APS News

July 2009 (Volume 18, Number 7)

Members in the Media

“I always say that what Dan Brown did for the Roman Catholic Church in ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ he did for me and my research with ‘Angels and Demons’.”
Gerald Gabrielse, Harvard, describing how the film exaggerated aspects of his antimatter research for dramatic effect, FoxNews.com, May 15, 2009

“I know colleagues who began reading the book and said it was nonsense and quit reading it. But the book is good entertainment.”
Manfred Paulini, Carnegie Mellon, on his role as the science advisor of “Angels and Demons,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 2009.

“I’m very happy to see popular culture introducing these scientific issues,”
Boris Kayser, Fermilab, on why he thought the presence of CERN in “Angels and Demons” would be a good marketing tool for science, Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2009.

“It’s like trying to win the lottery. If you buy enough tickets, you’re eventually going to win.”
John Beacom, Ohio State University, explaining the odds of detecting neutrinos at the IceCube detector in Antarctica, The Columbus Dispatch, May 17, 2009.

“We think that these giant flares are coming from really, really big star quakes,”
Charles Horowitz, Indiana University, describing how the crust of neutron stars, 10,000 times stronger than steel, can produce incredible bursts of energy, MSNBC.com, May 18, 2009.

“[A]ny time a major breakthrough is reported without the researcher in question showing details of how they carried out the experiment, it’s time to start asking questions. If something seems too good to be true, it very possibly is.”
Eugenie Samuel Reich, from her article and book charting the metoric rise and fall of physics fraudster Jan Hendrik Schön, The Telegraph, May, 18, 2009.

“All wetlands should be returned to the Bay. The Bay is a wetland ecosystem. The Bay is the place we all love to live. It’s the most valuable resource we have.”
Ralph Nobles, hoping that a tract of land in California slated for development will be bought by the state and preserved, San Jose Mercury News, May 22, 2009.

“Very reasonably, a political leader might ask, ‘Is it performing up to standards?’ ...The scientific community is in a position to give an answer.”
Raymond Jeanloz, UC Berkeley, on the efficacy of a new global monitoring system to listen for tremors resulting from a nuclear explosion, The Associated Press, May 23, 2009.

“Charlie Bolden is well-qualified to continue moving NASA out of its years of drift.”
Gene McCall, Los Alamos National Laboratory, commending President Obama’s pick of a former astronaut to be the new head of NASA, NBC News, May 24, 2009.

“We put together the best physicists, the best engineers, the best of industry and academia. It’s not often you get that opportunity and pull it off.”
Ed Moses, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, on the team at the National Ignition Facility, The New York Times, May 25, 2009.

“If energy is dirt cheap, it gets treated like dirt,”
Arthur Rosenfeld, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, describing why Americans haven’t integrated energy saving appliances into their lives, The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2009.

“No one has any idea what to do with the space station. We know what to do with a telescope. The ISS is just a way of keeping human beings in space. It’s flag-pole sitting.”
Robert Park, University of Maryland, MSNBC.com, May 27, 2009.

“These screw-ups happen…It’s going further than I would have gone but doesn’t look like a serious breach.”
John M. Deutch, MIT, on the accidental publication of highly confidential lists of the country’s nuclear stockpiles, New York Times, June 2, 2009.

©1995 - 2024, AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.

Editor: Alan Chodos

July 2009 (Volume 18, Number 7)

APS News Home

Issue Table of Contents

APS News Archives

Contact APS News Editor


Articles in this Issue
Women’s Progress Tracked in Reports by APS, National Academies
Members Urged to Apply for LaserFest Outreach Grants
APS Announces PhysicsQuest Winners
Physics is Olympians’ Idea of a Good Time
DAMOP Meets in Charlottesville
“Physics First” Battles for Acceptance
April Meeting Hosts Future Physicists
LaserFest Booth Debuts at CLEO
Letters to the Editor
The Back Page
Members in the Media
This Month in Physics History
Zero Gravity: The Lighter Side of Science
Inside the Beltway
The Education Corner