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library

JUN ! 4 2011

Volume 97

HARVARD Number 1

UNIVERSITY Spring 2011

Journal of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Editor’s Comments J. Maffucci i

Instructions to Authors Hi

Affiliated Institutions Iv

Grains, Pulses, and Olives.. .Diet in Ancient Rome M. Brown 1

The Cosmic Microwave Background S. Howard. 25

Genders and International Collaborations L. FrehiH and K. Zippe! 49

Minutes; Science is Murder R. Hietala 71

Membership Application 83

ISSN 0043-0439

Issued Quarterly at Washington DC

Washington Academy of Sciences

Founded in 1898

Board of Managers

Elected Officers

President

Mark Holland

President Elect

Gerard Christman

Treasurer

Larry Millstein

Secretary

James Cole

Vice President, Administration

Lisa Frehill

Vice President, Membership

Sethanne Howard

Vice President, Junior Academy

Dick Davies

Vice President, Affiliated Societies

E. Eugene Williams

Members at Large

Denise Ingram

Terrell Erickson

Frank Haig, S.J.

Alianna Maren

Daryl Chubin

Michael Cohen

Past President: Kiki Ikossi

Affiliated Society Delegates:

Shown on back cover

Editor of the Journal

Jacqueline Maffucci

Associate Editor:

Sethanne Howard

Academy Office

Washington Academy of Sciences

6^" Floor

1200 New York Ave NW

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202/326-8975

The Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences

The Journal \s the official organ of the Academy.

It publishes articles on science policy, the history

of science, critical reviews, original science

research, proceedings of scholarly meetings of

its Affiliated Societies, and other items of interest

to its members. It is published quarterly. The last

issue of the year contains a directory of the

current membership of the Academy.

Subscription Rates

Members, fellows, and life members in good

standing receive the Journal free of charge.

Subscriptions are available on a calendar year

basis, payable in advance. Payment must be

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Single Copies (when available) $15.00

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Claims must be received within 65 days of

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Address changes should be sent promptly to

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contain both old and new addresses and zip

codes.

POSTMASTER:

Send address changes to WAS, 6*^ Floor,

1200 New York Ave. NW

Washington, DC. 20005

Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences (ISSN 0043-0439)

Published by the Washington Academy of

Sciences 202/326-8975

email: was@washacadsci.org

website: www.washacadsci.org

MCZ

^iRRARV i

Editor’s Comments

Having been editor for this Journal for over a year now, one thing that I

can’t get over is the diversity of topics that cross my desk. As a scientist

with a specific specialty field, I find that it’s often easy to take for granted

how ubiquitous science is. But it is exactly for this reason that I was first

attracted to science.

Recently I’ve been seeing more advertisements for citizen science

projects. I have to say that I love this idea. What better way to get the

public involved and interested in science by making it accessible and

asking for their participation?!?! This is particularly important to engage

the younger generations.

As the summer months approach, I challenge all of our members to try to

engage the public, and particularly younger students, in science and

research. This can be accomplished through informal talks, blog posts,

newspaper articles, mentoring programs, science fairs, and the list goes on.

If you are looking for some good citizen science projects, I recommend

referencing www.scienceforcitizens.net. This is a fairly comprehensive list

of research projects that are recruiting citizens to assist. This could be a

great way to engage students during their summer break.

I encourage you to get creative in engaging your students, family

members, friends, and neighbors. This is an opportunity to share the

passion that we all have for the science world.

This issue of the Journal is a great demonstration of the diverse nature of

scientific research. The first article. Grain, Pulses, and Olives: An Attempt

toward a Quantitative Approach to Diet in Ancient Rome, authored by

Madeline Brown, takes a comprehensive approach to determining the diets

of Romans in Ancient Antiquity. Ms. Brown conducted this research

during a ten week internship at the National Museum of Natural History

following her graduation from Brown University. Following this is an

article by Sethanne Howard exploring those ‘wrinkles in space time’

referred to as the Cosmic Microwave Background. The Cosmic Microwave

Background, Songs in the Universe explains CMB experiments and what

they tell us about how the universe came to be. Lisa Frehill and Kathrin

Zippel then present Gender and International Collaborations of Academic

Scientists and Engineers: Findings from the Survey of Doctorate

Recipients, 2006, where they focus on gender differences among doctoral

scientists and engineers when examining the extent to which they

collaborate internationally. Finally, we present the minutes from the WAS

Spring 2011

2"^ annual Science is Murder event, during which authors Lawrence

Goldstone, Ellen Crosby, Louis Bayard, and Dana Cameron talked about

their use of science and incorporation of research into their murder

mysteries.

Enjoy!

Jacqueline Maffucci, PhD

Editor, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Washington Academy of Sciences

Ill

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

1. Manuscripts should be in Word (Office 03/07) and not PDF.

2. They should be 6,000 words or fewer (exceptions may be made by

the Editor). If there are 7 or more graphics, reduce the number of

words.

3. Graphics (photographs, drawings, figures, tables) must be in

graytone only (no color accepted), and be easily resizable by the

editors to fit the Journal’s page size. Do not wrap text around the

graphics.

4. References (and bibliography, if included) may be in the format

generally acceptable for the disciplinary or professional field

represented by the manuscript. They must be accurate, complete,

and consistent in format throughout the paper.

5. Include both an e-mail address and a postal address for the author

(or primary author) including title and institutional affiliation if

any.

6. Papers are peer reviewed.

7. Send Manuscripts by e-mail as an attachment, or on a CD, to

Joumal'g^washacadsci.org or directly to the editor. Dr Jacqueline

Maffucci - jamaffucci^; gmail.com. Hard copy cannot be accepted.

Manuscripts can be accepted by any of the Board of Discipline

Editors.

Emanuela Appetiti - anthropology at eappetiti^f hotmail.com

Elizabeth Corona - systems science at elizabethcorona q gmail.com

Jim Eigenreider - science education at iim^g;deepwater.org

Terrell Erickson - environmental natural sciences at

teiTell.erickson 1 '^a^wdc. nsda.gov

Mark Holland - botany at maholland@salisbun .edu

Kiki Ikossi - engineering at ikossi@ieee.org

Carol Lacampagne - mathematics at clacampagne@earthlink.net

Raj Madhaven - engineering at rai.madhaven@nist.gov

Kent Miller - computer sciences at kent.l.miller@alumni.cmu.edu

Jean Mielczarek - physics and biology at mielczar@phvsics.gmu.edu

Robin Stombler - health at rstombler@auburnstrat.com

Alain Touwaide - history of medicine at atouwaide@ hotmail.com

Steve Tracton - atmospheric studies at straction@hotmail.com

Spring 201 1

AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

The National Institute For Standards and Technology

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

The John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress

Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Koshland Science Museum

American Registry of Pathology

Living Oceans Foundation

Washington Academy of Sciences

Grain, Pulses and Olives: An Attempt toward a

Quantitative Approach to Diet in Ancient Rome

1

Madeline Brown

Smithsonian Institution, NHRE Summer 2010 Intern

Forward

The paper that follows is the first article by Madeline Brown. In May

2010, she obtained a degree in Anthropology from Brown University and,

exactly two days later, she was at the National Museum of Natural History

of the Smithsonian Institution. With seventeen other college students, she

had been selected for a ten week NHRE Internship (Natural History

Research Experience Internship). Based on her major in Botany and

Ethnobotany, and her interest in Classical Culture (including a class on

Roman food), Madeline Brown was directed to my unit, which specializes

in the study of medicine, botany, and medicinal plants in the

Mediterranean world from the most remote antiquity to the dawn of

modem science. I suggested that she explore Roman diet as a possible

source of the Mediterranean alimentary tradition. The present article is a

presentation of her research, which was entitled “What did ancient

Romans eat, and why?” This is the first essay by a freshly graduated

student who will probably become a member of the future scientific

community. It results from ten weeks of hard work, often late in the

evening in the empty US National Herbarium, taking advantage of the

Historia Plantarum collection and the documentation and knowledge

accumulated in the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions.

However limited it will probably be considered, this essay opens the way

for future research and is the first announcement of a scientist in-the-

making.

I am grateful to the Washington Academy of Sciences and the

Smithsonian Institution, and also to the Institute for the Preservation of

Medical Traditions, for opening their doors to the next generation of

scientists and offering them an opportunity to communicate their work,

their ideas, and their enthusiasm for the scientific enterprise.

Alain Touwaide

Smithsonian Institution

Spring 201 1

2

Introduction

The dietary habits of Romans in Classical Antiquity have been

discussed and qualitatively reconstructed in a number of previous studies,

but none of these prior efforts have approached both its nutritional and

biological properties in a comprehensive or systematic way. In addition,

modem dieticians and scholars alike have been interested in the

contemporary Mediterranean diet ever since Ancel Keys began his

landmark research in the 1950s on the potential health benefits

experienced by those who eat traditional Mediterranean diets (Keys,

1970). Yet despite popular interest in this “traditional” Mediterranean diet,

little work has been conducted that attempts to uncover the tme origins or

the cultural, biological, and nutritional properties of this professed

traditional diet. The aforementioned paucity of nutritional and biological

quantification in previous studies on the ancient Roman diet may, in part,

be responsible for the fact that few connections have been made between

the diets of the ancient Romans and those of contemporary Mediterranean

people. This pilot study suggests that research examining the actual

biological and nutritional properties of the ancient Roman diet may enable

us to better understand both the origins of the contemporary

Mediterranean diet as well as how this diet has changed over the past two

millennia.

In this study, the ancient Roman diet is defined as the range of

foodstuffs likely eaten in the Mediterranean region from the second

century BC up through the fifth century AD. These ranges of time, region,

and foodstuffs have been determined by the time period, geographic

coverage, and food items that can be traced through the seven primary

texts referred to throughout this study. In addition, while the Roman

Empire spanned a wide range of areas in Europe, Africa, and the Middle

East, this pilot study focuses on the Mediterranean parts of the Roman

Empire, specifically Rome and greater Italy. Regional variations in the

types and quantities of available foodstuffs undoubtedly occurred

throughout the Roman Empire and warrant examination by further studies

on the quantification of ancient nutrition.

Prior studies on the nutritional properties of the ancient Roman diet

have tended to focus on the few food groups, such as cereals and vegetable

oils, for which there is fairly concrete textual evidence regarding the

extent of their dietary contributions. Gamsey (1998) has made perhaps the

most thorough attempt thus far to quantify the caloric and nutritional

properties of Roman diets. Based on classical literary references regarding

Washington Academy of Sciences

3

the different amounts of grain allotted to various members of Roman

society, he calculated the caloric contribution of cereals to the diets of

members of each strata of Roman society (Gamsey, 1998). For example,

Gamsey concludes that the approximately 33 kg, or five modii (modius

being an ancient Roman unit of measure, with one modius equal to about

6.6 kg) of grain per person per month provided under the Roman state’s

frumentatio (the allotment of grain provided to Roman citizens by the

state) during the 1^^ century AD would have been enough grain to provide

about 3,700 kcals per person per day. Gamsey (1998: 229-230) notes that

this amounts to almost twice the daily energy needs of an average human

being. It must be noted however, that much of this grain would have been

both inedible (due to prolonged storage and slow distribution) and

contaminated with rocks, dirt or other heavy debris, which would have to

be removed from the grain during the winnowing and cleaning process

before it could be consumed. Therefore, it can be assumed that ancient

Roman citizens receiving the frumentatio would not have actually had

access to the full amount of grain (and therefore calories) in their 33 kg

allotment.

In addition, Gamsey (1998: 236-237) found that Cato’s

recommended three modii (c. 19.8 kg) of grain per month for shepherds

and estate domestic staff would provide c. 2,200 calories per day, while

the four modii (c. 26.4 kg) for agricultural laborers (or slaves) provide c.

2,960 kcals per day. In another notable study, Foxhall and Forbes (1982)

suggest that the ancient Romans obtained around 75% of their daily

caloric needs from cereals. Other scholars maintain however, that this

calculation is merely an estimate, and probably a high one (Gamsey, 1998;

Category

Herbs'

'& Spices'^

Tree

Nuts

'Muisum Wine Must

Honey Vinegar |

Meat

Eggs

'& Dairy

Pulses

Fruit:

Vegetables

and

Starchy Roots'

Cereals

Spring 201 1

j

24

Figure lb: Suggested Relative Role of Foods in Roman Diet by Name

;isum Wine '.'ust

Hone. V

'Milk

Eggs

'Cheese

ClMCkan Pifindga'

Oalnch CnraOog^

Ouck FMfTWigo ^

HCKM Goat Oatmau*i

Qoom FfUKSkn The.

tow* Poni Ptgson'

<Xiai RabM PhMsani Boa^

Fava Bean Cowpea

Field Pea Astragalus

Chickpea Lablab bean

Chickling vetch Pea Lentil

Bitter vetch Common vetch

''Black-eyed pea Red Pea Lupin

Jin ’Tiesor.

•fiTf Pofnfj .

■ -“fyc-. 'vTjeitr,

C*^r,

:«>r Sen Tl

AieiaiKJefs Bfoadteaved Peppetvneed Artichoke Morel

Asphodel Beet Black bryony Black morel Black truffle Orchis^

Cachrys kbanobs Cardoon Carrol Ctfs Ear Arum Desert t

ChoncMa juncea Costus or putchuk Cress Cucumber Chicory

Elecampane Enrtve Enngo Field eryngo Field Mushroom. Garkc ’

Goideh chamarefle Golden thistle Groundsel Horse Mushroom

Houtxfs Tongue Kale Leek Lettuce WM lettuce Horseraiksh Lasura '

Lovage Mallow Settle. Onun Wild orach Mountam orache Celery

Pvsnp PeWory Poron Purslane Radish Red Truffle Rocket Sainptwe

S.*ia«oi Skirret Soapwort Sorrel. Patience Dock Sow Thode Sp*enard

Spotted Golden Thistle Teasel Truffle Tum^r Water pepper Watercress Tarol

White mustard White Truffle Whitetop WM Radsh Winter Truffle Asparagus

Grape Hyacmth Grass Wy MetKerraiean giaaoius Satytlon Cabbage Gourd ^

Durum Wheat Barley

Sorghum Einkorn Emmer Wheat

'Millet Oats Purple Amaranth Rice Rye'

Washington Academy of Sciences

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Songs in the Universe

25

Sethanne Howard

USNO, retired

Abstract

The Cosmic Microwave Background gives astronomers a lot of

information about our early universe and explains why it has structure.

Yet the details are a bit esoteric. Reviewed here are the basic concepts

and discoveries of the Cosmic Microwave Background from an

astronomer’s point of view.

Introduction

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a hot (so to speak)

topic in astronomy. Sometimes called ‘wrinkles in space-time’, the CMB

tells us about the birth and evolution of the universe we see. It maps the

earliest moments of our universe. Recent CMB experiments have firmly

established the Big Bang Model as the leading theory in cosmology. Yet,

despite its fascination, the CMB can be tricky to decode. So let us look at

some concepts that will help us understand these experiments and what

they tell us.

We call the electromagnetic radiation that still lingers from the

very early universe the cosmic microwave background radiation - cosmic

for its origin in the very early universe, microwave because it shows up in

the microwave section (1.9 mm) of the electromagnetic spectrum, and

background because it fills all of space.

Several people had predicted the existence of the CMB as early as

the 1940s. In 1941 the chemist Gerhard Herzberg almost discovered it in a

stellar spectrum. The CMB’s serendipitous discovery in 1964 by radio

astronomers Amo Penzias and Robert Wilson earned them the 1978 Nobel

Prize. They were using a radio telescope (antenna) to scan for signals

bouncing off echo balloon satellites. They went to great lengths to track

down a ubiquitous 1.9 mm ‘noise’ in their data. They even removed the

“white dielectric material” left in the antenna horn by nesting pigeons.

They also removed the pigeons.

These CMB photons are all around us. They are so weak, however,

that it takes very sensitive microwave detectors to detect and measure

Spring 201 1

26

them. Optical telescopes will not do the job. The space between stars and

galaxies (the background) is dark to an optical telescope. But a sufficiently

sensitive radio telescope shows a faint background glow, almost exactly

the same in all directions, that is not associated with any star, galaxy, or

other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio

spectrum (that 1.9 mm wavelength).

The CMB fills the universe and can be detected everywhere we

look. In fact, if we could see microwaves, the entire sky would glow with

a brightness that is astonishingly uniform in every direction. The

temperature (associated with the peak in the energy distribution at 1.9

mm)^ of this background is uniform to better than one part in a hundred

thousand (z.e., the temperature variation on different angular patches of the

sky is less than 1 part in 100,000). This uniformity is one compelling

reason to interpret the radiation as remnant heat from the Big Bang; it is

very difficult to imagine a local source of radiation that is this uniform.

A perfectly uniform background distribution will not explain why

our universe looks the way it does. The universe contains clumps of matter

of all sizes from atoms to galaxies. Such rich structure could not form

from a perfectly smooth background. We need to have some wrinkles in

the otherwise smooth background. If we have small wrinkles (bumps,

ripples) or hills and valleys early in the universe, matter will tend to fall

into the valleys, eventually producing dense regions that become the sites

of galaxies. Matter attracts matter, so these ‘valleys’ get denser, eventually

coalescing into galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Figure 1 (an idealization)

indicates the concept.

Figure 1. The top figure shows conceptual hills and valleys. The bottom figure shows the

top view of the same thing where the grey scale coding refers to the density of matter

(dark regions have more matter, light regions less).

Washington Academy of Sciences

27

As we look at results from CMB experiments, then, we will expect

to see the observed smooth distribution and hope for some tiny amount of

rippling that will resemble the bottom of Figure 1.

To interpret these CMB experiments properly, we need to look at

the origin of the CMB. The action begins at the very early universe. The

Big Bang Model predicts (trust me on this - the actual theory is really

messy) that the CMB originates from a time just a mere 380,000 years

after the Big Bang.” Let us just say that everything starts with the Big

Bang (of course). The vast majority of astronomers use the Big Bang

Model to describe the origin and evolution of our universe. To learn how

the CMB came to be, we, like the astronomers, need to start with the Big

Bang.

The Big Bang

The Big Bang Model rests on two theoretical pillars:

1. The General Theory of Relativity. In 1916 Einstein proposed his

General Theory of Relativity (GTR) as a new theory of gravity.

