bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chaos‐based forecast of sunspot cycle 24
Authors: Crosson I. J. , Binder P.‐M.
Published: January 2009

We forecast the maximum average Wolf number for both the recent sunspot cycles 22 and 23 and the forthcoming cycle 24 by combining attractor reconstruction techniques, a transformation of variables to a symmetric space, and a simple, yet effective, nonlinear prediction algorithm. For the earlier cycles, the results are quite successful. For the latter, we expect the peak of the cycle to occur in the first quarter of 2011 with Wolf number of 145 ± 7.
Interseismic uplift rates for western Oregon and along‐strike variation in locking on the Cascadia subduction zone
Authors: Burgette Reed J. , Weldon Ray J. , Schmidt David A.
Published: January 2009

We quantify the spatial pattern of uplift rate in western Oregon and northernmost California using tidal and leveling records to better understand the pattern of interseismic locking on the Cascadia subduction zone. We extend relative sea level time series of the six primary NOAA tide gauges to include all observations from 1925 to 2006. Previously unidentified bench mark instability biases portions of tidal records by ≤1.6 mm a−1 before correction. We determine precise relative uplift rates at the six tidal sites with an adjustment that includes rates of differenced time series as additional constraints. Our analysis of National Geodetic Survey leveling data between tide gauges corrects errors in 1941 leveling, and 184 secondary ties double the number of highest quality uplift rate estimates. Relative uplift rates from leveling are adjusted to the tidal rates, accounting for uncertainties in both data types. Tidal and leveling uplift rates agree within error for all but one of the coastal segments, where we infer systematic leveling error affects the 1988 line. Uplift rates are made absolute using an interval and location‐specific geocentric sea level rise rate of 2.3 ± 0.2 mm a−1. Total propagated one sigma errors for the absolute uplift rates of bench marks are ∼0.4 mm a−1. Along‐strike changes in uplift rate near 45°N and 42.8°N require two distinct changes in locking depth, as inferred from elastic dislocation modeling. The along‐strike changes in locking on this portion of the Cascadia subduction zone interface correlate to the western and southern extent of the mafic Siletzia block in the fore arc.
Constraining earthquake source inversions with GPS data: 2. A two‐step approach to combine seismic and geodetic data sets
Authors: Custódio Susana , Page Morgan T. , Archuleta Ralph J.
Published: January 2009

We present a new method to combine static and wavefield data to image earthquake ruptures. Our combined inversion is a two‐step procedure, following the work of Hernandez et al. (1999), and takes into account the differences between the resolutions of the two data sets. The first step consists of an inversion of the static field, which yields a map of slip amplitude. This inversion exploits a special irregular grid that takes into account the resolution of the static data. The second step is an inversion of the radiated wavefield; it results in the determination of the time evolution of slip on the fault. In the second step, the slip amplitude is constrained to resemble the static slip amplitude map inferred from the GPS inversion. Using this combined inversion, we study the source process of the 2004M6 Parkfield, California, earthquake. We conclude that slip occurred in two main regions of the fault, each of which displayed distinct rupture behaviors. Slip initiated at the hypocenter with a very strong bilateral burst of energy. Here, slip was localized in a narrow area approximately 10 km long, the rupture velocity was very fast (≥3.5 km/s), and slip only lasted a short period of time (<1 s). Then the rupture proceeded to a wider region 12–20 km northwest of the hypocenter. Here, the earthquake developed in a more moderated way: the rupture velocity slowed to ∼3.0 km/s and slip lasted longer (1–2 s). The maximum slip amplitude was 0.45 m.
Iodine dioxide nucleation simulations in coastal and remote marine environments
Authors: Vuollekoski H. , Kerminen V.‐M. , Anttila T. , Sihto S.‐L. , Vana M. , Ehn M. , Korhonen H. , McFiggans G. , O'Dowd C. D. , Kulmala M.
Published: January 2009

Aerosol dynamical box model simulations of coastal new particle formation were performed in order to investigate the nucleation and growth mechanisms in this environment. In the simulations the nucleating vapor was assumed to be iodine dioxide (OIO). Both Eulerian and Lagrangian type simulations were made and compared with observations. We tested three nucleation mechanisms: kinetic nucleation of OIO (K × [OIO]2), activation of clusters by OIO (A × [OIO]) and sulphuric acid‐induced activation of clusters containing OIO (B × [OIO] × [H2SO4]). All the nucleation mechanisms provided reasonable results, although the growth of particles due to condensation is inadequate in kinetic nucleation cases as compared with experimental measurements. Growth of newly formed particles could be assisted by any low‐volatility vapors should their concentration exceed 109 cm−3. Using the obtained values of coefficients K, A, and B we found that nucleation driven by iodine compounds in remote marine areas is possible, but by OIO and H2SO4 alone, only a minor fraction of newly formed particles is likely to reach detectable sizes. Owing to the scavenging by coagulation with background aerosol particles, few of them will likely reach climatically relevant sizes by acting as seed particles for other low‐volatility vapors. In order to elucidate the significance of our results, more detailed measurements of OIO source and photolysis rates, dimensions of precursor areas, and particle chemical composition are needed.
Products and kinetics of the reactions of an alkane monolayer and a terminal alkene monolayer with NO3 radicals
Authors: Gross Simone , Bertram Allan K.
Published: January 2009

