“Physics has enormously helped me in life — the logic and power of it. … Once you see what a combination of calculus and Newton’s laws will do and the things you can work out, you get an awesome appreciation for the power of getting things in science right. It has collateral benefits for people. And I don’t think you get a feeling for the power of science — not with the same strength — anywhere else than you do in physics.”
Charles Thomas Munger, Berkshire Hathaway, on his gift to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Forbes, October 24, 2014.

“First and foremost it’s a victory for everyone who believes in strengthening the middle class.”
Bill Foster, U.S. House of Representatives, on his reelection in Illinois, Chicago Tribune, November 5, 2014.

“When you approach a black hole, the black hole is distorting space in its vicinity, and this was captured beautifully. ... I enjoyed watching the surrounding imagery get distorted. ... It’s a sophisticated ray-tracing problem, and if you’re a movie producer and you can get it right, then why not?”
Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History, on watching the film “Interstellar,” NBCNews.com, November 7, 2014.

“It’s been surprising to me that there have not been widespread images of what a wormhole would really look like, as seen from the outside.”
Kip Thorne, Caltech, on working with the special effects team on the film “Interstellar,” Air and Space Magazine, November 13, 2014.

“I was a little nervous that she could maybe not stick true to the science or not be able to convey it properly. … For some artists, the art trumps the reality. But as soon as I saw her first piece, I knew this was not the case.”
Don Lincoln, Fermilab, on Lindsay Olson, the first artist-in-residence there, Chicago Tribune, November 8, 2014.

“What might take you hundreds of meters to do in a regular machine, you can do in the space of just a meter, or a couple of feet.”
Mark Hogan, SLAC, on a new technique to use plasmas to accelerate particles, Los Angeles Times, November 11, 2014.

“Two weeks after my last contact with the FBI, my world came crashing down around me, as Caltech started a merciless campaign ongoing to this day of retaliation for my speaking to the FBI. … I’ve been humiliated, degraded, isolated, treated like a pariah on campus.”
Sandra Troian, Caltech, speaking about her lawsuit alleging that her university retaliated against her for speaking to the FBI, The Washington Post, November 13, 2014.

“Entanglement insults our intuitions about how the world could possibly work. Albert Einstein sneered that if the equations of quantum theory predicted such nonsense, so much the worse for quantum theory.”
David Kaiser, MIT, The New York Times, November 14, 2014.

“We have projections for one or two cases at the most during November, December. … We do not expect a large outbreak in the United States.”
Alessandro Vespignani, Northeastern University, on his computer model of the spread of Ebola, CBSNewsBoston.com, November 17, 2014.

“I knew that someday I would leave Congress and wanted to do it under my own power and my own terms, and some more thought led me to think, this is the time. But it was in the expectation of doing something else worthwhile. And this is as worthwhile as anything I can imagine.”
Rush Holt, U.S. House of Representatives, on his plans to lead the American Association for the Advancement of Science after retiring from Congress at the end of this year, The Washington Post, November 18, 2014.

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Editor: David Voss
Staff Science Writer: Michael Lucibella
Art Director and Special Publications Manager: Kerry G. Johnson
Publication Designer and Production: Nancy Bennett-Karasik

December 2014 (Volume 23, Number 11)

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Articles in this Issue
Texas-Sized APS March Meeting in San Antonio
Benefactor Jay Jones Funds New APS Medal
2014 PhysicsQuest Winners Announced
APS Members and Council Vote Yes on Corporate Reform
A Brief History of Stephen Hawking
Black Holes, Hollywood, and Interstellar: Q&A with Kip Thorne
Science Collides with Politics
Outlook for Science after Congressional Changeover
Retiring Representative Rush Holt to Take Helm at AAAS
PRX Takes on a New Role
Historic Sites: Muon Time Dilation Experiment
Members In the Media
Education Corner
This Month in Physics History
The Washington Dispatch
International News
The Back Page