Gravity became, not the gravitational field of Isaac Newton, but a

distortion of space and time itself. Physicist John Wheeler put it

well when he said “Matter tells space how to warp, and warped

space tells matter how to move.”'” The theory continues to pass a

series of ever more rigorous tests.

2. The Cosmological Principle. We assume matter in the universe is

homogeneous and isotropic when averaged over very large scales.

This assumption is called the Cosmological Principle. It is the

simplest assumption to make - that if you viewed the contents of

the universe with sufficiently poor vision, they will appear roughly

the same everywhere and in every direction. A homogeneous

universe contains the same stuff regardless in which direction you

look. It is well mixed (aka homogenized milk). The physical

conditions are the same at every place. An isotropic universe looks

the same regardless of which direction you look. You cannot

distinguish one direction from another. If the universe looks fiat

over there then it must look flat over here. This assumption is

tested continuously as we observe the distribution of galaxies on

ever larger scales.

When we look at the universe with galaxy sized eyes we see a

clumpy universe with galaxies scattered about and clustered into groups.

On smaller scales we see individual stars, some that cluster into groups.

Spring 201 1

28

and some that stand alone. And, of course, on even smaller scales we see

individual people. It is only when we look at the universe as a total system

that we can assume homogeneity and isotropy.

After the introduction of GTR a number of scientists, including

Einstein, applied the new gravitational dynamics to the universe as a

whole. In 1927 Georges Lemaitre used GTR to develop the Big Bang

Model. This model predicts that the universe, originally in an extremely

hot and dense state, has since cooled by expanding to the present diluted

state, and continues to expand today. Two years later Edwin Hubble made

one of the profound observations of the early 20^ century - the universe is

expanding - supporting the Big Bang prediction of an expanding

universe.''^ To interpret the expansion properly requires an assumption

about how the matter in the universe is distributed, hence the cosmological

principle. The cosmological principle and GTR form the basis for Big

Bang cosmology and lead to very specific predictions for observable

properties of the universe.

For example, given the assumption that the matter in the universe

is homogeneous and isotropic it can be shown (again, trust me) that the

corresponding distortion of space-time (due to the gravitational effects of

this matter) can have one of only three forms, shown schematically in

Figure 2. It can be positively curved like the surface of a ball and finite in

extent; it can be negatively curved like a saddle and infinite in extent; or it

can be flat and infinite in extent - our ordinary conception of space. A

limitation of Figure 2 is that we can only portray the curvature of a 2-

dimensional plane of an actual 3-dimensional space. Note that in a closed

universe you could start a journey off in one direction and, if allowed

enough time, ultimately return to your starting point; in an infinite

universe, you would never return. Which form the universe adopted will

await experiments.

Of course there is a problem with the cosmological principle -

called the horizon problem - the puzzle that the universe looks the same

on opposite sides of the sky even though there has not been enough time

since the Big Bang for light (or anything else) to signal across the universe

and back. Light can only travel so fast. So how do the opposite horizons

“know” how to keep in step with each other, to maintain isotropy? In other

words, the universe is too big for its horizons. This cosmological problem

has a solution. It is called the era of inflation. We shall meet the era of

’ inflation in the next section when we travel backward in time.

Washington Academy of Sciences

29

n„<i

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MAP990(

Figure 2. The top image shows a positively curved universe; the middle image a

negatively curved universe; and the bottom image is a flat universe.

The Big Bang had to begin some time/where. If the universe had a

beginning, when/where was it? We know the ‘when’. Several ingenious

astronomical experiments have measured the ‘when’ and they all agree

i with an age of about 13.7 billion years with an error about ±200 million

I years. Because the universe has a finite age we can only see a finite

I distance out into space (~13.7 billion light years). This is our horizon. The

’ Big Bang Model does not attempt to describe that region of space

significantly beyond our horizon, nor can optical telescopes see the

i horizon.

1

I We also know the ‘where’ - it was everywhere. The Big Bang did

• not occur at a single point in space as an “explosion” of matter moving

I outward to fill an empty universe. It is better thought of as the

■i simultaneous appearance of space everywhere in the universe. The region

li of space within our present horizon was indeed no bigger than a miniscule

|i point in the far distant past; however, there is no “center of expansion” -

|| no point from which the universe is expanding. If we picture the universe

I as the surface of a ball, then the radius of the ball grows as the universe

expands, but all points on the surface of the ball (the universe) recede from

each other in an identical fashion. The interior of the ball is not part of the

universe.

By definition, the universe encompasses all of space and time as

we know it, so it is beyond the realm of the Big Bang Model to postulate

what the universe is expanding into. In either the open or closed universe,

the only “edge” to space-time occurs at the Big Bang, so it is not logically

I

j

Spring 201 1

30

necessary (or sensible) to consider this question. Likewise it is beyond the

realm of the Big Bang Model to say what gave rise to the Big Bang.

The question then becomes can we look far enough back to reach

the origins of the CMB?

When we look out in the sky, we are actually looking backwards in

time. Light from distant objects takes longer to reach us than the light

from nearby objects, and thus we are observing now how they appeared in

the past. The light from galaxies, however distant, permits us to see back

only a few billion years, not 13.7 billion. This few billion years is our

look-back time. There probably were no galaxies 13.7 billion years ago, so

it is not surprising that galaxy light is insufficient to show us the CMB.

Optical telescopes will not do the trick. We need to get creative to see that

distant horizon.

If we can somehow reach the epoch of the CMB, then we can use

the CMB to tell us how the universe developed to become what we see

today. Let us try a trip back in time to meet the early universe, where we

might detect those CMB 'wrinkles in space-time’.

Moving Backward in Spacetime in Search of the CMB

From Here-and-Now to the Epoch of Last Scattering

We start the trip with the physical conditions of the here-and-now.

Our current temperature is just about three cold degrees above absolute

zero. There are about 400 photons per cubic centimeter. The total mass in

our observable universe is about 10^^ kg'" (give or take a few powers of

ten) which is equivalent to about 10^^ hydrogen atoms.'^^ That sounds like a

lot until you fold in the volume. We can estimate the volume (©^ F)

because we know the radius, r, and the speed of light, cf^ We know the

radius because we have Hubble’s Law which gives us Ho, the Hubble

constant: r = cIHq, where r is the radius of the Hubble sphere. The mass

density of the universe, then, is only about lO'"’^ gm per cubic centimeter,

or about one hydrogen atom per cubic meter. This means we live in a

rarefied universe. Fortunately for us there are locally dense spots like our

planet.

Hubble’s observations showed that space itself expands with time

everywhere and increases the physical distance between two co-moving

. points. If the universe is getting bigger now, then it had to be smaller,

denser, and hotter in the past. Let’s go backwards and see what we can

find.

Washington Academy of Sciences

31

Stepping backwards in space-time we watch (from our privileged

imaginary position) the universe shrink down in size and heat up in

temperature. See Figure 3 for a conceptual timeline. That 10^* kg of matter

must squeeze into ever decreasing volumes. When the visible universe

decreases to half its present size, the density of matter increases until it is

eight times higher and the temperature is twice as hot as it is today. Recall

that when one compresses an object or a gas (or the universe), the object

heats. For example, the hand operated air pump one uses to pump up a flat

tire gets hotter as one uses it. The universe does the same thing as it

contracts.

When the visible universe reaches one hundredth of its present

size, its temperature is a hundred times hotter (273 K or 32°F, the

temperature at which water freezes on the Earth’s surface).

We are moving closer to the Big Bang event. When we are a mere

380,000 years away from the Big Bang the universe is about one eleven

hundredth its present size. The temperature is about 3,000 K. We have

arrived at the important epoch of last scattering or time of recombination.

-S S

o QQ

§ size & ^

1/1 1/2 1 100 1/1100 1 10*8 ®

< ^ \ ^ ^

3 6 273 3000 273 x 10'"6

temperature

Figure 3. A conceptual timeline, time increases right to left from the Big Bang to now.

The range in size appears above the timeline. The matching range in temperature in

degrees Kelvin appears below the timeline.

From Time Zero to the Epoch of Last Scattering

Things now get complicated (yes, I know, but stay with me).

Instead of continuing to move down in time from the epoch of last

scattering, let us leap over that epoch to reach the Big Bang, turn around,

and move outward in time to meet that epoch of last scattering from the

other side.

We cannot discuss the Big Bang itself - we do not know the

physics. So we pick up the story a mere whisper after the Big Bang (all of

10’^^ seconds away) when the era of inflation has just ended. The era of

inflation starts just after the Big Bang and ends 10 seconds later when

the temperature has dropped to a whopping 10^^ K. The era of inflation is

Spring 2011

32

the exponential expansion of space-time by an enormous factor of 10^^ in

volume. Our entire observable universe originates in a small, causally

connected region. Before inflation, it is small enough to “know” what

happens at each horizon. Then it inflates drastically maintaining this initial

knowledge. Miniscule when it began inflating, at the end of the era of

inflation there is a universe that will grow to be the one we see. Inflation

answers the problem I mentioned earlier. It answers the horizon problem

and the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Quantum

fluctuations in the microscopic inflationary region, magnified to cosmic

size, become the seeds for the growth of structure in the universe. Alan

Guth developed this approach in 1980.

After the era of inflation the universe continues to expand, but not

exponentially. About a minute and a half after the Big Bang, there are no

atoms; however, all the protons and neutrons have formed.

Continuing outward, when the visible universe is only one hundred

millionth its present size, its temperature has dropped to 273 million

degrees above absolute zero and the density of material is comparable to

the density of air at the Earth’s surface. At these high temperatures,

hydrogen is completely ionized into free protons and electrons, although

neutrons have combined with protons to form the deuterium and helium

nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The result gives a

ratio of about 12 hydrogen nuclei to 1 helium nucleus.

At this size and temperature everything is coupled together into a

hot, opaque, dense primordial soup (plasma). This hot soup has a smooth

consistency and consists of fundamental particles like electrons, protons,

helium nuclei, deuterium nuclei, neutrinos, and of course, photons. The

opaqueness is important. If we were there we would not ‘see’ anything.

Radiation and matter are coupled together. There are no atoms as separate

objects. What we think of as matter does not exist.

In this very hot dense soup the photons easily scatter off the free

electrons. The photons are densely packed enough to respond like

bouncing molecules in a gas. Thus, photons wandered through the soup of

the early universe (bouncing off electrons), just as optical light wanders

through a dense fog. This process of multiple scattering produces what is

called a thermal or blackbody spectrum^”* of photons. It essentially

randomizes the photons.

The universe continues to expand and cool. Figure 4 gives a

conceptual view of those earliest moments.

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PRESENT

13.7 Billion Years

after the Big Bang

The cosmic microwave background Radiation's

"surface of last scatter" is analogous to the

light coming through the clouds to our

eye on a cloudy day.

We can only see

the surface of the

cloud where light

was last scattered

Figure 4. Two views of the universe - the left shows details of the early universe; the

right shows what we can observe.

About 380,000 years after the Big Bang the temperature has fallen

to around 3,000 K. It is now that the electrons and nuclei are able to

combine into atoms (mostly hydrogen). Once atoms could form as

separate objects, then radiation and matter could decouple, and radiation

could move through space largely unimpeded. The soup clarifies. The

universe becomes transparent. Now we can ‘see’. With electrons locked

up in atoms, radiation (photons) can no longer scatter off free electrons.

Photons can move freely through space. We have arrived back at the

epoch of last scattering. We call the radiation (those randomized photons)

from this epoch the Cosmic Microwave Background. The CMB is a

snapshot of that last scattering epoch, i.e. it is an image of that moment

when matter and photons decoupled. This epoch is the barrier to our

observations about the early universe, where the epochs behind this barrier

are not accessible to us.

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At The CMB

Whew! Now that we have crisscrossed the universe to find the

origins of the CMB let us concentrate on the CMB itself.

Just as the universe heated as we compressed it, it will cool as it

expands. As the universe expands, the temperature of the CMB photons

drops; today, the CMB radiation is very cold and invisible to the naked

eye. Now down to 2.725 K, the temperature will continue to fall as the

universe continues to expand. For comparison, human beings radiate

around 300 K (98.6° F) in the infrared - this is why infrared night goggles

work.

The CMB photons kept scattering until the epoch of last scattering

- clever, this is why it is called the epoch of last scattering. After that they

move freely maintaining their thermal form through the transparent

universe we see today. Thus, we expect their distribution of energy (the

spectrum) to maintain its blackbody shape. Figure 5 plots CMB frequency

(wavelength) versus CMB intensity. It matches rather well to the

theoretical blackbody curve.

Frequency (GHz)

100 200 300 400 500

Figure 5. The spectrum of the CMB - This is what the blackbody curve looks like at the

temperature (2.725 K) of the CMB, thus the spectrum peaks in the microwave range

frequency of 160.2 GHz, corresponding to a 1.9 mm wavelength.

To study the CMB astronomers will look through much of the

universe (as if it were clear air) back to when it becomes opaque: a view

back to 380,000 years after the Big Bang. This is the “wall of light” or the

epoch of last scattering. Maps of the temperature of the CMB are maps of

this surface of last scattering, and astronomers hope to see the collection

of spots (wrinkles) in space at which the decoupling (recombination)

occurred.

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Recall that the universe ‘cleared’ when hydrogen atoms first

formed. This is usually called “time of recombination.” Thus the

temperature of the CMB at any given spot on the sky is a relic of this time.

During the 1960s the interpretation of the CMB was controversial.

Some proponents of the steady state theory of the universe (no Big Bang)

argued that the microwave background was the result of scattered starlight

from distant galaxies. However, during the 1970s the consensus grew that

the CMB was a remnant of the Big Bang. This was largely because

measurements at a range of frequencies showed that the spectrum was

probably a thermal, blackbody spectrum, a result that the steady state

model was unable to reproduce. It was time for a real experiment.

The Cosmic Background Explorer

Many astronomers predicted the blackbody spectrum and the

wrinkles (anisotropies) in the CMB, but it took the work of two

astronomers, George Smoot and John Mather, to clinch the issue. They

designed and launched the satellite called the Cosmic Background

Explorer (COBE) to study the CMB. They received the 2006 Nobel Prize

for their efforts.

COBE^^ was launched November 18, 1989 and carried three

instruments, one to search for the cosmic infrared background radiation,

one to map the cosmic radiation sensitively, and one to compare the

spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation with a precise

blackbody. Eaunched into a near-Earth orbit, the satellite had an altitude

of 900 km, making 14 orbits per day.

COBE showed that the CMB spectrum is that of a nearly perfect

blackbody with a temperature of 2.725 ± 0.002 K. COBE measured the

spectrum at 34 equally spaced points along the blackbody curve. The error

bars on the data points are so small that they cannot be seen under the

predicted curve in the figure (Figure 5)! The CMB spectrum by the COBE

satellite is the most precisely measured blackbody spectrum in nature.

When the COBE team presented their results at a 1992 meeting of the

American Astronomical Society they received a rare standing ovation.

Even Steven Hawking gave it a rave review in 1992 when he said it was

the discovery of the century if not of all time.^

As good a match as it was, an exact match to the curve would be

worrisome because if the background radiation is absolutely smooth, then

how do we get galaxies to form? We need wrinkles, a tiny anisotropy, in

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the smooth background to form the condensations of matter (seeds) from

which galaxies could grow - those hills and valleys of Figure 1.

Fortunately, CORE also showed that the CMB has a tiny intrinsic

anisotropy (ripples) at a level of one part in 100,000: the rms temperature

variations are only 18 pK or put another way: 5T IT ~10~^ where T is

temperature. This means the CMB is not perfectly isotropic; it has ripples

(wrinkles). It is in these ripples that the structures we see today will form.

How did the COBE team find the miniscule ripples in their data? It

took work. They had to remove interfering ripples in the data before the

very small remaining variations could be seen. One rather large interfering

wrinkle is the dipole anisotropy (discovered in 1969). The CMB appears

slightly warmer in the direction of one’s movement than in the opposite

direction. Photons arriving from the direction of motion are boosted in

energy; those from behind lose energy. Known as the great cosine in the

sky, the dipole anisotropy is the motion of the Earth relative to the CMB,

measured as the 24 hour anisotropy in the background. The relative

velocity of the Earth will result in a temperature distribution across the

sky:

no) = T,

V

1 — cos <9

K ^ /

hence the term ‘great cosine’. T is temperature, v is velocity, c is the speed |

of light, and 0 is the angle of view across the sky. COBE finally pinned

this down to the 6a level and determined that our local group of galaxies

(the galaxy cluster that includes our Milky Way^^) appears to move

relative to the CMB at 627 ± 22 km/s towards the constellation of Virgo.

Why the motion? A proposed answer is that it is due to the

gravitational pull of a “Great Attractor” (a source of gravitational pull)

that was postulated to explain our motion. A search was started, and |

eventually it was found that such large clumps of matter as the

hypothesized Great Attractor are found regularly through the universe. It '

is now believed that by summing over the mass in our Milky Way j

neighborhood (within a 100 million light years) one finds the net j

unbalanced attraction that explains our motion. The CMB is then the |

standard frame of reference for cosmology work. j

Astronomers illustrate the CMB using a special type of map - an

equal-area Mollweide projection. To understand these maps first consider

how the Earth appears in this projection (Figure 6). We can see the

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continents and oceans seen looking down from above. Astronomers use

the same type of projection of the sky only looking up instead of down.

Figure 6. A map showing the Earth spread out in an equal-area Mollweide projection.

Figure 7 shows three data cuts from COBE. The maps show the

entire sky as seen in Galactic coordinates (similar to looking at the Earth

from above in Figure 7 only we are looking out towards the sky). The

orientation of the maps is such that the plane of the Milky Way runs

horizontally across the center of each image. The Milky Way appears as a

thin strip. The top map shows all of the data - it looks very smooth.

Hidden in these data are very small variations. The middle map shows the

dipole anisotropy - what is left after the smooth part is removed. The

bottom map shows what is left after the top and middle pieces are

removed. The grey streak through the equator of the bottom map is the

Milky Way signal.

There are two sources for the remaining ripples seen in the bottom

map of Figure 7: (1) Emission from the Milky Way (not the CMB)

dominates the equator of the map but is quite small at areas away from the

equator. We understand this and need to remove it. (2) Ripples in the

CMB from the edge of the visible universe dominate the regions away

from the equator. We need to keep this source because this is what we are

looking for. When all the interfering items are removed one gets Figure 8.

