Peter D. Noerdlinger

Fellow, American Physical Society

Senior Scientist

Raytheon Corporation

24 August 2001

Marc H. Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

My Dear Mr. Brodsky:

I most strongly object to your spending my dues to pay Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzer and Krupman to pursue your defense of a lawsuit. I expect my dues to go toward furthering the future of physics and the dissemination of knowledge about physicists and physics, and to enhance their intercommunication. If you persist in mis-spending from the APS budget you may face more lawsuits on that — I'd be glad to join one.

I also object to any racial/ethnic imbalance in your office(s) and urge you to remedy such if any.

Your actions appear to have, with little pretext, damaged Mr. Jeff Schmidt. If it goes any farther you will damage the reputation of physicists and perhaps of physics. You may not be old enough to remember the Velikovsky affair. I do. You may see some of the correspondence at:

http://www.varchive.org/cor/1950.htm

The key entry is perhaps this one:

http://www.varchive.org/cor/affair/500118shamac.htm

wherein Shapley tried to prevent Macmillan from publishing Velikovsky's work. Correct or wrong, Mr. Schmidt has a right to publish!

Dr. Shapley not only failed to suppress Velikovsky's work (which I of course regard as preposterous, but, nevertheless, not to be suppressed) but added to the publicity for it! Worlds in Collision, Ages in Chaos — and the world of science — physics and astronomy — made to look like a sort of cosmic Mafia by suppressing something that would eventually fall of its own weight anyway! Ages in Chaos became Scientists in Chaos.

The press will surely pick up on this Schmidt item if you do not yield soon; it may already be too late.

You are making bumbling despots of yourself, of Physics Today, and, by implication, your institute and American Physical Society membership by your actions.

Yours truly,

Peter D. Noerdlinger

(Opinions are my own; my affiliation is given for identification purposes only.)