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Ruedenberg Klaus
Published: January 2009

In this country there have been conferences on molecular quantum mechanics in 1951 on Shelter Island, New York, and at Austin, Texas, in 1955. The 1959 conference was held, with the support of the National Science Foundation, from June 21 to June 27 on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder. About one hundred molecular scientists from a dozen nations congregated there in order to review the advances which have been made in their field during the past four years.
Technical reports in physics literature
Authors: Burton R. E. , Green B. A.
Published: January 2009

In the fifteen years since World War II the technical report as a medium of scientific and technical communication has increased rapidly in importance. The increased volume is primarily a result of the growth of defense-related research and development programs sponsored by Government agencies. Normal channels of scientific reporting such as books and journals do not satisfy the requirements of security and speed of communication. Industrial research and development have led to a further increase in the production of technical reports.
A sketch for a history of early thermodynamics
Authors: Mendoza E.
Published: January 2009

Accounts of the origins of the first and second laws of thermodynamics follow a fairly standard pattern. The caloric theory of heat, we are told, assumed that heat was a fluid endowed with a number of properties, among them indestructibility. The cannon-boring experiments of Rumford (1798) and the ice-rubbing experiment of Davy (1799) destroyed the basis of the caloric theory because they showed that heat could be created by the expenditure of work. A full half-century elapsed, however, before Joule repeated and extended Rumford's experiments and measured the conversion factor J accurately with his paddle wheels. In the meantime (in 1824) Carnot formulated the second law of thermodynamics and drew many valid conclusions about the efficiency of heat engines though his ideas were based on the caloric theory. Kelvin came across Carnot's work, as rewritten by Clapeyron; he became convinced of its truth and because it was based on the caloric theory he found it difficult to accept Joule's results. However, by 1850 both Kelvin and Clausius had formulated the first and second laws as we know them now. In retrospect, the caloric theory of heat seemed to have been slightly ridiculous.
Pauli and nuclear spin
Authors: Goudsmit S. A.
Published: January 2009

There seems to be an increasing interest in the history of physics, especially of the physics of the roaring twenties when modern atomic structure and quantum mechanics were born. Writing about so recent a period, with most of the participants still alive, can lead to numerous unpleasant disagreements. It would be most valuable if the principal actors would each tell their own story, just as generals are now writing about their own world war. It must be understood that such stories relate only subjective experiences mixed with uncertain inferences. These accounts can be extremely interesting, but they should not be considered as an objective history of the new physics and should be written in the first person singular. An objective history of science is perhaps only possible in very broad outlines and in its relation to the rest of history. When we try to look at a recent event with a microscope, the resolving power may often be insufficient. We would like to see clearly the lines of thought followed by the participants, but even they themselves may not be aware of why and how they arrived at their important results, and they may tell us instead what are merely rationalizations after the fact. It is rather easy to construct a history which gives a very plausible account of how new ideas and experiments could or should have developed, but it seems impossible to know how they actually arose, particularly when we ask about details.
Systematic errors in physical constants
Authors: Youden W. J.
Published: January 2009

Physicists today make very little use of statistical techniques. There was good reason for the minor role so long accorded the statistical evaluation of the errors in physical constants. When two laboratories make independent determinations, each may attach to its “best” value a ± sign followed by an estimate s of the error. This estimate of the error is often based upon a series of observations made under carefully controlled conditions. Experimenters soon discovered that if laboratories A and B reported values CA and CB for the same constant, the difference Δ between CA and CB was almost always a large multiple of the estimated error sa (or sb). Obviously these calculated errors had no more to do with the real errors than the neatness of the laboratory or the promptness with which the investigator answered his mail.
Fluctuations in solids
Authors: Brophy James J.
Published: January 2009

The need for scientists to discuss informally their current research problems is illustrated by the well-known hall effect in operation at all formal society meetings. In those situations where the technical subject matter can be sufficiently restricted so that the attendance is small, it seems useful to bring such informal discussions from the hall into the conference room. Random processes in solids fits in this category and the Fifth Annual Fluctuations in Solids Symposium held at Armour Research Foundation on May 19, with the cooperation of the Office of Naval Research, provided an informal forum for a review of recent progress in this field. As in past years' sessions, no formal papers were presented and the subjects discussed were determined entirely by the wishes of the participants. Able chairmanship is needed to prevent such a meeting from descending into random chaos and R. E. Burgess was equal to this task.
60 years of quantum physics
Authors: Condon Edward U.
Published: January 2009