There is also residual noise in the maps from the satellite

instruments themselves, but this noise is quite small compared to the

signals in these maps. To get a glimpse of the errors, consider what the

Earth looks like when COBE’s instrumental errors are added to Figure 6 to

produce Figure 9. The underlying continental structure can still be seen.

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DMR 53 GHz Maps

Figure 7. The top image shows the temperature of the microwave sky in a scale in which

grey represents the completely uniform temperature on this scale. The actual temperature

of the cosmic microwave background is 2.725 Kelvin. The middle image shows the same

map displayed in a scale such that dark patches correspond to 2.721 Kelvin and light

patches to 2.729 Kelvin. The “yin-yang” pattern is the dipole anisotropy that results from

the motion of the Sun relative to the rest frame of the CMB. The bottom image shows the

microwave sky after the dipole anisotropy has been subtracted from the map. This

removal eliminates most of the fluctuations in the map: the ones that remain are thirty

times smaller. On this map, the hot regions, shown in light patches, are 0.0002 Kelvin

hotter than the cold regions, shown in dark patches. The grey streak through the middle

represents the Milky Way.

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DMR’s Two Year CMB Anisotropy Result

Figure 8. Following subtraction of the dipole anisotropy and components of the detected

emission arising from dust (thermal emission), hot gas (free-free emission), and charged

particles interacting with magnetic fields (synchrotron emission) in the Milky Way, the

CMB anisotropy can be seen as a mottling (rippling) in the COBE data.

Figure 9. We can faintly see the outlines of the continents of Figure 6 underneath the

added noise.

You can see what a complex data reduction process the COBE

team had to use. The detailed analysis of CMB data to produce maps, an

angular power spectrum, and ultimately cosmological parameters, is a

complicated, computationally difficult problem. The COBE team did not

release their data until they had finished many months of intensive error

analyses.

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After COBE

Astronomers divide the sky into angular degrees, so that 90° is the

distance from the observer’s horizon to the zenith. COBE, with its slightly

fuzzy vision, measured temperature ripples in the 10° to 90° range, which

means COBE could measure no smaller than the equivalent of an angular

distance twice the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Those hills and

valleys (Figure 1) of the universe are shallow but quite large. COBE was

not able to resolve spots as small as clusters or even superclusters of

galaxies. Hence COBE saw the initial conditions of the universe. Maps

such as that shown in Figure 8 are amazing pictures of the early universe.

The small CMB temperature fluctuations trace real wrinkles in the

density of matter in the early universe as they were imprinted shortly after

the Big Bang. Thus, they can reveal a great deal about the early universe,

the origin of galaxies, and large scale structure in the universe.

Of course, once astronomers had the COBE data, they wanted to

see more and finer detail. Astronomers today are interested in small scale

fluctuations; i.e., they need to find the one degree sized wrinkles in which

seeds gather to grow structure. To do this astronomers add another type of

representation to measure these tiny wrinkles, one analogous to sound.

The Sound of Wrinkles

What astronomers detect on angular scales (the wrinkles) is

actually ‘sound’. Photons, if they are packed densely enough (as they are

in the plasma of the early universe - that hot primordial soup), can behave

as a gas just as air molecules do. Ordinary sound waves are just travelling

compressions and rarefactions of the air which we hear as sound as they

strike our ear drum (Figure 10). The hot photons of the early universe

carry their version of sound waves due to gravity acting to compress the

photon^" gas and radiation pressure^”’ acting to resist it. This battle

between compression and rarefaction produces acoustical ringing (like the

ding-dong of a struck bell). The reason why we see it rather than hear it is

that when we compress the photon gas it becomes hotter (that air pump

thing). We see the photon sound waves as hot and cold spots on the sky -

ripples in the universe. The theory of inflation predicts that there should be

as many hot spots as cold spots. These are conceptually the bottom figure

in Figure 1. What sets off the battle? It is seeded by random quantum

fluctuations from the very beginning of the Big Bang.

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tuning fork

arn^s spread apart

(compression)

• • •

: : :

• • •

tuning fork

arms pushed together

(rarefaction)

Figure 10. Sound from a tuning fork showing compression (hot spot) and rarefaction

(cool spot) of air molecules

Actually, this is not the kin(d of sound wave we hear on Earth. The

CMB wavelength is very long, on the order of 1 to 1000 mega-parsecs,

and its medium is not the air but hot plasma with a mixture of photons and

other elementary particles. One parsec is a distance equal to 3.08568025 x

10^^ km, so the wavelength is v-e-r-y long.

The patches in Figure 8 are due to this acoustical ringing, the size

of the patch measured in angles. As I said, COBE’s patches are in the 10°

to 90° range.

In music, the pattern of overtones (ringing) helps us distinguish

one instrument from another; it is a kind of signature of the instrument that

makes the sound. In the same way, the pattern of overtones in the sound

spectrum of the CMB ripples follows a pure harmonic series with

frequency ratios of 1:2:3. Astronomers expect to see a series of acoustic

peaks (overtones) on top of the smooth CMB spectrum. If astronomers can

compare the CMB oscillations with the distribution of galaxies at different

stages of the universe’s history, they can measure the rate of the expansion

of the universe.

The First Overtone Peak of the CMB

Many ground based and balloon experiments have now measured

the CMB on the one degree scale. What CMB experimentalists do is take a

power spectrum of the temperature maps (Figure 8), much as one would if

one wanted to measure background noise. In essence, they take the

temperature of angular patches of the universe. The peaks of the acoustic

oscillations represent regions that were slightly denser than the rest ot the

universe.

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The details (which you can ignore and skip to the next paragraph if

you choose) are that they use a spherical harmonic expansion of the CMB

sky where Tis temperature and Tare the usual spherical harmonics:

/=0 m=-l

For a given signal, a power spectrum gives a plot of the portion of a

signal’s power (energy per unit time) falling within given frequency bins.

Essentially, the power spectrum is a plot of the amount of temperature

fluctuation against the angular size. The fluctuation is the difference in the

two temperature measurements at the corresponding points. The angular

wavenumber, called a multipole I , of the power spectrum is related to the

inverse of the angular scale.

The overtone value ^ = 100 (the i of the above equation)

corresponds to approximately one degree on the sky. Recent experiments

(Figure 11) have shown that the overtone power spectrum exhibits a sharp

peak of exactly the right form to be the ringing or acoustic phenomena

long awaited by cosmologists. The section in the Figure 1 1 marked ‘initial

conditions’ represents the smooth blackbody curve. Then at ^ = 100 the

first peak appears where it was expected.

Figure 1 1. The multipole expansion of the wrinkles in the early universe. ^ runs along

the logarithmic x axis, and AT in pK runs along the axis. The first peak is indicated by

the arrow. There are faint error bars from the various experiments.

The rich structure in the plot after the initial conditions is the direct

consequence of the acoustic oscillation driven by repulsive radiation

pressure and attractive gravity (that battle I mentioned). The main peak is

the oscillatory mode that went through 1/4 of a period (reaching maximal

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compression) at the time of recombination (when electrons and protons

formed neutral atoms). The lower peaks correspond to the harmonic series

of the main peak frequency (those ringing overtones). An additional effect

comes from geometrical projection such that the angular position of the

peaks is sensitive to the spatial curvature of the universe.

A series of ground and balloon-based experiments have measured

CMB anisotropies on smaller angular scales. The primary goal of these

experiments was to measure the scale of the first acoustic peak, which

COBE did not have sufficient resolution to resolve. The first peak in the

anisotropy was tentatively detected by the Toco experiment (a balloon that

flew in 1996), and the result was confirmed by the BOOMERanG and

MAXIMA balloon experiments. BOOMERanG^^'" (Figure 12) flew out of

the South Pole at an altitude of 42,000 meters. Its last flight was in 2003.

Figure 12. BOOMERanG ready for launch

When I first saw the BOOMERanG results from 1998 my Jaw

dropped as I realized I was looking at actual spatial fluctuations in the

early universe. I could see ripples ringing across time. These

measurements demonstrated that the geometry of the universe is

approximately flat, rather than curved. They ruled out cosmic strings as a

major component of cosmic structure formation and suggested the era

inflation was the right theory of structure formation.

Two of the greatest successes of the Big Bang theory are its

prediction of its almost perfect blackbody spectrum and its detailed

prediction of the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. The

recent Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP — another

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satellite) has precisely measured these anisotropies over the whole sky

down to angular scales of 0.2 degrees. Launched 30 June 2001 into a

distant orbit, the WMAP satellite ended science observations on 20

August 2010. Figure 13 shows the total of WMAP data after all known

effects are removed.

Figure 13.7 years of CMB data from WMAP - the rippling (hot and cold spots) is clear.

Angular scala

80* 2* 0.5* 0.2*

Mul1lpol« moment I

Figure 14. Acoustical data from several experiments - The power spectrum of the cosmic

microwave background radiation temperature anisotropy in terms of the angular scale (or

multipole moment). The data shown come from the WMAP (2006), Acbar (2004)

Boomerang (2005), CBI (2004), and VS A (2004) instruments. Also shown is a

theoretical model (solid line).

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And More Overtones Ring In

The second acoustical peak was tentatively detected by several

experiments before being definitively detected by WMAP, which has also

tentatively detected the third peak. As of 2010, several experiments to

improve measurements of the polarization and the microwave background

on small angular scales are ongoing. These include DASI, QUaD, Planck

spacecraft, Atacama Cosmology Telescope, South Pole Telescope, and the

QUIET telescope. Figure 14 shows the acoustical spectrum from many

experiments. The primary peak is definitive. The secondary peak is clear.

The errors increase for the third peak.

The Future

Where do we go from here? Peak by peak the experiments beat

down the errors. Part of this is due to improvements in the techniques for

such calculations that make them much easier, and part has been

motivated by a desire to know how experiments will complement each

other. No one experiment is equally sensitive to all cosmological

parameters^'", and that there are combinations of certain parameters that

will yield statistically identical observations for a given experiment. This

is known as parameter degeneracy.

To leave you with a taste of what is coming - in the case of the

CMB, there is a tremendous degeneracy between matter and the

cosmological constant, A (what is left over after we account for all the

matter in the universe). The position of the first acoustic peak in the CMB

power spectrum is sensitive to their sum, but doesn’t tell us much about

either one independent of the other. Fortunately, there are other

experiments that don’t share this degeneracy (e.g., high redshift

supemovae). This degeneracy can also be broken by looking at the

gravitational lensing of the CMB.

Gravitational lensing is what happens when the signal from some

object (or CMB) encounters a lot of matter between it and you, the

observer. The signal is lensed by the gravitational effects of the

intervening matter just as the outside world is lensed by the plastic in your

eyeglasses. However, as opposed to glasses, gravity lenses can produce

multiple images. Figure 15 shows the effects of a real gravity lens.

Since the CMB photons that are coming to us from the epoch of

last scattering have to travel through all manner of intervening matter to

get to us, we would expect that there is going to be some lensing. We are

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going to be looking for distortions in the CMB power spectrum that would

be indicative of lensing. This is a tiny effect, however, only a 3% (10 |iK)

effect on the main acoustic peaks. If we can detect it, then we can gather

information on the large scale structure of the universe and gather clues to

the current cosmological enigma - dark energy. Dark energy is that

hypothetical energy that fills the universe and tends to increase the rate of

expansion of the universe.

Figure 15. A gravitational lens - the arc like structures are the images of the very distant

source. It is distorted by the matter between you and it.

In the meantime, people are actively measuring the Sunyaev-

ZeVdovich effecf^^ (abbreviated as the SZ effect), which is the result of

high energy electrons distorting the CMB spectrum (in which the low

energy CMB photons receive energy boosts during collision with the high

energy electrons). When a CMB photon interacts with hot gas in a galaxy

cluster it experiences a slight increase in energy. The SZ effect causes a

change in the apparent brightness of the CMB radiation when looking

towards a cluster of galaxies or any other reservoir of hot plasma. Inverse

Compton scattering by the hot gas will boost the energy of the CMB

photons and shift the spectrum. The effect is redshift-independent, and so

provides a unique probe of the structure of the universe on the largest

scales.

Are we headed for a Big Crunch or a lingering fadeout? There are

exciting times ahead.

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Endnotes

' Wein’s Law relates the peak temperature to the corresponding wavelength. ; ^ _L

^ma\ y-.

" Fred Hoyle coined the term Big Bang during a BBC 1949 radio broadcast.

*" Misner, Charles W. Thome, Kip. S.; Wheeler, John A. (1973), Gravitation, W. H.

Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-0344-0 - trust me, this is not a book to read lightly.

This is Hubble’s Law - that relates redshift to distance: redshift velocity «: distance

where Hq is the Hubble constant, the constant of proportionality.

'' Actually, determinations vary from 10^ 4o 10^° kg depending on the assumptions -

assuming a flat universe near the critical density one gets 1 0^^ kg.

Based on the assumption that the universe is approximately flat.

Remember that c is the fastest any signal can go.

Planck’s law produces a blackbody spectrum - a blackbody is a perfect absorber. The

radiation is homogeneous and isotropic. , _ 2hv'^ 1

^ ~ 2 hv

e'^T’ - 1

http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/ is the resource for COBE and other NASA CMB missions.

The London Times, 25 April 1992.

The Milky Way is the Galaxy that contains our solar system.

GTR predicts that light (photons) is affected by gravity.

Outward pressure due to electromagnetic radiation - the pressure against a surface

exposed in a space traversed by radiation uniformly in all directions is equal to one

third of the total radiant energy per unit volume within that space.

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lgg/boomerang/boomerang_front.htm is the resource for

BOOMERanG.

Parameters like the amount of matter, the rate of expansion, and the critical density.

Rashid Sunyaev and Yakov Zel’dovich predicted the effect in 1970s.

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Gender and International Collaborations of Academic Scientists

and Engineers*: Findings from the Survey of Doctorate

Recipients, 2006

Lisa M. Frehill and Kathrin Zippel

Energetics Technology Center & Northeastern University

National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc.

Introduction

Science and engineering, as with many other enterprises in today’s world,

have become increasingly global. Companies conduct business in multiple nations

and, in the past couple of decades, have expanded research facilities outside the

United States to take advantage of a globally diverse workforce. Labor markets

for scientists and engineers are increasingly less geographically bounded; talented

scientists and engineers are recruited by employers without regard for their

citizenship. Anecdotal evidence reported by engineers at various U.S. firms, for

example, highlights the “shrinking” globe, as project teams in some companies

have been collaborating on projects across international borders for 20 years or

more. Consistent with the globalization of science and engineering, collaboration

across international borders has become more common too.

In academic settings, international experience has been growing in

importance. Just as corporations have become multinational enterprises, so too are

many universities becoming global, establishing campuses and recruitment offices

outside of the United States to educate international students both here and

abroad. Further, U.S. graduate programs in the sciences and engineering continue

to attract substantial numbers of international students. U.S. students, too, are

encouraged to study abroad in the traditional areas of languages and the

* Acknowledgements: This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, OISE

0936970. Additional work was supported by Frehill Advanced Research, LLC. Any findings, conclusions or

recommendations are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of the National Science Foundation.

Earlier drafts were reviewed by John Tsapogas and Sorina Vlaicu: the authors are grateful for their

comments, as well as those of two anonymous reviewers and the editor at [\\q Journal of the Washington

Academy of Sciences, which substantially improved the work. Lisa M. Frehill is a Senior Analyst at

Energetics Technology Center (lfrehill@etcmd.com) and Director of Research, Evaluation and Policy at the

National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. Kathrin Zippel is an Associate Professor of

Sociology at Northeastern University (k.zippel@neu.edu).

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humanities, and increasingly do so in the sciences and engineering. Finally, for

faculty, an international reputation is becoming an increasingly important

criterion in post-tenure academic advancement decisions.

However, there are many ways in which men and women face different

worlds with respect to working outside of the United States. In the corporate

sector, in some cases, companies claim to protect women by not sending them to

locations that might be considered too dangerous, or presume that women would

not wish to go to these locations due to safety concerns. Additionally, if not to

protect women from potential harm, some companies have prevented women

from traveling abroad due to presumed discrimination that the women would

experience in the foreign country.""’"^ As more women have become heads of state

or traveled as diplomatic envoys, even nations that, from the outside, appear to

have very strict rules regulating women’s behavior, have shown that these rules

can be flexible when necessary.^’

National Science Foundation data are presented in Figure 1 to show the

extent to which those who hold U.S. doctoral degrees in science and engineering

collaborate internationally. Two important findings from these data are: (1)

women, regardless of employment sector, lag men within that sector in

international collaboration and (2) those in educational institutions lag scientists

and engineers employed in government and business/industry in international

collaboration. Indeed, women in business and industry settings report a level of

international collaboration that reveals a wider sex gap than in any other sector.

Yet, the 27 percent of women scientists and engineers in business and industry

who did collaborate internationally was similar to the representation of men who

collaborated internationally in educational institutions.

Q

Figure 2 shows that doctoral degree field and sex interact to produce

different outcomes with respect to international collaboration. Within each of the

five science and engineering fields, within the educational employment sector,

women’s reported rate of international collaboration lags that of men - but the sex

gap across the fields varies greatly. The widest gaps are in those fields in which

women have made greater inroads in relative participation in recent years: life and

related sciences and social and related sciences, as well as in the physical and

related sciences. The gap is only 5 percent or less for women and men in

computer and mathematical sciences and engineering. These disciplinary

differences may be at the heart of work by Melkers and Kiopa, who found that

even though there was no difference in the likelihood of women and men

collaborating internationally, the nature of the support men and women received

differed. Women report that they received benefits such as paper review and

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assistance with grant proposals, while men were more likely to obtain access-

based rewards like nominations for awards.^

Figure 1. International Collaboration by Employment Sector and Sex, U.S. Doctoral-Degreed

Scientists and Engineers, 2006

Source: Author's weighted analysis of National Science Foundation Survey of Doctorate

Recipients, Restricted-use file. The use of NSF data does not imply NSF approval of the

research, research methods or conclusions.

Note: * indicates statistical significance at alpha = 0.01.

Figure 2. International Collaboration, U.S. Doctoral-Degreed Scientists and Engineering at

Academic Institutions, by Sex and Broad Field 2006

35%

Computer science Life and related Physical and related Social and related Engineering

and mathematics sciences sciences sciences

Source: Author's weighted analysis of National Science Foundation Survey of Doctorate Recipients, Restricted-use file. The

use of NSF data does not imply NSF approval of the research, research methods or conclusions.

