Articles
Marie Curie: In the Laboratory and on the Battlefield 
This year is the centennial of the Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Henri Becquerel and the Curies for their pioneering work on radioactivity. But Marie Curie's contribution to the medical use of x rays is not widely known — Lawrence Badash
Basic Research in the Information Technology Industry
Why do information technology companies support exploratory research in physics and allied fields? The answer is simple—because of the need to bring new technology quickly to market. Ultimately, even long-term research is all about speed — Thomas N. Theis and Paul M. Horn
Correlated-Electron Physics in Transition-Metal Oxides
Interactions among electronic spins, charges, and orbitals account for a rich variety of patterns in some oxides, and—with the advent of new crystal-growth technologies—may form the basis for a new type of electronics — Yoshinori Tokura
Web departments
Readings from the Physics Today Archive
Departments
Physics Update
Reference Frame
Analysis and Synthesis II: Universal Characteristics — Frank Wilczek
Letters
Readers Respond About Arrogance, Confidence, Brilliance, Humility, and Stupidity
Cloaks and Kudos for Physics Today's Portrayal of Women
Leukemia: Treatable but Not Highly Curable
Search & Discovery
Inertial-Confinement Fusion Driven by Pulsed Power Yields Thermonuclear Neutrons
Pulsed-electric-power drivers might be an efficient, low-tech alternative to lasers in the quest for an inertial-confinement thermonuclear reactor.
New Atomic Magnetometer Achieves Subfemtotesla Sensitivity
In a field dominated by superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), a rival technique has gotten a boost by operating in a new parameter regime.
Experiments Vindicate a 50-Year-Old Explanation of How Liquid Metals Resist Solidification
Diffracted x rays reveal a sequence of structural changes in a levitated drop of metal as it cools and freezes.
Stretchable Conductors Help Clear the Path to Skinlike Large-Area Devices
Conducting stripes of gold foil can be stretched significantly when they're stuck to a rubbery substrate.
Issues & Events
Government Scientists Do Stints in Embassies
A fast-growing new program aimed at fortifying science in the State Department is proving to be a hit with participating scientists, and with their home agencies and host embassies.
Neureiter Increases State Department Science Acumen Through Salesmanship and Outside Experts
In an era when many international issues involve science, technology, or the environment, the infusion of scientists into the State Department is leading to better-informed foreign policy decisions. But those decisions are ultimately political, not scientific.
Searching for Scientists With Management Skills, McQueary Builds DHS Science Directorate
In an interview with Physics Today less than two months after he was sworn in, McQueary discussed his views of the role of science in countering terrorism, including the role of national laboratories, the technology needed, and how the public should view the risk of a terrorist attack.
Neutron Source Revs Up With Bomb-Grade Fuel
Having apparently outwaited its opponents, the research reactor near Munich in the southern German state of Bavaria is set to turn on late this summer and could be running at full power within a year.
US Team Prepares for SARS-Threatened Olympiad
The 24 members of the 2003 US Physics Olympiad team and several of their coaches gathered at the Albert Einstein Memorial in front of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, in late May.
Visa Restrictions Bite Into Graduate Enrollments
Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, the fraction of foreigners among incoming physics graduate students in the US has taken a dive, according to a recent report by the American Institute of Physics.
News Notes
Nanos Made Permanent; Rosetta's New Rendevous; Media Lab Leaves Asian Offshoot
Web Watch
Preliminary Visa Information; Interactive Tutorial about Diffraction; Recorded Marine Mammal Vocalizations
Books
The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World, Ken Alder (reviewed by Bruce Stephenson)
Understanding Viscoelasticity: Basics of Rheology, Nhan Phan-Thien (reviewed by Daniel De Kee)
Semiconductor Optics and Transport Phenomena, Wilfried Schäfer and Martin Wegener (reviewed by L. J. Sham)
New Books
New Products
Focus on Test and Measurement
We Hear That
National Science Board Honors Public Service
ASA President-Elect Is Kuperman
NAS Names New Inductees
In Brief
Obituaries
Burton David Fried
Walter Ernest Bron
Kenneth Melvin Evenson
David Abraham Katcher
Michael John Rice
Robert Hugh Tanner
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