Members in the Media

“I never hit home runs. I just aim for good line drives.”
Robert J. Soulen Jr., describing playing softball while suffering from Parkinson’s disease, The Washington Post, June 29, 2010.

“We once led the world in the development of nuclear power. We lead no more. We once led in the development of solar cells. We lead no more. We once led in the development of wind energy. We lead no more. Our present course will likely lead to the U.S. being one of the world’s biggest consumers of advanced energy systems rather than one of its major producers.”
Burton Richter, SLAC, on the need to spur development in clean energy technologies, NewYorkTimes.com, June 28, 2010.

“[I]t would be quite revolutionary. It would mean that we know a lot less than we thought we knew…If it is a fundamental problem, we don’t know what the consequences are yet.”
Peter J. Mohr, NIST, on research by an international team of physicists that found a 4 percent discrepancy between the predicted and measured radius of a proton, The Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2010.

“These folks have been working on this experiment a very long time, and they expected to measure a number which was in agreement with previous measurements, the proton size. And instead, they were very surprised to find strong disagreement.”
Brian Odom, Northwestern University, NPR, July 16, 2010.

“I just consider it my equivalent of ... vegging out in front of the TV.”
Steven Chu, Department of Energy, on writing scientific papers as a way to relax, The Associated Press, July 7, 2010.

“It’s been a remarkable mission of discovery…It’s just wonderful that the Voyagers are still revealing things from so far away that before now we really couldn’t know existed.”
Edward C. Stone, Caltech, The San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2010.


“Accordingly, our own universe may be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe.”
Nikodem Poplawski, University of Indiana, USA Today, July 14, 2010.

“What Josh has done is create a system that is absolutely secure, where you can be sure based on the most well understood laws of physics that no one has intercepted the message.”
William Phillips, NIST, on researcher Joshua Bienfang’s advancement in quantum cryptography, The Washington Post, July 12, 2010.

“Some people have said it can’t be right, others that it’s right and we already knew it–that it’s right and profound, right and trivial…What you have to say is that it has inspired a lot of interesting discussions. It’s just a very interesting collection of ideas that touch on things we most profoundly do not understand about our universe. That’s why I liked it.”
Andrew Strominger, Harvard, on researcher Erik Verlinde’s paper stating gravity is a product of thermodynamics, The New York Times, July 12, 2010

“We could be entering the final chapter in this tragedy. For the first time in 87 days we actually have a hold on what to do and perhaps maybe able to choke and cap this leak. It is a light at the end of the tunnel. … Look at the big picture– for the first time we know what we’re doing. We were floundering for almost three months because it’s a science experiment in action.”
Michio Kaku, CCNY, on the cap placed on top of the leaking oil pipe in the Gulf, CNN, July 15, 2010.

“It’s nature’s weapon of mass reproduction.”
Dwight L. Whitaker, Pomona College, on how sphagnum launches its spores at high speeds, The New York Times, July 26, 2010.

“If we are going to build an ambitious machine, then it’s got to be a global machine.”
Barry Barish, Caltech, on the proposed International Linear Collider, MSNBC.com, July 26, 2010.

“I think the agency prefers, and those of us who serve to advise the agency prefer, that NASA have a role in defining the science and mission requirements, and not serving as just a trucking service.”
Jack Burns, University of Colorado Boulder, The Boston Globe, August 2, 2010.

“I don’t like cell phones and I don’t like writing about cell phones, but the damned issue just won’t go away.”
Robert Park, University of Maryland, on whether cell phones cause cancer, Time Magazine, August 5, 2010.