Note: * indicates statistical significance at alpha =0.01.

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This paper makes use of nationally-representative data from the Survey of

Doctorate Recipients (SDR) to answer a series of questions about international

collaboration by U.S. academics with doctoral degrees to better understand the

differences shown in the two figures above:

• Among those who collaborate internationally, to what extent are men

and women similar or different in terms of the travel they do for these

collaborations?

• To what extent does international collaboration vary by race/ethnicity

and sex?

• How do tenure status and rank impact international collaborations?

• In what ways are international collaborations impacted by family

status issues (such as marital status and children)?

• To what extent does international collaboration differ by citizenship?

Data and Methods

Data

The SDR is a nationally-representative survey with data collected by the

National Opinion Research Center under contract to the National Science

Foundation every two to three years with both longitudinal and cross-sectional

features. Data are longitudinal in that, once impaneled, respondents are tracked

and complete the survey in each administration after earning their doctoral degree.

New respondents are added to the program via a sample from the Doctorate

Records File, which includes information on graduates of research doctorate

programs at U.S. colleges and universities. For this paper we used only one year

of data in the SDR, specifically the 2006 SDR, in which a set of questions was

asked about international collaboration in a new module, as discussed below. The

2006 SDR administration had 30,800 respondents representing 711,800 doctoral-

degreed scientists and engineers.

Analytical Approach

As will be discussed below, all dependent and independent variables are

categorical, often with simple yes/no response categories. The principal analytical

strategy was cross-tabulation, often with multiple variables or with selection of a

limited group for analysis. SPSS- Windows was used to analyze the 2006 SDR

restricted-use dataset. Further, due to the complex stratified sampling plan,^^the

National Science Foundation, Science Resource Statistics division recommends

the use of sampling weights in analysis of the SDR data. Weighted analysis

permits the generalization of results to the population from which the sample was

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drawn. The large populations, then, produce many statistically significant results,

even when group differences are quite small. We, therefore, call attention to those

differences that are meaningful, setting as our standard for this as sex gaps where

the difference of proportions is greater than 5 percentage points.^ ^ Because the

weighted analysis yields population estimates that are quite large, routine

statistical procedures indicate significance even for very small subgroup

differences. For hypothesis testing — i.e., testing whether the responses of women

and men differed significantly — we established alpha = 0.01 for test statistics. We

used chi-square tests and difference of proportions tests, as mathematically

appropriate.

Dependent Variables

The specific questions of interest here (the dependent variables of

interest), both with simple yes/no answers, were:

(1) International Collaboration: In performing the principal job you held

during the week of April 1, 2006, did you work with individuals located in

other countries? (defined as international collaboration).

(2) International Travel: In your work with individuals located in other

countries, did you travel to a foreign country for collaborative activities?

(defined as travel abroad).

12

Other items included in the module were not used for this paper. We recognize

that this is a very broad definition of international collaboration.

Independent Variables

Sex was the critical independent variable: most analyses compare women

and men. Another key demographic variable of interest was race/ethnicity, which

was coded as a three-category variable:

• Asian Americans (included Pacific Islanders)

• Underrepresented minority included African Americans, American

Indians/Alaska Natives, and Hispanics (and noted as URM)

• White (non-Hispanic whites).

Anyone for whom race/ethnicity was either unknown or marked as “other” was

omitted from most analyses, except as noted. To date, the literature has little

information about the impact of race/ethnicity on the likelihood of collaborating,

in general, or of collaborating internationally, in particular.^^ Data on participation

in study abroad programs indicates that African Americans and American Indians

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are less likely than White students to engage in study abroad activities and are

often “first generation international travelers.”

The respondent’s doctoral degree was used to code fields, which is

provided at various levels of detail within the SDR dataset. Using the broadest

field coding level, we analyzed international travel and collaboration for scientists

and engineers who reported one of the following five categories as their doctoral

degree field of study:

• Computer and mathematical sciences;

• Life and related sciences (note: health and medical fields are not

included in this category);

• Physical and related sciences;

• Social and related sciences (includes psychology);

• Engineering.

There are two other broad fields at this level, which were omitted from the

analysis: “Science and engineering related” and “Non-S&E” fields, which i

together had just 1,465 cases.

This paper examines issues for U.S. academics in particular, so analyses

were also restricted to only those who reported being employed in an educational

institution. While this includes K-12 (n=412) and two-year colleges (n=510), the

overwhelming majority of cases (n=12,128) were people employed in four-year

colleges and universities, medical schools and university-affiliated research

centers. With both the field of study and the employment sector restrictions, the

overall number of cases in the analyses was 12,351, which represents 276,541

U.S. doctoral-degreed scientists and engineers employed in academic institutions.

Several family status variables were used to capture gendered impacts

described in previous work by George, Malcom and Frehill (2009).^^ First, the ;

SDR asked about marital status, which was consolidated into three categories, '

consistent with those used in most social science reporting:

• Married or in a marriage-like relationship (which we refer to as

married/partnered);

• Widowed, separated, or divorced;

• Never married.

Also examined was whether spouse’s work status played a role in individuals’

likelihood of engaging in international collaboration and then traveling associated

with that collaboration. Respondents who reported that they were married or in a

marriage-like relationship were asked if their spouse worked and if so, was this

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work full or part time. Women in professional fields, academia included, who are

married were more likely than men to indicate that their partner works at a full-

time position, while men were more likely to report a spouse who has not job in

the paid labor force. This suggests that academic men are more likely than their

female peers to have a spouse who is in a more support-function role, thereby

enabling them to travel and engage in international collaborative relationships.'^’

17,18,19 ^

There were quite a few items that asked about the presence of children in

the respondent’s home, to identify those respondents who did have children of

various ages. Therefore the following categories were used, which are non-

mutually exclusive, to capture the potential impacts of children upon international

collaboration and travel abroad:

• No children living at home;

• Children under 2 living at home;

• Children aged 2-5 living at home;

• Children aged 6-1 1 living at home;

• Children aged 12-18 living at home;

• Children 19 and older living at home;

• Any children of any age living at home.

The literature to date suggests that the presence of children, especially young

children, prevents women from accepting positions for which travel is

necessary. ’ ’ Therefore, the total number of children was not computed, nor

was a new variable formed by crossing marital status with the children variables,

which is sometimes done in the literature on the impact of family status on

occupational outcomes. Hence, the analyses presented here are somewhat

simplified in terms of the potential impacts that having children of various ages

may have on international collaboration and travel abroad.

Individuals’ geographic origin can also play an important role in the

likelihood of engaging in international collaboration and/or traveling abroad

associated with collaborations. Two measures were used to capture possible

impacts associated with prior international experience: citizenship and holding a

bachelor’s degree from a non-U.S. institution. Citizenship was coded using the

four-category variable available in the SDR:

• U.S. citizen (native bom);

• U.S. citizen (naturalized);

• Non-U.S. citizen, permanent resident;

• Non-U.S. citizen, temporary resident.

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The U.S. citizen, naturalized category is the group that poses the most theoretical

challenges when studying how citizenship impacts educational and occupational

outcomes because of the heterogeneity of this group. That is, it includes

individuals who arrived in the United States as children and, fundamentally, were

raised within the U.S. system, as well as individuals who arrived quite a bit later

after having gone through other educational systems. The social forces associated

with each of these groups, obviously, are quite different but age of arrival in the

United States is not a variable available in the SDR. Therefore, we also used

another commonly used variable as a proxy for age of arrival: the world region in

which the individual received her or his bachelor’s degree.^^ The regions were:

• United States;

• Americas (rest of North America, Central and South America and the

Caribbean);

• Europe;

• Asia;

• Africa; and

• Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific Islands).

Origin measures are intended to account for the possible impacts of having prior

international networks, mentors, etc. that could be associated with completing a

bachelor’s degree in a country other than the United States, which has been shown

to positively affect the likelihood of international collaboration, especially among

women.^"^ Citizenship may also have a specific effect beyond that associated with

the area of an individual’s bachelor’s degree: individuals who have already

experienced living in an international setting — that is, those who are non-native-

bom U.S. citizens — may be more comfortable and predisposed to engage in

research opportunities that necessitate travel outside the United States than those

who do not have this experience {i.e., U.S. citizens by birth).

Rank and tenure status are also likely to impact international collaboration

and travel abroad. The relevant SDR variables — i.e., rank with its eight categories

and tenure status with its five, produces a 40-cell matrix — but these were

simplified/reduced to the following categories:

• Tenured full professor;

• Tenured associate professor;

• Tenure track senior faculty (associate or full);

• Assistant professor (includes tenured and untenured tenure-track junior

faculty in assistant professor, lecturer, and instmctor positions);

• Non-tenure track (all ranks of faculty not tenured and not on a tenure

track).

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The literature indicates that an international reputation is becoming more

important for faculty in terms of advancement to the full professor rank but may

not be as critical for those who are working towards tenure and promotion to the

associate professor rank.^^’

Results

Table 1 shows the overall sex distribution within each of dependent and

independent variables used in our analyses. On most of the key demographics,

there were few differences between women and men. The largest differences are

in the way women and men are distributed across the categories of Rank/Tenure

status and fields. Nearly half of the men but just over one-in-five women are in

tenured full professor positions with women much more likely than men to be in

non-tenure track positions. A far higher proportion of women are in the social and

behavioral sciences than men, while men are much more likely than women to be

in the computer and mathematical sciences, engineering, and physical sciences.

Indeed, more than 80 percent of women are in the life and social and behavioral

sciences, while men are less concentrated.

On the family status measures, women and men were somewhat different.

Women were less likely than men to be married and those who were married or in

a marriage-like relationship were far more likely than men to report that their

spouse works full time, consistent with the research literature in this area.

Whereas 8 1 percent of married/partnered women reported that their spouse works

a full-time job, just under half of married/partnered men reported this. Nearly one-

in-three married/partnered men reported that their spouse was not employed.

Race/ethnicity, Sex and Discipline

To what extent does the likelihood of collaborating internationally vary by

race/ethnicity and sex? How does field affect international collaborations? Table 2

shows that when we control for both field and race/ethnicity, there were fewer

substantial sex differences in collaboration among U.S. academics than when we

did not control for these three variables. That is, here we limit ourselves to the

group in the first two bars shown in Figure 1 and then we drill down into

disciplines while simultaneously controlling for race/ethnicity, suggesting that the

explanations for the gender gap noted in Figure 1 are complex.

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Table 1. Dependent and Independent Variables by Sex: U.S. Doctoral-Degreed Recipients in

Engineering and Science Employed at U.S. Educational Institutions in STEM Fields, 2006

Source: Author's analysis of National Science Foundation, Survey of Doctorate

Recipients restricted-use data file (2006). The use of NSF data does not imply

NSF approval of the research, reseach methods or conclusions.

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Table 2 shifts attention to the way that race/ethnicity and sex together

impact international collaboration. Within various ethnic groups, there are some

important sex differences. Among underrepresented minorities (URMs), men

were more likely than women to collaborate in the engineering and computer and

mathematical sciences, while women were more likely than men to indicate that

they were involved in international collaborations in the physical and related

sciences. For Asian Americans, men were more likely than women to report

collaborating in the life and related sciences and engineering. For whites, though,

there is a substantial sex difference in international collaboration among those in

the physical and related sciences with 31 percent of white males but just 21

percent of white females reportedly involved in international collaboration. The

engineering sex difference that is on the order of a 10 percent gap in international

collaboration between men and women in engineering is not evident for whites.^^

Table 2. Percent Reporting International Collaboration and Travel Associated with Collaboration by Broad Field, Sex

and Ethnic Category, U.S. Doctoral-Degreed Academics, 2006

Notes: (1 ) URM = underrepresented minority, includes American Indians/Alaska Natives, African Americans, Hispanics, Native

Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, and Multiple Race. (2) The Travel question was contingent on the Collaboration question, that is,

of those who indicated that they worked with people in other countries, shown here is the percentage who said that they traveled to

another country. (3) Grey cells indicate those on which the difference of proportions was .05 (i.e. a 5 percent gap between men and

women), which is interpreted as a meaningful association. Chi-square tests were significant for all except a handful of sex differences

at the alpha = 0.01 level. The non-significant results were as follows: Collaboration: URMs in Life and related sciences and Whites in

Engineering Travel: Asians in Social and related sciences and URMs in Life and related sciences. Physical and related sciences, and

Social and related sciences

Source: Author's analysis of National Science Foundation, Survey of Doctorate Recipients resthcted-use data file (2006). The use of

NSFdata does not imply NSF approval of the research, reseach methods or conclusions.

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Among those who reported that they engaged in an international

collaboration, one of the key follow-up questions related to whether or not the

respondent traveled abroad. Whereas rnany of the sex differences on the general

variable measuring international collaboration were rather small, the sex

differences in the percentage of respondents who reported that they traveled

abroad are generally larger, as shown in Table 2. For example, Asian males in

three of the five disciplines — computer and mathematical sciences, physical and

related sciences, and engineering — were much more likely than Asian females to

report that they traveled abroad for their international collaborative work. URM

males in computer and mathematical sciences were also substantially more likely

than females in this same ethnic category to indicate that they traveled abroad.

Engineering is interesting because even though URM females were less likely to

indicate that they were involved in international collaboration than URM males,

those who were involved in these collaborations were quite a bit more likely than

men to indicate that they traveled abroad for the collaboration. Likewise, white

females in engineering, who reported a similar chance of being involved in an

international collaboration as white male engineers, were also substantially more

likely than men to report that they traveled abroad. Indeed, three-fourths of

women engineers who were either URM or white and were involved in

international collaboration traveled abroad - some of the highest rates shown in

Table 2.

Rank and Tenure Status

Tenure status and rank had a substantial impact upon rates and the sex gap

in international collaboration (Figure 3). Those who were at the top ranks of

academia reported the highest rates of international collaboration within their

respective sex group: 36 percent of male and 29 percent of female full professors

were involved in international collaborations. This sex gap was replicated for

those who were untenured but in senior-level ranks. It is noteworthy, though, that

among associate (tenured) and assistant professors (tenured and untenured) there

was no sex gap in international collaboration. About one-in-four assistant

professors and just a little more than one-in-four associate professors of both

sexes indicated that they were involved in international collaboration. These

findings suggest that there may be important cohort effects that impact the overall

sex gap in international collaboration.

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Figure 3. International Collaboration of U.S. Doctoral- Degreed Academics by Rank and Tenure

Status and Sex, 2006

40%

Tenured, full Tenured, Untenured, full Assistant Non-tenure track

associate and associate

Note: Actual percent for women, tenured, associate professors was 27.3%, men, 26.6%. Not statistically

different. * indicates statistical significance at alpha = 0.01 level.

Source: Author's weighted analysis of National Science Foundation Survey of Doctorate Recipients,

Restricted-use file. The use of NSF data does not imply NSF approval of the research, research methods or

conclusions.

Family Status

Marital status had a stronger impact on international collaboration for men

than for women, although the data reported in Table 3 most likely conflates age

effects with marital status effects and the impact of children. That is, those who

had never been married are likely, also, to have a younger average age than those

who report any of the other marital statuses and, indeed, there is a rather narrow

gender gap in international collaboration among those faculty members. Married

men were the most likely group to report international collaboration (29 percent)

and the sex gap in international collaboration was widest among those who

reported that they were married or in a marriage-like relationship. In the literature

on the sex gap in pay in corporate settings, this has come to be referred to as the

“marriage bonus” for men. ’ While marital relationships have undergone

important changes in the past 30 years, it is still the case that men are more likely

to reap a range of health and personal service benefits from marriage in contrast to

single men and married women.

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The likelihood that respondents reported that they traveled abroad, also

shown in Table 3, shows that among those who reported an international

collaboration, single men and women, whether they have been married or not,

were more likely than married men and women to indicate that they traveled

abroad for the collaboration. The least likely group to report travel abroad was

married women (at 44 percent), while the most likely group was widowed,

separated or divorced women (57 percent). It seems that marital status has a

greater impact on women’s likelihood of traveling than on men’s.

Spouse’s employment status had little impact on the likelihood of

international collaboration for both men and women, and of traveling abroad for

collaborations for women. Men who had an employed spouse (either full or part

time) were less likely than those who had a spouse who did not work in the paid

labor force to travel for international collaborations.

Table 3. International Collaboration and Travel Associated with Collaboration of U.S. Doctoral-

Degreed Academic Scientists and Engineers, by Family Status, 2006

Notes: Overall N (weighted) similar for the children variables as marital status, but

since these represent seven different variables rather than categories associated with

one variable (as does marital status and spouse's employment status) answers are

not mutuallyexclusiv^. * indicates significance at alpha = 0.01 .

Source; Author's analysis of National Science Foundation, Survey of Doctorate

Recipients restricted-use data file (2006). The use of NSF data does not imply NSF

approval ofthe research, reseach methods or conclusions.

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The presence of children had implications for international collaboration

and, especially, travel associated with these collaborations. Childless women were

only ever-so-slightly more likely than women with children to report that they

collaborated internationally (22 percent for childless women and 20 percent for

those with a child of any age), suggesting that the presence of children, per se,

was not a specific deterrent to engaging in an international collaboration.

Likewise, men’s reported participation in international collaborations varied little

for men with versus those without children. The sex gap, though, is quite clear

regardless of children’s ages. That is, the sex gap is smallest among those without

children and is widest for those who report that they have at least one elementary-

school aged child living in their home.

Women with children were less likely than men with children to travel as

shown in Table 3: 42 percent of women and 49 percent of men with children

currently living in their home indicated that they traveled abroad. Ironically,

though, when specifically examining the likelihood of traveling abroad, the

findings are rather different. At the most macro level, indeed, men were more

likely than women to report that they traveled abroad regardless of whether they

had children and regardless of children’s ages. The sex gap in traveling abroad

was lowest for men and women with 6-11 year olds at home than for any other

group. Women who had children aged 2-5 years — too big to carry and of pre-

school age — were least likely to travel. Childless women were about as likely as

those with children under 2 years or between the ages of 12 and 18 to travel

abroad. For both men and women, though, those with children 19 years or older

living at home were the most likely to travel abroad - again, though, this finding

may likely be associated with an age effect.

