August 11, 1956

Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

Members Present: Frederick Seitz, Chairman; A. V. Astin; S. A. Goudsmit; H. S. Knowles; E. Rodgers; R. A. Sawyer; M. W. Zemansky

AIP Staff Present: H. A. Barton, W. Waterfall, E. H. Kone, M. M. Johnson

Guest: W. C. Michels

The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

1. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of May 12, 1956, were approved as circulated with the following correction:

Page 3 of list of AIP Committees and Appointed Representatives 1956, appended to minutes: Change “NRC-AIP Textbook Committee” to read, “NSTA-AAPT-AIP Textbook Committee.”

2. Financial Report – First Six Months 1956

The Secretary distributed copies of the financial report for the first six months (copy attached). The Secretary recalled that the report for the first quarter had been unusually favorable and said that, on the basis of current operations, we may end the year with a net income close to $20,000.00.

Subscription income from each of the Institute journals is now above budget. Income from publication charges and back number sales is in line with expectations. Net income from advertising continues to grow and almost wholly accounts for our present unexpectedly favorable condition. The greater part of this increase is in “Physics Today” advertising. If net income from advertising is credited to the magazine, PT actually made a profit for the first six months of this year. There is a possibility that PT may end the year costing the Institute practically nothing.

Since the financial position of PT appears so favorable, the Chairman suggested this might be a good time to consider ways of increasing the attractiveness of the journal to Institute members. He suggested that many after-dinner speeches given at Society meetings were very worthwhile and might be printed in PT. The Secretary explained that another young lady had recently been added to the PT staff for the purpose of freeing Mr. Davis from routine supervisory activities so he would have more time for writing and seeking desirable material.

Although RSI advertising and subscription income have picked up since the first quarter report, the number of text pages is still running far below budget. Only 394 pages were used during the first six months out of an annual budget of 1,400 pages. From information now available there seems little probability that the budgeted number of pages will be used during the year and therefore the projection to the end of the year has been based on 1,200 pages.

The Secretary said that the staff had been studying our probable cash position from now until June of next year because of the heavy expenditures which will be necessary in connection with remodeling the new building. Large payments will have to be made on the purchase and remodeling of the new building before substantial funds are received from the sale of the old building and from our fund raising drive. It had been expected that we might have to borrow money for a short period but indications now are that that will probably not be necessary. In fact, there is now considerably more cash than necessary in our commercial account and it will increase toward the end of the year. The Secretary said that, unless there were objections, the Treasurer planned to place approximately $150,000 from our commercial account into short-term U.S. Government Treasury Bills. This would bring the Institute some income and the money would still be available on short notice if needed. The Committee voiced no objection and it was the consensus that such conservative disposition of our surplus funds should be made by the Treasurer whenever, in his opinion, it is advisable.

3. Progress on New Building

The Secretary produced a set of floor plans for the new building which had been developed after much discussion with the architect and our various department heads. A contract for the new elevator is to be signed as soon as details are worked out. Preliminary plans are to be filed with the New York City Building Department in a few days. Insurance advisors have been called in to work with our architect to insure the lower possible rates. An application has been made to New York City Steam Company for a line and we hope to get it, otherwise another boiler will have to be added to the heating system. A general contractor will be selected within the next month and we propose to have him work on a cost plus a fixed fee basis. This will permit us to shop among our friends for the best deals we can get on partitions, flooring, acoustical tile, and lighting fixtures. In response to a question, the Secretary said that preliminary estimates had indicated that the cost of remodeling would probably run between $200,000 and $250,000.00. We expect to get a closer estimate as soon as a general contractor has been selected.

The Secretary reported we had already received several indications that we could sell the new property at a profit if we should want to. The Friars Club, who bought our present building, have indicated that they would probably like to purchase some of our Oriental rugs.

The Chairman pointed out the desirability of acquiring the forty-foot vacant lot to the east of the new property and asked if any further information had been obtained about it. The Secretary said the last he had heard was that the property was for sale and could probably be bought for about $150,000.00. The area is developing rapidly and a lot 96’ by 100’ should be extremely valuable in the not too distant future. It was the consensus of the Committee that the staff should look further into the possibility of acquiring or obtaining some sort of option on the adjacent property.

