Dr. Vikram Vyas

International Centre for Theoretical Physics

Trieste, Italy

and

The Ajit Foundation

Jaipur, India

28 June 2000

 

 

Marc Brodsky (via e-mail)

CEO and Executive Director

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse

College Park, Maryland 20740

 

Daniel Kleppner, Chair

Physics Today Advisory Committee

Department of Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA 02139

 

Dear Dr. Marc Brodsky and Prof. Daniel Kleppner,

 

Recently a friend informed me of the firing of Jeff Schmidt.  After reading the relevant material available to me I strongly feel that this act goes against everything that we as physicists stand for.

 

It reminded me of physicist Richard Feynman's Caltech commencement address of 1974:

 

"So I have just one wish for you — the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity.  May you have that freedom."

 

I do appeal to you that Jeff, too, may have the freedom that Feynman wished for all of us.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Vikram Vyas