History & Purpose

The Senior Physicists Group (originally the Mid Atlantic Senior Physicists Group) was established in 1997 at the American Physical Society. In the intervening decade, this informal group has grown to over 130 members. The SPG hosts an event almost every month; a talk on a physics-related scientific topic or a tour of a facility which focuses on a scientific oriented mission. Since 1997, the talks and the tours have ranged over a wide range of topics. As examples, they have included discussions on the origin of the moon, chaos theory, type II diabetes, various orbiting astronomical observatories, development of time standards, nanotechnology, quark physics, and cosmology. Sites visited have included the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, David Taylor Model Basin, Naval Research Laboratory, NIST, Naval Observatory, Applied Physics Lab of JHU, the Cryptology Museum, and the College Park Airport. The SPG's activities have also included a visit to the Escher exhibit at the National Gallery and group tickets for "Copenhagen" at the Kennedy center and for "Galileo" at the Circle Theater in Washington. For more information about the SPG contact Don Novotny at dnovotny2@verizon.net.

The APS has supported the SPG since its founding. It provides meeting rooms for the Planning Group as well as the talks. It also sends out notices of future events to APS members who are on the SPG mailing list. It also provides a site for the SPG web site (location). Any APS member can be added to the SPG mailing list by contacting Cortney Bougher in the APS Membership Department at membership@aps.org. This web site is intended to simplify the communication and eventually reduce the need to a much less efficient and less timely paper mail system.

Membership in the SPG is free and is open to anyone who is interested and who wants to join and participate. The Group ordinarily meets on the third Wednesday of the month (except August).

Past Chairs

  • Richard Strombotne
    1997 - 2019
  • Jack Gaffey
    2019 - 2022