The reactions of an alkanethiol and a terminal alkenethiol self‐assembled monolayer with NO3 radicals (in the presence of NO2 and O2) were studied. For the alkane monolayer, infrared (IR) spectroscopy and time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS) confirmed the formation of organonitrates (RONO2). The observation of organonitrates is in contrast to the recent X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data, which showed very little nitrogen‐containing surface species. The identification of organonitrates may help explain why significant volatilization of the organic chain was not observed in recent studies of alkane monolayer oxidation by NO3 radicals. The reactive uptake coefficient (γ) of NO3 on alkene monolayers determined in our study is higher than the values obtained in a recent study using liquid and solid alkene bulk films. A possible reason for this difference may be the location of the double bond at the interface. Using the γ value determined in our studies, we show that under conditions where NO3 is high the lifetime of an alkene monolayer in the atmosphere may be short (approximately 20 min). XPS, IR, and ToF‐SIMS were used to identify surface functional groups after the oxidation of the alkene monolayers by NO3. The results are consistent with the formation of C‐O, aldehyde/ketone, carboxylic groups, and nitrogen containing species.
Relaxation Effects
Authors: Purcell E. M.
Published: January 2009

Resonance absorption is observed when a substance containing magnetic nuclei—protons, for example—is subjected to a strong constant magnetic field and to a weak radiofrequency magnetic field.
Physics and cancer
Authors: Solomon Arthur K.
Published: January 2009

The connection between physics and cancer is peculiarly intimate—as intimate as cause and effect. For radiation, a valuable agent in the treatment of cancer, can itself cause cancer. This curious interrelationship exists largely because no one knows what causes growth, whether it be normal or abnormal. The primary problem in cancer is not an exploration of such isolated problems as the connection between radiation and cancer. It is the much larger and much more stimulating problem of understanding the fundamentals of growth.
Counters
Authors: Wilson R. R.
Published: January 2009

During and since the war great improvements have been made in the theory and application of particle and quantum counters.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

We may well start in this first issue by telling how Physics Today came into existence.
Trends in American science
Authors: Bush Vannevar
Published: January 2009

We have progressed far enough since the war to be able to delineate trends in the pattern of science in this country, so that it becomes well worthwhile to take stock and examine whether on the whole it is a sound pattern that is being formed for the future. Much that is salutary is immediately apparent. The conspicuous swing that has occuried toward greater emphasis on the physical sciences was inevitable, in view of the startling effects produced by their application in the waging of war, and especially since the tension did not lift with the coming of formal peace. Yet the form which this emphasis took in this country is, in retrospect, a bit surprising.
England
Authors: Mott N. F.
Published: January 2009

University physics in England has one thing in common with that in America—it is just two years old. In the war the universities kept going as teaching institutions, and did a very fine job in turning out the many scientists needed for radar, for operational research, and for chemical industry. But they did it with half their staffs. The other half had gone away to work in government research stations, or into the armed services, or to North America to work on the atom bomb. They came back, most of them, in the winter of 1945–46. And so most of our projects have not yielded full results as yet, and there is comparatively little in print that represents the physics of the postwar period.
Washington Letter
Authors: Trytten M. H.
Published: January 2009

The tenseness of the international situation is reflected along the Potomac in the accelerated attention being given to mobilization problems. Mobilization of manpower is being considered by the Congress in the proposed Selective Service-Universal Militar Training Bill. Two agencies, the Munition Board and the National Security Resources Board (created by the National Defense Act of 1947) are studying measures for mobilizing industry and resources.
Detecting atomic particles
Authors: Korff Serge A.
Published: January 2009

Physics today knows a whole variety of particles. It deals with protons, positive and negative electrons, neutrons, mesotrons, alpha particles, photons (which are not really particles but are detected by similar means), and deuterons.
Great Britain
Authors: Mott N. F.
Published: January 2009

Nuclear physics today is in a unique position among sciences. It stands at the frontier of the unknown; the nuclear physicist, more than any other investigator, is searching for the unexpected. One might expect, as is usual in science, that the applications would come along twenty years behind the fundamental work. But in the case of nuclear fission the exigencies of the war shortened the time between the discovery and its application to six years, and nuclear physics therefore carries the prestige both of the most fundamental of the sciences and of the progenitor of a decisive weapon. We, in this country, have seen how, as a consequence, this research is supported in America by the armed services, and we wonder whether this is because further nuclear research may produce bigger and better weapons, or whether it is merely felt that nuclear physicists turned out to be useful and adaptable men in the last war, and in any future emergency the more the country has of them the better. Whatever the reason, we have the greatest admiration of the energy with which your universities are making the most of your opportunity.
Fission
Authors: Wiegand Clyde E.
Published: January 2009