International Origins: Citizenship and Bachelor s Degree Region

As shown in Table 4, women’s citizenship status had minimal impact on

the percentage of women who indicated that they were involved in international

collaboration, ranging from 20 percent among native-born U.S. citizens to 24

percent among naturalized U.S. citizens. For men, though, citizenship had a larger

impact on international collaboration. Just one-in-five men who were temporary

residents reported an international collaboration but 32 percent of men who were

naturalized U.S. citizens reported they were collaborating internationally. With the

exception of non-U. S. temporary residents, men were much more likely than

women within the same citizenship status to report that they were involved in an

international collaboration.

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Table 4. International Collaboration and Travel Associated with Collaboration of U.S. Doctoral-

Degreed Academic Scientists and Engineers, by Origin, 2006

Source; Author's analysis of National Science Foundation, Survey of Doctorate

Recipients restricted-use data file (2006). The use of NSF data does not imply NSF

approval of the research, reseach methods or conclusions. Note: * indicates significant

sexdifference at alpha = 0.01.

Further, while there were few differences in women’s likelihood of

engaging in international collaboration based on citizenship status, there were

broad differences in women’s reporting that they traveled internationally. The sex

gaps in the likelihood of traveling abroad were generally smaller than those

shown for international collaboration. The most likely group to report traveling

abroad for an international collaboration were U.S. naturalized men (66 percent),

which was true for women too - i.e. naturalized U.S. women were most likely

among women to indicate that they had traveled abroad for international

collaboration (56 percent). The least likely groups were non-U.S. temporary

resident men (45 percent) and U.S. native-born women (44 percent).

European-origin men and those from Oceania were most likely to report

that they engaged in international collaboration. Within each of the regional

groups based on bachelor’s degree origin, men were more likely than women to

report that they collaborated internationally. Women who had earned their

bachelor’s degrees in the Americas (35 percent) followed by Oceania (33 percent)

and Europe (30 percent) were the most likely to report that they engaged in

international collaboration. Women who earned their bachelor’s degree in the

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65

United States were among the least likely to engage in international collaboration.

Men and women who had earned bachelor’s degrees from institutions in Africa or

Asia were among the least likely to report international collaborations. To some

extent this finding may be related to the earlier stage of the tertiary education

systems in nations on those continents, particularly the largest (in terms of

population) nations of China and India. For example, interviewees and findings

from workshops with international collaboration participants^^’^^ noted that an

individual’s connections to professors at their foreign undergraduate institution

sometimes formed the basis for an international collaboration among those who

held degrees from European universities. Therefore, in the future it is possible that

those who hold bachelor’s degrees from institutions in Africa and Asia may also

reap international collaboration connections from these past associations.

The sex gap among those who reported that they traveled abroad for an

international collaboration varied greatly based on the bachelor’s degree region.

Among those who received a bachelor’s degree from a European, U.S., or African

institution, there was a negligible difference in the percentage of men and women

who reported that they traveled abroad for international collaboration. The gap

was much wider for scholars who received their bachelor’s degree from an

institution in Asia (12 percent gap) or the Americas (16 percent gap). Men who

had earned bachelor’s degrees from institutions in the Americas were the most

likely to report that they traveled abroad to participate in an international

collaboration (68 percent), while 63 percent of women who had been trained in

Africa were most likely to report that they traveled abroad for an international

i collaboration.

I Conclusions

The likelihood of engaging in an international collaboration and of

traveling abroad for collaboration differs along many dimensions: discipline,

race/ethnicity, sex, family status, and citizenship. In general, the key differences

are noted on the first of these two variables — international collaboration — with

I smaller gaps on the second variable, i.e., travel abroad. It should be remembered

j that the second variable was contingent on the first, so that when controlling for

1 whether or not a person collaborates internationally, the likelihood of traveling

' abroad is less dependent upon a host of independent variables.

; It is important to note that holders of doctoral degrees from U.S. colleges

I and universities who were employed in academia were less likely than those

employed in business/industry or government to engage in international

collaborative research. In today’s shrinking world, in which students are

i

!

i

I

j

spring 201 1

66

increasingly becoming involved in global issues, faculty involvement in

international work, in general, should be a matter of public concern.

Our findings show that the relationship between sex and international

collaboration is quite complicated and, to some extent, affected by the interaction

of sex with variables like field, rank and tenure status, and discipline. Women’s

concentration in the life, social and behavioral sciences suggests a need to further

examine the subfields within these disciplines as possibly shaping women’s

likelihood of engaging in international collaboration. Finkelstein et al (2009), for

example, showed that “internationalization” for faculty members in humanities

and social sciences tended to involve incorporation of global content in the

classroom, while that of STEM field faculty involved research with international

colleagues. The SDR data, however, were inadequate to tease out these

differences, since the survey question implemented a broad and general definition

of international collaboration.

That 43 percent of the men who were in the five science and engineering

fields examined and employed in academic settings were full professors compared

to just 22 percent of the women and that women showed a greater likelihood of

being in non-tenure track positions, was quite important. Among tenured and

tenure track faculty at the assistant and associate levels, there was no discernible

sex gap in international collaboration but the gap at the full, tenured level was

quite large. On the one hand, this suggests a cohort effect, possibly due to a

mechanism such as cumulative disadvantage.^^ On the other hand, it may indicate

that caution needs to be exercised in monitoring faculty members as they advance

to insure that women and men have similar opportunities to engage in

international collaborations.

The analyses conducted here are best described as exploratory, suggesting

that subsequent multivariate analysis using logistic regression would likely be a

fruitful analytical strategy to tease out the factors that are most salient. Being able

to examine how marital status, presence of children of various ages, field, and

rank/tenure status have differential effects for women’s and men’s international

collaboration will be important in developing strategies for encouraging all

faculty to participate.

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67

Endnotes/References

* Peters, Michael A. 2006. “The rise of global science and the emerging political economy of

international research collaborations.” European Journal of Education 41(2): 225-244.

2

National Science Board. 2010. Science and Engineering Indicators 2010. Arlington, VA:

National Science Foundation (NSB 10-01).

^ Benokraitis, Nijole V. and Joe R. Feagin. 1995. Modern Sexism: Blatant, Subtle and Covert

Discrimination, 2"^^ Edition. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall). The first edition

appeared in 1986.

Adler, Nancy J. 1987. “Pacific Basin Managers: A Gaijin, Not a Woman.” Human Resource

Management 26(2): 1 69- 191.

^ Ibid.

^ Altman, Yochanan and Susan Shortland. 2008. “Women and International Assignments: Taking

Stock — A 25-Year Review.” Human Resource Management 47(2): 199-215.

^ Napier, Nancy K. and Sully Taylor. 2002. “Experiences of Women Professionals Abroad:

Comparisons across Japan, China and Turkey.” International Journal of Human Resource

Management 13(5): 837-851.

^ While there are important disciplinary differences in these findings, more details about these can

be viewed elsewhere. Frehill, Lisa M. and Kathrin Zippel. “Appendix A. International

Collaboration by Employment Sector and Sex, 2006 for Selected Science and Engineering

Disciplines” available online at

http://nuweb.neu.edu/zippel/nsf-workshop/docs/SDR_Oct22_2010.pdf

^ Melkers, Julia and Agrita Kiopa. 2010. “The Social Capital of Global Ties in Science: The

Added value of International Collaboration.” Review of Policy Research: 389-414.

See http://www.nsf gov/statistics/srvydoctoratework/ for details.

" There are no standards for specifying what constitutes a “meaningful” gap. The difference of

proportions is common to use with 2x2 contingency tables of the type constructed for many

of the analyses in this article. As this measure approaches 1 (or 100 percent when represented

in that way) there is evidence for the assertion that the association is strong and when the

difference of proportions is closer to 0, the association between the two variables is said to be

weak. Nielsen, Joyce McCarl. 1990. Sex and Gender in Society: Perspectives on

Stratification, 2""^ Edition. (Long Grove, IE: Waveland Press). Agresti, Alan and Barbara

Finlay. 1997. Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, Edition. (Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice Hall).

There were an additional six items beyond those described here. According to the National

Science Foundation, the data from these items were not released due to data quality problems.

Smykla, Emily and Kathrin Zippel. 2010. “Literature Review: Gender and International

Research Collaboration.” Available online at http://nuweb.neu.edu, zippel/nsf-workshop/.

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Frehill, Lisa M. 2008. ‘‘Executive Summary” in Professional Women and Minorities: A Total

Human Resources Data Compendium. (Washington, DC: Commission on Professionals in

Science and Technology).

George, Yolanda, Shirley Malcom, and Lisa M. Frehill. 2009. “Evaluation of the AAAS

Women’s International Scientific Cooperation (WlSC) Program” (Washington, DC:

American Association for the Advancement of Science).

Hertz, Rosanna. 1986. More Equal than Others: Women and Men in Dual-Career Marriages.

(Berkeley, CA: University of California).

Ledin, Anna, Lutz Bommann, Frank Gannon and Gerlind Wallon. 2007. “A Persistent Problem:

Traditional Gender Roles Hold Back Female Scientists.” Reports 8(11): 982-987.

Shauman, Kimberlee A. and Yu Xie. 1996. “Geographic Mobility of Scientists: Sex Differences

and Family Constraints.” Demography 33(4): 455-468.

Suitor, J. Jill, Dorothy Mecom, and liana S. Feld. 2001. “Gender, Household Labor, and

Scholarly Productivity among University Professors.” Gender Issues 19(4): 50-67.

Gustafsson, Per. 2006. “Work-Related Travel, Gender, and Family Obligations.” Work,

Employment and Society 20(3): 513-530.

Op. cit., Shauman and Xie, 1996.

Tharenou, Phyllis.: 2008. “Disruptive Decisions to Leave Home: Gender and Family

Differences in Expatriation Choices.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision

Processes 105: 183-200.

In some studies, location of high school completion is taken as a good proxy for whether the

individual would be considered more a product of the U.S. versus some other educational and

cultural system. Here, though, we lacked that measure. Since it is still relatively uncommon

for non-U. S. students to travel to the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree, this may be a

valid demarcation point for defining those who are more culturally U.S. versus non-U. S.

Op. cit., George et al. 2009.

Finkelstein, Martin J., Elaine Walker, and Rong Chen. 2009. “The Internationalization of the

American Faculty: Where are we? What Drives or Deters Us?” Conference Presentation: The

changing academic profession over 1992-2007: International, comparative, and quantitative

perspectives, organized by the Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University

and Research Institute for Higher Education, Hijiyama University.

http://en.rihe.hiroshimau.ac.ip/pl default 2.php?bid= 100 132.

Op. cit., George et. al. 2009.

There were four of the 30 cells in the ethnicity by sex by discipline matrix for the percentage of

individuals who had reported an international collaboration in which there were less than

1,000 cases. Three of these were for URM women: computer and mathematical sciences

(326), physical sciences (585) and engineering (331). The fourth cell was Asian American

women in computer and mathematical sciences, just 995 individuals in this cell had

collaborated internationally.

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Budig, Michelle J. and Paula England. 2001. “The Wage Penalty for Motherhood.” American

Sociological Review 66: 204-225.

Chiodo, Abigail J. and Michael T. Owyang. 2002. “For Love or Money?: Why Married Men

Make More” The Regional Economist. St. Louis, MO: Federal Reserve Bank. April 2002.

Op. cit., George et al. 2009.

Hogan, A., K. Zippel, L. Frehill. 2010. “Report: International Workshop on International

Research Collaboration.” (Boston, MA: Northeastern University) accessed online at

http://nuvveb.neu.edu zippel/nsf- workshop/.

Valian, Virginia. 1998. Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. (Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press).

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SCIENCE IS MURDER

Washington Academy of Sciences

December 21, 2010

Minutes

Ron Hietala

Philosophical Society

It was a cold night in a city that knows it can’t keep a secret. A crowd of

scientists schmoozed around a marbled lobby in a downtown office

building, talking quietly and eating hors d’ oeuvres.

At about 7 pm, they wandered into a conference room for the occasion of

the second “Science is Murder” program of the Washington Academy of

Sciences, December 21, 2010.

Academy President Mark Holland welcomed everyone. He made a pitch

for membership in the Academy and extolled the virtues of the Journal of

the Washington Academy of Sciences, He expressed appreciation for

donations of refreshments from Barrel Oak Winery^ and the Martarella

Winery. (Do we see a pattern here?)

President Holland turned the microphone over to Kathy Harig, owner of

the Oxford, Maryland bookstore “Mystery Loves Company,” to moderate

the immoderately mysterious panel. Ms. Harig introduced the panelists,

four accomplished authors of mysteries involving science: Lawrence

Goldstone, Ellen Crosby, Louis Bayard, and Dana Cameron. While most

mysteries involve science, these authors’ works do so in more meaningful

ways.

Lawrence Goldstone ’s books are usually historical (no surprise, since he

holds a PhD in American constitutional history). They include Out of the

Flames, The Friar and the Cipher, and Anatomy of Deception. His latest

book. The Astronomer, is set in Paris among the heretic-burning of the

1500s. In it, a young man is pressed into the service of the Inquisition,

where he acquires doubts about the wisdom and justice of what is going on

as he pursues his investigations and learns of scientific discoveries.

Ellen Crosby is a freelance journalist. Her mysteries are all set in the

Virginia wine country, where she lives. Some of the attendees had been

drinking the products of those very vineyards earlier. She has five books in

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her wine country series. Their alliterative titles include The Viognier

Vendetta, The Riesling Retribution, and The Bordeaux Betrayal.

Louis Bayard has written three historical thrillers: The Black Tower, The

Pale Blue Eye, and Mr Timothy. He has earned high praise from The New

York Times and The Washington Post. The Post placed him “in the upper

reaches of the historical thriller league” and the Times placed him on its

Notable Authors list for 2009. The central character of his fiction, Eugene

Francois Vidocq, was an actual detective in the 1800s, at the beginning of

scientific forensic analysis.

Dana Cameron was the only scientist on the panel. (It’s unusual for an

archeologist to be referred to as the scientist in the room, Ms. Cameron

volunteered.) She writes the Emma Fielding archeological mysteries. She

won the 2007 Anthony award for best paperback original and the 2008

Agatha award for best short story. The Emma Fielding character of her

books asks questions similar to the ones Ms. Cameron does in her

archeology.

Ms. Harig asked the panelists: “None of your novels are weighty, scientific

tomes. How do you balance the science and the mystery aspects when

your readers might be new to the science you discuss?”

Cameron: There are common threads. Many of the procedures and

concerns are the same. Detectives, like scientists, try to maximize the

usefulness of the data. To speak to the uninitiated, I often have a new

graduate student, a kid who wanders up to the project, or a reporter on the

site. By explaining matters to such characters, I can get the readers

educated without lecturing to them.

Bayard: For me, it is good that I write historical mysteries, because it is a

subtractive process. You have to go back and figure out all the things that

people didn’t know. And they are many. Black Tower is set in 1818 Paris.

They knew nothing of DNA or even bacteriology. But Vidocq, the hero,

was in fact the father of modem criminology. He was the first to use

ballistics and plaster of Paris imprints. He was the first to recognize the

implications of fingerprints. It is exciting to me that, with all the

differences and advantages current detectives have, the spirit of Vidocq

lives on.

Crosby: I’m a journalist. When I started to write mysteries set in the wine

country, the only thing I knew was that I liked to drink wine. I did what

any journalist does; I asked a lot of questions. I like explaining something

nobody understands and making it interesting and fun. My neighbor.

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Donna Andrews (one of last year’s panelists) has a concept she calls the

“info dump.” You can have enormous gobs of information about

something like, say, how to spray for powdery mildew. Too many details

like that can quickly suflFocate the plot. You’ve got to weave the

winemaking in. I talk to people. I talk to the winemaker. I write what I

learn from them and use their words as my characters’ words. In the right

amounts and the right context, it can make the story more interesting.

Goldstone: I’m pleased to be here, because I get to say something every

writer dreams of saying (pause) - “I’d like to thank the Academy.”

There is a balance. For our kind of audience, readers will stay with you as

long as you don’t “dull them out.” It might be more of a challenge for a

different kind of audience, but all of us write for people whose interests go

beyond their own disciplines. As long as the technical aspects can be

woven into the plot and spoken from interesting characters, the interest of

the audience will hold. Even with historical characters, you can put words

in their mouths. In Astronomer, Rabelais showed up. He was, historically,

such an outrageous character that it’s hard to imagine something he would

not have said. I don’t find it such a difficult balance, and I get as many

comments favoring the informative parts as the entertaining plots.

Harig: Dana, you give us insight into the working life of an archeologist

in your Emma Fielding books. Are you aiming for accuracy, suspense, or

both? How would you describe her character and her involvement with

crime?

Cameron: Both. One of my goals was to depict archeology in realistic

fashion. I wanted to let people know archeology happens everywhere, not

just in Greece and Egypt. I’d read a lot of books where archeologists were

funky, unrealistic, sometimes unsavory, adventurers - Indiana Jones types.

I wanted to let them know we are just mild mannered, professorial types.

Archeology is suspenseful. Often the surprise is on last day of the dig. It is

a proven fact. It will be when it’s raining, when half the crew has already

gone home, when you have no more money and no more time.

Emma and her relationship with crime, that’s a good question. She gets

involved with a person who’s there. She realizes she has the ability to take

clues from the past and reconstruct what went on. She feels she should,

because she can, and it involves someone close to her. She gets engaged

and embroiled, to the point where, by book six, she is thinking about

whether she should continue teaching archeology or take up forensics for

real.

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Harig: What are your favorite digs that you’ve been on, and how do they

find their ways into your books?

Cameron: All of them! I’ve worked on fabulous sites. The one that started

me writing was an English fort site on the coast of Maine, roughly

contemporary with Jamestown. It lasted only a year, 1607 - 1608. It was a

perfect time capsule. My boss and I were surveying the site, and a guy

came out with a gun, to steal artifacts. There were no valuable artifacts; it

was a collection of broken household trash. Most of my books are set in

New England, because of that experience. They reflect the historic houses

I’ve worked on there.

I’ve also worked at the British Museum and I was a Fellow at the

Winterthur Library and at the Peabody Essex Library. Behind the scenes

there is a treasure of good artifacts. I was writing my fourth book when I

should have been writing a monograph. My books do reflect the research

sites, but I put better artifacts in the books. It’s more fun that way.

Harig: Ellen, your character comes to Virginia from France. Her father

died and she comes to take over the winery. What suggested that to you?

