Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2014
Volume 59, Number 5
Saturday–Tuesday, April 5–8, 2014; Savannah, Georgia
Session C17: Invited Session: Journeys in the History of Physics: Pais Prize Session in Honor of David Cassidy |
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Sponsoring Units: FHP Chair: David Cassidy, Hofstra University Room: 105-106 |
Saturday, April 5, 2014 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
C17.00001: Abraham Pais Prize : Physics, History, and Biography Invited Speaker: David C. Cassidy Each of these fields differs in obvious and not so obvious ways from the others in terms of goals, methods, purposes, and perspectives. Yet each also holds much in common with the others. Having worked in these fields and crossed the boundaries between them, I will explore in this talk not only the similarities and differences I have encountered on this journey, but also my growing appreciation of how these fields together provide a unified perspective on physics as a science and a disciple and as a vital component of our broader human culture. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 5, 2014 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
C17.00002: Toward a Rethinking of the Relativity Revolution Invited Speaker: Daniel Siegel This journey in the history of physics is offered in celebration of David Cassidy's Pais Prize. The journey, undertaken in part with the community of historians of physics and in part not, starts from a conventional characterization of the relativity revolution as an abrupt transition, in 1905, from pre-Einsteinian darkness to Einsteinian light, and ends with an alternative perspective on the relativity revolution, seeing it as a process extending over 50 years, in two phases: first, the \textit{protorelativity} phase, lasting from the early 1880s to 1905, and involving initial treatments of the length contraction, the mass increase, and invariance properties; second, the \textit{Einsteinian} phase, beginning with his recasting of the basic theoretical framework---with the inclusion now of the time dilation and the $E =$\textit{mc}$^{2}$ relationship---and continuing with the ensuing competition between the protorelativistic and Einsteinian approaches, issuing in the final triumph of the Einsteinian approach only in the early 1930s. A proper appreciation of the character and importance of the protorelativity phase of the relativity revolution is relevant to a variety of contexts: for the teaching of relativity theory, it makes available a more concrete and pictorial approach to the relativistic effects---retaining greater (length contraction) or somewhat lesser (mass increase) validity to the present day; for the ongoing discourse on the nature of scientific revolutions, it provides a perspective on the intricacies and complexities of those occurrences, and on the elements of continuity and gradualism in even the most radical changes; and for our general understanding of historical process in the history of the sciences, it shows the importance of the broader scientific research community for even the most individual accomplishments. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 5, 2014 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
C17.00003: An Insider's History of Some of the Significant Changes In the APS from the 1960s to Today Invited Speaker: Brian Schwartz It has been over 50 years since I first joined the American Physical Society. A lot has changed. The APS in the 60s did not have a single Forum and all divisions were related to sub-field of physics research plus the History of Physics Division. The APS governance and meeting's structure did not provide for issues relate to physics and society, undergraduate and graduate education, minorities, women, industrial physics, international physics, communication of science, and many more subjects quite typical of APS in 2014. From the start, I was a very active member of APS and one of the original petitioners for the Division on Physics and Society. Ultimately this led to the APS Forum structure, the Panel on Public Affairs and many APS formal committees. Two of the major impetuses for change in the late 60s were the need to debate the role of science in the unpopular war in Vietnam and the overproduction and poor employment prospects for new Ph.D.s. I, and colleagues, (with little original encouragement from the APS leadership), arranged for the discussion on many new topics at the meeting and proposed changes within the governance of the Society. In the late 1980s I joined the APS and was involved in many changes over the next 20 years. ultimately as Associate Executive Officer and Director of the APS Centennial in 1999. As indicated earlier, I've been with the APS for over 50 years and will present its history as a participant-insider. Topic covered include my surprise election to the APS governance in 1972, the establishment of the Forum on Physics and Society (and the restrictions imposed on its governance), my role as the father (or mother) of the women's movement at APS, the complexities and politics of the move of APS headquarters from New York to College Park, the establishment of the tabloid APS News and many more subjects. Currently I am producing staged-readings of science-based plays at the March and April 2014 APS meetings for the Forum on History of Physics. [Preview Abstract] |
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