A question was asked about the building plans of the Engineers and the Director stated that their plans were not yet settled and might not be for a couple of years. We understand they have decided to stay in Manhattan.

4. Fund Raising Campaign

  1. Progress on Organizing Campaign

    The Director reviewed what had been done since the last meeting of the Executive Committee and exhibited the letter explaining our plans which had been mailed to all Governing Board members and officers of Member Societies on August 6, 1956. After much discussion, a preliminary story on the fund raising campaign had been prepared and it was presented on June 13 to a number of leading industrial research directors who had been invited to meet with the staff and give their own comments on the effectiveness of the presentation. As a result of their comments and further study, a number of changes were made and two brochures are now being prepared, one to be used in soliciting funds from industry and the other to be used in presenting the story to individual Institute members. The brochures will indicate that the Institute is seeking $500,000 to be used for the following purposes:

    Expanded publishing program $200,000
    Vocational guidance and improvement of physics teaching 50,000
    New Institute headquarters 250,000
    Total $500,000

    The brochure will show that our goal is to collect $350,000 from industry and $150,000 from individual physicists. Letters to accompany the brochures are being prepared and it is expected that the initial mailing to industry will go out late in September. The mailing to individual physicists should go out soon thereafter. It is realized that these mailings will have to be followed by personal appeals and an organization to handle this follow-up must be perfected. Messrs. Mervin Kelly, Guy Suits, and Paul Foote have agreed to make personal appeals to the larger companies. An AIP Development Fund Committee, which will be the formally organized body to handle the campaign, is being formed and should be ready to go into action about October 1.

    Then followed many questions by Committee members and a general discussion of the proposed brochures, the methods to be employed in solicitation, and the other details of the campaign. Mr. Kone presented some preliminary page proofs of the industry brochure and these were discussed at some length. The Director said that Mr. Paul Klopsteg had agreed to head the Development Fund Committee and he would report on the details of that later. Many comments and suggestions were made by Committee members and these were noted by the staff.

  2. Proposed Publication Program

    The Director said that the $200,000 item for this purpose had been included in our fund raising campaign after much study. There have been several demands that the Institute start new journals to help take care of the increasing volume of important research papers which are being presented for publication. This item in our development fund campaign had appealed to the industrial research directors and we had increased the item to $200,000 from a lesser figure at their suggestion. It is difficult to state exactly how the Institute would use the money because we do not yet know. Our calculations indicate that it could be used to start and put on a self-sustaining basis a total of approximately 5,000 pages annually in addition to what we now publish for the Institute and Member Societies. These pages could be in new journals of in expanded versions of existing journals. The Director said that our experience, especially with “The Journal of Chemical Physics”, had given us a good basis for estimating and he illustrated his cost calculations on the blackboard.

    The Committee then discussed at some length what should be the publishing program of the Institute and how it should tie in with the programs of the Member Societies. It was questioned whether funds collected should be used for new journals or for the expansion of existing ones. It was also questioned what attitude the Institute should take toward the efforts of commercial publishers to start new journals in the field of physics. It was the consensus that a thorough study of the long-range publication plans of the Institute should be made and that such a study must take into consideration the investigation being made by a similar committee appointed by the American Physical Society and publication plans of other Member Societies. The Secretary pointed out that the appointment of such a committee had been authorized at the previous Executive Committee meeting and the Chairman agreed to appoint such a committee as soon as possible.

  3. Appointment of Development Fund Committee

    The Director explained the need for the formal appointment of a Development Fund Committee. He explained that Mr. Paul Klopsteg had agreed to be Chairman of the committee and that his job would involve a great deal of work during the next year. Mr. Klopsteg would be retained by the Institute on a consulting basis at $1,000 per month for approximately half his time. He would be expected to assist in the preparation of letters of solicitation and he would handle most of the correspondence with prospective donors. He would be responsible for organizing local groups who would personally contact perspective donors.

    The director explained that the rest of the Development Fund Committee should be made up of prominent physicists and industrialists and they should be chosen mainly for the value of their names on the letterhead which would be prepared for the Committee’s use. A large number of names have been suggested and letters will be written to obtain their moral support and permission to user their names.