Crosby: Well, first, we should be glad I wrote about a vineyard. If it had

been a dairy, we would be drinking milk tonight.

How did I get into writing about Vineyards? I was posted to London in the

1990s. There I wrote a book about Moscow. On a holiday back here, we

had a friend who, when he came to dinner, always brought a Virginia wine

over. My husband, who is French, would always look at the bottle and

wonder, should we use this for the vinaigrette or what? Then one day, the

friend rented a van and took us, the whole family, on a tour of Virginia

wineries.

Back in London, my publisher asked, “What did you do on holiday?” I

told her about the terrific weekend we’d had, and she said, “That would be

a great setting for a book.” She pushed pretty hard, and I thought, “I will

write one.”

I got out a map of Virginia and found the nearest vineyard to my house,

and that set my next book at the Swedenburg Vineyard in Middleburg.

And that’s the very scientific explanation of how my books got located in

Virginia wine country.

Harig: But you met a very interesting person there.

Crosby: I did. Juanita Swedenburg welcomed me and taught me

everything she knew about growing grapes and winemaking. She had been

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horrified to discover it was against the law to ship wine to New York. She

had a friend, a local lawyer who sued New York. New York sued back. It

became a constitutional issue; it went back to the states being able to

regulate alcohol. My husband came home from work one day and said,

“Juanita is in the Financial Times.” After the groundwork was laid, big-

gun lawyers came down from New York to take her out to lunch. They

wanted to take on the case. She said, “My lawyer was good enough for me

when you people didn’t know who I was, and he’s going with me to the

Supreme Court.” He did, and they won. She died about a year after case

was won.

Harig: Larry, what suggested your book to you? What research do you do

to bring your characters to the page?

Goldstone: Research? It’s fiction.

I’d written six books with my wife. Many of them had an element of the

tension of empiricism in conflict with theology or religion. There was a

common pattern, where empiricism confronted religious dogma, and

empiricism gradually won out, sometimes after considerable hardship.

The early 1500’s was a time of great purity in religious interpretation of

empirical matters. Pope Leo was confronted with the problem that the

calendar was off. Copernicus was called in about 1516; he told Pope Leo

that it might have something to do with the Sun. Pope Leo was interested,

but he was too busy building St. Peters’. He started indulgences to help

pay for it; that caused Martin Luther to post his 95 theses, and Leo quickly

lost his astronomy bug.

Copernicus went off to Poland and continued to work on his theory. He

knew he was in a delicate area. Thomas Aquinas had incorporated

Aristotle’s thinking into Catholicism. He made Earth the center of the

Universe because it seemed reasonable that, since man was the center of

God’s attention, man’s home should be the center of the Universe.

So I thought, okay, what happens if people, kind of, get wind of it? That’s

how I got the germ. Then I got to bring in all the interesting characters,

Servitus, Rabelais, and others. It’s delicate, because you want the facts to

be consistent with history, but it’s fun because you get to invent facts and

dialogue also. It was great fodder for a story, if you can hold it together.

Harig: Lou, you’ve written a number of stories about science and

detective work in history. Now you have this character, Vidocq, who

invented forensics and applied scientific methods to his work. Did he, like

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Copernicus, encounter skepticism about his methods, and was he always a

detective?

Bayard: Yes, he did encounter skepticism.

Your second question was very delicately phrased. Vidocq earlier was a

convict. He escaped from many French prisons. He worked his way back

to Paris; he was tired of running; he was being blackmailed by many of his

former compatriots including his ex-wife, and he volunteered to work for

the police as an informant. He went back to prison as a spy, and he was so

successful, he worked his way up the chain of command. Within a year or

two, crime in Paris was down. He founded the first private detective

agency, which was a model for Pinkertons. Even more controversial: he

staffed it with ex-cons, like himself. He was featured in works by Victor

Hugo and Honore de Balzac. Dickens and Melville alluded to him. Hugo

divided him in two; he was a rich enough character for two characters.

Without him. I’m not sure modem detective work or detective fiction

would be the same. I’m not sure we would have Sherlock Holmes.

Ha rig: When you are stuck, whom do you turn to?

Goldstone: On a technical matter, I turn to experts. In Anatomy of

Deception, I got a referral from my gastroenterologist, who referred me to

a man who had studied with one of my characters. With the 16th century,

you can’t do that. Mostly, the research is where I turn. Ptolemy and

Copernicus have been extensively translated into English.

Crosby: The short answer is, I turn to experts. I contact the Fairfax

County Police. Juanita was hard to get to; she did not use email; she did

not have an answering machine. I’m always hoping for one expert who

has a sense of whimsy who will tell you how to kill people. Once when I

tried that, I was lucky I did not get turned in to Homeland Security, before

the police found I was a writer.

Bayard: At the risk of coming off as lower class, I do a lot of research on

Google. I found an extensive history of Vidocq there, which I later learned

was about half incorrect. But, as a novelist, I feel free to make stuff up.

I got a question once from a copy editor who wanted the “scholarly

citations” regarding a French psychologist from the early 18^^ century. I

said, “There are none, because I made him up.”

Readers go out of the way to tell us all the things we did wrong. I’m sure

we all have experiences with people who come to us with great details

about what we did wrong. I think of them as people with lots of cats. One

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told me that I should know that poinsettias were not in English drawing

rooms in 1842. 1 did know, but I’m a whore for a good detail. I feel that, as

a historical novelist, I have a duty to err on the side of the story.

Cameron: I ran into a similar thing. I was asked to write a werewolf story

for Christmas. I thought, “Okay, to the reference books.” It took me a good

ten minutes to think, “Wait a minute, this is fiction!” There is an extensive

canon on werewolves and vampires, but you don’t have to read it.

I was asked by the Boston Noir editor Dennis Lehane if I’d like to

contribute a story. I said, “Oh my God, yes, please.” But I didn’t want to

sound like I was following a formula for writing noir. I set it in 1740 in

Boston, on the wharves. It had many of the conventions, such as an

embattled young woman with no one to protect her. I deliberately did not

read much about how to write noir. When I finished, I felt, “Okay, it’s

noir, but it’s my noir.” My academic training taught me to value accuracy.

It was a hurdle for me, then, to learn that, when I’m stuck, I can just make

something up.

Goldstone: The Amazon review is the bane of modem writer. One

knocked me down two stars because I had the potato in Europe 20 years

before it happened. And it wasn’t like I made it a French fry.

Harig: Okay, final question: What are you working on now?

Cameron: I’m taking the idea that archeologists have traits and skills in

common, and updating it. I’m working on an espionage novel. Ellen

[Crosby] has helped me. It’s been a lot of fun, learning to be a spy. I’m

learning gunplay. Hopefully, it will go to a smart, savvy editor. Also, three

short stories, one about my Fangbom vampires and werewolves, and two

noir.

Bayard: I have a book coming out called the School of Night. It’s set

partly in Elizabethan England and partly in modem Washington. The

School of Night was a group of Elizabethan scholars who were mmored to

dabble in dark arts. It included Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh.

Actually, the hero of the book is a man named Thomas Herriot, who,

unfortunately, did not leave many papers. We are still trying to figure out

what he knew and when he knew it. He drew a picture of the moon before

Galileo. He knew of the law of refraction. He was encouraged to keep

quiet, like Galileo.

Then, the next book is about sainthood in the Catholic Church. It’s about

the whole business of confirming sainthood, which is an interesting.

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complicated process. [Here, Mr. Goldstone quietly advised Mr. Bayard to

get an unlisted phone number.]

Crosby: I just turned in my sixth book in my wine country series. I just

got it back. I’ll be doing revisions -over Christmas. I’m not supposed to

talk about it yet. There are two more in the making.

I have two publishers, Scribners, for hardcover, and Pocket, for paperback.

They are both part of Simon and Schuster, but they are completely

different companies. The illustration Scribners put in the hardcover

catalog is an elegant thing, with a classy etching of F. Scott Fitzgerald,

done for his 1 00th birthday. The Pocket illustration is of a swinging chick

in a bikini on a surfboard in the Keys. I am very impressed that there can

be such radically different icons associated with these two presentations of

the same book.

Goldstone: I have a book coming out in February called Inherently

Unequal. It’s about the shameful record of the Supreme Court in civil

rights cases from 1865 to 1903. That’s my day job, the Constitution. I’m

finishing another thriller about when heroin was first marketed as a cough

medicine for children.

But what I am really working on is a book about my kid’s piano teacher.

One day, this woman, Vemona Gomez by name, showed up for a recital in

a Yankees hat. “What’s she doing in a Yankees hat?” I asked. Another

parent said, “Do you know who that is? That’s Lefty Gomez’s daughter.”

Years went by. One day, she called. “Can I come over?” “Yes.”

[She brought over her material. She was working on a book and she had

interviews with people who didn’t give interviews. Mr. Goldstone referred

her to his agent. Against his wife’s advice, he declined to get involved

himself, at that time. Six months later, the agent was burned out on the

project. Gomez’s son, a lawyer, had “completely obnoxed” the agent.

Goldstone called and begged the agent to do it. The agent said, “I’ll do it

if you’ll do it.” So Goldstone is doing it, with Ms. Gomez.]

It’s an unbelievable trove of material of an American Odyssey. Her father

was best friends with Babe Ruth. He was Joe DiMaggio’s roommate for

seven years. This guy grew up dirt poor. The day Castro marched into

Havana, Lefty was at Ernest Hemingway’s house with an invalid passport.

He’d been asked to go down there by John Foster Dulles after Nixon had

been spat on in South America. Hemingway sent him to the Hotel with

instructions to stay inside. The Castro people weren’t going to let

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anybody out without a valid passport. They found out who he was and

Fidel Castro gave permission for him to leave.

Lefty, An American Odyssey, will be out in 2012.

Harig: That’s it for the formal program. Any questions from the audience?

Question 1: You all have such breadth. How do you find the time? Do

you all have day jobs?

Cameron: I just stay in my pajamas for an extra hour. I can’t do anything

else in pajamas, and I’m comfortable working that way, and I built on my

day job that way. I’m a full-time writer now. I’m a recovering

archeologist. You never get over that completely. Our vacations are all

about broken things (artifacts). It’s more fun when you can devote your

whole time to a project.

Bayard: Stealing time is almost the writer’s vocation. I used to write for

nonprofit groups and others. I knew I was becoming successful when I

found I could carve out two or three hours. Now, it is close to my day job.

Writers, all of us here, have so many pins in the air, we are quite busy.

And there is nothing more depressed than a writer between books.

Crosby: I worked as an economist on Capitol Hill. Then my husband got

posted to Switzerland. I thought I’d work, but couldn’t get a work permit.

We went to Moscow, and there I gravitated toward journalism, which is

hard to sell as a free-lance. Then I turned to nonfiction, which is better. It

is full time; I have a book a year. My husband says he had no idea our

lives were going to be like this. Fortunately, we don’t live on what I make.

He brings home the good paycheck.

Goldstone: I teach at a local community college. I write for my work.

Writing doesn’t pay terribly well. You get regular advances, and

sometimes you score, but usually not. It’s like the old garment center

joke - lose a little on every garment, but make it up in volume.

You have to need to write. If you don’t have the need, the business will

just chew you up.

[The writers agreed that they need to have more than one project going.

If one stalls, they can keep going on others.]

Question 2: How difficult is it to develop the conversation that goes on

between characters within the plot line?

Goldstone: My dialogue works best when I am a reporter and when I am

“watching.” With experience, you develop an ear and an eye. You “hear”

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the characters; you “see” the scenes. When the characters sound tinny,

you know you are off. You feel it. You change it.

Bayard: There are perils in writing historical fiction. I started School of

Night in Elizabethan, and I found I hated it. It sounded too stilted. I had to

create a new style of dialogue that was more modem but with Elizabethan

style touches. That seems to work better.

The second peril is making your characters mouthpieces for your research.

You are tempted to teach the reader everything you learned about Grecian

sewers. If you sprinkle too many historical facts into the dialogue, the

characters don’t seem real.

Henry James said there was no such thing as a good historical novel. You

are forcing them to say things they would never say. But I think there is a

way of working it, and it does require an ear.

Crosby: I was in radio, and I read all my books out loud. I usually read

with my cat, who is pretty discerning and critical. I think that’s why all my

books are unabridged audio books. You catch all the little words that don’t

work.

Cameron: I do that, too. I read them to my husband. Historical facts?

You don’t want to put in all the tidbits. You have to develop a feel for

“just enough.” Paring it down between a dissertation and dialogue

between criminals, that takes some work.

Question 3: How do you deal with the perceptions and misperceptions of

your audience?

Crosby: The greatest one I deal with is the assumption that wine is not

made in Virginia. That actually has been kind of fun. I travel a lot, in

California, especially, they are surprised that people make wine in

Virginia. It is a pleasure to educate them.

Goldstone: In books on the 15th century, you don’t find much of that.

Few people know much about the 15th century. In the end, you tmst your

research. You’ve done the reading; the critics are usually less well

informed. The overly particular criticisms are often from people who want

to justify not liking the book.

You need to accept that, no matter how good a book is, not everybody will

like it.

Bayard: Writing about Tiny Tim, I was writing about a character I

loathed. My pjrpose was to turn him into a character I liked. When I wrote

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I

about Poe, it was about a period of his life few people know about, when

he was a cadet at West Point. There are many myths about Poe, for

example, that he was a drug addict. There is no evidence to support that.

I am reminded of the John Ford line, in “Liberty Valance”: when the myths

and the truth conflict, publish the myth. I guess we just create our own

new myths.

Cameron: It usually isn’t a problem with the archeologists. But I had a

character once who was an Army brat. A real Army brat thought I hit a

chord exactly wrong. I haven’t had people call me out on having vampires

cure people. I’ve cast vampires as sort of misunderstood superheroes. So

far. I’m getting away with it.

I got a nice note from the Massachusetts Office of Historic Preservation,

from the state archeologist. She was enthused about how I had presented

women in historical settings, running pubs, getting beaten by their

husbands. She had also deduced that must be true.

Archeologists often tell me they read my books because they are just like

their own lives. I say, “I’m so sorry!”

People often want my characters to be just like them. I find that very

funny.

Harig: Thanks to everybody for coming.

Peg Kay recalled one of the high points from the program of the previous

year: Donna Andrews doing a remarkably animated imitation of a Penguin

in Heat. Cameron remarked that she had been present at another penguin

exhibit when Andrews recalled that eponymous penguin, [vide Donna

Andrews’ The Penguin Who Knew Too Much]

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Volume 97

Number 2

Summer 2011

Journal of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Washington -Academy of Sciences

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Editor’s Comments

July 21, 2011 marked a bittersweet moment in NASA’s space

program; namely, the end of the shuttle program. When Atlantis touched

down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, many paused to wonder what the

future holds for space exploration and uncovering the mysteries of our

solar system. This 30-year program has changed the way the public views

space, and served as a catalyst for many young, aspiring scientists.

Although to many this was a sad moment in history, the end of the

shuttle program is not the end of space exploration as a whole. Just 18

days after Atlantis touched down, the spacecraft Juno was launched on its

mission to explore Jupiter, and other missions are approaching. In addition

to these, we have countless scientists using advanced technology and

methodology here on Earth to study our solar system.

In recognition of this, this issue of the Journal celebrates the

wonders of astronomy, and discusses some of what we know, and in doing

so demonstrates how much left there is to find out. Sethanne Howard

provides a series of papers discussing black holes, dark matter, and the

cosmic distance ladder. I hope that you enjoy immersing yourself in topics

that we often hear about, but may not really know about.

Following these, we have included a summary of our Annual

Awards Banquet, held on May 12, 2011. It was a great night. Mr. Sam

Kean, author of The Disappearing Spoon, provided our keynote address

and was a great success. We introduced the incoming board and said

farewell and thank you to our outgoing members. And of course, we

recognized the contributions of scientists in a variety of disciplines

through our awards presentation. Thank you to the Awards Committee for

your effort. We look forward to next year!

Jacqueline Maffucci

Editor, The Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

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1

Black Holes Can Dance

Sethanne Howard

USNO, retired

Abstract

This is the story of black holes seen from one astronomer’s perspective.

Although some very technical information is included, the intent is to

review some information about this odd piece of nature.

Introduction

Simply put, a black hole^ is a region of space from which nothing, not

even light, can escape. It is the result of the deformation of space-time

caused by a very compact mass - a lot of mass in a teeny (actually zero)

volume. Around the black hole there is an undetectable surface (called the

event horizon) which marks the point of no return. Once inside nothing

can escape. A black hole is called “black” because it absorbs all the light

that hits it, reflecting nothing, just like a perfect blackbody in

thermodynamics. We cannot see, hear, smell, touch, or taste it.

Now that we know that much, let us look at some history.

Newton’s universe did not include black holes. I shall start there,

and assume we know the basics of Newton’s laws.

Even though Newton did not discuss black holes, the idea of them

has been around for some time.

The idea of a body so massive that even light could not escape was

first put forward by geologist John Michell" in a letter written to Henry

Cavendish'" in 1783 to the Royal Society:""

If the semi-diameter of a sphere of the same density as the Sun

were to exceed that of the Sun in the proportion of 500 to 1, a

body falling from an infinite height towards it would have

acquired at its surface greater velocity than that of light, and

consequently supposing light to be attracted by the same force

in proportion to its vis inertiae, with other bodies, all light

emitted from such a body would be made to return towards it

by its own proper gravity.

Summer 201 1

2

In 1796, mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace'" promoted the same idea in

the first and second editions of His book Exposition du systeme du Monde

(it was removed from later editions). He pointed out that there could be

massive stars whose gravity is so great that not even light could escape

from their surface.

Such dark objects were ignored until the 20^^ century, since it was

not understood how gravity could influence a massless wave such as light.

It took Albert Einstein (and others) to show that gravity can

influence light. First with his Special Theory of Relativity and second with

his General Theory of Relativity he proved that gravity does influence the

motion of light. According to Einstein, space warps when close to matter.

The more matter there is, the more space warps. The description of the

curvature (warping) of space is the mathematically complicated part of

general relativity. It involves tensor calculus and metrics. In mathematics,

the word metric refers to a fairly general function which defines the

‘distance’ between elements in a set. I tend to think of a metric as a

bendable and twistable ruler that allows one to measure intervals

(distances) between two events. Keep the concept of a metric in mind.

Figure 1. The curvature of space caused by a massive object.

