Editor's Corner

By Michael Riordan

With this issue, we begin two important changes in the “History of Physics” newsletter. First, as approved by the Forum Executive Committee during its April meeting in St. Louis, the newsletter will be mailed to all members in a print version once per year, generally in the fall. The spring edition will be available only via the Internet and Web. The principal reason for this decision is cost. We save over $6,000 per year, which can be better spent for other Forum activities. And with the Internet and Web accessible to almost all our members, those who really need or want a print version (for whatever reason) can easily download and print their own copy from our web site. Another option is to access the HTML version on the same site, which is being upgraded to improve its accessibility and ease of use.

We will still be printing a limited edition, however, mainly for distribution to libraries and history or physics departments that have requested such print copies. This will continue to help promote the newsletter’s availability to potential readers outside the Forum who may be interested in its contents. If any members would like to continue receiving paper copies, please contact me (mriordan@ucsc.edu), and I will include your name on this list.

Finally, as approved by the Executive Committee at the same meeting, we are adding Dwight E. (“Ed”) Neuenschwander as an Associate Editor of the newsletter, effective this issue. A faculty member at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, OK, he brings many years of experience to the task, having edited the magazines Radiations, the official publication of the physics honor society Sigma Pi Sigma, and The SPS Observer, the magazine of the AIP Society of Physics Students. Ed will be learning the ropes on the job, in preparation to replace me as Editor a year hence, with the fall 2009 issue. I suspect I’ll still be involved with the newsletter in one way or another, but he will then be in charge of its direction and publication.