    The Development Fund Committee will require some office space and staff. For the convenience of Mr. Klopsteg, this may be set up near his home in Evanston, Illinois, but the details of that are still to be worked out. The over-all cost of the campaign cannot yet be estimated but it will probably approximate $30,000.00. Such a cost is believed to be reasonable considering the total sum to be raised.

    After further discussion by the Committee the following motions were made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

    MOVED that the Chairman be authorized to appoint a Development Fund Committee as hereinbefore described.

    MOVED that the Chairman be authorized to appropriate such funds as are deemed necessary for the employment of the Chairman of the Development Fund Committee, the operation of his office, and the preparation and distribution of brochures and letters.

  4. Proposed Meeting in Oklahoma in the Fall of 1957

    The Director reported that the Frontiers of Science Foundation of Oklahoma was planning a large celebration in 1957 to commemorate fifty years of Oklahoma statehood and an influential member of the committee in charge had approached Messrs. Mervin Kelly and Alan Waterman for assistance in planning some kind of symposium which would bring internationally prominent scientists to Oklahoma in the fall of 1957. The Oklahoma group evidently has ample financial backing and is willing to pay all traveling and other expenses involved in organizing such a symposium and, at Mr. Kelly’s suggestion, has promised to contribute $10,000 to the AIP Development Fund if the Institute will sponsor the symposium.

    Then followed some discussion by Committee members, after which the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

    MOVED that the Institute accept the invitation to sponsor a scientific symposium in Oklahoma in the fall of 1957 and that the Chairman be authorized to appoint such committees as are necessary to prepare the program and to make all necessary arrangements, with the understanding that all costs of the undertaking are to be borne by others.

5. Society of Exploration Geophysicists

The Director reviewed the situation to date, stating that the admission of SEG as a Member Society in the Institute had been formally approved by the Optical society, the Acoustical Society and the Society of Rheology. As reported at the May meeting, the American Physical Society has postponed action and appointed a committee to study the subject and submit a recommendation to the Council.  The Executive Committee of AAPT has considered the subject and is reported to be favorably disposed toward SEG but final action will not be taken until their Council meets and their officers are to consult with officers of the Physical Society in the meantime.

The Chairman explained that there are those in APS who doubt the wisdom of admitting SEG into Institute membership with our present Bylaw provisions covering representation of Member Societies on the Institute’s Governing Board. The Chairman said he proposed to discuss the matter personally with APS officers and others.

At the May meeting of the Committee the staff was instructed to study the present Bylaw formula for Member Society representation on the Board and present suggested changes. The Director said this had been done and he presented the following as a possible formula:

Up to 500 members inclusive 1 director
501 to 1000 members inclusive 2 directors
1001 to 2000 members inclusive 3 directors
2001 to 4000 members inclusive 4 directors
4001 to 8000 members inclusive 5 directors
8001 to 16000 members inclusive 6 directors

The Committee discussed the proposal and also whether action should be taken at the present time to recommend such a change to the Board. It was pointed out that the Executive Committee could take action at its October meeting and Board members could be advised of such action well in advance of the next Governing Board meeting. In view of this fact, it was the consensus that the Executive Committee should postpone action and see what may develop in the meantime.

It was pointed out that SEG will be holding their annual meeting in New Orleans from October 29 to November 1 and that all members of the AIP Governing Board as well as the officers of Member Societies had received invitations to attend the meeting as guests. The Secretary also reported that the Institute had been invited to set up a booth to display Institute journals and that the Institute had accepted. Chairman Seitz had also been invited to address the meeting to tell about the purposes and activities of the Institute. The Secretary also reported that Mr. Norman Ricker, Editor of the SEG journal, had been in the office on the previous day for conversations with chairman Seitz and the staff and that Mr. Ricker had been told of the current situation regarding SEG membership and he understood that there was little possibility of any final action on the SEG application before the New Orleans meeting.