Figure 1 represents a two-dimensional slice through three-

dimensional space showing the curvature of space produced by a spherical

object, e.g., the Sun. Einstein’s view is that the planets follow the

curvature of space around the Sun (and produce a tiny amount of curvature

themselves).

Metrics and the Special Theory of Relativity

The Special Theory of Relativity (STR) has as its basic premise

that light moves at a uniform speed, c = 300,000 km/s, in all frames of

reference. This results in setting the speed of light as the absolute speed

limit in the universe and also produces the famous relationship between

mass and energy, E = me?.

Washington Academy of Sciences

3

In Newtonian Hat space (the kind we are familiar with) the metric

that defines distance is:

ds^ — dx^ + dy^ + dz^

where ds is the distance and (x, y, z) are the spatial coordinates (remember

your high school geometry). Strictly speaking this is the line element, not

the metric, f or the purpose here, I use the words interchangeably.

In S I R the metric becomes a combination of time and space:

ds^ = -c^dt^ +dx^ + dy^ + dz^ .

In spherical coordinates it is:

ds^ = -c^df- + dr^ + r^dO^ -H sin^ 6d(l)^

or more concisely

ds^ - -c^dt^ + dr^ + r^dil^ .

It is from S I R that we get the term space-time - space and time forming a

single continuum, ds. Note the difference between this metric and the

metric of Newton’s world. In Idnstein’s world the distance (interval)

between two events depends on the time and space intertwined.

The General Theory of Relativity

As useful as Newtonian mechanics may be, it is merely a limiting

case of relativistic mechanics, fhe Cieneral fheory of Relativity (O I R) is

the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Idnstein in 1916.

It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics.

We need GIR because black holes require GTR for

explanation, yet (ffR is a difficult subject no matter how one looks at it.

d his is what the basic equation of (i I R looks like:

-

8;rG'

'Y'V

where is the Hinstein tensor,'" A is the cosmological constant,'"' is

the metric tensor,'"" and is the stress-energy tensor, fhis equation

describes the interaction of gravitation as a result of space-time being

curved by matter and energy, d'he left side of the equation contains the

information about how space is curved (the geometry), and the right side

contains the information about the location and motion of the matter (the

Summer 201 1

4

dynamics). When fully written out, the equations are a system of coupled,

nonlinear, hyperbolic-elliptic partial differential equations.

You may now forget these equations because they are not

necessary for the rest of the paper except to say that solutions to these

equations under certain conditions give us black holes.

Two Metrics That Define Black Holes

Solutions to the Einstein’s GTR equations are metrics of space-

time - ways to describe gravity and mass interacting with each other. The

metric is the fundamental object of study for black holes.

The first solution came in 1916 when astronomer Karl

Schwarzschild (1873-1916) solved the equations for the particular case of

a non-rotating spherically symmetric point mass.^^’^ This point mass

solution (where all the mass is concentrated into a single point) describes a

black hole.

The metric solution for the point mass was named after

Schwarzschild - the Schwarzschild metric defines the space-time

environment near a black hole of mass m. The metric is spherically

symmetric and non-rotating (no angular momentum). This is the simplest

type of black hole. The metric only looks complicated:

c^ dT

2Gm

cf j

c^ dt

2Gm

c~r

-1

dr

r^dQ}

The quantity

1-

2Gm^

c^r j

appears twice. It is there so that in the limit of

large r and small m the metric reduces to the Newtonian gravitational field

around a point mass. At r = 0 there is a true singularity.^^ Note, however,

'J

the possibility of infinity when r = 2Gmlc . This particular value for r is

called the Schwarzschild radius {ts), a special radius that is quite useful, as

we shall see.^"

It took some time for the next black hole solution to appear;

however, in 1963, mathematician Roy Kerr found the exact solution for a

rotating black hole. The more complicated Kerr metric for a black hole

with angular momentum 7 is:

ddd = \ \-SL

P )

p^de^-\ +

• z /I I • 2 ^ 2rra?,\n‘

sin 6 hm 6d0 ^ r —

6

cdrd0'

where r^ is the Schwarzschild radius, and the scale lengths a, p, and A are:

Washington Academy of Sciences

J

a- —

me

5

= r“ + a~ cos^ 9, and

A = r“ - + cr.

At r = 0 there is the true singularity, however, the Kerr metric has

two values for r where it appears to be singular: rmner and routes. The inner

surface occurs where the purely radial component of the metric goes to

infinity:

inner ^

The other singularity occurs where the purely temporal component of the

metric changes sign from positive to negative:

r - — —

outer

The Kerr black hole, therefore, has two special radii with the ergosphere

(sphere of influence of the black hole - more on it later) between them.

The outer surface is also called the static limit. The inner surface is also

called the event horizon.

Note something important. The parameter t (time) does not occur

in the right side of either metric. Time stops at a black hole.

So by the 1960s scientists could describe the enivironment around

stationary,^"* non-rotating, and rotating black holes. Given these metrics,

people got to work on the dynamics of black holes.

The Four Laws

By the 1970s research by many people led to the formation of the

four laws of black hole dynamics. These laws describe the behavior of a

black hole in close analogy to the laws of thermodynamics by relating

mass to energy, surface area to entropy, and surface gravity to

temperature. The analogy was completed when Stephen Hawking, in

1973, showed that quantum field theoiy^ predicts that black holes radiate

{Hawking radiation, see the section on this) like a blackbody with a

temperature proportional to the surface gravity of the black hole.^' Further

description of the four laws is highly mathematical and beyond the scope

of this paper.

r„“ - Act cos“ 9

Summer 201 1

6

Despite these laws we still cannot describe a black hole all the way

to r = 0. That will require combining quantum and gravitational effects

into a single theory, although the single theory does have a name: quantum

gravity. This is an area of active research.

However, the four laws led to a definition of what one can measure

in a black hole.

Black Holes Have No Hair

The four laws led to the ‘no-hair theorem’ - black holes have no

hair. This means that a stationary black hole is completely described by

only three things: its mass, angular momentum, and electric charge. There

is no other way to ‘grab’ onto (measure) a black hole. These properties are

special because they and only they are detectable from outside the black

hole. For example, a charged black hole repels other like charges just like

any other charged object. Why these three? The reason is mathematical;

these are unique, conserved imprints in the external fields of the black

hole (conserved Gaussian flux intervals).

Theoretically a black hole may possess electric charge but it would

quickly attract charge of the opposite sign and become neutral. The net

result is that any realistic black hole would tend to exhibit zero charge.

I shall discuss two types of black holes: one defined by the

Schwarzschild metric and one defined by the Kerr metric. There are

others, but they are quite specialized. In fact, there are four basic types:

When most people think of a black hole, it is usually the

Schwarzschild black hole. So I shall discuss this one first.

The Particulars of the Schwarzschild Black Hole

The Schwarzschild black hole is stationary (not moving through

space) with zero charge and is non-rotating. It is ‘dead’ in the sense that

one can never extract from it any of its mass-energy. No information can

ever come from a Schwarzschild black hole. This means it is stable against

a perturbation {e.g., a kick), were you so inclined.

Washington Academy of Sciences

7

At the Schwarzschild radius, rs, some of the terms in the metric

apparently become infinite. This is not a true singularity.""^' It is due to the

choice of spherical coordinates; however, it does have a physical effect.

In 1958 physicist David Finkelstein"""" identified the Schwarzschild

surface = IGmlc^ as an event horizon, ”a perfect unidirectional

membrane: causal influences can cross it in only one direction.” That

means it is a one way gate. Things go in and do not come out. At the rim

of the event horizon one must travel at the speed of light just to stay in

place. Once inside the event horizon the radial coordinate ‘evaporates’

because there can be no spatial direction that will lead back to the outside.

Once inside the event horizon escape is not possible.

The 'size’ of a black hole, as determined by the radius of its event

horizon (Schwarzschild radius), is roughly proportional to its mass M:

2GM

^s =

M

2.95 km.

where M© is the mass of the Sun. This relation is exact only for

Schwarzschild black holes; for more general black holes it can differ up to

a factor of two. Table I shows this relation for some common objects.

Table I. The Schwarzschild radius for different sized objects.

So, for the Earth to become a black hole, all its mass must be consolidated

within a sphere of a one centimeter radius. This is highly unlikely.

Figure 2 illustrates how space-time curves about a Schwarzschild

black hole. At the center of a black hole lies a true gravitational

singularity.""''"' At r = 0 the space-time curvature becomes infinite. For a

non-rotating black hole this region takes the shape of a single point. For a

rotating (Kerr) black hole it is smeared out to form a ring singularity lying

in the plane of rotation. In both cases the singular region has zero volume.

The singular region can thus be thought of as having infinite density. All

this really means is that we do not understand what happens at the

singularity.

Summer 201 1

8

Figure 2. Curved space-time around a Schwarzschild black hole.

Does this mean that gravity is somehow different around a black

hole? It is misleading to say that black holes have ‘stronger’ gravity than

other masses. Black hole or not, the curvature one feels depends strictly on

the mass of the object and the distance one is from that mass, not whether

the object is a black hole. When that mass is concentrated in a small

volume, however, one can get closer to the mass than otherwise is the

case. This may be why one thinks gravity is stronger around a black hole.

It is actually the field density that is greater. The gravitational field density

close to an Earth mass compressed within a 1 cm radius is much higher

than the density around an Earth mass with its current radius. A lot of

mass in a very tiny space can strongly warp the space nearby - tiny and

nearby being the key words.

So, if the Sun became a black hole, would we on Earth notice? We

would miss the sunlight and die (so we would notice), but the gravitational

effect on Earth would be what it always was. The mass of the Sun has not

changed (even though it occupies a smaller volume); the Earth’s distance

from the Sun has not changed; therefore, the Earth feels the same effect

and continues to orbit the black hole Sun.

This leads me to the next point.

Black holes are not cosmic vacuum cleaners. They do not zoom

around space sucking up matter. The black hole Sun will not scoop up the

Earth. Far from the Sun there is no unusual gravitational influence. Only

within a few Schwarzschild radii is there a significant effect. Black holes

can accrete matter but only when the matter is quite close. In fact,

scientists believe black holes are surrounded by accretion disks - a disk of

accreting matter (usually gaseous) orbiting the central object.

Now that we know a bit more about them, let us see how they are

made.

Washington Academy of Sciences

9

Making a Black Hole

There are two classes of black holes: (1) a stellar mass black hole,

and (2) a super massive black hole.

Class (1) happens when a heavyweight star reaches the end of its

life. One way to classify stars is by their birth weight. Heavyweight stars

are bom with more than 30 solar masses to their credit. Most of a star’s

life is spent maintaining a balance between two forces: radiation pressure

from the nuclear fusion in the core that pushes outward; and the

gravitational force trying to compress the gas inward. Ultimately a

heavyweight star will, as all stars do, consume all its nuclear fuel. It can

then no longer support itself against a subsequent gravitational collapse. If

it fails to eject its excess mass in the collapse process then nothing can

stop the stellar remnant from collapsing toward a point - forming a black

hole. This collapse happens in milliseconds - the star winks out. Our Sun

(a lightweight star) is not massive enough to end its life this way. It will

end as a white dwarf. A middleweight star (between 6 and 30 solar

masses) will explode as a supernova and end as a neutron star.

Most stars are not perfectly spherical and have a lot of angular

momentum, so the gravitational collapse produces a black hole more in

line with a Kerr black hole than a Schwarzschild black hole.

Class (2) is thought to lurk in the centers of most galaxies. A super

massive black hole contains thousands to millions of solar masses. Once a

super massive black hole has formed, it can continue to grow by absorbing

additional matter. One model for the formation of super massive black

holes is by slow accretion of matter onto a stellar mass black hole.

Another model involves a large gas cloud collapsing into a relativistic star

of perhaps a hundred thousand solar masses or larger. The star would then

become unstable and may collapse directly into a black hole without a

supernova explosion. Super massive black holes have properties which

distinguish them from stellar mass black holes:

• The average density of a super massive black hole (defined as the mass

divided by the volume within its Schwarzschild radius) can be as low

as the density of water for very high mass black holes.

• The tidal forces in the vicinity of the event horizon are significantly

weaker than the tidal forces around a stellar mass black hole.

Astronomers think the universe is littered with black holes, that they are

not rare at all. In addition to the stellar type they think that nearly eveiy^

galaxy has a central super massive black hole. What it we could visit one?

Summer 201 1

10

A Trip to a Black Hole

An observer falling into a Schwarzschild black hole cannot avoid

the singularity at r = 0. Any attempt to do so will only shorten the time

taken to get there. As the traveler spirals in, there is a last stable orbit^‘^ at

a distance of 3rs. Continuing inward, the traveler crosses the event

horizon. At the singularity the traveler is crushed to infinite density and its

mass added to the black hole. Before that happens, though, it will have

been tom apart by the tidal forces in a process sometimes referred to as

spaghettification (I did not make that up) or the tube-of-toothpaste-effect.

To describe this in more detail, assume there are two astronauts, a

smart one and a dumb one. Their spaceship arrives near a 3 solar mass

black hole {r^ = 9 km). The smart astronaut stays in the spaceship. The

dumb astronaut jumps toward the black hole. Tet us pick up the action 900

km away (lOOr^).

At this distance of 100 Ts from the black hole the dumb astronaut is

tom apart due to the tidal effect of gravity, and the story ends. For

comparison, the gravity tide on a human (head to toe) on the Earth’s

surface is about one millionth of a g.

For a 3 solar mass black hole the tidal force of the black hole is

shown in Table II. Remember that tidal forces go as \/r\ so the tides

quickly become fatal as one approaches the black hole.

Table II. Tidal force in g’s versus distance in km from a 3 solar mass black

hole.

For the purposes of argument, though, assume the dumb astronaut

is 'stretchable.’ Then as he falls, toe first, his toes are closer to the

upcoming event horizon than his head. The gravity tides between his toes

and head cause his toes to travel faster than his head. He stretches. The

closer he gets, the more he stretches. Simultaneously he is squeezed into

regions of ever decreasing circumference. He gets longer and thinner,

forming dumb astronaut spaghetti strings.

Washington Academy of Sciences

As he travels toward the event horizon he may notice nothing out

of the ordinary, except an inability to steer himself in any but one direction

- which is toward the '‘invisible” hole. He will never know when he has

crossed the event horizon were it not for the increased tidal tugging that

draws his body longer and longer, squeezing in from the sides (actually at

this point he is a set of disconnected atoms, zooming along all in a line).

Just before he reaches the event horizon, each piece of him emits high

energy radiation (x-rays) as that piece disappears forever. He winks out of

sight with a puff of radiation. It is a rather spectacular way to die.

And it is a wonderful way to gamer energy. The efficiency of

energy generation near a stationary black hole is about 6%. Near a rotating

black hole this reaches about 30% efficiency. This is a staggering amount.

It is the best return of energy known. Compare the efficiency of

o

combustion on Earth which is only about 10‘ . The efficiency of nuclear

burning (in a star) is about 7 x lO'*'.

A visit to a super massive black hole is less dramatic although it

ends the same way. If the mass of the black hole is about 30,000 solar

masses then the dumb astronaut will not be tom apart by tidal forces at the

event horizon. This will wait until he is much deeper inside. Of course,

once he crosses the event horizon he cannot return or send messages.

Although he may survive those tidal forces, the high energy radiation (all

those x-rays and gamma rays lurking at the event horizon) will fry him.

One can calculate how long the dumb astronaut spaghetti string

will "live” once inside the event horizon. No matter how he approaches a

black hole of mass M, once inside the event horizon he will be killed at the

r = 0 singularity in a proper time of about 1.54 x 10*'^ M/M© seconds. So

for a 10 solar mass black hole, he will die in 154 x lO"^ sec (0.00154 sec).

One way or another, the dumb astronaut will not survive the trip.

Time Dilation

If the dumb astronaut carries a flashlight and points it back at the

smart astronaut, and flashes it in a regular pattern, what will the smart

astronaut see? She will see the flashes get further and further apart

eventually slowing down to a stop (after an infinite amount ot time). The

GTR predicts that time will slow in the presence of matter - this is called

time dilation. It is not just clocks by the way, all physical processes,

including clocks ticking (however they measure their ticks), hearts

beating, aging, etc., must slow down, but the only one who notices is the

distant timekeeper. This is not an imaginary effect. When transporting

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atomic clocks on the Earth, one must correct for the GTR effects of the

Earth on the moving clock.

Gravitational Redshift

In addition to the slow down of time, the light she sees is

redshifted more and more as the dumb astronaut gets closer to the event

horizon. This is not a Doppler shift. Light loses energy when escaping

from a gravitational field. Because the energy of light is proportional to its

frequency, a shift toward lower energy represents a shift toward the red for

visible light. This gravitational redshift was first observed in the spectra of

dense white dwarf stars, whose light is redshifted by about lA.

Gravitational redshift was experimentally verified on Earth by the Pound-

Rebka experiment of 1959.

Now that we know the dumb astronaut will not survive, is there a

way we can we tell that he fell in?

Cosmic Censorship

When an object falls into a black hole, any and all information

about the shape of the object or distribution of charge on it is evenly

distributed along the horizon of the black hole, and is lost to outside

observers. So not only does the dumb astronaut disintegrate, but also there

is no way to determine that it was a dumb astronaut that fell in.

Because the black hole eventually achieves a stable state with only

three measureable parameters (mass, charge, and angular momentum),

there is no way to avoid losing information about the initial conditions.

Nature puts a curtain around black holes so that we cannot see inside or

know what happens inside - this cosmic censorship is complete. There

are no ‘naked’ singularities. And the event horizon must be real, not

complex.^ The information that is lost includes every quantity, including

the total baryon number, lepton number, and all the other nearly conserved

pseudo-charges of particle physics.

At least that was the state of the current thought until the 1970s.

The physicist Stephen Hawking (author of A Brief History of Time and

The Universe in a Nutshell) has long worked in theoretical cosmology. In

2009 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He even played

himself on Star Trek. I discuss one aspect of his work next.

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Hawking Radiation

In 1974 Stephen Hawking realized that black holes are not

absolutely black. There are quantum effects that allow black holes to emit

blackbody radiation. The temperature of this radiation is inversely

proportional to the black hole’s mass; the tinier the black hole the higher

the temperature of the radiation - called Hawking radiation.

