In Brief

Clinton Names Fermi Award Winners

In February, President Clinton named Maurice Goldhaber and Michael E. Phelps as the winners of the Enrico Fermi Award, given for a lifetime of achievement in the field of nuclear energy. Goldhaber will receive the Fermi Award for research in nuclear and particle physics. Phelps will receive the award for his contributions to the invention and use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will present the awards on April 16 in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Goldhaber, 87, is a physicist and distinguished scientist emeritus at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. He is also an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he has taught from 1961 to the present. Goldhaber was the first to accurately measure the mass of the neutron, and his later experiments provided key support for the Standard Model, the theory of fundamental particles and forces. Since his retirement, Goldhaber has continued the study of neutrinos, most recently as part of the international collaboration of scientists who, in 1998 at the Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan, found evidence that neutrinos have mass.

Phelps, 59, is chairman of the Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he is also a professor of biomathematics in addition to his other administrative positions. He contributed to the invention and use of the medical imaging technique known as PET. He specifically contributed to PET's use in research and patient care in neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer, and also established and directed the first PET clinic for patient care.

AIP Launches Online Heisenberg Exhibit

A new online exhibit devoted to Werner Heisenberg traces the birth of quantum mechanics, the wartime effort to build a German atom bomb, and other episodes from a remarkable life. Prepared by leading Heisenberg biographer David Cassidy, the exhibit is now available on the website of the Center for History of Physics (www.aip.org/history/heisenberg), the premier clearinghouse of physics-related archived papers, photos, and 3000 hours' worth of taped interviews. Located at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland, the Center possesses several valuable collections of papers and provides support to other institutions in their efforts to archive the papers of important physicists. In addition to the Heisenberg site, the Center website is also home to two other widely popular exhibits, one devoted to Albert Einstein and one to J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron. Soon an exhibit devoted to Andrei Sakharov will also be available.

National Science and Technology Week To Be Held in April

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will sponsor National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) April 25 - May 1, focusing on the general theme "Find Out Why," to encourage the curiosity that spurs science, mathematics and technology. Another focus will be on "The Science of Everything." Established in 1985 to increase general public awareness of the importance of science and technology, NSTW has since been expanded to include observance on national, regional and local levels.

Several sites in the NSTW Regional Network will be distributing Teaching Activities packets this month, containing innovative, hands-on science, mathematics and technology learning activities for students in elementary and middle school grade levels. Information on NSTW '99, as well as updates on scheduled plans and events, can be obtained by contacting NSTW, NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, Room 1245, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230; phone: 1-800-682-2716; email: nstw@nsf.gov. This information is also available on the official NSTW Web sites: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nstw/start.html, or http://www.nsf.gov/findoutwhy.