6. Russian Translation Program

The Secretary reported that, as previously authorized, the Institute had requested and had received from the National Science Foundation a grant of $76,500 to start translation of three more Soviet journals. The largest of these is the “Journal of Technical Physics” which is supposed to have about 4,000 Russian pages in 1956. The others are the Physics Section of “Doklady”, containing approximately 900 pages, and the “Journal of Acoustics” with approximately 500 pages. The NSF has requested that we publish English translations of the 1955 issues of the Acoustics journal as well as the 1956 issues.

Arrangements have been made with consultants bureau, Inc., to handle translation and printing of all three journals. Work has already been started and the first issues are expected to be ready for distribution about September 1. Announcements of our expanded translation program have been prepared and mailed to a large number of potential subscribers. This was done so recently that we do not yet have many subscriptions. The new translation journals will be of different format and not so attractively printed as “Soviet Physics – JETP” but we believe they will be acceptable. Our Advisory Board on Russian Translations is being requested to keep watch over the quality of translation provided by Consultants Bureau.

Mr. Sawyer said that he understood a new Soviet Journal of optics was to be published about the first of next year. There was some discussion of AIP undertaking the translation of other Soviet journals and the Secretary reported that all such matters were being referred to our Advisory Board on Russian Translations.  He said that Mr. Ricker of SEG had suggested that we translate a new Soviet journal of geophysics and had indicated that the oil companies might be willing to subsidize such a venture. It was pointed out that others, including Pergamon Press, are either now publishing or considering publishing English translations of various Soviet journals and that the whole situation is in a state of flux.

The Secretary also reported that NSF had granted the Institute $28,500 to continue with the publication of “Soviet Physics – JETP” for another year.

7. Report of Management Survey by A. T. Kearney and Company

The Secretary said that A. T. Kearney and Company’s formal report had been received on June 25, 1956, and that they had also submitted a number of copies of a summary report. Copies of the summary report had been sent to all members of the Governing Board and to officers of Member Societies along with a covering letter indicating that the Institute staff was studying the report carefully with the intention of putting the major recommendations into effect as soon as possible. The Secretary said that further assistance may be sought of the Kearney organization as the suggested changes are being made.

Most of the changes suggested by the Kearney report had to do with operations in the Circulation Department. Miss Neftel, formerly head of that Department, resigned during July and has been replaced by Mrs. Alice Mastropietro who comes to the Institute with considerable circulation experience.

The Secretary also said that Kearney’s help had been requested in locating a suitable man to take over management of the office and that several likely candidates had been interviewed. No one had been hired yet and several suggestions would be appreciated. We plan to offer a starting salary between $8,000 and $10,000.00. Then followed some discussion of the qualifications a man should have for this job and the comments made were noted by the staff.

At 12:25 p.m. the meeting adjourned for luncheon and reconvened at 1:50 p.m.

8. “Journal of Chemical Physics”

  1. Increase in Subscription Prices

    The Secretary recalled that at the Executive Committee meeting of May 12. 1956, the domestic non-member subscription price had been increased from $15 to $18 per year but no action had been taken with respect to foreign and member prices. He recommended that all subscription prices be raised $3.00 per year and the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

    MOVED that the subscription prices of “The Journal of Chemical Physics” be increased $3.00 per year for all types of subscriptions.

    Mr. Goudsmit asked what was being done about the Kearney recommendation that some action be taken to simplify the complicated subscription rate structure on various Institute journal and the Secretary replied that the problem is being studied by the staff and we expect to have recommendations to present soon.

  2. Proposal of APS Division of Chemical Physics to Solicit Funds to Publish JCP Backlog

    The Director said that the Division of Chemical Physics of APS had suggested that it might solicit funds on a continuing basis from chemical companies and others to help finance additional pages in JCP. The Physical Society Council recently granted the Division permission to solicit such funds in the name of the Society and the Division has now formally addressed the Governing Board of the Institute requesting official approval of this solicitation. The Secretary said he had replied to the letter promising to bring it to the attention of the Executive Committee and also pointing out that the recently authorized increase in subscription prices and favorable experience in collection of publication charges should make it possible to increase the JCP page budget by about 500 pages in 1957 without additional funds. No word had been heard from the Division since that letter.

