Friday, June 29, 2007

1. 1984: WHAT'S NEW WAS BORN ON THIS DAY, 23 YEARS AGO.

WN was in Orwellian peril from the start. My wife asked how long I planned to keep writing this thing. "Not long," I said, "if I tell it like I see it, they'll end it in a year." After I became director of the new Washington Office, the APS Council asked me to make my weekly report public - but not advertise it. Some wanted Big Brother to approve each issue before it went out. If so, someone else would have to write it. Much later I agreed to add a disclaimer - not everyone liked that either. After more than 1,200 issues and growth from 112 subscribers to 15,617, APS finally ended WN. My department chair, however, asked that I continue writing WN, but with the University of Maryland as sponsor. He made it my principal teaching assignment.

2. MARS: EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR A TEST.

Radiation is a major obstacle to human trips to Mars. The ESA reminds us of a no less serious hazard: human nature. There were serious disputes between cosmonauts on Mir after months in close confinement. ESA is now seeking volunteers for a "simulated human trip to Mars." A crew of six aged 25-50, in good health with “high motivation” will be sealed for 17 months in an isolation tank here on Earth. In contact only by radio with a realistic delay, they will do stuff a real crew would do (Try to stay alive?), but without microgravity or radiation. Thousands applied. Tuesday, on Al Jazeera–English TV, I discussed a Mars mission with officials from ESA and the Royal Astronomical Society. Why use humans rather than robots? Humans would have faster reactions, they said. Reactions to what, I asked?

3. BOOKS: "OUT OF THE SHADOWS," 20TH CENTURY WOMEN IN PHYSICS.

Edited by Nina Byers and Gary Williams, this is an overdue tribute to a group of wonderful physicists. The review in the June Physics Today, however, was disappointing. The reviewer was not a physicist, but a biologist at a small college who happened to be a female, presumably chosen to get a feminist perspective. The physics speaks for itself. Physics Today should supplement this lightweight review with a feature article putting the physics in proper context.

4. 2007: WN LIVES, BUT THIS IS MY LAST DAY WITH THE APS.

I am truly grateful to the APS for allowing me to speak my mind, not just in WN, but to the media and in congressional testimony. In a university like Maryland it's expected, but it's unusual in Washington. For those who hope for a gentler WN, I refer you to H.L. Mencken's epitaph: "As he grew older, he grew worse."

Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.