Physics

LOS ANGELES -- Every year, as many high school seniors struggle with basic algebra, people complain, "Who needs it? How many students will ever use it?" Well, I use it every day. I'm using it now, even though I haven't worked an algebraic equation since my son was in the seventh grade several years ago. Mathematics and science are unnatural practices. As physics professor Alan Cromer has brutally and elegantly written, "The human mind wasn't designed to study physics," and of course mathematics is the language of physics.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, a physicist who helped research atomic weapons for the Nazis during World War II but later dedicated his life to pacifism and philosophy, has died. Dr. Weizsaecker's family said he had been gravely ill for a long time. Born in Kiel, Germany, into a prominent family of jurists and theologians, Dr. Weizsaecker studied physics and mathematics in Leipzig, Berlin and Goettingen and went on to become a professor of physics. His brother Richard served as German president from 1984 until 1994.

Ernest A. Lynton,71, a university physics professor and administrator, died March 18 in Brookline, Mass. Mr. Lynton taught physics at Rutgers University and was founding dean of its Livingston College, where a residential tower is named in his honor. He later became vice president of academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and taught at the university's McCormack Institute of Public Affairs.Beverly C. Payne Jr.,77, a University of Michigan researcher who was among the first to develop quantitative methods for measuring physicians' performance, died in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Constellation's role as tool for learning adds to its longevityI read with interest the article concerning the future of the Constellation ("Famed Constellation to get new life as teaching tool," Sept. 19).The article made it clear that some people felt that a fun and education venue was inappropriate as the ship's primary function, and only a strict historic interpretation was acceptable.Constellation's long survival has been only because of her montage of occupations, the very least of which was naval warship.

As a gifted biophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University, Ali Reza's mind once helped unravel mysteries of quantum science. Now, he is struggling to understand how he can save himself from homelessness.It's been eight years since an intruder broke into Reza's North Baltimore home and beat him so severely that he lapsed into a coma. When he awoke four months later, part of his brain had been removed by surgery.Yesterday, a small group of his dedicated friends met with him at Hopkins once again, to try to find ways to help him. They hope to assist him in finding a permanent job and help him obtain a green card so he can avoid deportation to his native Bangladesh.

Daniel Chapman and his mother were discussing his scholarship to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County when the subject of grades came up. In return for $3,500 a year for four years, Daniel would be expected to maintain a 3.0 average, explained Associate Director of Scholarships Bobbie Shahpazian during a meeting at the school."

Physics comes naturally to Jason Oh.The Gilman School junior is the grandson and nephew of physicists and finds physics "about as much fun as any school subject can be," especially when he's learning something new. "That's what I love to do."Physics is so enjoyable -- "there's an elegance about physics," Oh says -- that he's spending part of his winter break in a lab at the Johns Hopkins University, working as an intern with Chia-ling Chien in experimental physics.His talent for physics, as well as math and other sciences, won the Cockeysville resident the distinction of being one of 25 students across the country -- and one of two in Maryland -- with the highest cumulative scores on Advanced Placement tests in mathematics and science.

Chien-Shiung Wu,84, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project and later conducted a landmark experiment in physics, died of a stroke Sunday in New York. Born in Shanghai, Ms. Wu came to the United States in 1936 and received her doctorate in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. She went on to teach at Smith College and Princeton University.In the 1940s, Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, a covert project to build an atomic bomb in World War II. She joined Columbia University after the war and taught there for more than three decades.

They dropped eggs from a balcony, launched Ping-Pong balls down hallways and floated aluminum foil barges loaded with marbles.Then, they built pasta towers strong enough to survive an earthquake generated by a bowling ball and designed paper planes to fly distances farther than an expanse of classroom. And to test their memories, they answered a 20-question quiz.Nearly 100 students from 15 area high schools and one middle school participated in the fourth annual Physics Olympics, held yesterday at Liberty High in Eldersburg.

They dropped eggs from a balcony, launched pingpong balls down hallways and floated aluminum foil barges loaded with marbles.Then they built pasta towers strong enough to survive an earthquake generated by a bowling ball and designed paper planes to fly distances farther than an expanse of classroom. And to test their memories, they answered a 20-question quiz.Nearly 100 students from 15 area high schools and one middle school participated yesterday in the fourth annual Physics Olympics yesterday at Liberty High in Eldersburg.

