Home | Publications | APS News | June 2008 (Volume 17, Number 6)

June 2008 (Volume 17, Number 6)

June 2008 (Volume 17, Number 6) Entire Issue

News

Chinese Human Rights Advocate Receives APS Sakharov Prize
Liangying Xu has been a lifetime advocate for democracy, free speech, and academic freedom

Workshop Attendees Get the Lowdown on Politics
Around 80 scientists and engineers picked up pointers on how to run for public office

Physics of Homeland Security is Focus of NE Section Meeting
Gamma ray detection technology among the tools of physics that might contribute to national security

APS Flips for PhysicsQuest
This year's grand prize winner selected by a randomly generated binary number determined by flipping a coin

Space Debris Still a Growing Problem
There are now more than 150 million pieces of space debris, most measuring less than 2 inches across

New Ways Suggested to Probe Lorentz Violation
Experimental approaches include looking for violations in cosmic microwave background polarizations, torsion warping, and tiny variations in moon's orbit

25th Anniversary Commemoration
APS hosted a dinner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the J.J. Sakurai Prize

Physicists Adopt Complementary Approaches in Dark Matter Search
Liquid noble gases, solid state devices cooled to cryogenic temperatures, and modified bubble chambers are all being used to look for weakly interacting massive particles

April Meeting Prize and Award Recipients
Group picture of prize and award recipients.

Major Accelerators Closing in on Elusive Higgs Particle
Physicists are fast approaching the energies and luminosities required to detect the Higgs boson

Opinion

Letters
“Easy” Course Would Provide Useful Background · Need to Educate Public About Energy

Inside the Beltway
Science! Who Needs It?

The Back Page
The pros and cons of physicists and copyright

Departments

Members in the Media
As quoted in other publications...

This Month in Physics History
June 1798: Cavendish weighs the world

Zero Gravity: The Lighter Side of Science
"Dark Matter," music and lyrics by Jonny Berliner

Profiles in Versatility
After the Particles, it’s Power to the People for Physicist-turned-Politico Bill Foster

Focus on APS Topical Groups
Group on Plasma Astrophysics

Navigating the Universe
Joel Primack speaks at the April Meeting

Photo by Brian Mosley/APS

In conjunction with the April Meeting, the APS sponsored a public lecture that took place at the Saint Louis Science Center. The speakers were Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams, and they talked about “The View from the Center of the Universe.” They are the authors of a book of the same name. Although he is standing on solid ground, in the picture Primack seems to float through the cosmos as he is captured in silhouette against the backdrop of a video presentation that took the audience through a speeded-up tour of the nearby universe.

April Meeting Prize and Award Recipients

Photo by William Greenblatt

Larger photo with recipients identified.

Pencils in Parallel

$Investigating diffraction$
Photo by Ed Lee/APS

At the APS Teachers' Day in St. Louis, held in conjunction with the 2008 April Meeting, 63 physics and physical science teachers gathered for a day of talks, workshops, and networking. In the photo, a teacher is investigating diffraction with a variable slit system constructed with two pencils and rubber bands (developed by Cornell's Center for Nanoscale Systems Institute for Physics Teachers).

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Editor: Alan Chodos
Staff Writer: Ernie Tretkoff
Contributing Editor: Jennifer Ouellette
Art Director and Special Publications Manager: Kerry G. Johnson
Publication Designer and Production: Nancy Bennett-Karasik
Science Writing Intern: Nadia Ramlagan