Editorial — Reliable Research: Getting Science Right
Science is in the news a lot these days. This is not surprising, since there is interest from many quarters: from the public fascinated by contemporary research, to policy makers who wish to decide how best to allocate public funding to achieve particular goals.
A recent cover story of The Economist caught my attention and that of many in the scientific community. With the title of “Unreliable Research: Trouble at the lab”, the article makes the provocative and worrying claim that whilst we…
Managing the Transition to Open Access Publication
Discussions regarding open access to scientific literature began in 1990s as a result of the widespread availability of the World Wide Web. In order to better understand the implications and impact of recent policy developments, the European Physical Society [EPS] organised a Round Table on Open Access publishing at its Council Meeting on 5 April 2013. The Round Table brought together scientists from different fields (astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology…) and from different countries and learned societies. Sir John Enderby chaired the Round Table, whose participants were: J. Dudley (EPS); M. Huber (EAS); D. Kulp (APS); A. Oleandri (SIF – EPJ); B. Pulverer (EMBO); U. Schubert (EuCheMS); and J.-H. Weil (FEBS).
The Round Table showed that publishing is an essential part of scientific research, necessary for the communication of results, inspiring future research and career development. Publishing is also a core activity of learned societies. The Round Table also brought to light that different scientific communities, national contexts, and positions in learned societies have an influence on positions regarding open access to scholarly, peer reviewed articles.
Frances Saunders is the new IOP president
Dr. Frances Saunders took up her position as president of the Institute of Physics [IOP] on 1 October 2013, succeeding Sir Peter Knight. Dr Frances Saunders is the second female president of the IOP, after Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (2008-2010, and 2011 ad interim). She will serve as IOP president until 30 September 2015.
F. Saunders is a research scientist in liquid crystal devices at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. She was Policy officer at the former Office of Science and Technology. From 2007 to 2012, she was the first female chief executive…
EPS Executive Committee Meeting in Budapest
As a satellite meeting to the European Energy Conference and the EPS General Meeting in Budapest, the EPS Executive Committee [ExCom] met in the Hungarian capital at the end of October.
The ExCom approved the final version of the position paper “Managing the transition to Open Access”, which is an outcome of the Round Table that EPS organised with partners at the EPS Council 2013. Other learned societies (e.g. EuCheMS) have also endorsed…
The Gran Sasso Science Institute starts its activity
The Gran Sasso Science Institute [GSSI] is a new international Ph.D. school and a centre for research and higher education in the fields of natural and social sciences established in L’Aquila, Italy. The GSSI is a project supported by the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development [OECD]. The advice of OECD experts is that the GSSI can give a strong contribution to relaunch the city of L’Aquila as an international centre of scientific excellence, after the earthquake of…
To catch a thief
Back in the 1950s, when the neutrino was still a hypothesis but iron curtain was a reality, A. Szalay in Hungary had an idea to take a snapshot of an event that would prove the existence of the neutrino. During his research at Cavendish Laboratory (United Kingdom), he became acquainted with the latest techniques for research in nuclear physics, and decided to investigate the decay of 6He, a short lived isotope. He recruited J. Csikai, then a young scientist, and together they built a cloud chamber with a sophisticated stereo-camera system.
Forget about megapixels, data acquisition system, everything was hardwired. Still, from the tracks…
An ancient cathedral in West Pomerania and the invention of an early condenser
On 11 October 2013 the 10th EPS Historic Site was inaugurated in Kamień Pomorski in Poland to commemorate the invention of the “Kleistian jar”, more commonly known as the “Leyden jar”.
Ewald Georg von Kleist (10 June 1700 – 11 December 1748) was a German jurist, Lutheran cleric, and physicist. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Leipzig and the University of Leyden. From 1722 to 1745 he was Dean of the Cathedral at Kammin in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Kamień Pomorski in Poland). On 11 October 1745 he invented…
Call for EPS Fellows and Honorary Members
EPS Members are invited to nominate EPS Individual Members as EPS Fellows. Individuals whose achievements in physics, whether in research, industry or education and/or through commitment to the EPS warrant specific recognition are eligible to become EPS Fellows. Nominations should be sent to EPS Secretary General, David Lee, by 31 January 2014. EPS Members are invited to nominate outstanding individuals as Honorary Members of the EPS. Distinguished persons whose outstanding achievements in physics or a related science whom the European Physical Society especially…
The EPS at OECD Global Forum
The EPS was invited to attend the recent OECD Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy, which was held in Istanbul on October 22-23. The EPS was represented by Colin Latimer, EPS Treasurer.
Most OECD countries are still struggling to recover from the financial crisis of 2008 and the emerging economies have also been faced with a more recent downturn. Weak global economic growth has placed government budgets for science and innovation under threat in many countries. Previously planned increases have commonly been revised…
EPS Early Career Prizes
The EPS has two Early Career prizes to be awarded each year – one each for achievements of a mainly theoretical or experimental nature.
Those eligible for these awards should have made a substantial contribution to the development or reputation of physics in Europe. “Early Career” is defined as those individuals in the first 12 years of their career in physics following their first degree or equivalent, with allowance for any career breaks…
HOPE – A new European Academic Network
The academic network Horizons of Physics Education [HOPE] was launched in October 2013. This three-year project is supported by the Life Long Learning Programme [LLP] of the European Union. It is the 6th thematic network in physics education in a series of networks beginning in 1995 with European Physics Education Network [EUPEN].
The 71 full partners are from 31 LLP-eligible countries of the European Union along with Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey; they comprise 65 academic partners and 6 non-academic partners including the European Physical Society. The…
Budapest hosted eminent speakers at the E2C conference
The 3rd European Energy Conference [E2C 2013], was held in Budapest, Hungary from 27-30 October 2013. The conference was organised by the Hungarian Chemical Society [HCS] in cooperation with the Eötvös Roland Physical Society [HPS], as well as the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences [EuCheMS], the European Physical Society [EPS] and the European Materials Research Society [E-MRS].
The previous two versions of the European Energy Conference were held in 2010 in Barcelona, Spain, and in 2012 in…
