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Issues
September 1981
ISSN 0031-9228
EISSN 1945-0699
Guest Comment
Letters
More on mass versus weight
James Rainwater; L. J. Giacoletto; Louis F. Sokol; T. Tsang; Fred Ordway; Howard Voss; Donald F. Nelson; Peter Mikes; Albert A. Bartlett; David T. Goldman
Physics Today 34 (9), 15–103 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914742
Search and Discovery
Articles
Computer‐based instruction in physics
Physics Today 34 (9), 24–30 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914747
Students are learning physical principles from well‐programmed computers, which engage them in dialog, allow them to display and manipulate physical laws and then diagnose their educational progress.
Track‐recording solids
Physics Today 34 (9), 32–39 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914748
Simple dielectric solids, which reveal through chemical etching the tracks left by fast‐moving nuclei, are being used as particle detectors in a growing number of scientific and technological areas.
Creativity and ways of thinking: the Japanese style
Physics Today 34 (9), 42–51 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914749
Nonlinear modes of thought using pattern‐recognition rather than Western “digital” approaches and a highly formalized education contribute to the Japanese scientific method.
State and Society
Physics Community
Meetings
APS Plasma Physics Division meets in New York City
Physics Today 34 (9), 58–59 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914759
Topics will include space plasma, laser fusion, mirrors, beam fusion, tokamaks, heating and simulation, and general theory
APS News
Books
John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death
Physics Today 34 (9), 79–80 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914763
Computers and Instrumentation: A Practical Handbook of Measurement, Interfacing and Control Circuits
Physics Today 34 (9), 80 (1981);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2914764