Dr. Robert L. Gluckstern, a physicist and educator who served as chancellor of the University of Maryland, College Park, died of lymphoma Wednesday at his Baltimore home. He was 84. Born in Atlantic City, N.J., and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Gluckstern graduated from Boys High School at 16. He was captain of the math team and could regularly be found tackling math problems and theorems, said Elizabeth M. Nuss, his wife of 23 years. He sent one such theorem to Albert Einstein, said his son, Steven M. Gluckstern.

In a random moment that a physicist might appreciate, a Russian Ph.D. named Katya Denisova suddenly found herself revealing the secrets of the universe to students at a troubled Baltimore high school. She offers energetic proof of the power of teaching Ninety minutes can be a long time to sit in physics class, but Katya Denisova's students don't stay in their seats for long. They walk clockwise around the room, stopping at different stations to see what everyone else wrote about why humans can only see one side of the moon.

Dr. Samuel Adams Elder, retired Naval Academy physics professor who did hurricane research, died of cancer Friday at his Annapolis home. He was 78. Born in Baltimore and raised in Annapolis, he was a 1946 Annapolis High School graduate. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics in 1950 from Hampden-Sydney College, where he was class valedictorian and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a master's degree and doctorate in physics from Brown University. In 1956 he began doing research at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and in 1964 he became a physics professor at the Naval Academy, where his father had taught.

It's travel season, and the airline industry is under fire again. Passengers want more flights, better connections and lower fares, and yes, more security measures. I listen to the criticisms and I shake my head. The past few months I have been in a lot of airplanes and, consequently, lots of airports. Each time, as I await my boarding call, I take up my usual position with my nose pressed against the windows near the gate. It's almost always me and a group of 6-year-old boys watching the planes taxi, take off and land.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker, a physicist who helped research atomic weapons for the Nazis during World War II but later dedicated his life to pacifism and philosophy, has died. Dr. Weizsaecker's family said he had been gravely ill for a long time. Born in Kiel, Germany, into a prominent family of jurists and theologians, Dr. Weizsaecker studied physics and mathematics in Leipzig, Berlin and Goettingen and went on to become a professor of physics. His brother Richard served as German president from 1984 until 1994.

Physics does not intimidate Russell Poch, who teaches the subject at Howard Community College. And he does not think it should intimidate students and teachers in Howard County's public schools, either. "It's fun," said Poch. "It's our natural curiosity of seeing how the world works." To demonstrate his point that light and heavy objects fall at the same speed, as long as they are about the same size, he asked a visitor to drop two objects. Most people think the heavier object will fall faster, he said, but physics is all about trying things out to see what happens.

LOS ANGELES -- Every year, as many high school seniors struggle with basic algebra, people complain, "Who needs it? How many students will ever use it?" Well, I use it every day. I'm using it now, even though I haven't worked an algebraic equation since my son was in the seventh grade several years ago. Mathematics and science are unnatural practices. As physics professor Alan Cromer has brutally and elegantly written, "The human mind wasn't designed to study physics," and of course mathematics is the language of physics.

William T. Moorefield, a former physics professor at Towson University, died Oct. 21 of congestive heart failure at his home in Towson. He was 85. Mr. Moorefield, who grew up in Hampden, was fascinated by science from an early age. He met his wife, the former Helen Klinke, at a summer science course at Druid Hill Park when they were teenagers. "He was a big tease," she said. "He was supposed to show us how to use the insect nets to catch butterflies, but instead he would catch bees and show them to the girls and make them scream."

Clifford C. Klick, who helped devise one of the weapons credited with helping the Allies win World War II, died of myelodysplasia Oct. 9 at the Fairhaven Continuing Care Retirement Community in Sykesville. He was 88. Dr. Klick, born in Strausstown, Pa., graduated first in his class from Muhlenberg College in 1939. Immediately after school, he taught physics for a year at the college, which honored him with an alumni achievement award in 1962. In 1941, he began graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he left school for the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.

How important are initiatives like the "physics-first" program being implemented in Carroll County? Consider this: Although physics is the fundamental branch of science - the bedrock on which much of our knowledge is built - many American students never even take physics in school. It is primarily designated as an elective for 11th- and 12th-grade students. Even the students who do take physics in U.S. schools are not doing well compared with students in other countries. The 1995 administration of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study compared the average achievement of students in science literacy and physics at the end of secondary school.