Praxis Archives – Page 170 of 183

The internationalism of science as an ideal

The Olympic Games are held up as the most international of all events. It is accepted that the athletes “compete for their nation” and make up “national teams”. These are (unofficially) ranked according to how many medals they win, and the “most successful nations” show up. This success is taken as a benchmark of the effectiveness of training, the mood of a nation, and so on. One is tempted to compare this to the situation in science. Here the credo is: science is international. But is this really true?

There is of course a compelling reason why science has to be international. The goal of science is to find a complete and provable description of our world. This implies that the description has to be independent of the views of individuals. It must not depend on the national, ethnic, cultural or family background of a scientist or consider any other subjective aspect – science has to be, among other things, international. Only in this way can it develop a universal idea of the world.

Nevertheless, national feelings are real for a large majority, as the Olympic Games show. Does this mean that scientists have reached a higher state of collaboration and culture?

The answer is a clear yes. Excellent proof of this is CERN. Anyone who has worked there will confirm that one loses one’s nationality. In his book The Joy of Insight (Basic Books 1991), Victor Weisskopf, who served as CERN’s director-general from 1961 until 1965, wrote: “I insisted that anyone who entered CERN be regarded as a European and no longer a citizen of some nation.”

Very little attention is paid to physicists’ nationality – only the quality of their scientific work counts. This is unavoidable because the ever-increasing complexity and size of physics projects surpasses individual abilities. The collaboration, imposed initially by the requirements of the project, becomes a habit and finally a conviction. This mechanism works equally well in all parts of the world.

However, we also know that this conviction is challenged. Nations try to gauge the performance of science as they do with other activities – sport, art, the economy, and so on.

This leads to a dilemma. On the one hand, Nobel prizes are counted, evaluations by national agencies carried out, publications counted and their impact assessed. Are national science administrators swimming against the tide of international science?

Here a particular role is played by scientific journals. The visibility and quality of national journals have been and are still taken as a measure of national scientific excellence. Such ambitions lead, however, to deplorable situations, such as favouring the work of one nation to the detriment of others.

The only solution to this problem is that publishing culture has to follow that of science itself and abandon nationalism. Several competing international journals should be maintained in the interest of science. However, since national feelings are so strong and not all scientists can work at CERN, it may be necessary to install an international “ombudsboard” to referee what goes on and pass judgement as necessary.

A frequently formulated hope is that national cultures too could embrace scientific internationalism. This feeling has developed as contacts between scientists improve due to cheaper travel and improved communications.

Knowing other people helps to overcome the feelings of insecurity and personal insufficiency for which ardent nationalism naturally compensates. The need for exchange is the key – it is no accident that the World Wide Web was invented at CERN and not by Microsoft.

High Energy Physics 99: Proceedings of the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Tampere, Finland, 15-21 July 1999

edited by K Huitu, H Kurki-Suonio and J Maalampi, University of Helsinki, Finland. Institute of Physics Publishing, ISBN 0750306610, 1000 pp, illus. hbk £220/$359.

This volume contains the 18 invited plenary presentations and 250 contributions to parallel sessions presented at the conference.

The Quest for Symmetry – Selected Works of Bunji Sakita

edited by K Kikkawa, M Virasoro and S Wadia, World Scientific, ISBN 9810236433, £49.

World Scientific’s series on 20th century physics includes scientific anthologies about many famous figures and/or edited by many authoritative names. Volume 22 continues this tradition and includes a collection of key papers (without commentary) on SU(6) symmetry, the strong coupling group, the string model, supersymmetry and the use of collective variables in quantum field theory. Especially interesting is the autobiographical introduction by a scientist born and educated in Japan but who has spent almost his entire professional career outside that country.

An Introduction to the Theory of Spinors

by M Carmeli and S Malin, World Scientific, ISBN 9810242611, £35.

Spinor treatments can be easier to handle than conventional tensor approaches. This compact textbook provides an introduction to spinors and examples of their application in general relativity and gauge theories.

Principles of Fusion Energy

by A A Harms, K F Schoepf, G H Miley and D R Kingdon, World Scientific, ISBN 9810243359, £35.

Fusion energy powers the stars and is perceived as the ultimate source of energy on Earth. R&D work has followed diverse paths. Much effort has gone into the design and construction of a series of toroidal machines (tokamaks, stellarators) to contain the hot thermonuclear fuel. This approach was initially heralded as a fountainhead of inexhaustible energy, but attention is also focusing on more fundamental approaches such as inertial confinement of hot plasma and muon catalysis. This textbook provides a useful summary of the relevant physics and an objective overview of the possible systems that could allow and contain thermonuclear fusion.

Insertion Devices for Synchrotron Radiation and Free Electron Laser

by F Ciocci, G Dattoli, A Torre and A Renieri, World Scientific, ISBN 9810238320, £49.

A further volume in World Scientific’s series Synchrotron Radiation Techniques and Applications, this provides much general coverage of the theory of charged particle transport, synchrotron radiation and free electron lasers before going on to the specifics of insertion devices (which generate synchrotron radiation) and X-ray optics.

XIX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Stanford, California, 9-14 August 1999

edited by John Jaros and Michael Peskin, World Scientific, ISBN 9810241895, 920pp.

Proceedings of the meeting which traditionally includes only plenary sessions.

Quantum Computation and Quantum Information

by Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521632358, £80/$130 (hbk); ISBN 0521635039 £29.95/$47.95 (pbk).

In such a new and fast-developing field such as quantum computing, it is always good to have an authoritative introduction for newcomers. This book is designed to be accessible by those who do not necessarily have a background in quantum physics.

Managing Science – Management for R&D Laboratories

by Claude Gelès, Gilles Lindecker, Mel Month and Christian Roche, Wiley Series in Beam Physics and Accelerator Technology, ISBN 0471185086.

WILEY-VCH WEINHEIM, GERMANY — Managing Science is a book based on a graduate level course given by the authors at several editions of the US Particle Physics Accelerator School.

The book contains a didactic presentation and in-depth discussion of a complete set of management issues affecting big scientific laboratories, as well as analyses of their possible evolutions. Items including motivations for creating a laboratory, decision-making systems, organization and communication, policy implementation, project methodology, infrastructure, human resources management, financial management and logistics are treated with a direct and comprehensive style. The discussions on alternatives and their associated risks and opportunities are very educational.

Of particular interest is the second part of the book, entitled “The Human Drama”. The typical evolution of the life of a scientific laboratory is described in terms of three main stages – growth, steady state and decline, just as in individuals, according to age. The analysis presented on the way of revitalizing the laboratory, identifying what are only fluctuations which might give a wrong impression of revitalization, is very interesting and of particular importance for already old but successful scientific organizations. The experience of the authors, mainly from particle physics laboratories, and the fast-changing evolution of the organizational methods of this type of research make the analysis especially adequate for high-energy physics labs.

In summary, the book contains a complete and useful description of the management tools for major scientific organizations and can also be useful for consultation. The reference material is plentiful and well selected.

The Cambridge Handbook of Physics Formulas

by Graham Woan, Cambridge University Press, 218pp, ISBN 0521575079 £12.95/$19.95 (pbk); ISBN 0521573491 £35/$54.95 (hbk).

A useful reference work, packed with data as well as equations.

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