February 2001 Volume 54, Number 2
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Cover: Periodic crystals can't exhibit fivefold symmetry, so this five-lobed diffraction pattern indicates that the sample under scrutiny is a quasicrystal. Unlike nearly all the stable quasicrystals discovered so far, this sample is made from just two elements: cadmium and ytterbium. To find out more about binary quasicrystals, turn to page 17.

  Articles

Articles from the Physics Today Archive
We are proud to present a collection of articles from our archives that are associated with this issue. Updated throughout the month.

Superfluid Helium Droplets: An Ultracold Nanolaboratory
The unique environment in liquid helium droplets opens up new opportunities for molecular spectroscopy and for probing superfluid phenomena on the atomic scale
-- J. Peter Toennies, Andrej F. Vilesov, and K. Birgitta Whaley

Physics for Profit and Fun
Developing products for industry can be intellectually challenging and financially rewarding, but it's not without its frustrations-- John F. Waymouth

Wolfgang Pauli
Max Born thought that Pauli was, perhaps, an even greater scientist than Einstein. "But he was a completely different type of man," wrote Born, "who, in my eyes, did not attain Einstein's greatness" -- Karl von Meyenn and Engelbert Schucking

A Remembrance of Pauli in 1950
-- Roy Glauber

  Departments

Physics Update

Reference Frame
What's wrong with these questions? -- N. David Mermin

Letters
Internet as Teacher: Is it a Virtual Improvement?
Causal Discussion of Superluminal Pulses
Origin of 21-Micron Emission Feature Is a Mystery
Does Religion Prize Mislead Scientists?
Szilard Endorsed Nuclear Medicine by Example

Search and Discovery
Binary Quasicrystals Discovered That Are Stable and Icosahedral
Hydrodynamics May Explain Like-Charge Colloidal Attraction
New Printing Technologies Raise Hopes for Cheap Plastic Electronics

Issues and Events
California Seeds Science Institutes with $300 Million
Some Physicists Urge Changes in DOE Science
ESA Taps Southwood as Science Chief, Sets Missions
Seestrom Is First Woman to Lead Los Alamos Physics
CERN Energetically Probes the Arts
News Notes
Web Watch

A Busy March Meeting Is Brewing in Seattle

Books
India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation
Quantum Phase Transitions
Laser Cooling and Trapping
Reduced Density Matrices: Coulson's Challenge
Rutherford: Scientist Supreme
Henry Norris Russell: Dean of American Astronomers
New Books

New Products
Focus on magnetics

We Hear That
Scientists, Technical Innovators Win Medals of Science and Technology
Dresselhaus to be Honored by AIP
APS Presents Awards at March Meeting
Morris Is OSA Vice President
In Brief

Obituaries
John Paul Blewett
Toyoichi Tanaka
Leon Madansky
Virgilio Beltrán-López

Job Opportunities