January 2004

FORE!
PLAY IN THE INAUGURAL WCC (WOMEN CHEMISTS COMMITTEE) GOLF CLASSIC
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2004
COYOTE HILLS GOLF COURSE - ANAHEIM, CA

Calling all male and female pros, duffers, and everyone in between!  Plan now to sign up and play.  Fees are $75 per golfer or $300 for a foursome until February 27.  Late entries between March 1 and 15 are $95/$380 per player/foursome.  Groups of four will be arranged for individuals who sign up.
* Golfer registration deadline is March 15, 2004.
* Registration forms and details are on the WCC website at http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC.  Golfer registrations should be faxed to Lissa Dulany at 404-872-2098.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS: APPLY NOW FOR 2004!

Two YCC Leadership Development Workshops will be held at ACS regional meetings in 2004: the Southwestern Regional Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas (September 29 to October 2) and the Northeastern Regional Meeting in Rochester, NY (October 31 to November 3).

ACS members who would like to apply for a YCC Leadership Development Award in order to attend one of these workshops, should submit their applications to the Younger Chemists Committee, c/o Stephanie Allen, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 by April 1, 2004.  Applications in both electronic and printable formats, are available online at chemistry.org/ycc.

Since participation is limited, YCC will be extending invitations for each workshop only to 15 interested ACS members who have external support. ACS members who would like to attend one of the workshops with the support of their employers or ACS local sections, divisions or committees, should contact Stephanie Allen at s_allen@acs.org.

Interested in working with students?  Hoping to involve more teachers in section activities?  We are seeking people with connections to high school chemistry teachers and/or an interest in motivating high school students in the field of chemistry to be part of a Chemagination committee and to run a contest in the area. 

Chemagination is a chemistry essay and poster contest for students in grades 9-12.  Students look 25 years into the future and write an article that they believe could appear in "ChemMatters" magazine about an innovation or breakthrough in the field of chemistry that they think will be important in the lives of teenagers at that time.  Student articles focus in one of four categories:  Biotechnology, Medicine/Healthcare, New Materials or Transportation/Environment.

For information about the contest, visit http://chemistry.org/chemagination, call 1-800-227-5558 ext. 4458 or email Chemagination@acs.org.  To volunteer to help us coordinate a contest in this area, contact:  (fill in local section contact information)

"WHY IQ IS NOT ENOUGH:  SECRETS TO REALIZING YOUR FULL CAREER POTENTIAL"
SPONSORED BY WOMEN CHEMISTS COMMITTEE

This workshop introduces the concept of Emotional Intelligence and explores the crucial link between Emotional Intelligence skills and career success.  It provides practical advice for those who easily get "triggered", and for those who feel like they have to "walk on eggshells" around certain people.  Participants will learn the biochemistry behind getting "emotionally hijacked", and specific techniques to help "cool" down emotions.  The course is designed to provide tools to female scientists that will enhance leadership skills and maximize career potential.

Where:  ACS National Meeting, Anaheim, CA
When:  Monday, March 29, 2004, 9:00 am-4:00 pm
Cost:  $199 per participant (lunch included)
How to Register:  Print the registration form from the WCC website at  http://membership.acs.org/w/wcc/ and mail to: Dr. Amber Hinkle, Bayer Corporation, 8500 West Bay Road, MS 18, Baytown, TX   77520-9730.