For several years the heavy elements down to actinium (atomic number 89) have been known to undergo fission upon bombardment by fast neutrons.
The Neutrino
Authors: Sherwin C. W.
Published: January 2009

The neutrino is a hypothetical particle which was proposed by Pauli a number of years ago, mainly to save the principle of the conservation of energy in beta-decay.
Airplane Mapping
Authors: Gardner I. C.
Published: January 2009

Camera lenses of extremely wide angle are desirable for airplane mapping, because more area can be included in a single picture and the cost of making a map from a series of photographs is greatly reduced.
Acoustical Society
Authors: B. R. H.
Published: January 2009

New frontiers in acoustics were indicated by some of the eighty-eight papers read at the spring meeting, held in Washington April 22–24.
Meetings Held
Authors: A. C. L.
Published: January 2009

Eighty physicists drove through the snow storms from all parts of upper New York State to attend the April 3 meeting of the New York State Section of the American Physical Society on the hill of Hamilton College.
Stipend: One thousand dollars
Authors: Nichols Nathan L.
Published: January 2009

How can a man, with a wife and three children, and no GI benefits, work for a doctor's degree and live on the one thousand dollar salary earned by half-time teaching? It sounds impossible, but by canny control of the purse strings, and by keeping roomers, my wife and I are managing.
Scandinavia
Authors: Funke Gösta
Published: January 2009

The isolation of the Scandinavian Countries during the war, and the difficulties for the different activities of society that arose from it, made clear to the authorities the essential role played in national management by scientific and technical research.
Great Britain
Authors: Mott N. F.
Published: January 2009

The physics of metals is a wide subject, and in this article I would like only to deal with one part of it, the study, as a subject of pure physics, of the mechanical properties of metals and alloys.
Accreditation
Authors: Barton Henry
Published: January 2009

The question of accrediting physics departments certainly falls in the latter category.
Phosphorus in Steels
Authors: Bryan F. R.
Published: January 2009

Conventional spectrographic methods of analysis, although used for the rapid control of most alloying elements in steel, have not been applicable to the determination of phosphorus.
Plastic Optical Elements
Authors: Grey David S.
Published: January 2009

One of the achievements in the field of optics during World War II was the use of plastic optical elements.
The El Cerrito Cyclotron
Authors: Siegel Benjamin V. , Sinnott Richard C.
Published: January 2009

Cerrito in Spanish means “little hill,” and in our El Cerrito High School sitting on a knoll, four senior students in the spring of 1947 were successful in constructing a magnetic resonance accelerator for ions, the highly complex machine for smashing and radioactivating atoms more commonly known as a cyclotron.
Down to the sea
Authors: O'D. Iselin Columbus
Published: January 2009

Physical oceanography has been, until recently, the most unsuccessful of the geophysical sciences in enlisting the aid of physicists. Laboratory-trained, they have preferred to remain in their laboratories rather than set up their instruments in as unfavorable an environment as a small vessel. This has been exasperating to that small group of scientists having a burning desire to understand the physical aspects of the earth and its surrounding atmosphere.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

Physicists have long depended upon Physics Abtracts (formerly Science Abstracts A), published in London by the Institute of Electrical Engineers, as an important aid in rounding up the literature on a given subject.
Low Temperatures
Authors: S. J. C.
Published: January 2009

The Shelter Island Conference on Low Temperatures, May 31–June 2, tried to interpret low temperature theory, and make some sense out of superconductivity and liquid helium. London, Onsager, Tisza, Van Vleck, Slater, and various other theorists all had things to say, as did a number of experimentalists. There were arguments, but no violent fights; and there was progress toward understanding, though nothing spectacular.
APS at Madison
Authors: M. J. E. , A. F. T.
Published: January 2009

The summer meeting of the American Physical Society was held in Madison June 21 to 23 during the interval between the spring commencement and the beginning of the summer session of the University of Wisconsin.
Wide-Range Microphone
Authors: Massa Frank
Published: January 2009

The growing need for making acoustic measurements in air in the supersonic frequency range has resulted in the development of new equipment which permits the absolute measurement of sound pressure from 50 cycles to 250 kilocycles.
Helium, the unruly liquid
Authors: Tisza Laszlo
Published: January 2009

The behavior of liquid helium is so unusual that it is not unreasonable to consider it the only representative of a fourth state of matter; helium gas condenses not into the liquid state, but rather into the quantum liquid state. Liquid helium is thus unique in low temperature physics; it is important both in the techniques of producing low temperatures and for its peculiar properties.
The accelerator conference
Authors: Burrill E. Alfred
Published: January 2009

The extensive building program of presently planned electronuclear machines is, for the most part, completed. It seemed like a good idea to survey existing problems in the particle accelerator field and possible experiments to be conducted in it.
New worlds for sight
Authors: Hillier James
Published: January 2009

There is a scientific device that will measure the intensity, the wave-length, and the position of all of four or five million spots of light and do that every tenth of a second or less for many hours a day. This superb tool—a pair of eyes—also retains in itself a record of the measurements it has made to be recalled at any time for comparison with new measurements.
Cosmic Rays
Authors: R. B.
Published: January 2009

