| History of Physics Group: | Events | Newsletter | Links | Current News | Archive |
Chairman's Report
Given to the Group at the AGM, October 23rd 1999
1. Meetings
This has been a particularly vigorous year for the group. On the 17th October 1998 we had the most successful of our "concepts" meetings to date, on Electromagnetic fields past and present. We had lectures on Faraday and Field Theory by Dr Frank James, Concepts of Action at a Distance by Dr Roman Smirnov-Rueda and I spoke on Modern Concepts of the Electromagnetic field. It was well attended with a stimulating workshop and discussion afterwards.
We held our annual planning meeting at the Science Museum on 5th December 1998, and got through a considerable amount of work. These meetings, entirely devoted to planning, are indispensable for the effectiveness of the group.
On 8th March 1999, Professor Joseph Rotblat gave an extraordinary evening lecture at IOP headquarters on his physics research experiences in Poland before the War. The meeting was very well attended. Not the least surprising aspect of the occasion was the fact that Professor Rotblat is in his nineties and conducted the whole meeting with an energy which would be the envy of someone thirty years younger.
On 24th April 1999, we had an afternoon meeting at IOP headquarters on Aspects of the interaction between physics and religion. The meeting generated considerable interest, not least perhaps because of the communication from Sir Hermann Bondi contrasting the investigative styles of physics and religion [see page 25. Ed.]. Lucy Hudson collected comments from the participants asking why they attended. One amused me particularly: "Annoyance with Richard Dawkins and P C Atkins. Here's a sensible middle way between science and religion and I wanted to find out a little more about the relations between the two".
Stuart Leadstone organised an amplified version of this meeting at Maxwell's birthplace in Edinburgh on 18th September 1999. Physics World heard of it and asked us to write a piece for Physics Matters about it, which appeared in the September 1999 issue of Physics World. The Edinburgh meeting was highly successful. We may have begun a trend: Dr. Frank James is running a discussion evening at the Royal Institution on Science and Religion on 9th November [1999] which Peter Atkins, among others, is addressing. The debate runs on.
On the 24th April, we also held a very useful committee meeting over lunch in the Institute of Architects in London. I think it is important that we work so that our meetings continue to be successful.
2. Newsletter and Website
Lucy Hudson brought out her first issue of the Newsletter in the spring Spring 1999 (No.12) and for the first time put it on the website. I have received many compliments about the Newsletter and Lucy is much to be congratulated on the quality, contents and presentation. She has set herself a high standard to follow. Mike Thurlow has taken on the task of looking after our website. I think you will all agree that it is now a delight to visit the home page of the group. Mike deserves our gratitude for its professionalism and appealing layout.
3. Elections
Both Neil Brown and I have reached the full term of 5 years in office and we are stepping down to make way for new officers. I approached Jack Meadows for suggestions about a new chairman and he suggested I approach Sir Arnold Wolfendale, which I did. He was delighted with the offer but is overwhelmed at the moment and recommended I invite Professor Ian Butterworth, a high energy physicist at Imperial College. Ian was very pleased to be nominated for the post of Chairman and I think he would be excellent for the group. He seems to be a very pleasant person. He would not be able to take up office until the Spring and I said I would be happy to act as caretaker until then.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Neil Brown for his services as Honorary Secretary to this group. It has been a great pleasure working with him. I have been struck again and again by his efficiency, his determination, his unfailing good humour and courtesy. I do hope he considers remaining on the committee. I would also like to thank the other committee members for the support they have so generously given over the years. The personal rapport and warmth established between committee members has not been the least enjoyable aspect of our meetings.
John Roche,
Chairman
Honorary Secretary's Report
Given to the Group at the AGM, October 23rd 1999
The Honorary Secretary had little to add to the Chairman's report. The group still has about 400 members. Only a minority took any active part by attending meetings, but by paying their subscriptions they indicate a continuing interest. The funding that groups received from the IOP has been increased. We can support all the activities we were undertaking without difficulty, and the budget could be stretched further if we had the other resources to organise more activities. There are still some tensions between the group and headquarters over costs in two particular areas. One is the old problem of one-day meetings. While the principle of charging non-members higher meeting fees is not in dispute, the enforced extra charge of £23 regardless of circumstances can be counter-productive. It meant, for example, that non-members paid two-and-a-half times as much as members to attend the recent meeting in Edinburgh, although the meeting benefited greatly from their presence. Another irritant is the charges for catering for meetings at Portland Place on Saturdays which make the provision of coffee and tea very expensive.
The secretary paid tribute to the Chairman, who was likely to stand down from that role before the next Annual General Meeting. John Roche had been chairman for years, but that is only the latest of his contributions to the group. John, more than any other person, was responsible for the founding of the group, and he put a lot of time and effort into the running of it ever since. We hope to continue to benefit from his insight.
C. N. Brown,