Everything about The American Physical Society totally explained
The
American Physical Society was founded in
1899 and is the
world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a
dozen science journals, including the world renowned
Physical Review and
Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than
twenty science meetings each year. Over 40,000 members belong to the Society.
Brief history
The American Physical Society was founded on
May 20 1899, when thirty-six physicists gathered at
Columbia University for that purpose. They proclaimed the mission of the new Society to be "to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics", and in one way or another the APS has been at that task ever since. In the early years, virtually the sole activity of the APS was to hold
scientific meetings, initially four per year. In
1913, the APS took over the operation of the
Physical Review, which had been founded in
1893 at
Cornell University, and
journal publication became its second major activity. The
Physical Review was followed by
Reviews of Modern Physics in
1929 and by
Physical Review Letters in
1958. Over the years,
Phys. Rev. has subdivided into five separate sections as the fields of physics proliferated and the number of submissions grew.
In more recent years, the activities of the Society have broadened considerably. Stimulated by the increase in Federal funding in the period after the
Second World War, and even more by the increased public involvement of scientists in the
1960s, the APS is active in
public and
governmental affairs, and in the international physics community. In addition, the Society conducts extensive programs in education,
science outreach, and media relations. The APS has fourteen divisions and nine topical groups covering all areas of physics research. There are six forums that reflect the interest of its 43,000 members in broader issues, and eight sections organized by geographical region.
In
1999, the APS celebrated its Centennial with the biggest-ever physics meeting in
Atlanta. In
2005 the APS took the lead role in United States participation in the
World Year of Physics, initiating several programs to broadly publicize physics during the 100th anniversary of
Albert Einstein's
annus mirabilis.
Einstein@Home, one of the projects the APS initiated during World Year of Physics, is an ongoing and popular
distributed computing project.
Proposed Name Change
A name change was proposed for the 2005 election year. The new name would have been "American Physics Society", a name that the majority of members would prefer according to an electronic poll conducted by the APS in summer 2005.
However, because of legal issues, the planned name change was eventually abandoned by the APS executive board. Consequently, the official name as of December 2005 remains "American Physical Society."
Further Information
Get more info on 'American Physical Society'.
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