| Features |
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Toward
a Synthesis of the Newtonian and Darwinian Worldviews |
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Physicists seek
simplicity in universal laws. Ecologists revel in complex interdependencies.
A sustainable future for our planet will probably require a
look at life from both sides -- John
Harte |
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Optical
Studies of Single Quantum Dots |
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Like atoms,
quantum dots can be probed and manipulated with light. Unlike
atoms, they can be customized -- Daniel
Gammon and Duncan G. Steel |
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Eugene
Wigner, Nuclear Engineer |
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Wigner led the
design of the Hanford nuclear reactors and founded a school
to teach reactor physics to people working in industry -- Alvin
M. Weinberg |
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| Web departments |
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Readings
from the Physics Today Archive |
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| Departments |
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Physics
Update |
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Letters |
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The
Intrinsic Value of Basic Research |
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Energy
Possibilities: Windows, Windmills, and Satellites |
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NSF
Graduate Research Fellowships: A Missed Opportunity |
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Looking
at Both Sides of Einstein's Gravitational Field Equation |
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Search & Discovery |
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Inhibition
in the Brain Plays a Key Role in Sound Localization |
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New experiments
demonstrate that processing interaural timing differences entails
more than just delay lines. |
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Do
Atomic Force Microscope Arrays Have the Write Stuff? |
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IBM researchers
have developed an array of 1024 cantilevers, called Millipede,
as a high-density alternative to magnetic recording. |
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A
Puzzling Increase in Earth's Oblateness |
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Geophysicists
and oceanographers are scrambling to explain why the slight
bulge around Earth's equator, which had been slowly shrinking
since 1979, abruptly reversed that trend four years ago. |
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Issues & Events |
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Deep-Sea
Km3 Neutrino Detector Gets Thumbs Up |
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To realize a
humongous underwater neutrino detector, scientists from the
various smaller deep-sea detectors should start laying the groundwork
for an international collaboration, says a panel of experts. |
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PCAST
Advises Bush to Boost S&T Role in New Homeland Security
Department |
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According to
the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology,
sophisticated technology will be an important tool in preventing
and responding to terrorist attacks, and the new homeland security
department must have a strong, centralized science and technology
office to meet the challenge. |
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Solar
and Space Physics Get a Detailed 10-Year Plan |
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A comprehensive
National Research Council study weaves a decade's worth of projects
together into a tapestry that could reveal the answers to some
of the most difficult questions in solar and space physics. |
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Gell-Mann
Meets Muster Mark, Honors Hamilton |
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In Dublin this
spring, Murray Gell-Mann got a privileged peek at some of Joyce's
original manuscripts. He will be back in Ireland this month
to deliver the Royal Irish Academy's inaugural Hamilton Lecture
at Trinity College Dublin. |
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Physics
Olympiad Held in Bali, US Stays Home |
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Welcoming students
from 70 countries, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri
kicked off the 33rd International Physics Olympiad in Nusa Dua,
Bali, in July, by saying that the event "can be a positive means
for increasing people's attention, understanding, and mastery
of basic science." |
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NAS
Finds No Flaws in Nuclear Treaty |
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The National
Academy of Sciences has issued a report concluding that the
"main technical concerns raised about the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). . . are all manageable." |
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Radiation
Assessment at Risk |
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For nearly half
a century, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects
of Atomic Radiation has been an influential resource on radiation
sources and their effects on human health and the environment.
But if its budget is not resuscitated, UNSCEAR's data compilation
and evaluation activities will grind to a halt. |
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Contour
Is Lost in Space |
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The $159 million
Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) spacecraft, which NASA launched
in June to rendezvous with three comets, apparently broke into
pieces in August. |
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Opinion |
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Who
Broke the Embargo? (It's the Wrong Question!) |
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Are embargoes
justified by some noble purpose, or are they simply imposed
by powerful journals for their competitive advantage? |
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Books |
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Risk-Benefit
Analysis, Richard Wilson and Edmund A. C. Crouch
(reviewed by John H. Gibbons) |
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A
Century of Physics, D. Allan Bromley (reviewed by
Benjamin Bederson) |
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Navier-Stokes
Equations and Turbulence, C. Foias, O. Manley, R.
Rosa, and R. Temam (reviewed by Meinhard E. Mayer) |
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Physical
Hydrodynamics, Etienne Guyon, Jean-Pierre Hulin,
Luc Petit, and Catalin D. Mitescu (reviewed by Meinhard E. Mayer) |
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Curve
Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game,
Jim Albert and Jay Bennett (reviewed by C. Alden Mead) |
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Isostasy
and Flexure of the Lithosphere, A. B. Watts (reviewed
by Norman H. Sleep) |
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New
books |
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New Products |
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We Hear That |
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Three
Cosmologists Share Dirac Medal |
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AAPM
Presents Annual Awards |
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AAPT
Bestows Awards in Boise |
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Frey
Voted President-Elect of AAPM |
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Busch-Vishniac
to Lead ASA |
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In
Brief |
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Obituaries |
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Nikolai
Gennadievich Basov |
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James
Thomas Cushing |
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Harry
George Drickamer |
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Raymond
Webster Hayward |
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Charles
Thornton Murphy |
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Frank
Joseph Padden Jr |
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William
Walkinshaw |
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Job
Opportunities |
