Members in the Media

“Pre-blog, this sort of rumor would have circulated among perhaps a few dozen physicists. Now with blogs even string theorists who can’t spell Higgs became immediately aware of inside information about D Zero data.”
Joe Lykken, Fermilab, on rumors that the Higgs had been detected at Fermilab, The New York Times, July 24, 2007

“Baseball actually isn’t doing too bad a job compared to other leagues. Probably the worst is the National Football League with only 16 games in a season.”
Eli Ben-Naim, Los Alamos National Lab, on his statistical study that found that the best baseball team does not always finish first in the league, USA Today, July 30, 2007

“If you talk to many scientists, their first exposure to science may be watching a cartoon or seeing a far-out science-fiction movie. I know there are many scientists who enjoy The Simpsons.”
Paul Halpern, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, who has written a book on science and The Simpsons, USA Today, August 13, 2007

“I think there are a lot of women in physics—and there really aren’t that many women in physics—who sort of don’t really know how they should dress. You want to just blend in. On the other hand, you’re never going to blend in. The great thing about getting older is you don’t have to care.”
Lisa Randall, Harvard, Vogue, August 2007

“If anything gives way anywhere in the structure the structure can’t hold itself up.”
Erik Hendrickson, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, on the Minnesota bridge collapse, WEAU News, August 2, 2007

“You’re older, with crazy white hair. You’re a physicist.”
Brian Jones, Colorado State University, on fitting the “Einstein stereotype,” News and Record, (Greensboro, NC) July 31, 2007

“It used to be if you wanted to make a mechanical change in your golf swing, it could take months to do that. But if you can hear what’s going on, you can change the sound space almost instantly.”
Robert Grober, Yale University, on developing a tool that uses sounds to help people improve their golf swing, The New York Times, August 6, 2007

“How can you not work to solve a problem when you have a solution in your back pocket, and you see somebody is under abysmally harsh conditions, suffering agony?”
Ashok Gadgil, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, on a wood-fired stove he developed for refugees in Darfur that is much more efficient than the wood fires they usually cook over, Reuters, August 7, 2007

“It’s a real New York fuel. It uses what we have here.”
Stephen Paul, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, on his process for turning trash into fuel, New York Sun, August 14, 2007

“It may be wise at first to do a less expensive project that still does very good physics.”
Abraham Seiden, UC Santa Cruz, on the proposed “Project X” at Fermilab, Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2007

“This experiment is a giant step forward in sensitivity. Whenever you get big step forwards in technology, that’s when you can make a discovery.” 
Robert Svoboda, University of California, Davis, on a planned experiment to detect dark matter in the proposed deep underground lab, Sacramento Bee, August 13, 2007

“Math, with its inner consistency and beauty, is very much like music. There’s an inner harmony, just something very beautiful.”
Leonard Parker, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 18, 2007