Thomas L. Gilbert

Senior Physicist, Retired

Argonne National Laboratory

25 August 2001

 

 

Marc Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

 

Dear Dr. Brodsky:

 

I have just read the email, sent on August 23, by Rahman, Reiter, and Lee.  I have not heard the management side of the argument, and have no way of checking the accuracy and fairness of the charges, but they ring true and are sufficiently serious that this matter needs to be aired fully, with full disclosure and presentation of the arguments from both sides.  If what the authors claim is even partly true, it is clear that changes in the attitude of those responsible for the policies and management of Physics Today, and possibly some of the management staff for their poor judgment and unacceptable actions, are needed.  It appears to me that the AIP has become a typical bureaucracy that has lost the spirit and attitude of the physics community as I knew it when I first became a member in the 1940s.  I regret this very much, and hope that the new generation of physicists can help recover it.

 

Sincerely,

 

Thomas L. Gilbert