A Symposium on Cosmic Rays took place at the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, from June 21 to June 23. The occasion was the eightieth birthday of Robert A. Millikan, a man who, for a quarter of a century, through his personal work and that of his pupils, had a decisive influence on the developmnt of cosmic ray research.
Magnetic Moment of the Electron
Authors: Kusch P.
Published: January 2009

Recent work by Lamb and Retherford on the fine structure of hydrogen and by Nafe, Nelson, and Rabi on the hyperfine structure of hydrogen, has indicated that the detailed conclusions of the Dirac theory are not completely in accord with experimental results.
Graphite
Authors: Brewer Leo
Published: January 2009

The amount of heat that graphite absorbs in direct transformation from solid to vapor (its heat of sublimation) has been the source of considerable controversy for many years.
Errata
Authors: Watson Bernard B.
Published: January 2009

Sirs:

In the July issue of Physics Today you report quite correctly that I have been appointed associate professor of physics at Temple University but you add, gratuitously, that Temple University is in Texas. This will come as a distinct shock to the many alumni and friends of Temple (one of the nation's larger universities—enrollment about 20,000), who, while supporting the university's desire to move to a new campus, had no idea that a move of 1,500 miles from its present Philadelphia location was contemplated.
Ultrasonics
Authors: Klein Elias
Published: January 2009

Ultrasonics, a by-product of two world wars, was evolved more than thirty years ago in France when the Allies were looking for away of detecting German submarines.
Quanta and Vision
Authors: Lamar Edward S.
Published: January 2009

The paper summarized here is the second of a series of two.
The origin of the Earth
Authors: Page Thornton
Published: January 2009

With all the spectacular success of recent scientific research, it is perhaps refreshing to examine a field so characterized by failure as this one. Although many speculations have been described as “theories,” there exists today no real theory of the origin of the earth in the sense of a complete logical structure linking together the vast quantity of pertinent observations collected during the last century.
…pigtails on a Stratoliner
Authors: Jensen J. C.
Published: January 2009

From the earliest records of sailing the seas in ships come tales of a strange phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire, a visible discharge from pointed parts of the ship into the atmosphere.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

The production of the Institute's journals is now—page for page—almost twice as costly as it was at the end of the war.
Polarized Headlights
Authors: Billings B. H.
Published: January 2009

Possibly the greatest single hazard to night driving is the blinding glare a driver suffers when meeting another car.
Geologic Age
Authors: Nier Alfred O. C.
Published: January 2009

Radioactive decay has been used to estimate the age of rocks, by measuring the percentage of uranium in the rocks that had decayed into helium and lead.
Crystal Defects
Authors: Breckenridge R. G.
Published: January 2009

A simple ionic crystal is one having its ions arranged periodically in three dimensions.
Light Helium
Authors: Nier Alfred O. C.
Published: January 2009

The natural occurrence of a helium isotope of atomic weight 3 was observed in the Berkeley cyclotron in 1939 by Alvarez and Cornog, who showed that its abundance was very low compared with that of the normal helium atom of atomic weight 4.
Seeing Stars by Day
Authors: Tousey R.
Published: January 2009

A number of years ago it was realized that daytime celestial navigation of long range airplanes was desirable and would be aided by the use of stars.
Applied Acoustics
Authors: B. L. L.
Published: January 2009

In attractive Jarvis Hall of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a group of scientists representing about eleven nations met to exchange information on the reduction and measurement of noise. They were attending the International Conference on Sound Transmission and Noise, held July 14–16, 1948. There is a greater emphasis now on research in applied acoustics in Europe, with the exception of Germany, than there was before the war.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

There are not enough physicists around for all the jobs they should do.
Physics and Metallurgy
Authors: Seitz Frederick
Published: January 2009

The role played by modern physics in advancing the scientific background of metallurgy, and its present position, is described in this paper, which is the text of the first Gordon McKay Lecture on Applied Science, delivered at Harvard University in 1947.
Energy Diagrams
Authors: Hughes A. L.
Published: January 2009

The disintegration of a radioactive isotope into a daughter isotope may be accompanied by the emission of beta-rays (negatrons or positrons) and gamma-rays.
Meteor Research in Great Britain
Authors: Lovell A. C. B.
Published: January 2009

Until recently the serious study of meteors was almost entirely an amateur activity in Great Britain. The British Astronomical Association—itself an amateur body—fostered the great work of Denning, who retired from his profession and lived in penury for the sake of his hobby, and in more recent times the work of J. P. M. Prentice, who is the present director of the meteor section of the Association.
Gaseous Electronics
Authors: M. J. P.
Published: January 2009

Probably no phenomenon studied by physicists has contributed more to knowledge about the nature of atoms and molecules than electrical discharge in gases.
Cathode art
Authors: Pierce John R.
Published: January 2009