    Committee members then discussed the JCP situation and the possibility of conflict between the Division’s drive for JCP funds and the Institute’s Development Fund campaign. Mr. Sawyer said he understood the Division felt that the Institute should raise whatever additional funds are necessary for JCP. Mr. Astin suggested that the Division might request funds from chemical industries to be contributed to the AIP Development Fund and earmarked for support of JCP. The Chairman said he believed the subject should be discussed with the JCP editor and officers of the Division and he would make it a point to do so. In the meantime, it was the consensus that, because of the favorable financial showing which JCP is making this year, the editor’s page budget should be increased from 2,600 to 2,700 pages for 1956.

9. AIP Pension Plan

The Secretary recalled the discussion which had taken place on this subject at the March meeting of the Executive Committee and said that the staff committee which had been working on ways of improving the pension plan had come up with some ideas which were attractive to the staff and apparently in line with the thinking at the March meeting. Details of the new plan must still be worked out.

The Institute’s present pension plan is an insurance plan covered by a large number of endowment insurance policies for various staff members, a new policy being written for each salary increase. Each staff member on the plan has a relatively large amount of life insurance but the pension benefits at retirement age are relatively small. The large amount of life insurance is not particularly attractive to the younger staff members. Although this insurance-type of pension plan was generally in vogue ten years ago, many organizations are now replacing such plans with “trusteed plans” where the pension funds are managed by a bank and invested in diversified securities. A group life insurance policy is carried to provide death benefits before retirement. The result of adopting this new type of pension plan would be that Institute employees would have less life insurance protection but considerably greater retirement income, at a reasonable increase in cost to the Institute. The amount of retirement income would not be fixed, as at present, but would have a chance of moving with the economy in line with conservative investments.

The Institute’s present pension plan cost(s) the Institute approximately $10,400 in 1955. The proposed new “trusteed plan”, including group insurance, would have cost the Institute approximately $13,800 in 1955. The cost of the proposed new plan to the Institute is believed to be in line with the statement of the Chairman at the March meeting.

The Secretary said that the new plan should be put into effect on December 1 when premiums are due on our present life insurance policies. All of the present policies should be cashed at that time and the funds turned over to the bank which will act as trustee. In the meantime, much negotiating must be done and documents must be prepared by the bank and our attorney. The staff is working with Bankers Trust Company on the new plan and they have suggested that a pension administrative committee be set up with authority to handle the conversion and to continue as the administrative group under the new plan. The Secretary said that the staff had given careful consideration to the membership of the Pension Administrative Committee and recommended the following:

  • M. W. Zemansky, Chairman
  • B. S. McCutchen
  • T. Vorburger
  • K. Setze
  • W. Waterfall, Secretary

Then followed a number of questions from Executive Committee members. At the conclusion of the discussion the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

 

MOVED that the suggested Pension Administrative Committee be appointed and authorized to proceed with the development of the proposed new pension plan as outlined at this meeting with the understanding that the fully developed plan will be acted on by the Executive Committee at its October meeting.

The Secretary said an effort would be made to have the documents prepared and distributed so they can be studied by Executive Committee members before the October meeting.

10. Report of June 7 and August 8-9 Conferences on Physics Teaching

The Director recalled the action taken at the last Governing Board meeting urging that some program be adopted by the Institute to stimulate better teaching of physics in secondary schools. The subject was again considered at the May meeting of the Executive Committee and it was reported that a meeting was to be held in June. The Director said that the meeting was held on June 7 and was attended by representatives of AAPT and the Institute and by Mr. Harry Kelly of the National Science Foundation. The group surveyed activities, projects, committee progress and the like to try to find ways of expediting the work of the over-all physics organization on the improvement of teaching of physics at all levels, on the improvement of facilities and auspices for such teaching, on vocational guidance and on informing the public about the true aims and character of physicists. The conference agreed on the following recommendations:

  1. “Visiting Scientists” Program

    AAPT has planned a program whereby competent physicists would visit smaller institutions off the beaten path, give lectures, and hold conferences with the staff with the hope of inspiring better teaching and greater interest in physics. The program would cost $30,000 to $40,000 and it was proposed that AIP and AAPT jointly request a grant of this amount from the National Science Foundation.