ACS MATCHING GIFT FUND PROGRAM

At its meeting in early December 2003, the ACS Board of Directors voted to provide funding of $500,000 for a Matching Gift Fund (MGF) Program for 2004.  The Matching Gift Fund matches contributions to eligible Society Programs.  Through the MGF Program, the Society will add one dollar for every two dollars donated to support the following programs:

* Project SEED
* ACS Scholars Program
* World Reach Fund
* National Chemistry Week
* Teacher Training
* National Historic Chemical Landmarks
* Women Chemists Committee Programs
* PROGRESS (a pilot project aimed at facilitating participation and advancement of women chemists and chemical engineers)
* Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences

The minimum donation that will be matched by the MGF Program is $3,000, which must be given by an individual, foundation, company, or organization.  The funding authorized by the ACS Board is for 2004 only.  Gifts and pledges will be matched per the program stipulations throughout the year or until the fund has been committed in its entirety, whichever comes first.  Gifts may be paid over a three-year period, 2004-2006.  All gifts made to the ACS are tax-deductible.  For more information, contact Mary Bet Dobson in the ACS Treasurer's Office by mail (1155 16th  Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036), e-mail (m_dobson@acs.org), or phone (202-872-4094).

ACS 2004 MATCHING GIFT FUND (MGF) PROGRAM
SEVEN THINGS EVERY LOCAL SECTION NEEDS TO KNOW

1.  What is the MGF Program?
The ACS Board of Directors has designated $500,000 for a Matching Gift Fund (MGF) Program for 2004.  The MGF matches contributions to eligible Society Programs.

2.  How does the MGF Work?
Through the MGF Program, the Society will add one dollar for every two dollars donated to support the Board-designated programs. The minimum donation that will be matched is $3,000.  The maximum gift that will be matched without prior approval is $100,000.

3.  Which programs are eligible?
* Project SEED
* Scholars Program
* World Reach Fund
* National Chemistry Week
* Teacher Training
* National Historic Chemical Landmarks
* Women Chemists Committee Programs
* PROGRESS (a pilot project aimed at facilitating participation and advancement of women chemists and chemical engineers)
* Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences

4.  Which gifts are eligible?
Contributions from individuals, foundations, companies, or non-governmental organizations are eligible.  Typically contributions are in the form of cash or gifts of stock.  Some in-kind donations may be considered for the MGF Program. 

5.  May the gift be in the form of a pledge and are there any pledge guidelines?
Gifts may be paid over a three-year period, 2004-2006.   The donor's pledge documentation must clearly indicate the program for which the gift is designated, duration of pledge, first payment date and pledge amount.  (See back of this page for sample wording)

6.  How can a Local Section apply for ACS Matching Funds?
Requests for matching funds, along with a copy of the check and letter from the donor clearly stating the gift designation (i.e. Program and Local Section), should be forwarded to the ACS Treasurer's Office.  The same process applies for a pledge. A check for the corresponding match will be sent to the Local Section upon receipt of evidence at ACS Headquarters.

7.  How can a Local Section get more information about the MGF?
Contact:  Mary Bet Dobson, Senior Development Associate, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036   Ph:  202-872-4094 or  e-mail:  M_Dobson@acs.org

  
Matching Gift Fund FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why is the American Chemical Society's Matching Gift Fund needed?
The Society is uniquely positioned in the scientific community to provide innovative leadership in education, government, international relations, and public outreach. No other professional organization has the mechanisms in place or the membership savvy to coordinate and implement creative programming to advance chemical science in a challenging new century. Despite its sound financial position, the ACS has budgetary limitations. Each year hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and contributions help support the Society's programs. To meet current and future needs, our funds must be put to work in the most effective way. We can do this best with your involvement and partnership.

I raise funds for my local section.  What is important for me to know?
One of your responsibilities as a fundraiser is to ensure that the donor's gift is used for its intent.  You can help by guiding your donor to include the intent and the following information in a letter that accompanies the gift.  With this information, the ACS is able to determine whether a gift is eligible for a match and whether the gift has been designated for a Local Section.  Here's a sample statement of intent from a donor:

"This letter confirms XXX Corporation's continued support to the XXX Local Section of the American Chemical Society.  It is our intention that this donation be earmarked for 2004 activities for XXX Program."

What needs to be stated in the donor's gift pledge?
The pledge letter should include the pledge intent or program and Local Section designation, the pledge amount, the period over which it will be pledged, and the timing of first payment.  The donor may also include any preferred pledge reminder schedule dates.

