SAIP Newsletter #23 (1) SAIP MATTERS Miss Jaynie Padayachee secretary@saip.org.za (2) SAIP LOGO COMPETITION Dr Patricia Whitelock paw@saao.ac.za _____________________________ 1(a) COUNCIL FOR THE 2003/2005 TERM Prof. Edmund Zingu (President) Prof. Harm Moraal (Vice-President) Ms. Jaynie Padayachee (Secretary) Prof. Japie Engelbrecht (Treasurer) Dr. Nithaya Chetty Dr. Simon Connell Prof. Diane Grayson Prof. Dieter Heiss Dr. Patricia Whitelock Details of portfolios can be found on the web-site at http://www.saip.org.za/Council.html ______________________________ 1(b) WINNERS OF THE SILVER JUBILEE AWARD FOR 2003 Dr. Catherine Cress (UNP) and Dr. Kristian Müller-Nedebock (US). _____________________________ 1(c) WINNERS OF THE STUDENT PRIZES AT THE 2003 SAIP CONFERENCE The full list of winners and sponsors can be found at: http://www.saip.org.za/StudentWinners2003.html ______________________________ 1(d) MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY Summarised minutes of Council meetings as well as dates of future meetings can be found at http://www.saip.org.za/Minutes.html _______________________________ 1(e) RE-JOINING THE SAIP If your membership has lapsed and you wish to re-join the SAIP, you will have to pay a re-joining fee equivalent to 20% of the current membership fee for that category you are applying for. ____________________________ 1(f) INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SOURCES (ICOS) FOR HISTORY OF PHYSICS AND ALLIED SCIENCES. Request from the SAIP If you are aware of or have in your possession any items that may be included in the International Catalogue of Sources, please send the information requested below to the SAIP Secretary. ICOS is a catalog of information on the location and contents of archival collections around the world. The catalog currently contains records for about 8,000 collections worldwide and is online at http://aip.org/history/icos/. In addition to the catalog itself, the Web site also contains a detailed description of ICOS along with general information on the AIP Center for History of Physics and a variety of other resources. The International Catalog of Sources is widely used by historians and other scholars, and the records are shared with the Research Libraries Information Network, an international bibliographic data base. By surveying collections in South Africa and sending us descriptions, you will make them accessible to historians and other scholars worldwide. We currently have only two records in ICOS for South African collections. These consist of papers of the astronomer Thomas Maclear (1794-1879) at Cape Archives Depot, Cape Town, and the papers of Frank Nabarro (1916-), which we list as being in his possession. We want to add descriptions of other South African collections to ICOS. We're looking specifically for information on correspondence, lab notebooks, and other unpublished papers of scientists working in physics, astronomy, geophysics, and related fields like acoustics, optics, and crystallography. We also include information on photo collections and oral history interviews. (Please note that we do not seek information on published articles and books because these are already available through other catalogs.) We are also looking for descriptions of records of major institutions such as academies of science, academic physics and astronomy departments, and research laboratories. Our period of interest is chiefly from about 1890 to the present, but if there are 19th century collections of interest, and even earlier ones of major importance, we include them as well. In addition to the collections that are in libraries and archives, ICOS contains reports on papers in private hands (especially if they are available for research use) and papers of significant scientists that have been destroyed. Generally we've found that the most successful way of conducting ICOS surveys is to begin by systematically contacting major archives and libraries. We write or e-mail an appropriate contact person there, usually the director, and ask for information on all the archival, photo, and oral history collections that the repository holds in our subject fields. We've found that major academic and government archives and libraries are likely to have at least some collections in physics and related fields, and in many cases they already have descriptions available. We also contact archives and libraries at scientific institutions. I've attached a sample letter from our most recent survey of American archives for your information. The descriptive information that we typically include in ICOS records is outlined in the cataloguing worksheet, which is available at http://www.aip.org/history/icos_worksheet.htm. The descriptive information that we seek consists of the name of the creator of the papers or records, the size of the collection, the inclusive dates, a summary of the contents, the kinds of materials (correspondence, notebooks, travel reports, minutes of meetings, etc.), scientific and non-scientific topics covered, and names of correspondents. We also would like to receive finding aids to individual collections when they're available, whether in print or electronic form (or URL addresses if the finding aids are available on the Web). Message from Joe Anderson (Associate Director, Center for History of Physics, AIP) ______________________________ (2) SAIP LOGO COMPETITION - R3000 PRIZE The SAIP will offer a prize to the designer of a new logo for the organization as detailed below. Please advertise this as widely as possible, including your friends, students and graphics artists; it is not limited to members of SAIP or even to physicists. 1. The total value of the prize will be R3000 (three thousand Rand), which will be awarded to the designer(s) of the winning entry. 2. Entries should reach the SAIP secretary before 30 January 2004. 3. The competition will be judged by the SAIP Council, whose decision will be final; no discussion will be entered into about the result. 4. The judges reserve the right to consult others in making their decision. 5. The competition is open to anyone except the immediate family (spouses/partners, parents, children) of the judges. Members of Council who wish to enter the competition, or whose families so wish, will be totally excluded from the judging. 6. The judges must declare their relationship with any of the entrants and recuse themselves from the judgment involving those entrants if appropriate. 7. The judges reserve the right NOT to award any prize if none of the entries is deemed suitable. 8. All entries must include: (a). the design in the form that it would appear, e.g. on a letter-head; (b). an explanation of the symbolism used in the design; (c). the full names and contact details of the designer(s). We anticipate that the winning entry will have the following characteristics: 1. it will be simple; 2. it will clearly symbolize (1) physics and (2) South Africa; 3. it will be aesthetically pleasing; 4. it can be in colour, but should still be clear if reproduced in black & white; 5. it may contain the letters SAIP, but does not have to do so; For those not familiar with the SAIP, the logo in-use can be found on our web page: www.saip.org.za. The following background to this logo was provided by the previous secretary, Prof Bouke Spoelstra. In 1982 the Council decided to get a logo for the SAIP. Enquiries from graphic designers established that professionals would charge an amount which at the time was roughly the price of a car! A logo competition was then launched, with the grand prize of R50 offered for the winning entry. A number of designs were submitted and amongst them Dr G Heymann had submitted a few variations of a logo, from which the one used at present was adopted. A description of the symbolic meaning accompanied the entry: * The symbol resembles the Greek letter "phi", (for "physics") * The symbol also resembles the Chinese symbol "chung", meaning "middle" or "central" symbolizing physics as the central science. * The structure of the logo represents the three basic units of length, mass and time. Length: because of the four sides with the same length (precision); Mass: because the design resembles a balance, with the central triangular bar the fulcrum; Time: because the triangular bar resembles a pendulum. * The square is a two-dimensional projection of a cube which occurs in many fields of physics - a cube was chosen earlier as the logo for the Specialist Group for Solid state and Material Science. * The design also resembles Greek symbols which are often used in many fields of physics. I believe that it was also said at the time that the double bars on the top right hand side resemble the gates of the CSIR. At the time the National Physics Research Laboratory (which was very influential in physics in the RSA) still existed as part of the CSIR. __________________________________________________