With a means of measuring a sample's natural resonance frequencies
and a desktop computer, one can use resonant ultrasound spectroscopy
to determine the elastic constants of a broad range of crystalline
and noncrystalline materials -- Julian Maynard
Link to animations and graphics of vibrating elastic solids.
Big science took root in America long before World War II, as machines, money, personnel and leadership made astronomy the biggest of the sciences in the age of little science -- John Lankford and Ricky L. Slavings
We must avail ourselves of the extraordinary new possibilities offered
by the Internet, but without compromising the high standards of the
refereed research journals. The Astronomical Society's experience
with electronic publishing offers some guidance -- Peter B.
Boyce and Heather Dalterio
On-line version of this article.
Geodynamo turns toward a stable magnetic field. Supercomputer simulation shows that fluid motions in Earth's core could sustain the geomagnetic field. Geophysicists are excited---and also a little relieved; such a "geodynamo" has been the only plausible explanation for geomagnetism for more than 40 years.
Experiments probe the wavefunction of electron pairs in high-Tc superconductors. As results from
phase-sensitive experiments accumulate, the nature of the wavefunction in high-temperature superconductors is
closer to being settled, but the pieces do not yet all fit.
Link to High-Tc Update.
Experimenters cool helium below single-photon recoil limit in three dimensions. A helium atom moving in six directions at once can be regarded as a six-legged Schrödinger cat.
Oak Ridge builds facility for radioactive ion beams. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has recently completed the construction of a radioactive ion beam facility to create nuclei at the limits of stability.
Budget battles leave wounds on R&D that are likely to fester for years
Senator Bennett Johnston talks about physicists in politics
Grants support R&D collaborations between US and Former Soviet Union
Link to: US Civilian Research and Development Foundation.
Link to: NRC's Office for Central Europe and Eurasia.
Modest gains reported in latest AIP salary survey
Sessler will lead APS in 1998
1996 vice president of AAPT is O'Kuma
Challenge to scholarly surveys again rejected
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, R. Rhodes (reviewed by G. Gorelik and by B. J. Bernstein)
Nazi Science: Myth, Truth and the German Atomic Bomb,
M. Walker;
Scientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons: From Fission
to the Limited Test Ban Treaty 1939--1963, L. Badash (reviewed
by D. Cassidy)
The Same and Not the Same, R. Hoffmann (reviewed by F. J. Dyson)
The Picture Book of Quantum Mechanics, S. Brandt and H. D. Dahmen (reviewed by R. S. Berry)
A Short History of the Universe, J. Silk (reviewed by L. Krauss)
At the Fringes of Science, M. W. Friedlander (reviewed by H. W. Lewis)
Solid State Electrochemistry, edited by P. G. Bruce (reviewed by M. S. Whittingham)
Atoms, Radiation and Radiation Protection, J. E. Turner (reviewed by C. A. Kelsey)
Abell's Exploration of the Universe, D. Morrison, S. Wolff and
A. Fraknoi;
Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe, J. M. Pasachoff (reviewed by L. S. Pinsky)
Our regular sections: Physics Update, Letters, New Products, We Hear That, and Information Exchange.
Links cited in letters:
ELF-EMF references, D. Hafemeister
Electric and Magnetic Interactions, R. W. Chabay and B. A. Sherwood
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