"XXX Company pledges $75,000 over three years to the 2004 XXX Program for the ACS Local Section in XXX. The payments will be made annually with the first payment of $25,000 in August 2004. "

Who is responsible for thanking the donor?
The Local Section is responsible for issuing the initial thank you to the donor.  ACS recommends that donors be recognized when appropriate during special events, in program literature, and promotions.  The ACS Treasurer's office will send an additional thank you to all donors whose gifts qualify for the Matching Gift Fund immediately upon receipt of gift evidence.

When will this matching gift program end?
The funding authorized by the ACS Board is for 2004 only.  Gifts and pledges will be matched per the program stipulations throughout the year or until the Fund has been committed in its entirety, whichever comes first.

When will gifts be used?
For programs that can use a minimum of $4,500 (the minimum gift and a match) at any time throughout the year, gifts may be used immediately. Some programs, like Teacher Training, must have funds committed at least 6-12 months ahead.

How will gifts be recognized?
All donors who contribute $3,000 or more will be listed in the ACS Annual Report, which is distributed to members and academic, business, and government leaders. In some cases, contributions will be recognized in written communications about the program, including press releases and informational brochures. Many programs offer sponsorship and/or name recognition opportunities. Please request additional information on a program of interest.

STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES DIVISION...
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NEW FROM CAREER SERVICES

Begin 2004 with a new online service to enhance your career. Explore Advanced Career Tools (ACT)! These career tools include a free searchable database of nearly 300 articles on topics such as resume writing, interviewing, legal issues, stock, salary negotiations, and more.

You can also take advantage of personal career coaching that will provide one-on-one assistance in areas such as learning to succeed in performance reviews, developing skills in negotiating salary, and obtaining a detailed analysis of your behavioral style.  This component of ACT, while a cost item, is discounted for ACS members at below-market rates. Visit http://chemistry.org/careers to use ACT.

Chemists Celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 2004
What do you know about H₂O?

Members of the American Chemical Society's Committee on Community Activities invite you to participate in Chemists Celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 2004. The program is a joint effort between the ACS Committee on Community Activities, the Committee on Environmental Improvement, and the Green Chemistry Institute.  Chemists Celebrate Earth Day provides volunteers with an opportunity to showcase chemistry's contributions to sustaining a healthy planet and environment as part of the annual Earth Day celebration. 

The 2004 theme for Chemists Celebrate Earth Day is "What do you know about H2O?" As part of the celebration, the American Chemical Society is sponsoring a music video competition for students in grades K-12.  The contest encourages students to produce a music video best illustrating the theme "What Do You Know About H20?"   As the unifying event, local sections are asked to participate in "Testing Rain Water" an activity designed to measure the acidity of rainwater in area communities and to compare results online to national findings. The web activity is made available through ACS collaboration with members of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and the ACS East Central Illinois Section.  Hands-on activities, as well as a sample press release and templates, are available at http://chemistry.org/earthday.  For additional information, contact the ACS Office of Community Activities at 1-800-227-5558, ext. 6078. 

ACS Local Section Officers Digest Monday, November 24 2003 Volume 02 : Number 262
Topics in this digest are:  CHEMISTRY RESOURCES ON THE WEB
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 21:59:39 -0500
From: leslie.mcquire@pharma.novartis.com
Subject: Chemistry Resources on the web

Dear all,

Here are a number of interesting web sites related to chemistry.  Most contain jokes and songs.

http://www.fit.edu/AcadRes/chemistry/kwinkel/lyrics/frames.html
http://skynet.oir.ucf.edu/~mschell/Chemistry/
http://www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/
http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/Links/links.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jcdverha/scijokes/
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jcdverha/scijokes/3_1.html
http://www.heptune.com/chemtale.html
http://www.heptune.com/geosong.html
http://www.chemplace.com/
http://www.superdeluxe.com/elemental/
and of course two of my favorites njacs.org and marmacs.org.

