Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics
Minutes of Meeting
Members Present: P. M. Morse – Chairman, R. T. Beyer, L. M. Branscomb, C. B. Duke, W. W. Havens, Jr., H. W. Koch, Sidney Millman, J. W. Quinn, A. A. Strassenburg
Nonvoting Participants: Bengt E. Bjarngard (AAPM), L. W. Fredrick (AAS)
Guest: William J. Lehrfeld of Webster and Chamberlain, AIP’s Tax Counsel, for Item No. 4 “Legal Issues”
AIP Staff: H. William Koch, Director; Sidney Millman, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; R. H. Marks, Associate Director for Publishing; Lewis Slack, Associate Director for General Activities; D. M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; M. M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary
Chairman Morse called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. and introduced Mr. Bjarngard who was attending an AIP Executive Committee meeting for the first time as a nonvoting participant.
1. Minutes
Upon motion made and passed without dissent, the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of 7 September 1978 were approved for distribution.
2. Election of Corporate Associates
Lasky reported on the application of three companies to become Corporate Associates of AIP; all were previous Corporate Associates. The following motion was passed without dissent:
MOVED that Sprague Electric Company, Celanese Research Company, and The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company be elected Corporate Associates of the AIP, effective as of 1979.
3. Confirmation of Telephone Ballot re Pre-SPIN Tape
Koch reported that he had conducted a telephone ballot and got approval from members of the AIP Executive Committee to make available to NASA Laboratory scientists, as an experiment, advanced copies of galley proof and/or manuscripts, through tape abstract searching, provided that the relevant editor and author approval be obtained for such transmittal. The following motion was made by Havens, seconded by Beyer, and passed without dissent:
MOVED that the telephone ballot conducted by Koch on 19 September 1978, authorizing AIP to make available advanced copies of galley proof and/or manuscripts, as described above, be confirmed.
4. Legal Issues
William J. Lehrfeld, the AIP Tax Counselor, discussed his draft of a brief he had prepared for transmittal to the IRS National Office related to the proposed revocation of AIP’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
5. One Hundredth Anniversary of Einstein’s Birth
Koch reported on AIP’s involvement in a project of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study commemorating the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.
6. Program Issues
Koch, Marks and Slack reported on two workshops conducted on 5 October and on 12 October relevant to long-range planning for the Institute’s activities.
The meeting was recessed for luncheon at 12:15 and reconvened at 1:50 p.m.
7. Appointment of Editors of RSI and JMP
Koch announced that, in line with the authorization given to him by the Governing Board to make two appointments to the editorship of AIP journals, he has appointed John R. Klauder of Bell Laboratories to be Editor of the Journal of Mathematical Physics and Thomas H. Braid of Argonne National Laboratories to be Editor of The Review of Scientific Instruments.
Upon motion made and passed without dissent, the following resolution for Morton Hamermesh was adopted:
The American Institute of Physics thanks Dr. Morton Hamermesh for his distinguished stewardship of the Journal of Mathematical Physics for eight years, and in particular wishes to express its appreciation for his support of the policy of having a clean cut separation of the responsibilities of the Editor for the scientific aspects of the publication from the responsibility of the Institute’s Publications Division for the editorial mechanics, composition and printing of the journal. His leadership has resulted in the publication of a journal of highest scientific standards that has prospered during the term of his editorship.
Upon motion made and passed without dissent, the following resolution for J. B. Horner Kuper was adopted:
The American Institute of Physics thanks Dr. J. B. Horner Kuper for his distinguished stewardship of The Review of Scientific Instruments for 25 years, the longest such service as editor of any AIP journal. Editors of AIP journals play a key role in the communication of scientific information resulting from physics research and development, and thus, serve not only the organizational interests of AIP and its membership, but also serve an important national role. Therefore, the AIP Executive Committee was gratified to note and strongly endorses the recent conclusion by an ad hoc editorial review committee on RSI “that the Editor and his Editorial Board deserve a commendation for a job well done.”
8. Copyright Clearance Center
Koch distributed copies of a letter from the Copyright Clearance Center requesting that payment to participating members of copyright fees collected for their respective journals from now until the end of 1979 be allowed to remain with the Copyright Clearance Center in order to provide needed funds to run the Center. By allowing this, the Center will be self-supporting. Currently, articles for which fees are being paid are of the order of 10,000 per month. They will require about 300,000 per month for the operation to be self-supporting and to provide for the appropriate payments to the participating organizations. The following motion was made by Strassenburg, seconded by Beyer, and passed, with Branscomb abstaining:
MOVED that AIP allow the Copyright Clearance Center to keep the part of the copyright fees it collects for AIP journal articles that would be reimbursed to AIP up to the end of 1979.
9. Report on Audit Committee Meeting of 4 November
Strassenburg, a member of the AIP Audit Committee, reported that his committee recommended the reappointment of Conroy, Smith & Company as AIP auditors for the 1978 audit. The committee is not recommending new auditors at this time because it is too late in the year and because AIP is still engaged in computerizing its fiscal services and, therefore, it would be disruptive at this time to have new auditors. The following motion was made by Strassenburg, seconded by Beyer, and passed:
MOVED that Conroy, Smith & Company be reappointed as AIP auditors for the 1978 audit.
10. AIP Style Manual
Koch proposed that AIP respond to a request by APS that the newly issued AIP Style Manual be reprinted in an issue of the APS Bulletin in order to give it the widest possible dissemination, even though this may detract from the sale of the 1,000 copies of this Style Manual already in our inventory. This offer will, of course, apply to any similar request from any other Member Society. The following motion was made by Duke and passed, with Branscomb and Havens abstaining:
MOVED that AIP be authorized to reprint the new Style Manual in the Bulletin of the APS.
11. 1979 Corporate Associates Meeting
Following a recommendation by Dorothy Lasky, who has visited the General Electric facilities at Schenectady, the next meeting of the AIP Corporate Associates was set for 27-28 September 1979, at the GE Research & Development Center.
12. Future Meetings
The next meeting of the Executive Committee was set for 14 December at Institute headquarters. It was also agreed to have a meeting of the Executive Committee on 22 February 1979.
13. Executive Session
The regular meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m. and the Executive Committee, acting as the Administrative Review Committee, met in executive session. A report of that session, including recommended salary increases for AIP officers, is attached to the official copy of these minutes.