I was invited to speak on the occasion of the 1500th Regular Meeting of the Society, and of course am delighted to be able to come and do it. But those who conveyed the invitation could not refrain from reminding me that I owed the Society a retiring presidential address. I was president in 1951, and it was in the fall of that year that I departed hastily to go to Corning Glass Works to be director of research. That was a very interesting experience, and I am still connected with the glass business, though I am also doing professing. I started my career in experimental physics and lasted one day. When I started work on a doctoral thesis at the University of California in 1925 I had to set up a vacuum system. All experimental physicists in those days had to get a Cenco pump on the floor and glass tubing up to something that was on the table. I started out like all the rest but broke so much glass the first day that they suggested I go into theoretical physics. I told this story at Corning after I became their director of research. Mr. Amory Houghton, chairman of the board, who is now our ambassador to France, said, “Isn't it good that at last you are in a place where you can't possibly break enough glass to make any difference.”
The classical description of charged particles
Authors: Rohrlich F.
Published: January 2009

Of the approximately thirty elementary particles known or assumed to exist today about half are charged. The rest are electrically neutral, though some of these undoubtedly consist of positive and negative charge distributions, as does for example the neutron. A complete understanding of these particles will involve quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, or perhaps a not-yet-dreamed-of theory. But under certain conditions a classical description is adequate.
Some of the broader implications of science
Authors: Bridgman P. W.
Published: January 2009

The impact of science on life is twofold. There is in the first place the technological impact. Here the factual discoveries of science are converted into practice; we discover how to make new sorts of things and how to do new sorts of things. Some of these new things have an impact on daily living so revolutionary that society and the world are transformed—such transformation has occurred often in the past and is still continuing. Among examples may be mentioned improvements in communication and transportation, improvements in health and medicine, and improvements in the production of power. However, the technological impact need not necessarily lead to improvement, for there is no guarantee that society will put the new inventions to beneficent uses, as is all too evident when we consider the military situation. In general, advancing technology gives us increased power over our environment, including our fellows, and it is up to us whether the use shall be beneficent or harmful. Whether beneficent or otherwise, it is characteristic of most technological advance that it follows rather closely in time the scientific discovery which made it possible; it is particularly characteristic of the present that the temporal lag between discovery and application is becoming shorter and shorter. This is natural in view of the increasing number of people who are employed in converting discovery into application, and the increasingly keen economic competition to discover the possibilities of such conversion before our competitor.
Scientists and public responsibility
Authors: Astin Allen V.
Published: January 2009

A meeting of the American Physical Society in Boulder, Colorado, is an occasion that brings considerable pleasure to the physicists of the National Bureau of Standards. We value highly the long traditional association of the Society's Washington spring meeting with the Bureau. We naturally regret that the rate of growth of the Society over the past fifteen to twenty years has so completely out-distanced the growth of the Bureau's facilities to accommodate meetings that almost all the Society's technical sessions now have to be held elsewhere. When the radio and cryogenic engineering branches of the Bureau were located here a few years ago, one of our major hopes was that the Bureau, in conjunction with the University of Colorado, would provide a sufficient nucleus of scientific interest that the larger professional societies could be induced to meet here occasionally with the magnificent natural attractions of the area offering only fringe benefits.
Solid state at Varenna
Authors: Smoluchowski R.
Published: January 2009

In 1160 there was a war between the towns of Milano and of Como in the part of Europe which is now Italy. Though the war had no earth-shaking results, it had some aftereffects which now, several centuries later, have most agreeable consequences for physicists. The story is as follows: Near Como, which lies on the beautiful Lake of Como, there was a Benedictine cloister on a small island Isola Comacina. Scared by the catastrophic defeat of Como at the hands of the Milanese, the monks fled across the lake to a tiny village, Varenna, perched on its steep easterly shores. There they established their headquarters and some 300 years later, in 1484, built a new splendid monastery. The monastery grew and became very rich and powerful in the sixteenth century. In fact, it grew so strong that it had to be suppressed by the Pope, closed up, and the whole estate sold. The place became, in turn, the property of various rich Italian and German families who embellished and enriched it until in 1925 it was acquired as “Villa Monastero” by Dr. DeMarchi from Milano, the same town which nearly eight centuries earlier had caused indirectly the monastery to be established in Varenna in the first place. In 1938, Dr. DeMarchi, who was greatly interested in science, willed the villa and another one in Pallanza on Lake Maggiore to the Italian State to use it for scientific purposes. The villa in Pallanza became an “Institute of Hydrobiology”, while the Villa Monastero remained unused for years.
The new AIP headquarters
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

When the AIP moves into its new location next summer, physicists will have in New York a service headquarters of which they can be proud. Although strict economy is necessarily being observed in the process of converting the manufacturing building which has been bought, the result will be an excellent, functional office. Everything inside its four walls will be modern and designed for efficient operation. There will be new flooring, walls, partitions, ceilings, lighting, heating, and ventilating. There will be a modern passenger elevator, a modest but attractive reception room, and a Board Room available for the use of physicists' committees. The façade will be dressed up just a little bit, as compared with its present “factory” appearance, to make it worthy of the physicists' organizational headquarters.
The work and environment of the physicist yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Authors: Kelly Mervin J.
Published: January 2009