  2. NSF has been sponsoring summer institutes for the improvement of secondary school teachers and plans to expand this program substantially during the next few years. NSF would like to have the results of this program to date evaluated by the Institute. It was recommended that a plan be prepared for such evaluation and that the Institute be urged to undertake it.

  3. Staff Man

    To initiate and follow the many proposed activities for the improvement of physics teaching and vocational guidance, a competent man should be added to the Institute staff. Funds will apparently be forthcoming to support him once the man is employed. The Institute was urged to find and employ such a man immediately.

Following the June 7 meeting, the Director said he and Mr. Michels had talked with Mr. Eurich of the (Ford) Fund for the Advancement of Education and Mr. Eurich had suggested a larger conference on the same general subjects to be sponsored by the Ford Fund. Such a conference was planned and held in New York City on August 8 and 9 and was attended by representatives of the National Science Teachers Association, National Academy of Sciences, Fund for the Advancement of Education, and AAPT, as well as industry, various high schools and universities, and AIP. The Director asked Mr. Michels to report on the results of the conference and he did so by reading one of the resolutions passed (Exhibit A attached). Mr. Michels emphasized the need for one or more competent persons on the Institute staff to handle such activity. He estimated this might cost about $30,000 per year and he felt there would be no difficulty in getting sufficient funds from foundations and the Government to maintain the activity if the Institute took the first step and set up the proper staff.

Mr. Michels reported that the conference brought out another problem of high school teachers who, in order to gain salary advance, must take summer courses for graduate credit but are not prepared for graduate work in physics. Some universities are offering special courses in physics of an undergraduate level which can be accepted toward a graduate degree in education. Many educational institutions are reluctant to do this and it would help if the Institute would indicate the respectability of such practice by putting its stamp of approval on it. Mr. Michels’ comments were followed by some discussion in which it was pointed out that both the physics and education departments of a school are necessarily involved in any such arrangement and separate negotiations would be required on each campus to attain the desired results. Following the discussion the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

MOVED that the Director be authorized to distribute information to the deans of graduate schools and heads of physics departments urging them to offer courses in physics for graduate degrees in education, the prerequisites for the courses to be such that high school teachers of physics can enroll in them.

Then followed discussion of the proposal that the Institute immediately employ a competent man and set up a staff for the general purposes indicated. The difficulty of finding a suitable man was emphasized and Mr. Michels reported that he had received refusals from five prospects he had contacted as a result of suggestions made at the conferences. At the conclusion of the discussion the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

MOVED that the Director be authorized to employ a competent man for a period of one year for the purposes indicated in the foregoing discussion with the understanding that his salary, traveling expenses, and secretarial help will not exceed $20,000 for the year, and with the further understanding that projects to be initiated as part of the program will be financed by others and that funds may be obtained from such projects to cover most of the cost of this addition to the Institute staff.

The Director further reported that Mr. Michels and others had met at the Institute on August 10 to prepare a plan for evaluating the NSF summer institutes as suggested by Mr. Kelly of NSF. The plan prepared would involve the employment of two college physics teachers for a period of approximately six months during which they would visit institutions where the summer institutes had been held and also the teachers who had attended those institutes. Questions would be asked about the effectiveness of the institutes and how they could be improved. The two investigators would report to an advisory committee of six physicists which had already been formed and the advisory committee would prepare and submit its report to NSF. An estimate had been prepared indicating that the total cost would be approximately $35,000.00.

After brief discussion the following motion was made, seconded and carried without dissenting vote:

MOVED that the Institute submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation for a grant of approximately $35,000 to be used for the purpose of evaluating the NSF Teacher Improvement Program.

11. Confirmation of Mail Ballot Authorizing application to NSF for Grant to Support Visiting Lecturer Program

The Director explained that, in line with the discussion in the preceding item, Mr. Walter Michels and others of AAPT had prepared plans for the Visiting Lecturer Program. The Director said that, by letter of July 3, 1956, to all members of the Executive Committee, he had requested permission for the Institute to submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation for a grant of $30,000 to $40,000.00. Unanimous approval had been received and the Director asked the Committee to confirm the mail ballot. By motion passed without dissenting vote, the mail ballot was confirmed. (Copy attached.)