Patent attorneys continually refer to “one skilled in the art.” Somehow, this has an antique flavor. It smacks of wrinkles, recipes, and secret formulae, rather than of the firm basis we imagine must underlie our technological civilization. One would think of art, perhaps, in the case of the physician, who deals with a system as complicated and as little understood as the human body, but scarcely in connection with a matter of applied physics, involving old and well known phenomena of great commercial importance. A particular example should, however, convince the most skeptical that there is sometimes art where one would wish and hope for science. Lest it be too discouraging, the story that follows has, I believe, a happy ending, for it looks as if the physicists and chemists are at last reaching indisputable conclusions concerning the functioning of the oxide-coated thermionic cathode.
Focusing Sound
Authors: Harvey F. K.
Published: January 2009

In his investigations on the scattering of energy from objects small compared to the wavelength, Lord Rayleigh often applied his results interchangeably to sound waves and electromagnetic waves.
Skin Heat
Authors: Hardy James D.
Published: January 2009

Knowledge of skin temperature is important because the heat lost from the body is determined by the rate of temperature change between the deep body tissues and the body surface.
Nucleons
Authors: Borowitz Sidney
Published: January 2009

The Dirac theory describes correctly the spin of the proton and neutron, but attributes to them magnetic moments of 1 and 0 nuclear magnetons, respectively.
Catalysis
Authors: Halsey G. D.
Published: January 2009

Many gas reactions are accelerated when they take place at the surface of a finely divided solid, a “heterogenous catalyst.”
Golf Ballistics
Authors: Davies John M.
Published: January 2009

The trajectory of a golf ball is determined by the force with which the club strikes the ball and by the forces which act on the ball during its flight through air.
Natural Science for Nonscientists
Authors: Page Thornton
Published: January 2009

Some sixty teachers of college courses in the physical and biological sciences met at Harvard University on the 9th and 10th of July to discuss their aims, methods, and problems in teaching the natural sciences to nonscientists. The five two-hour sessions were devoted respectively to discussions of the methods of science and whether they can be taught, the history of science, methods of instruction, the relationship of natural sciences to the social sciences, and the problem of obtaining suitable teachers.
Modern computing
Authors: Richtmyer R. D. , Metropolis N. C.
Published: January 2009

The physical sciences, notably physics and astronomy, have come in the past few decades to depend heavily upon the various devices intended to make the solving of mathematical problems less arduous and more rapid than in the days, and with the paper and pencil methods, of the ancients. The methods, of course, have themselves seen little change; yet machines capable of more and more speed in numerical computing make it possible to calculate problems that before would have been solved only approximately if at all.
Physicists in training
Authors: White Marsh W.
Published: January 2009

There has been some concern that we are approaching a period in which too many physicists may be produced for the work on hand. Careful surveys made in related fields of engineering on the supply and demand for graduating students have indicated a situation in which the current numbers of engineering graduates equal or exceed the anticipated requirements. Will the same be true of physicists in training?
Hot Wax
Authors: Gemant Andrew
Published: January 2009

Although much is known of the effect of radiation upon gases and systems containing water, relatively little is known of its effect on organic nonconducting materials.
Cool Crystals
Authors: Kaufman H. S.
Published: January 2009

A relatively simple method has been developed for low temperature x-ray diffraction studies of materials which are not normally solid at room temperature.
Oil Well Logging
Authors: Haden Harley J.
Published: January 2009

The intense demand for more efficient production in the oil industry has opened a relatively new field of opportunity for the physicist in applying scientific methods to logging oil wells.
Magnetism
Authors: Bitter Francis
Published: January 2009

The same force that drives the great majority of the rotating shafts of industry (and makes possible the communication which prevents our industrial civilization from breaking down under its own complexity) is used as a probe for investigating the minutiae of atoms and nuclei. So fundamental to existence itself is magnetism that the extent to which we can use this force has far outdistanced our understanding of its nature; in taking the measure of magnetism, scientists must range over many worlds.
Very Low Temperatures
Authors: Tisza Laszlo
Published: January 2009

About two hundred physicists, of whom twenty-five or so had traveled from Europe, attended the International Conference on the Physics of Very Low Temperatures held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on September 6–10, 1949. Similar meetings had been organized before the last war but only as supplements to the meetings of the International Institute of Refrigeration which were concerned with industrial questions. The transfer to the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics marks the coming of age of low temperature research as a major branch of physics.
Mercury poisoning
Authors: Hardy Harriet L.
Published: January 2009

Curiously ignorant and apathetic is the manner in which modern workers in many university, government, and industrial research laboratories approach the dangers of handling mercury. Fortunately, most laboratory-scale operations are intermittent enough to give a distinct factor of safety, but mercury's great toxicity, and the ease with which it gains entry to the body, means that interrupted exposures will not necessarily prevent toxic effects. The possibility of acute mercury poisoning from laboratory accidents and the likelihood of storing unknown amounts of mercury over the years, with resultant chronic poisoning, are very real. Mercury poisoning, or mercurialism, has been known since Roman times. This does not make it less dangerous now.
Food physics
Authors: Rector Thomas M. , Shuman A. Cornwall
Published: January 2009