Hopefully the listserve and your e-mail system will not garble these too much.  If they do feel free to e-mail me directly for a copy.   Let me know if these are useful.

Why not share your favorite chemistry sites.

Best regards,
Les McQuire

North Jersey Section ACS (njacs.org)
Co-Program Chair MARM 2005 (marmacs.org)
Member of the ACS Local Section Activities Committee (LSAC)

End of ACS Local Section Officers Digest V2 #262

************************************************

ACS Local Section Officers Digest Tuesday, November 25 2003 Volume 02: Number 263
Topics in this digest are:  PARTNERSHIPS!
Re: ACS Local Section Officers Digest V2 #262

Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 08:31:10 -0600
From: "Victoria Finkenstadt" <FINKENVL@ncaur.usda.gov>
Subject: Partnerships!

Tired of the old dinner & speaker? Are you looking to expand your programming?  Try partnering with another organization!  Look for a local section of the AIChE - American Institute of Chemical Engineers - in your area (http://www.aiche.org/).

Try the American Oil Chemists' Society (http://www.aocs.org/).

How about a local or state-wide Academy of Science?  example: http://www.il-st-acad-sci.org/

Museums? Universities? Geology Rock Hounds? Audubon Society? Sierra Club? Zoos? Conservation groups? Parks & Recreation Departments? All have regularly scheduled activities that YOUR members can visit as an official (or unofficial) event of your Section.

These organizations also have local chapters and technical divisions:

American Association for Clinical Chemistry   http://www.aacc.org/
American Association of Cereal Chemists   http://www.aaccnet.org/
Society of Petroleum Engineers    http://www.spe.org/
Society of Plastic Engineers http://www.4spe.org/

Expand your World!

Vicki
Peoria ACS
http://membership.acs.org/p/peoria

WCC OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AWARD FOR WOMEN UNDERGRADUATES

The Overcoming Challenges Award acknowledges the efforts of women undergraduates who have overcome economic, personal and/or academic hardships in pursuit of an education in the chemical sciences.  The award consists of a plaque, a $250 honorarium, and $1,000 for travel expenses to the ACS Fall National Meeting where the award is presented.

Award candidates must be women matriculating as an undergraduate chemical science major/minor in a two-year program or at a four-year school not granting a doctoral degree in chemical related disciplines.  Nominations are due May 1, 2004, and should be sent to: Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.  For additional information, contact the WCC at wcc@acs.org. or visit http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC.

You are encouraged to apply and/or nominate deserving women for the WCC Overcoming Challenges Award. 

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AWARD RECIPIENTS

The 2001 Overcoming Challenges Award went deservingly to Ele Lozares, chemistry major at El Camino College in Torrance, California.  Ele is a soft-spoken charming young woman who discovered a love of science amongst her own homelessness and drug addiction.  Ele was turned on to chemistry while participating as a research subject for substance abuse treatments.  Within 3 and a half years, Ele was drug-free and transformed failing grades to the Dean's List at El Camino College.  She was actively involved in undergraduate research in chemistry and worked as a teacher assistant in 1st year organic chemistry at El Camino.  Ele will transfer to UCLA in Fall 2001 as a junior neuroscience major with intent to also work towards a B.S. in biochemistry.  At UCLA, she joins a neurobiology/physiology lab to study the cellular basis of learning and memory using the sea slug, Apylsia Californica, as her undergraduate research.  Ele has an avid interest in neural chemistry and behavior, and plans to pursue a medical degree followed by research and practicing medicine in neurology.

In regards to receiving the Overcoming Challenges Award, Ele comments,  "...it's so rewarding to be recognized for my accomplishments thus far.  This award makes me realize that I can succeed despite where I've come from.  I'm simply elated to have been given this honor."  Congratulations Ele!  You're an inspiration to all of us. 