The Director reported that the application for a grant of $39,500 had been prepared and submitted to the National Science Foundation and action was expected on it soon.

12. Membership in the American Council on Education

The Director reported that AAPT had pointed out the desirability of having organized physics formally represented in the American Council on Education. The appropriate way to do this would be for AAPT to become a member of the Council but they felt unable to pay the $200 annual dues and had suggested that AIP pay half of the dues. The Director pointed out that most of our Member Societies belong to various organizations in which they pay dues and it would be a dangerous precedent for the Institute to pay all or a part of a Member Society’s dues in any organization. Because of the increasing interest the Institute and all Member Societies are taking in problems of education, the Director said he thought it would be appropriate for the Institute to become a member of the American Council on Education and the Institute would logically turn to AAPT to recommend representatives. He understood that such an arrangement would be satisfactory to AAPT.

After brief discussion the following motion was made, seconded and passed without dissenting vote:

MOVED that the American Institute of Physics apply for membership in the American Council on Education, with the understanding that annual dues are $200 and that AAPT will be asked to name the appropriate delegates.

13. Election of New Associates

The Secretary reported that the following organizations have requested to become Associates of the Institute and, on motion, seconded and unanimously carried, they were elected:

  • Shockley Semiconductor Lab., Beckman Instruments, Inc.
  • Pergamon Press, Inc.
  • McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

14. Appointment of Committees

 

  1. Advisory Board – “Physics Today”

    The Secretary pointed out the minutes of previous meetings left some doubt about the composition of this Board. Each Member Society has been asked to designate a member of the Board and this has been done. After brief discussion it was agreed that the representatives designated by Member Societies should constitute the entire Board for the time being.

  2. Committee to Study Publishing Problems in Physics

    Following the discussion recorded in Item 4b of these minutes, the Chairman proceeded to appoint a Committee. In doing so he said he hoped the APS Committee, which had been appointed for a similar purpose, would have met by January and submitted a report which could be used by the AIP Committee in formulating its conclusions. The Chairman then proceeded to appoint the following Committee:

    • E. U. Condon, Chairman
    • F. V. Hunt
    • K. G. McKay
    • J. E. Mayer
    • F. N. Frenkiel
    • E. H. Land (alternate – W. S. Baird)

  3. Appointment of Delegate to AAAS Conference on Mathematics Instruction

    The Secretary read a letter from AAAS requesting that the Institute designate a representative to attend a two-day conference in Washington on October 1 and 2 to study the widespread concern about the teaching of mathematics at all levels of the educational system. The letter indicated that all expenses of the representative would be paid by AAAS. After brief discussion it was the consensus that the Institute should appoint a delegate and several names were mentioned. The staff was authorized to ascertain their availability and to notify AAAS of the representative selected.

15. Comments on 1955 Report of the Editor of JOSA

The Director said that, at the last meeting of the Board of the Optical Society, the Editor had presented a report indicating concern about various Institute charges and activities. Not having been advised of the Editor’s intentions, the Director said he did not have statistics with him at the time with which he could answer the Editor’s questions and statements. The Director said he had since prepared an answering statement and he distributed it to the members of the Committee for examination and asked whether it would be appropriate to send copies to the directors of the Optical Society. Mr. Sawyer suggested that certain modifications be made and that it then be distributed as planned. The Executive Committee concurred.

16. AIP Liability Under New York State Welfare Act

The Director recalled previous discussion of this subject and said that he had again discussed it with the Institute’s attorney. Section 10A of the law requires that organizations which raise funds for charitable purposes must register and also must obtain written consent from all persons whose names are used in any manner in connection with solicitation of funds. The act also requires submission of detailed financial statements. The Institute and many similar organizations have not registered. After some discussion by the Committee, it was the consensus that we should not register at the present time.

17. Next Meeting

In response to an invitation from Mr. Eric Rodgers, it was agreed that the next meeting of the Executive Committee should be held on Friday, October 26, 1956, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

18. Other Business

The Chairman reported that the Director, assuming that the fund raising campaign will have passed its peak by next summer, had requested a leave of absence of approximately three months without pay during the summer of 1957. It was moved, seconded and carried without dissenting vote that the Director be granted leave as requested.

The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.