Long before much progress had been made in correlating physical laws into the science of physics, the Chinese had discovered the gustatory merits of roast pig when the house in which the pig was temporarily or permanently in residence burned down. So physical principles have been applied to food processing and preparation since the dawn of history. It is a matter of legend that the fabled Chinese, although unaware of the scientific aspect of the event, was compensated for the disaster to his property by the delights of nibbling on roasted pig tail.
Physics in Canada: The National Research Council
Authors: Herzberg G. , Howlett L. E.
Published: January 2009

Occupying a rather unique position, not only in physics, but in other branches of science, the National Research Council of Canada has proved so effective an organization that other research authorities in Canada have, to varying extents, followed its method of organization and operation.
Physics in Canada: Other Research Organizations
Authors: Herzberg G. , Howlett L. E.
Published: January 2009

During the war the National Research Council acted as the research organization for the three armed services.
Physics in Canada: The Universities
Authors: Herzberg G. , Howlett L. E.
Published: January 2009

The research work carried out in universities benefits to a large extent from the coordination effected through the grants in aid of research from the National Research Council, the Defence Research Board, and the provincial governments.
Optical Society Meets
Authors: Ballard Stanley S.
Published: January 2009

Is it proper to expect that the contributed papers presented at a meeting of a scientific society give a fair indication of the various specific fields of current research interest, while the invited papers and symposia indicate technical fields of importance, at least in the opinion of the program committee?
Cool Detectors
Authors: Fellgett P. B.
Published: January 2009

In the development of detectors of infrared radiation, mere empirical improvements are no longer sufficient.
High Sensitivity
Authors: Wilson E. Bright
Published: January 2009

Wartime developments in radar have made available equipment for producing and detecting short radio waves of a few millimeters to centimeters in length so that it is now convenient and easy to study the absorption of various substances, particularly gases, in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Flame Propagation
Authors: Hirschfelder J. O.
Published: January 2009

There is considerable interest at the present time in the behavior of flames and the various factors which control their propagation.
Quieting Ram Jets
Authors: Snow W. B.
Published: January 2009

In 1945 the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, in a project for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance, established a testing laboratory for ram jet motors at Forest Grove, Maryland in relatively open country where high noise levels could be tolerated.
Humidity and Piano Tuning
Authors: Young Robert W.
Published: January 2009

It is common practice to tune a piano just before an artist performs on it. One reason is that humidity in the air causes the wood structure to swell, thus altering the tension on the strings with changes in humidity.
How we hear
Authors: Wiener Francis M.
Published: January 2009

Ever since Einstein took his observers along on moving coordinate axes and left some behind to tell the tale of what happened within the stationary frame of reference, physics has changed in more than one respect. Physical science in general has begun to include research on these persistent observers and performers of experiments themselves. The workings of the human mechanism are currently under intense study by mathematicians and physicists, as well as by researchers in the life sciences.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

It is probable that before 1949 is out, every non-veteran, single, male, physicist under twenty-six now trained on in training will be closely considered for induction into the armed services.
National Academy
Authors: Alvarez Luis W.
Published: January 2009

The National Academy of Sciences last met at Berkeley in November of 1930.
Solid State
Authors: Brill R.
Published: January 2009

A symposium on “The Solid State” was held at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute on November 13, 1948 including as speakers two distinguished Nobel prize winners in physics, Sir W. L. Bragg and M. van Laue.
Sound Skip-Zones
Authors: Cox Everett F.
Published: January 2009

Today's beliefs about temperatures twenty to forty miles above the earth stem in the main from a discovery made during Queen Victoria's funeral, when minute gun booms overpassed large regions of England.
Earth physics
Authors: Gutenberg Beno
Published: January 2009

Choosing his equipment and his materials carefully, the physicist most often studies different bits of matter to find the properties they have in common. He works from a diversity of material to a unity of principle that encompasses all the material he studies.
Institute Doings
Authors: Barton Henry A.
Published: January 2009

Within the next month or two many of the physics journals will appear with reduced margins and with less space between the lines.
Space-charge wave
Authors: Pierce John R.
Published: January 2009

There is a good deal to physics besides nuclei, uncertainty, and relativity, as every hopeful student learns. Much of it, however, has disappeared from the forefront of science, some of it moving to the engineers, and the rest remaining mostly a storehouse of tools, useful in the free-for-all attack on the current frontier. I can remember that spectroscopy was once a romantic subject, with its explanation of the “nebulium” lines. So was the conduction of electricity through gases.
Short-Lived Spectra
Authors: Silverman S.
Published: January 2009

There has been growing interest in applications of spectroscopy to studies involving rather rapid reaction rates.
Government Research
Authors: Walker Eric A.
Published: January 2009

Many scientists dislike government work and seem to feel that civil service carries with it an inherent stigma.
Shadow casting
Authors: Williams Robley C.
Published: January 2009

