Stephen A. Davis

Graduate Student in Applied Physics

Appalachian State University

27 August 2001

Marc H. Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

Mr. Brodsky,

I am a graduate student in applied physics I am appalled at the AIP's action against Mr. Schmidt. As a physicist I pride myself in being in a profession that by it's very nature praises new viewpoints and ideas regardless of how I feel about them personally. This includes scientific as well as social dogma. I have always held the AIP, and Physics Today in particular, in the highest regard and fairly immune to this type of nonsense. As the number of physics undergraduate and graduate students continues to decline, the AIP will, in the future, become increasingly dependent upon the support of a shrinking and younger force of professional physicists. I think I can speak for this group of young physicists in saying that we have little tolerance for this type of censorship. As for myself, my confidence in Physics Today has been greatly diminished, and without a reasonable explanation I think that in the future I will decline to subscribe and I will encourage my colleagues to do the same. This is truly unscientific behavior.

Stephen A. Davis