a national headquarters building for physics

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A National Headquarters Building for Physics Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 14, 442 (1943); doi: 10.1063/1.1715016 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1715016 View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/14/9?ver=pdfcov Published by the AIP Publishing Articles you may be interested in National Television of Chile—New headquarters building acoustic projects J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 2256 (2002); 10.1121/1.4778990 Final Report of the Physics Headquarters Building Fund Committee Rev. Sci. Instrum. 18, 585 (1947); 10.1063/1.1741007 Report of the Physics Headquarters Building Fund Committee Rev. Sci. Instrum. 16, 346 (1945); 10.1063/1.1770308 A National Headquarters for Physicists J. Appl. Phys. 14, 499 (1943); 10.1063/1.1714925 Building up high-energy physics at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Phys. Today ; 10.1063/PT.4.2498 [This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to ] IP: 193.0.65.67 On: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:11:54

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Page 1: A National Headquarters Building for Physics

A National Headquarters Building for Physics Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 14, 442 (1943); doi: 10.1063/1.1715016 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1715016 View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/14/9?ver=pdfcov Published by the AIP Publishing Articles you may be interested in National Television of Chile—New headquarters building acoustic projects J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 2256 (2002); 10.1121/1.4778990 Final Report of the Physics Headquarters Building Fund Committee Rev. Sci. Instrum. 18, 585 (1947); 10.1063/1.1741007 Report of the Physics Headquarters Building Fund Committee Rev. Sci. Instrum. 16, 346 (1945); 10.1063/1.1770308 A National Headquarters for Physicists J. Appl. Phys. 14, 499 (1943); 10.1063/1.1714925 Building up high-energy physics at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Phys. Today ; 10.1063/PT.4.2498

[This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions.

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Page 2: A National Headquarters Building for Physics

sentation of the industrial physicist and his work within his industry in such a way that the presentation would appeal to physicists as well as to scientists or engineers on the other side of the borderline, and possibly to company research executives who in this way may learn what physicists could contribute or are contributing to their industry. \Vell-organized symposia, properly announced throughout the scientific literature, will undoubtedly be the best medium to achieve these ends.

Failure to see or appreciate the industrial viewpoint is well illustrated by the assumption that "The natural way is to divide physics into subjects, as for instance acoustics, thermionics, line spectra, etc." This I agree is the natural way, from the standpoint of teaching physics and also from the standpoint of learning physics or cataloguing physics as in Science Abstracts. However, it is not the only natural way of dividing the subject from other stand­points, including the standpoint of using physics.

The person using physics to improve a material or a process must bring parts of all these fields to bear on his particular problem, and he likes to discuss his results and methods in a group whose interests and viewpoints do not all form an orthogonal system to his own. The need for this close linking of the different "natural" divisions of physics and their applications to specific problems is well illustrated in the field of metallurgy, where physics and chemistry and engineering are all tied together in one group.

More Time, Space and Activity for Physicists in Industry

Regarding the best solu­tion of this problem, I have no hard and fast convictions about what positive action

should be taken. I do feel that merely not rejecting any articles submitted by industrial physicists is not enough and that.holding symposia of invited papers is not enough. I think the solution will involve giving the industrial physicists more of a share in all of the activities of the Society (not only the meetings), and it will involve a recognition of the fact that pUblications by industrial physicists usually are the result of accumulating much data that cries out for publication rather than feeling that at least one publication a year is required for holding a job. One result of this is that ten minutes is not enough time for the presentation of any large amount of data, and they feel that it is not worthwhile to prepare such a paper. More flexibility in the time allowed for presenting research reports would help this situatIOn.

I feel that the problem Will not be solved until there are at least as many reports of physical research published in the Journal of Applied Physics, as there are published, for example, in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. It is the publication of The Journal of Chemical Physics and the Journal of Applied Physics which today makes the American Physical Society worthwhile for many physicists, and the council and editors are to be congratulated on publishing these excellent magazines.

A National Headquarters Building for Physics

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ON July 24th the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics approved a resolution authorizing the Institute to organize an appeal for funds for the purchase of a building to

be devoted to the interests of A merican Physics and Physicists. A n exceptionally desirable property at 57 East 55th Street in Manhattan had already been located and a short-term option at a favorable price was secured. A Physics Building Fund Committee was appointed which promptly began a fund raising campaign by distributing letters and other materiaJl presenting the project in con­siderable detail to physicists and their friends. Attention was called to the desirability of acquiring a headquarters building as the first step in a comprehensive program for the development for physics outlined by the War Policy Committee of the Institute.

The initial response to this presentation was quick and enthusiastic and by A ugust 20th cash and pledges amounting to $31,816.75 had been received. On the strength of this assurance a contract was signed to purchase the property calling for a substantial down payment on October 1st, the balance of the purchase price to be paid in regular instalments during the following six months. To meet these contractU<ll terms a continuing flow of subscriptions must be maintained until the goal of $75,000 is reached.

Physicists and their friends who have not had an opportunity to give thoughtful consideration to the merits of this progressive action are urged to do so.~ Complete information may be obtained from the American Institute of Physics, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10, New York.

1 Rev. Sci. Inst. 14. 241-247 (Aug. 1943). • See also pages xi and xii of this issue.

JOURNAL OF ApPLmD PHYSICS

[This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions.

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