Repercussions Author: Peter Gwynne London-based pharmaceutical giant Glaxo plc's $14.1 billion acquisition in March of the Wellcome Foundation, another London drug power, is expected to have long-term repercussions--some good and some bad--for many scientists around the world. Researchers at the newly formed pharmaceutical firm--named Glaxo Wellcome plc, with facilities in Europe and the United States--face the prospect of layoffs in coming months, according to analysts. Some R&D personnel cu

When Roland W. Schmitt retired from his job as a senior vice president of General Electric Co. and director of GE’S Research and Development Center on January 31, he had little time to spend in leisure activities. On March 1, the 64-year-old physicist became the 16th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY He takes over an academic institution that is unique in its links with industry RPI has centers dedicated to interactive computer graphics, manufacturing productivit

For cancer researcher and medical historian Baruch S. Blumberg, communication is central element in the scientific enterprise This month, many Americans will see him in that role when public television station across the country broadcast "Plagues." A host of the one-hour program, Blumberg traces the origins of several deadly epidemics: malaria, which may have contributed to as many as half of all human deaths to date the 1849 outbreak of cholera in London; the 1918 Spanish flu; and Legionnair

BOSTON—State science academies, which traditionally ply the backwaters of the scientific world, can actually play vital roles in public debates that involve science and technology, according to an environmental policy specialist. The North Carolina Academy of Sciences (NCAS) has shown the way by playing an active role in setting standards for hazardous waste landfills and designing a state regulatory approach to toxic air pollutants, reported Richard N.L. Andrews, director of the Univ

Analytical chemists trekking to New Orleans for this month’s Pittsburgh conference might be forgiven a certain amount of hubris. Their services are in demand, by industry and academia, as never before. “I think it’s the tightest area in chemistry, with the possible exception of polymer chemistry,” declares Ted Logan, Manager of Ph.D. recruiting at Procter & Gamble Co. Actually, the U.S. supply of Ph.D.s in analytical chemistry is rising. The compound growth rate of 6.7

PHILADELPHIA—Nobel prizes in science normally recognize research of extraordinary excellence, as judged by literature citations to it and awards that have accumulated over a period of years. This year, however, the Nobel committee awarded the physics prize for recent research that illuminated the physical science community with the brilliance of a supernova. New physics laureates J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Milller, of IBM’s Zurich Research Labora tory, published their seminal pap

Q: How healthy is U.S. science? GOLDBEGER: I think U.S. science is quite healthy in most of the forefront areas. In biology, it seems to be extremely strong. In condensed matter physics and related device physics, it’s very strong. In astronomy, astrophysics, there’s little question that the United States is the unchallenged world leader. In elementary particle physics and high energy physics, we have sort of a bifurcated situation. On the theoretical side, the United States is pro

WASHINGTON—As it starts a year-long celebration of its 50th birthday with a gala annual meeting in Boston this week, the American Society for Information Science faces a couple of paradoxes that together constitute an identity crisis. While the information industry is growing rapidly, the membership of ASIS is not. The society’s diversity, attested to by a membership drawn from a wide swath of academia, industry and government, has the disadvantage of diffusing its professional

One of the most eminent and controversial scientists of this century, nuclear physicist Edward Teller is perhaps best known for his role in the development of nuclear weapons at Los Alamos National Laboratory during World War II. Often called the “father of the hydrogen bomb,” he also played a controversial role in the loss of security clearance by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the former director of Los Alamos. More recently Teller has been an outspohen advocate of defensive weap- ons, in

William R. Graham has directed the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since Oct. 1, when the US. Senate approved his nomination to succeed George A. Keyworth II. Graham, whose background is largely in classified military systems research, had been serving as acting administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration when President Reagan named him science adviser. A strong supporter of Reagan's 1980 presidential bid, Graham advised him on defense policy issues bot

CRYSTAL CITY, VA.—The American Physical Society's report on the science and technology of directed energy weapons, released here at the society's spring meeting last month, is a scientific document with inescapable implications for defense policy. Its reception indicates that every action connected with such a report can be, and almost inevitably is, interpreted in a political light. Specifically, the report suggests that several of the fundamental assumptions of the Strategic Defense Ini

DENVER—Improved management of technology in general, and of R&D in particular, is the key to U.S. progress in the competitive '80s, according to participants in two sessions at the American Chemical Society meeting here last month. And meeting vigorous overseas competition demands effective financial cooperation between government and industry. Of the many actions required to respond to the challenge from abroad, asserted William Norris, chairman emeritus of Control Data Corporation, "non