Margaret P. Dobbins, PhD

Sociologist and Artist

Atlanta, Georgia

24 August 2001

Marc H. Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

Dear Professor Brodsky,

It has come to my attention that Jeff Schmidt has been fired because of his book Disciplined Minds.

Whatever the reason given, physicists must defend him and see that this decision is reversed. It is healthy for all the sciences, healthy for humans at this stage in history, that the proletarianization of the highest skilled employees be acknowledged as an observable phenomenon, most particularly in the USA where value added per minute is tracked and tallied for IBM MBAs, Wall Street attorneys, and HMO MDs etc. etc. etc. as we once believed possible only for assembly-line workers.

As our most respected scientific workers, physicists must set an example for the rest of us who confuse education with class, and who because of our education are forced to answer "which side are you on" thousands of times a week, if not a day. This is one such occasion. Are you on the side of those who when in a position to exploit others, do so; or are you on the side of the exploited?

Margaret P. Dobbins