The technique of shadow casting, in which a beam of atoms is sprayed obliquely across an electron microscope specimen and allowed to condense, results in enormously increased contrast and in a pronounced three-dimensional effect in the image.
Phosphors
Authors: Ellickson Raymond T.
Published: January 2009

Most fluorescent substances emit light of a wavelength longer than that of the light used to cause the fluorescence.
Crystal Spectra
Authors: Halford Ralph S.
Published: January 2009

The infrared spectrum of a gas, interpreted, reveals details of molecular configuration, of motions in an isolated molecule, and of magnitudes for interatomic forces.
Sound dispersion
Authors: Cox Everett F.
Published: January 2009

Alternate rings of noise and silence surround a big explosion.
Astatine
Authors: Segrè E.
Published: January 2009

Astatine (the name comes from astatos, which means unstable in Greek) is the element of atomic number 85, a heavier homolog of iodine in the periodic system.
Jets
Authors: Altman David
Published: January 2009

One step in evaluating a rocket propellant is to determine its exhaust velocity from a standard rocket nozzle.
Bond Energies
Authors: Mcmillan W. A.
Published: January 2009

In the ionization chamber of a mass spectrometer, ions are produced by the impact of electrons, accelerated from a hot filament, upon the molecules of the compound being studied.
Abstracts
Authors: Gray Dwight E.
Published: January 2009

How important to American physicists are abstracts of the periodical literature in their field; how do they use abstracts; what do they think of the abstracts they now have; what kind of abstracts would they like to have? It is questions like these which the study now being conducted by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society, under contract with the Office of Naval Research, hopes to answer. Although the work has not progressed far enough to warrant hard and fast conclusions on physicist opinion, it is likely that most of the major differences in viewpoint have been encountered by now.
Mexico
Authors: Vallarta Manuel Sandoval
Published: January 2009

In the course of the last decade research in physics and allied sciences in Mexico has progressed a good deal. At the Institute of Physics of the University of Mexico in Mexico City theoretical research in the theory of gravitation and in cosmic rays has been going on for some time while experimental work has been carried out in the latter field, and x-ray analysis of the structure of matter is being started.
Electron Optics
Authors: Ramberg E. G.
Published: January 2009

Present-day electron microscopes do not achieve the magnifications theoretically possible because of the aberrations introduced by the axially symmetric electrical and magnetic fields used for lenses.
Trochotron
Authors: Werner G. K.
Published: January 2009

Several “trochotron” mass spectrometers (so called because of the trochoidal ion trajectories) have been built using an arrangement of crossed, uniform electric and magnetic fields which has a focal distance independent of the initial direction or speed of the particles.
Measuring Colloidal Particles
Authors: Yudowitch K. L.
Published: January 2009

Particles whose radii are more than about one tenthousandth of an inch can be measured with a microscope or by the scattering of visible radiation.
Air Friction
Authors: Kuhlthau A. R.
Published: January 2009

Any surface moving through a gas experiences a retarding force, or drag, due to the viscous nature of the gas.
Electrets
Authors: Gemant Andrew
Published: January 2009

Electrets are the electrical equivalent of permanent magnets—they carry a permanent positive charge at one surface, and a permanent negative charge at the opposite surface. The most remarkable thing about them is that, theoretically, they cannot exist! Yet they do exist, posing a problem that has not yet been solved.
Our energy resources
Authors: Daniels Farrington , Hubbert M. King , Wigner Eugene P.
Published: January 2009

Along with several other symposia of the Centennial Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the symposium on the Sources of Energy was under the growing realization of the truths so aptly demonstrated by J. Osborne, W. Vogt, Stuart Chase and the conservationists: that humanity is on an unrepeatable spending spree, that we are using up mineral and energy resources on an unprecedented scale, and that these will run out in the foreseeable future. Because this symposium dealt with a rather well defined and clearly delimited facet of the whole problem, it could be attempted, with some prospect of success, to point to ways and means by which the apparently unescapable debacle can be avoided, at least as far as the exhaustion of energy sources is concerned. By making more direct use of the source of all terrestrial energy, the solar radiation, and by exploiting directly the source of solar radiation, the nuclear fuels, one can hope to provide the energy necessary for maintaining our standards of life into the indefinite future.
Letters on Blackett's book
Authors: Torrey Volta
Published: January 2009

Sir:

P. M. S. Blackett, the winner of the Nobel prize in physics in 1948, believes that thousands of atomic bombs would be needed to produce decisive results in a war with the Soviet Union; William L. Laurence, New York Times reporter whose articles about the bomb won a Pulitzer prize for him in 1946, believes that fifty bombs would suffice. This is an astonishing range. Blackett's estimate may be the result of more deliberate study than Laurence's, but the newspaperman's figure agrees better with the impressions given by most American physicists in their discussion of the effectiveness of the atomic bomb. Which estimate is closer to the truth? Assuming other factors to be about equal, what would be the order of magnitude of the number of bombs necessary to determine the outcome of a war between two great continental powers?
Cosmic Ray Bursts
Authors: Rossi B.
Published: January 2009

