Patents versus patience
Physicists are rightly proud of the way that basic research in the past has paid off in terms of technology that is widely used everyday. We all know the examples: transistors, lasers, optical fibres,...
Visions of Einstein
“I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it. All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural...
Boltzmann: a disordered genius
The 1860s and 1870s form one of the most exciting periods in physics, probably on a par with the 1920s and 1930s when quantum mechanics was developed. James Clerk Maxwell was working on his theory of ...
Read article: Neutron scattering: strategic necessity or expensive luxury?
Neutron scattering: strategic necessity or expensive luxury?
In 1994 the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Cliff Shull and Bert Brockhouse for, in the words of the Nobel committee’s citation, showing “where atoms are” and “what atom...
Science and societies
Two of the oldest and largest physical societies in the world celebrate anniversaries this year. The Institute of Physics, which publishes this magazine, can trace its roots back to the Physical Socie...
Still uncertain about Heisenberg
“Heisenberg is an intelligent man, but a typical German (that is to say a Tacitus).” So wrote Albert Einstein to his Swiss confidant Carl Seelig, in January 1953. Although the quotation do...
Ideas for a new era
Three major reports have already been published – on atomic, molecular and optical science; plasma science; and elementary-particle physics – and reports on nuclear physics and gravitation...
Learning lessons about ethics
To what extent should a formal education in ethics be part of the university physics curriculum? When this question is raised in the physics community, the response is often that there is no significa...
Science gets hot under the crust
On page 38 of this provocative book, Thomas Gold describes how he began “nosing around in the field of petroleum geology” only after establishing himself as an esteemed astronomer and phys...
Book your busman’s holiday
When it comes to employing new graduates, scientific institutions are increasingly keen to take on people who have practical scientific experience as well as the academic understanding that a physics ...