Overcoming Challenges Award Recipients

The inaugural Overcoming Challenges Award was presented in year 2000 to Virginia Hanson, chemistry major at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.  Virginia is remarkable, overcoming challenges of homelessness, drug abuse, sexual violation, and spousal abandonment, all to remain positive about the world around her.  Virginia's determination and perseverance has allowed her an AA degree with high honors from Florida Community College in 1998, a 1998-99 Presidential Research Scholarship in organic chemistry at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, and currently honor studies at the University of North Florida.  In addition, Virginia has always managed to work either part-time or full-time while maintaining academic classes and research.  Virginia shares that the proverbial "light bulb" went off for her during a general chemistry class when an instructor made the subject real and exciting.  She knew then that chemistry was what she wanted to do with her life.  Her undergraduate research has since spanned from work in organic synthesis to trace analysis of soils.

Virginia is currently finishing up a bachelors of science degree in chemistry and plans to pursue Ph.D. studies in analytical chemistry upon graduation.  Virginia states that winning the WCC Overcoming Challenges Award [is] "undoubtedly a great honor as well as an affirmation of what many regard as a cliché: hard work, determination and perseverance can overcome any adversity."  Kudos Virginia!  Thanks for sharing your positive energy and inspiration for chemistry with us.

WCC OVERCOMING CHALLENGES AWARD FOR WOMEN UNDERGRADUATES

The Overcoming Challenges Award acknowledges the efforts of women undergraduates who have overcome economic, personal and/or academic hardships in pursuit of an education in the chemical sciences.  In year 2000, The Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) established the Overcoming Challenges Award in alignment with the committee's goals 1) to promote and recognize accomplishments of women scientists and 2) to increase participation of women in chemical related disciplines.  The award currently consists of a plaque, a $250 honorarium, and up to $1,000 travel expenses to the Fall ACS National Meeting.  While at the Fall ACS meeting, award recipients are recognized and presented the award at the WCC Luncheon held on Tuesday afternoon.

Award candidates must be women matriculating as an undergraduate chemical science major/minor in a two-year program or at a 4-year school not granting a doctoral degree in chemical related disciplines. The WCC Recognizing and Promotion subcommittee administers the Overcoming Challenges Award with nominations due by May 1st of each year.  Nominations require a letter of request with description of challenges faced by the nominee, one letter of recommendation, and current school transcripts.  Award candidates must demonstrate triumph over hardships while pursuing their education and will be evaluated for improvement, initiative, successes, and grades from the most recent 2 semesters. 

Nominations for the WCC Overcoming Challenges Award should be sent to the Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036.  For additional information, contact the WCC at wcc@acs.org. or visit http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC.

You are encouraged to apply and/or nominate deserving women for the WCC Overcoming Challenges Award.

2004 ACS REGIONAL MEETINGS

The Office of Regional Meetings (ORM) has released its schedule for 2004.  Please visit the ORM website to link with the individual meetings for more details at www.acs.org/meetings/regional.

Abstracts and registration are now open for the Central and Northwest/Rocky Mountain meetings, but the deadlines for both are rapidly approaching.

36th Central Regional Meeting (CRM 2004)
June 2-5, Indiana-Purdue Univ. Indianapolis, IN

59th Northwest/18th Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting (NORM/RMRM 2004)
June 6 - 9, Utah State Univ., Logan, UT

60th Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM 2004)
Sept. 29-Oct. 2, Fort Worth, TX

36th Great Lakes Regional Meeting (GLRM 2004)
Oct. 17-20, Hotel Père Marquette, Peoria, IL

39th Midwest Regional Meeting (MWRM 2004)
Oct. 19-22, Kansas State Univ, Manhattan, KS

40th Western Regional Meeting (WERM 2004)
Oct. 27-30, Doubletree Hotel, Sacramento, CA

33rd Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM 2004)
Oct.31- Nov. 3, Hyatt Regency, Rochester, NY

