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People: American Institute Of Physics Appoints Retiring IBM Executive As Director And CEO, Former DOE Genome Project Director To Oversee Biotech Launch

Author: Ron Kaufman, p.21 Marc H. Brodsky says that when he takes over as the director and chief executive officer of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) on November 1, one important goal of his will be to establish a positive public perception of physics. "We must begin to give the public some understanding of what physics is and what physicists do," says Brodsky, 54, a researcher in amorphous semiconductors who has been working at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center since 196

Written byRon Kaufman
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Author: Ron Kaufman, p.21

Marc H. Brodsky says that when he takes over as the director and chief executive officer of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) on November 1, one important goal of his will be to establish a positive public perception of physics.

"We must begin to give the public some understanding of what physics is and what physicists do," says Brodsky, 54, a researcher in amorphous semiconductors who has been working at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center since 1968.

"My favorite wording of the problem is the joke: `The best way to stop a conversation dead at a cocktail party is to tell somebody you're a physicist,' " he says. "That conveys an image. If you say you're a chemist, [laypeople] picture test tubes and Bunsen burners. If you say you're a biologist, perhaps they think of someone looking in ...

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