What's New Friday June 29, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 29 Jun 07   Washington, DC

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."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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