56th Southeast (SERMACS 2004)
Nov. 10-13, Raleigh/Durham, NC

ACS NEGOTIATES DISCOUNTS ON AIR AND AUTO TRAVEL TO ALL ACS MEETINGS

Fly or drive, the American Chemical Society has the discounts to get you there, from topflight airlines to the best auto rental companies. ACS has negotiated special fares for the 2004 ACS meetings-national, regional, ProSpectives, and Local Section Conferences. 
 All three airlines in the program offer:
* Discount rates that extend from 5 to 7 days before and after each meeting
* No Saturday night stay required
* 5% off lowest applicable published domestic fares
* 10% off unrestricted coach fares
* Additional 5% discount on aforementioned fares booked 60 days in advance (30 days for United)

Delta--(800) 241-6760, 8 am to 11 pm ESTREET Refer to File Number: 202142A
United--(800) 521-4041, 8 am to 10 pm ESTREET Refer to Meeting Plus Code 517SM
US Airways--(877) 874-7687, 8 am to 9 pm ESTREET Refer to Gold File Number:  97692959

AUTO RENTALS:  ACS has negotiated special meeting rates with both Avis and Hertz for the 2004 ACS Meeting Travel Program.  Both extend the discounts to a week before and the week after the meeting  you attend.  To make your reservation, or for more information, call:

Avis--(800) 331-1600; online at http://www.avis.com/.  Refer to ID Code: B120799
Hertz--(800) 654-2240; online at http://www.hertz.com/. Refer to ID Code: CV# 02UZ0004

CAS LAUNCHES NEW STN EXPRESS VERSION FOR BETTER ANALYSIS

New features in STN Express with Discover! Analysis Edition (version 7.0) help information professionals see the "big picture" when they search and retrieve information from the world's scientific and technical literature and patents.  Along with the new 2-Dimensional Analyze Wizard, this new version also introduces tools for chemical structure analysis and assistance in query development with the CA Lexicon.  CAS announced the new version is now available for purchase.

"With STN Express Analysis Edition, we have made a significant advance in the information professional's ability to gain not just information but insight from search results," said CAS Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Suzan A. Brown. "These analysis and visualization tools bring structure to the vast amount of information drawn from scientific literature and patent records in STN files."

"New capabilities in STN Express have been driven by the professional searcher's need for more productivity and meaningful analysis," said Robert L. Swann, CAS Vice President, Information Technology. "Combining our database content with the latest technology, we have integrated STN Express with the widely used Microsoft(r) Excel program to deliver a set of tools searchers will find easy to use and responsive to their needs."  Among many other new features are the following:

* a 2-Dimensional Analyze Wizard, to easily analyze and tabulate data, then automatically create charts and graphs in Microsoft(r) Excel;

* the unique Variable Group Analysis Table, to identify the common substructure for an answer set of substances identified in the CAS RegistrySM with variable R-group locations identified and variable R-groups listed in a table;

* and assistance for query development via an interface to the CA Lexicon, a tool for developing search strategies based on the effective use of CA indexing terms.

More information can be found on the web at http://www.cas.org/ONLINE/STN/discover.html.

STN Express is the most popular tool for searching the wealth of databases on the scientific and technical information network, STN International.  STN is the premier online service for science and technology, offering a collection of more than 200 databases.  The service is provided jointly through a North American service center, operated by CAS in Columbus, Ohio; a European service center, operated by FIZ Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany; and a Japanese service center, operated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency in Tokyo.

For more information, call CAS at 1-800-753-4227 or send email to help@cas.org

THIS MONTH IN CHEMICAL HISTORY
Harold Goldwhite, California State University, Los Angeles    hgoldwh@calstatela.edu
Prepared for SCALACS, the Journal of the Southern California, Orange County, and San Gorgonio Sections of the American Chemical Society

My last two columns were devoted to an analysis of the contents of an early twentieth century inorganic chemistry textbook that I recently acquired at a local flea market. At the same time I also purchased a physics text of the same period, and it is instructive to look at its contents in our pursuit of the science curriculum of the period. The book is "A First Course in Physics" by Robert Andrews Millikan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics in the University of Chicago, and Henry Gordon Gale Ph.D., Instructor in Physics in the University of Chicago. It was published by Ginn and Company in 1906 and is generously illustrated.

