Thuringians at SPIE Photonics West
If you asked me to name the optics capital of the world, I’d pick Jena, Germany. Since 1846, the city has been the home of the venerable optical equipment manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG. Its sister company...
View ArticleNitrogen in your car tires
My wife and I bought a new car on Saturday, a 2011 Honda Fit. Given that my previous car, a 1993 Honda Civic, was equipped with Spartan disdain for distracting comfort, I expected the new car to abound...
View ArticleA new x-ray light source for a new university
The financial crisis of 2008 and the continuing debt crisis in the eurozone have stifled growth in the US, Western Europe, and elsewhere. If asked to predict when robust growth will return, some...
View ArticleNot enough peasants, not enough economics
Many years ago I read an essay in which the author—I think it might have been Frederik Pohl—complained about historical inaccuracies in sword-and-sorcery novels. Of course, it’s hardly “wrong” in such...
View ArticleFive hundred small details
Among aficionados of men’s fashion, Cary Grant is as revered for his meticulous style as for his acting. His most celebrated suit—the lightweight woolen one he wore throughout North by Northwest—was...
View ArticleEngineering in computing and science
In March 2003, the members of the American Physical Society met in Austin, Texas, to talk about their research. As Physics Today‘s news editor, I went there too. Covering a big physics meeting is...
View ArticleEarthquakes, soft bombs, and internet vulnerability
Once I’d taken in the devastation wrought by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, my thoughts went to the physicists I knew at Tohoku University. The university is located in the city of Sendai, 81 miles...
View ArticleBrain circulation, not brain drain!
I spent 21 June at the 18th Science in Japan forum, which was held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. The forum’s title was “Chemistry saves the Earth—toward sustainable society”; its topic,...
View ArticleThe progress of research
When I ran and wrote for Physics Today‘s Search and Discovery department, I’d often end news stories with a look toward the future. Such endings not only sound a note of hope and optimism, they also...
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