During a period of over a year a number of experiments have been carried out, partly on the ground and partly aboard a B-29 aircraft.
Small Drops
Authors: Kirkwood John G.
Published: January 2009

In analyzing the kinetics of transitions between a liquid and its vapor it is important to know how the surface tension of small masses of the liquid depends upon their size and on the curvature of the boundaries separating them from the vapor from which they were formed.
Polymer Chains
Authors: Flory Paul J.
Published: January 2009

The thousands of atoms in long chain polymer molecules are connected to one another by valance bonds about which they may rotate.
Visual Ultrasonics
Authors: Burton Charles J.
Published: January 2009

The problem of detecting and measuring the wavelength, intensity, and absorption of ultrasonic vibrations has been solved in a number of ingenious ways.
Cosmic Ray Protons
Authors: Hereford Frank L.
Published: January 2009

Relative intensities of various types of cosmic ray particles at different atmospheric levels give clue to the collision processes and nuclear interactions which cause them.
Spectroscopy: Tool for science and technology
Authors: Sawyer Ralph A.
Published: January 2009

Spectroscopy has provided not only the information but the inspiration for some of the most striking advances in the knowledge of the nature of matter and of the structure of the atom and the molecule. Very early the spectrum stimulated the minds and the imagination of men; and spectroscopic research is one of the keys which has unlocked the secrets of the universe.
A trend in contemporary physics
Authors: Stern Alexander W.
Published: January 2009

The introduction by Bohr of Planck's quantum of action h in atomic theory to explain the stability of atoms and their fixed properties culminated in the discovery of the Uncertainty Principle, or the Principle of Indeterminancy, as it is sometimes called. This principle necessitates a redefinition and generalization of the concept of causality, and in the early days of its discovery caused much confusion and misunderstanding among physicists.
Pleasant
Authors: Seitz Frederick
Published: January 2009

Karl Darrow recently classified meetings of the American Physical Society on the basis of whether they are “large” or “pleasant.” The Cleveland meeting of the American Physical Society, March 10–12, was definitely of the second type, since it proved possible for all of the members who attended to spend considerable time discussing problems at leisure in the quiet way that characterized most of the meetings before the war.
Origin of Cosmic Radiation
Authors: Fermi Enrico
Published: January 2009

According to the theory proposed, cosmic rays are distributed more or less uniformly in the interstellar space of the galaxy.
Expending Universe
Authors: Alpher R. A.
Published: January 2009

The most reasonable interpretation of the red shift observed in the spectra of nebulae is that the universe is expanding uniformly.
Optical Measurement of Supersonic Flow
Authors: Bershader Daniel
Published: January 2009

When the speed of a gas stream exceeds the local velocity of sound, the changes which take place in the nature of the flow suggest corresponding alterations in the experimental techniques used for studying the associated physical phenomena.
Electrical Admittance
Authors: Cole Robert H.
Published: January 2009

Valuable information about many liquids and solids can be obtained by measuring their capacitance and conductance, particularly if this can be done over a wide range of frequencies.
Flow Patterns
Authors: Munk M. M.
Published: January 2009

This paper deals with the patterns of a two-dimensional supersonic potential flow of a perfect gas.
The nuclear-powered rocket feasible?
Authors: Seifert H. S.
Published: January 2009

It seems but natural for physicists to ponder on the dramatic possibilities of using nuclear power to operate a rocket propulsion plant. It is possible, without trespassing on classified information in any way, to reach some interesting and perhaps melancholy conclusions, merely by the use of elementary and well-disseminated ideas.
Solid
Authors: Seitz Frederick
Published: January 2009

Solid state physics is a field which has been in a somewhat unique position for about fifteen years. Although it probably will not continue to be unique very much longer, it may set a somewhat new pattern which other fields will follow. That pattern is the secondary exploitation by physicists of a field which physicists themselves have opened.
Radio Doppler
Authors: Villard O. G.
Published: January 2009

Meteor velocities have been measured using a continuous-wave radio Doppler method.
Self Hearing
Authors: Békésy Georg V.
Published: January 2009

For maximally useful hearing it is important that bone-conducted sounds—our own vocalizations and noises produced by chewing, swallowing, etc.—be minimized, while at the same time the ear remain maximally sensitive to airborne sounds.
The Proton's Magnetic Moment
Authors: Kusch P.
Published: January 2009

The magnetic moment of the proton is one of the important physical properties of one of the fundamental particles of nature.
Solar Radio Noise
Authors: Haeff Andrew V.
Published: January 2009

Recent studies of solar radiation within the radio spectrum indicate that associated with sun spot activity there occur bursts of radiation whose intensity occasionally exceeds the normal radiation by a factor of several million.
Eye Aberration
Authors: Tousey R.
Published: January 2009

It has been recognized for many years that the human eye, like most simple lenses, is afflicted to a certain extent with spherical aberration.
Origin of Chemical Elements
Authors: ter Haar D.
Published: January 2009

In the last ten years, physicists and astronomers from all over the world have been trying to account for the observed relative abundances of the chemical elements.