The senior author, Robert Millikan, is, of course, one of the giants of twentieth century science. His definitive work on the charge on the electron earned him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1923.  By that time he had moved from Chicago to Pasadena and had become the President of the California Institute of Technology. Henry Gordon Gale also had a distinguished career in physics. He remained at Chicago becoming a Full Professor in 1916. He served as Department Chair and Division Dean. His work was principally in astrophysics and he published many articles and books in that subject.

It is fitting for a column on science history to note that the frontispiece in the Millikan and Gale text is a portrait of Galileo. Indeed the whole text is imbued with a sense of the history of physics. It was published along with a companion laboratory manual (I haven't been fortunate enough to find a copy of that yet) and was intended for use in "the elementary work in physics in the University of Chicago, particularly in the University High School of the School of Education and the affiliated secondary schools." The contents of the approximately 500 pages are wide ranging covering virtually all fields of beginning physics. There are some wonderful trivia along the way. For example in an opening section on measurement we learn that "the mean length of the male foot in the United States, according to measurements made upon 16,000 men in the United States army, is 10.05 inches."

An interesting feature of this text is the very large number of descriptions of the application of principles of physics to everyday phenomena and useful appliances. For example the chapter on gas pressure discusses ballooning, mentioning the exploits of the daring English astronauts Glasier and Coxwell who, in 1862, ascended to a height of some 7 miles where the barometric pressure is about 0.25 atm. and the air temperature about -60oF. It also describes the siphon, the air pump, the force pump, the lift pump, the Cartesian Diver, the diving bell, and the gas meter. The section on heat engines discusses in some detail the steam engine, the steam turbine, and the large, stationary gas engine. The automobile engine (still something of a novelty) gets only a brief mention. But we do learn that the largest steam ship so far, the 30,000 ton Cunard liner Carmania, is driven by three steam turbines with a total of 1,250.000 blades. Refrigeration at this period seems to be limited to the manufacture of ice and the cooling of cold-storage rooms and factories. The only refrigerant gas mentioned is ammonia; beware of leaks.

In contrast to the chemistry text I discussed recently, where complete ionization is only one possible explanation of electrolyte behavior, Millikan and Gale state forthrightly, in a chapter including the chemical effects of the electric current, their acceptance of this view: "In accordance with the theory now in vogue among physicists and chemists, when hydrochloric acid is mixed with water to form a dilute solution, the HCl molecules split up into two electrically charged parts, called ions, the hydrogen ion carrying a positive charge and the chlorine ion an equal negative charge. The phenomenon is known as dissociation."

Gale's interest in astrophysics is apparent in the section on Doppler's principle applied to light waves: "....some stars are moving through space toward the solar system with a velocity of 150 mi. per second while others are moving away with almost equal velocities." And perhaps Millikan's enthusiasms are indicated in sections on cathode ray particles, new theories of the constitution of matter, and radioactivity. I will close with a quotation from the final paragraph of this text. "The most vitally interesting question which the physics of the future has to face is, Is it possible for man to gain control of this tremendous store of subatomic energy and to use it for his own ends? " Thirty-nine years later one answer was given to this question at Hiroshima.

Thoughts to Ponder.....

One cannot lead without putting others first.

Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
    --Margot Fonteyn, Dancer

If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it, I guess it's pretty nearly bound to happen, wind and weather permitting.
    --Laura Ingalls Wilder, writer

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
    --James A. Michener

Life is change.  Growth is optional.  Choose wisely.
    --Karen Kaiser Clark

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.
    --Wayne Lukas

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.
    --Robert Anthony

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
    --Will Rogers