Physics Today: January 1996

January 1996 Physics Today Contents


Articles:

Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy

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.

The Industrialization of American Astronomy, 1880--1940

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

Electronic Publishing of Scientific Journals

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.


Departments

Search and Discovery

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.

Washington Reports

Budget battles leave wounds on R&D that are likely to fester for years

Senator Bennett Johnston talks about physicists in politics

Physics Community

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

Books

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)

Plus...

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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