The steady growth in understanding of the structure of matter and energy and of their interrelation that has resulted from the researches of physicists and of their predecessors among the natural philosophers, has been of increasing importance to mankind for the past few hundred years. However, until this century, there was small impact on society of the new knowledge obtained by these researches until very long after the new knowledge was obtained. Physicists were therefore remote from the scene of action, and the general public was indeed hardly conscious of them or of their profession. Their “action at a distance” permitted a remote and sheltered environment, sometimes characterized as an “ivory towered existence”.
AIP annual report 1956
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

The American Institute of Physics has several functions as the joint agency of the founder Societies and their members. Of these, publishing requires most of the time of the staff and most of the working space in the AIP office. Closely allied to publishing is service to the Secretaries and Treasurers of most of the Societies in handling the clerical aspects of their responsibilities. Finally the AIP provides a united agency representing all of physics in relations with other professional fields and with national agencies both in and out of the Government. The scope of these activities is defined by the Societies through the Institute's Governing Board. It does not include scientific advice or services, but rather such other relationships between physics and the surrounding community as can benefit from united effort toward objectives which the Societies hold in common.
Report: NBS Technical Advisory Committee on Physics
Authors: Seitz F.
Published: January 2009

When Dr. C. S. Wu, stimulated by the conjectures of Lee and Yang, decided to make an earnest attempt to test the laws of parity conservation, the most natural laboratory to turn to for cooperation was the National Bureau of Standards. Her work with Ambler, Hayward, Hoppes, and Hudson of the Bureau is now a classic of current physics. Although this incident contains many unusual features of drama, the underlying moral is simple: the National Bureau of Standards plays a completely unique and important role in the science and technology of our country. Physicists everywhere are indebted to it and, in turn, have an obligation to make certain that it occupies a place in their minds commensurate with its importance.
Metallurgy and metal physics
Authors: Smith Cyril Stanley
Published: January 2009

Having spent most of my life working at the borderline between physical metallurgy and metal physics, I wish to discuss some of the characteristics of these two fields of science, and particularly the manner of their interaction: If tonight I seem more critical of physicists than of metallurgists, please remember that this talk is addressed to the former and that metallurgists would be exposed to very different arguments.
Neutrino physics
Authors: Reines Frederick , Cowan Clyde L.
Published: January 2009

The neutrino is one of nature's strangest exhibits in the showcase of nuclear physics. Produced in the process of nuclear beta decay and very likely in the decay of certain members of the meson family, the neutrino lives on toward infinity with negligible probability of further interaction with matter, unaffected by anything except the gravitational field of the universe. It might be imagined that this peculiar behavior is sufficient for one particle, but as recent experimental developments stimulated by the theorists Lee and Yang have indicated, the neutrino may be near the heart of the parity puzzle: a given neutrino would seem to know right from left and to communicate this information via the law of conservation of angular momentum to particles with which it is associated in decay processes.
Part I, History of the cyclotron
Authors: Livingston M. Stanley
Published: January 2009

The principle of the magnetic resonance accelerator, now known as the cyclotron, was proposed by Professor Ernest O. Lawrence of the University of California in 1930, in a short article in Science by Lawrence and N. E. Edlefsen. It was suggested by the experiment of Wideröe in 1928, in which ions of Na and K were accelerated to twice the applied voltage while traversing two tubular electrodes in line between which an oscillatory electric field was applied—an elementary linear accelerator. In 1953 Professor Lawrence described to the writer the origin of the idea, as he then remembered it.
Superconductivity
Authors: Lynton E. A.
Published: January 2009

For three and one half days, some seventy physicists from many countries (unfortunately not including the U.S.S.R.) met at Cambridge to discuss the present theoretical and experimental status of superconductivity. From every point of view it was a nearly ideal conference. As the entire meeting was devoted to a restricted subject, there were single sessions which were most interestingly organized: a rapporteur summarized a certain area in about 45 minutes, after which there was an equal time for discussion. This system eliminated the presentation of a tedious number of short contributions and, thanks to the devoted efforts of the rapporteurs, made much clearer the basic questions involved. And then there was the wonderful setting of Cambridge, and the warm hospitality of the hosts, who made all participants feel at home from the moment when they were welcomed in person by Dr. Shoenberg as they arrived, one by one, at Clare College. No effort was spared in organizing all aspects of the scientific program, and in adding to it a most enjoyable social round. There was punting on the Backs and tea at Grantchester (without honey), excursions to stately homes, a much appreciated recital by Messrs. Gough (violin) and Pippard (piano), and, as penultimate joy, a speechless banquet. The smoothness with which everything proceeded belied the extraordinary amount of preparation done by the Shoenbergs and the Pippards, by Faber, and by the other members of the Mond Laboratory; may they be assured that their efforts were unqualifiedly successful.