Table of contents

The current A-level physics syllabus was thoroughly revised only a few years ago by the major examining boards. Although this may have been changed slightly by a particular board, experienced teachers would agree it provides a sound basis for A-level students who wish to take a science honours degree including physics.

The University Grants Committee is embarking on its second review of university physics departments and, in contrast to what happened on the previous occasion, a document has been circulated to universities outlining the proposed methods of review and asking for comments. Being present recently at a meeting called to respond to this request, two points struck me as implicating matters deserving a wide discussion.

I have to refute Peter Graneau's comments relating to the supposed inadequacy of classical electrodynamics in explaining certain phenomena, such as the operation of railguns (Physics Bulletin April 1988 p136). Let us consider a short-circuited planar transmission line, for simplicity.

Colin Windsor (Physics Bulletin March 1 988 p96) writes amusingly about phase transitions at recent annual solid state meetings. The order parameter is the number of attendees, or rather the fraction of the total solid state membership attending, which has shown a sharp rise over the last few years.

Calls to broaden the sixth-form curriculum by moving from three A-levels to five subjects have been rejected by the government. The Higginson report, Advancing A-levels, has recommended that 'leaner and tougher' A-levels should be developed, reducing the factual content of each syllabus but putting more emphasis on higher level skills such as understanding and communicating.

With the advent of satellite TV channels, cable television and the likely mushrooming of local 'deregulated' radio, the opportunities for mass communication will escalate even further. Where does that leave the scientific community, particularly in terms of their perception of and by the general public?

Terrestrial gamma radiation is a more significant factor in childhood cancers than foetal x-ray exposure, according to researchers from the Department of Social Medicine at Birmingham University. Writing in the spring issue of the Journal of Radiological Protection, Professor E G Knox and his colleagues note that a relationship has already been demonstrated between childhood cancers and foetal x-ray exposure.

The Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in superconductivity at Cambridge (see Physics Bulletin January 1 988 p8) is off to a good start as far as theorists are concerned. Although money has not yet begun to roll in.

With more freedom of movement within Western Europe (not just for tourists) there will also be more demand for mutual recognition of university degrees within the different countries of the European community. Should physicists support these steps towards European unity?

In mid-April I attended an astonishing conference. It was organised by the RSC (not the Royal Shakespeare Company, although at times I wondered) and took place at the Unilever Research Laboratory, in deepest Bedfordshire.

The first two Science Book Prizes have been awarded by the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS). The winner in the general readership category was Living with Risk by the British Medical Association Board of Science (published by the BMA and John Wiley), which gives examples of risks affecting individuals as well as major hazards affecting all, and shows how we might manage them to minimise ill-effects.

The Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association (MRPRA) celebrated its Golden jubilee in June with a week of seminars, luncheons and tours of Tun Abdul Razak Laboratory, at its base in Brickendonbury, Hertford. MRPRA is a unit of the Malaysian Rubber Research and Development Board (MRRDB), a Malaysian government agency, and has been conducting fundamental research into the properties, formulation and attributes of natural rubber (NR) since 1938.

Recognising characters typed in at a keyboard is a familiar task to most computers and one at which they excel, except that they (usually) insist on recognising what we have typed, rather than what we meant to type. A number of programs now on the market, however, go rather beyond merely recognising keystrokes on a keyboard, to actually recognising printed words on paper.

The didgeridoo is a traditional instrument of the Aborigines of northern Australia. It is absurdly simple, consisting of a tree branch 4–5 feet long with a hole just over one inch in diameter down its length, hollowed by termites.

The similarities between atomic and nuclear physics are striking. In both realms, the most fundamental experimental data are spectroscopic determinations of transitions from one energetic state to another and again, in both fields, such findings are explained well in terms of suitable applications of the Schrodinger equation.

Footwear manufacture is one of the UK's traditional industries. Located in areas such as the East Midlands, Norwich, the South West, Kendal, London and the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, it has like many relatively low technology industries fought a constant battle against imports over the last 20 years.

When a photograph is taken, what happens inside the camera during the fraction of a second the shutter is open? Why is the photographic process so efficient, rivalling the sensitivities of the human eye and the television camera?

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combines diverse areas of applied physics – ion sampling from atmospheric pressure plasmas, focusing of low energy ion beams, quadrupole mass analysis, wide dynamic range ion detection and differential vacuum systems. The technique has found application in a great variety of areas including the pharmaceutical industry, life sciences, geology, the nuclear and water industries, environmental protection, metal industries and ceramics.

Peter Galison 1987 London: University of Chicago Press xii + 330 pp price £31.95 (£11.95 paperback) ISBN 0 226 27914 6 Hdbk, 0 226 27915 4 Pbk

Working physicists are often perplexed by the history of science. The great men and their great theories portrayed there seem remote from the problems of daily laboratory life: teamwork, trying to get a difficult experiment to go, toying with yet another computer simulation, and wrestling with a never-ending stream of fiscal and administrative problems.

Elisabeth Crawford 1987 (first published 1984) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ix + 281 pp price £25 (£9.95 paperback) ISBN 0 521 26584 3 Hdbk, 0 521 34747 5 Pbk

The Nobel prize has a glamour unmatched by any of the other international prizes, even those that give away more money. Elisabeth Crawford, in this well documented study, traces the background to the prizes in physics and chemistry for the first 14 years up to the first world war.

Philip J Davis and David Park 1987 Oxford: W H Freeman xvi + 325 pp price £17.95 ISBN 0 7167 1813 8

No Way – The Nature of the Impossible is an interesting idea which does not succeed. The hope is that by analysing conceptions of the impossible, ways can be found to 'transcend' it.

Jonathon Green 1986 London: Routledge and Kegan Paul viii + 199 pp price £14.95 ISBN 0 7102 0641 0

Jonathon Green's book is well written and well researched. Either for browsing to keep abreast of the world's insanity and dispel complacency, or as a reference book, it works very well.

Volker Neuhoff 1987 Weinheim: VCH xiii + 223 pp price DM58 ISBN 3 527 26579 1

Institute conference organisers often get invaluable help from Clive Jones, the Meetings Officer, and his department but I certainly found it useful to have a look at this new book. Dr Neuhoff has thought hard and carefully about conference organisation and has clearly learned by experience the problems that can occur.

Monthly round-up of new instruments, components and equipment released by industry vendors.

Information about appointments and awards, meetings, and member services from the Institute of Physics.

Late-breaking conference news, calls for papers and general news.