Hawking radiation is due to particle/anti-particle pairs {e.g.,

electron/positron) which are continuously created and annihilated in free

space. When this pair creation happens near a black hole it is possible for

one of the two particles to cross the event horizon before it meets and

annihilates its partner. The other particle is then free to leave the scene,

making the black hole appear to the outside world as a source of radiation.

In other words, there is 'new’ energy. So to satisfy energy conservation,

the particle that fell in must have a negative energy (with respect to an

observer far away from the black hole). Thus, the black hole loses mass,

and, to an outside observer, it appears that the black hole has just emitted a

particle. It takes energy to create new particles. This energy must come

from the black hole. The black hole therefore decreases its mass as it

radiates. Thus black holes will slowly evaporate.

A one solar mass black hole has a temperature of only 60

nanoKelvin (v-e-r-y cold); in fact, such a black hole would absorb far

more cosmic microwave background radiation than it emits. Evaporation

will take 10^^ years. This is far longer than the age of the universe.

A smaller black hole of 4.5 x 10^^ kg (about the mass of the

Moon) would be in equilibrium at 2.7 K, absorbing as much radiation as it

emits. Even smaller black holes would emit more than they absorb, and

thereby lose mass.

For a miniature black hole - about lO'^ kg mass which is the mass

of a mountain - evaporation will take about as long as the universe is old.

It is conceivable that conditions in the ver>^ earliest epochs ot the universe

might have been just right to compress pockets of matter into these

miniature black holes. The Schwarzschild radius of such a black hole is

about lO'^^ m, comparable to the size of a subatomic particle. This begs

the question how these teeny black holes got formed; however, at the end

of its life, the mass of the tiny black hole becomes smaller and smaller,

and hence its temperature tends towards infinity. The black hole ultimately

disappears in an explosion. Fortunately (or unfortunately) current physics

is unable to explain the last phases of the evaporation of the black hole.

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Black Hole in a Bathtub

Recently scientists in Canada have measured the equivalent of

Hawking radiation from a “bathtub black hole.” In August 2010, the

Canadian scientists announced^^‘ that they had made an event horizon in a

water channel. They sent a steady flow of water in one direction. As it

passed over the top of a piece of wood whittled in the shape of an airplane

wing, the water traveled faster (aka Bernoulli). In the opposite direction,

the group created water waves. When these waves approached the wing,

where water was flowing faster, they slowed to a stop. Technically this

bathtub version is a white hole, an inverted black hole that keeps waves

out rather than bringing them in. But the white hole serves as an analog

because it shares an important feature with astrophysical black holes — an

imaginary boundary that emits an unusual kind of radiation. These

laboratory emitters of Hawking type radiation share one required feature

with their astrophysical counterparts — a point of no return, analogous to

the black hole’s event horizon. Both types have event horizons, so both

ought to emit Hawking radiation. In fact, pairs of short-wavelength waves

were created at the bathtub horizon and swept away, and the energy of

these emitted waves matches what would be predicted from Hawking

radiation around a real black hole.

This seems a bit forced to me.

Hawking radiation introduced a debate in cosmological circles. Is

it consistent with the no hair theorem? This leads to a paradox.

The Paradox in Hawking Radiation

There is a paradox with Hawking radiation. From the no hair

theorem, one expects the Hawking radiation to be completely independent

of the material entering the black hole. All information is lost entering a

black hole. Nevertheless, if the material entering the black hole were a

pure quantum state, the transformation of that state into the mixed state of

Hawking radiation would destroy information about the original quantum

state. The rules of quantum mechanics say information is conserved in the

wave function. The no hair theorem says the information is lost - a

physical paradox.

Hawking remained convinced that the equations of black hole

thermodynamics together with the no-hair theorem led to the conclusion

that quantum information will be destroyed. This annoyed many

physicists, notably John Preskill, who in 1997 bet Hawking and Kip

Thome that information was not lost in black holes. This led to the

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Susskind-Hawking battle, where Leonard Susskind and Gerard’t Hooft

publicly declared war on Hawking’s solution, with Susskind publishing a

popular book about the debate in 2008 {The Black Hole War: My battle

with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics).

The book carefully notes that the war was purely a scientific one, and that

at a personal level, the participants remained friends. The solution to the

problem is the holographic principle (a property of quantum gravity

combined with string theory). With this, as the title of an article puts it.

''Susskind quashes Hawking in quarrel over quantum quandaiy .”

In July 2005, Stephen Hawking announced a theory' that quantum

perturbations of the event horizon could allow information to escape from

a black hole, which would resolve the information paradox. When

announcing his result. Hawking also conceded the 1997 bet, paying

Preskill with a baseball encyclopedia "from which information can be

retrieved at will.” However, Thome remains unconvinced of Hawking's

proof and declined to contribute to the award.

It does not end there. Roger Penrose advocates the Conformal

Cyclic Cosmology (CCC) which critically depends on the condition that

information is in fact lost in black holes. In CCC, the universe iterates

through infinite cycles, with the future time-like infinity of each previous

iteration being identified with the Big Bang singularity of the next. This

CCC model might in future be tested experimentally by detailed analysis

of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB): if true the CMB

should exhibit circular patterns with slightly lower or slightly higher

temperatures. In November 2010, R. Penrose and V. G. Gurzadyan

announced they had found evidence of such circular patterns (Figure 3), in

data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe corroborated by

data from the BOOMERanG experimenC""". However, the statistical

significance of the claimed detection has been questioned. Three groups

have independently attempted to reproduce these results, and found that

the detection of the concentric anomalies was not statistically significant.

Stay tuned.

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Figure 3. Possible circles in BOOMERanG data -the concentric circles are highlighted.

The mottling represents the wrinkles in space-time of the cosmic microwave background.

The Particulars of the Kerr Black Hole

The other type of black hole I shall discuss is the Kerr black hole,

which rotates (has angular momentum). Seen in cross-section, the Kerr

black hole is oval-shaped, with the ergosphere extending farther into space

at the black hole’s equator than at its poles (Figure 4). The r = 0

singularity is a ring of zero volume.

The Kerr black hole is actually more significant than the

Schwarzschild black hole because most black holes spin. Part of the mass

is actually stored as rotational energy in the ergosphere (which means

'place where work can be done’) and is, in theory, available for extraction

since the mass has not yet crossed the event horizon. This type can inject

energy into its surroundings - hence this type is Tive.’

Kerr space-time is what happens when a black hole has reached its

final evolutionary state. Kerr space-time is time-independent, meaning that

nothing in Kerr space-time changes over time. In effect, time stands still.

.Remember that the time parameter t does not appear in the right side of the

Kerr metric. A black hole in such a state is essentially stationar\\

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Figure 4. Side view of a conceptual Kerr black hole.

Frame Dragging

When the black hole is spinning it actually pulls the fabric of

space-time around with it - an effect called frame dragging, also known as

the Lense-Thirring effect. The rotation of the black hole or even the

rotation of a very massive object will alter local space-time by dragging a

nearby object out of position compared with the predictions of Newtonian

physics. Frame dragging is like what happens if a bowling ball spins in a

thick fluid such as molasses. As the ball spins, it pulls the molasses around

itself Anything stuck in the molasses will also move around the ball. This

dragging happens in the ergosphere. The closer to the black hole the

greater the dragging.

Inside the ergosphere (inside the static limit) nothing can stand

still; therefore, particles falling within the ergosphere are forced to rotate

and thereby gain energy. They must orbit in the same direction as the

black hole rotates. So long as they are still outside the event horizon, they

may, however, escape the black hole. The net process is that the rotating

black hole emits energetic particles at the cost of its own total energy. The

possibility of extracting spin energy from a rotating black hole was first

proposed by the mathematician Roger Penrose in 1969.

The Earth is a very massive object; therefore, as the Earth rotates,

it pulls space-time in its vicinity around itself. This action introduces a

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precession on all gyroscopes in a stationary system surrounding the Earth

(Figure 5). The predicted Lense-Thirring effect is small — about one part

in a few trillion - yet measureable. A Foucault pendulum would have to

oscillate for more than 16000 years to process I degree.

n

r

Q. 3 r

Figure 5. The Earth rotating with angular velocity Q; The gyroscope a distance r away

precesses with angular velocity co.

TAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellites) are a series of scientific

research satellites designed to provide an orbiting laser ranging benchmark

for geodynamical studies of the Earth. The Lense-Thirring effect on

LAGEOS due to the rotating Earth has been measured. The effect shifts

the orbits of the satellites about 2 meters per year in the direction of

rotation. The results are compatible with the predictions of GTR.

Another test of frame dragging is the Gravity Probe B satellite -

launched in 2004 (now decommissioned) with a dual purpose: to measure

the frame dragging of Earth, and to measure the geodetic effect - the

amount by which the Earth warps the local space-time in which it resides.

For Gravity Probe B, in polar orbit 642 km above the Earth, frame

dragging causes its gyroscope spin axes to process in the east-west

direction by a mere 39 milliarcsec/yr. — an angle so tiny that it is

equivalent to the average angular width of Pluto as seen from Earth.

Initial results from Gravity Probe B confirmed the expected

geodetic effect to an accuracy of about 1%. In December 2008 NASA

reported that the geodetic effect was confirmed to better than 0.5%.

Unfortunately the expected frame-dragging effect was similar in

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magnitude to the noise level. Work continues on the data to model and

account for these sources of unintended signal, thus permitting extraction

of the frame-dragging signal if it exists at the expected level. By August

2008 the uncertainty in the frame-dragging signal had been reduced to

15%. Final results are expected in 201 1.

Many astrophysical objects, e.g. pulsars and black holes, emit jets

of energy. These jets may also provide evidence for frame-dragging.

Such jets are extremely powerful bursts of energy. Some of them extend

huge distances into space. There are images of jets later in the paper

(Figures 12, 13). These jets are tightly collimated flows of energy,

collimated perhaps by the twisting of magnetic field lines by frame

dragging.

The energy released in an astrophysical jet is overwhelmingly

powerful - at the highest end of the electromagnetic spectrum - x-rays and

gamma rays. A trip through a jet would quickly fry the traveler. Or is there

a way to cut through space-time?

Shortcuts through Space - Wormholes?

If one can avoid the jet, perhaps one can escape to another

universe. A wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of space-time

that would be, fundamentally, a “shortcut” through space-time. The

physicist John Wheeler coined the term wormhole in 1957; however, in

1921, the mathematician Hermann Weyl already had proposed the

wormhole theory.

There is no observational evidence for wormholes, but there are

valid theoretical solutions to the equations of GTR which contain

wormholes. These solutions say that it is theoretically possible to avoid the

singularity at r = 0 and exit the black hole into a different space-time with

the black hole acting as a wormhole.

For a simple explanation of a wormhole, consider space-time as a

two-dimensional (2D) surface. If this surface is folded along a third

dimension, it allows one to picture a wormhole “bridge.” (Please note that

this is merely a visualization to convey a structure existing in four or more

dimensions). The parts of the wormhole could be higher-dimensional

analogues for the parts of the curved 2D surface; for example, instead ol

mouths which are circular holes in a 2D plane, a real wormhole’s mouths

could be spheres in 3D space. A wormhole is, in theory, much like a

tunnel with two ends each at separate points in space-time. Figure 6

illustrates a 2D wormhole.

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Figure 6. A 2D representation of a wormhole.

The first type of wormhole solution discovered was the

Schwarzschild wormhole. Technically the Schwarzschild metric has a

negative square root as well as a positive square root solution for the

geometry. The complete Schwarzschild geometry consists of a black hole,

a white hole, and two universes connected at their event horizons by a

wormhole. The negative square root solution inside the horizon represents

a white hole. A white hole is a black hole running backwards in time. Just

as black holes swallow things irretrievably, so also do white holes spit

them out."^^"' The negative square root solution outside the event horizon

represents another universe. The wormhole joining the two separate

universes is known as the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Unfortunately it is

impossible for a traveller to pass through this wormhole from one universe

into the other. A traveller can pass through an event horizon only in one

direction. First, the traveller must wait until the two white holes have

merged, and their horizons meet. The traveller may then enter through one

horizon. But having entered, the traveller cannot exit, either through that

horizon or through the horizon on the other side. The fate of the traveller

who ventures in is to die at the singularity which forms from the collapse

of the wormhole.

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Figure 7. A 2D representation of a traversable wormhole.

Wormholes which could actually be crossed (Figure 7), known as

traversable wormholes, would only be possible if exotic matter with

negative energy density could be used to stabilize them (keep them from

collapsing). Physicists have not found any natural process which would

form a stable wormhole, although the quantum foam hypothesis (QFH) is

I sometimes used to suggest that tiny wormholes might appear and

I disappear spontaneously at the tiniest scale. Qualitatively QFH is

described as subatomic space-time turbulence at extremely small distances

of the order 10'''^ meters. At such small scales of time and space the

Heisenberg uncertainty principle allows particles and energy to come

briefly into existence, and then annihilate, without violating conservation

I laws. However, without a theory of quantum gravity it is impossible to be

I certain what space-time would look like at these scales.

I

I Finally, even if wormholes exist and are stable, they are quite

unpleasant to travel through. Radiation that pours into the wormhole (from

nearby stars, the cosmic microwave background, jets, etc.) gets blueshifted

to very high frequencies, well into the high energy end of the spectrum. As

you try to pass through the wormhole, you will get fried by these x-rays

and gamma rays. So, at the moment, space travel using wormholes is not

possible.

1

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Figure 8. Two artists’ conception of a black hole surrounded by an accretion disk and

bipolar jets.

Observational Evidence for Black Holes

All this fancy theory means little unless there is observational

evidence. Fortunately, despite its invisible interior, a black hole can be

detected through its interaction with other matter.

There are several types of interactions. Five of them are: (1) A

black hole exerts gravitational pull on surrounding matter, although this is

indistinguishable at r » r^, from the pull of an object with the same mass;

(2) Gas surrounding a black hole is pulled inward and heated so that it

emits x-rays and gamma rays that might be observed; (3) A lump of matter

falling into a black hole should emit a burst of gravitational waves; (4)

Tidal forces will tear matter apart and eject a blob of relativistic matter

(tube-of-toothpaste effect); (5) Frame dragging will twist the magnetic

field lines that may surround a black hole and thus ‘shake’ the external

plasma.

Figure 8 gives two artists’ conception of a black hole surrounded

by an accretion disk with two polar jets. Conservation of angular

momentum means gas falling into the gravitational well created by a

massive object will typically spiral in to form a Frisbee-like structure

(accretion disk) around the object. Accretion disks are where the action

is. In the case of black holes, the accretion disk is outside the event

horizon. The gas in the inner regions (closer to the event horizon) becomes

so hot that it will emit vast amounts of radiation (mainly x-rays), which

may be detected by telescopes. In many cases, accretion discs are

accompanied by relativistic jets emitted along the poles, which carry away

much of the energy. The mechanism for the creation of these jets currently

is not well understood, although frame dragging is part of the solution.

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It is unlikely we can observe an accretion disk directly (they are

too small), but the jets are easily seen (there are examples later in the

paper).

The strongest evidence for black holes comes from binary' star

systems in which a visible star orbits a massive but unseen companion.

Binary’ x-ray sources^^*' are excellent candidates for black holes because

matter from the accretion disk streaming into the black hole is ionized and

greatly accelerated, producing x-rays.

In 1972 an x-ray source (named Cygnus X-1) was discovered in

the constellation Cygnus. The Cyg X-1 system has a blue supergiant star

(HDE226868), about 25 times the mass of the sun, orbiting the x-ray

source. So something non-luminous is there (neutron star or black hole).

Figure 9 is an artist’s conception of the Cyg X-1 system. The indirect

evidence for the black hole Cyg X-1 is a good example of the search for

black holes.

Doppler studies of the blue supergiant indicate a revolution period

of 5.6 days about the dark object. Using that period plus spectral

measurements of the visible companion’s orbital speed leads to a

calculated total system mass of about 35 solar masses. The calculated

mass of the dark object then is 8 to 10 solar masses; much too massive to

be a neutron star which has an upper limit of about 3 solar masses - hence

black hole. Figure 10 is an image of the system. The jet is clearly seen.

Figure 9. Artist’s conception of Cygnus X-1 - matter is drawn from the supergiant star

into an accretion disk around the black hole.

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Further evidence for a black hole is the emission of x-rays from its

location, an indication of temperatures in the millions of degrees. This x-

ray source exhibits rapid variations, with time scales on the order of a

millisecond. The light travel time is then a light-millisecond. This suggests

a source not larger than a light-millisecond (300 km), so it is very

compact. The only possibility that would place that much matter in such a

small volume is a black hole.

Figure 10. Jet in Cyg X-1, the jet is coming out from the center toward 1 o’clock. The

accretion disk is much too small to see.

In November 2010 evidence of the youngest black hole (all of 30

years old) known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood was found. This

object provides a unique opportunity to watch a black hole develop from

near infancy. The object is a remnant of supernova 1979C, a supernova in

the galaxy Ml 00 approximately 50 million light years from Earth. The

scientists think the progenitor star for the supernova was a star about 20

times more massive than the Sun.

Astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole

candidates, and have also found evidence of super massive black holes at

the center of galaxies. In 1998, astronomers found compelling evidence

that a super massive black hole is located near the Sagittarius A* region (a

bright and very compact astronomical radio source discovered in 1974 at

the center of our own Milky Way). Astronomers monitored the orbits of

individual stars very near the black hole and used Kepler’s laws to infer

the enclosed mass. Recent results indicate that the super massive black

hole is 4.31 ± 0.38 million solar masses. Ultimately, what is seen is not the

black hole itself, but observations that are consistent only if there is a

black hole present near Sgr A.* There is a nice time lapse movie of the

stellar motions in the area: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001220.html.

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Super massive black holes can produce amazing jets. Figure 1 1

shows three jets from the object 3C 75 (object number 75 in the Third

Cambridge Catalogue of radio sources).

Figure 1 1 . The right image is of 3C 75 - there are three clear jets. They originate at the

bright spot in the center. The jets flare and bend as they encounter the intergalactic

medium. The left image is an optical image of the galaxy NGC 1 1 28 - the central bright

dots in the right image.

The jets emanate from the vicinity of two super massive black

holes (coming from the bright spot in the right image). These black holes

are in the dumbbell galaxy NGC 1 128, which has produced the giant radio

source, 3C 75. The jets can reach incredible lengths - megaparsecs'^'^''* -

streaming into intergalactic space.

The peculiar dumbbell structure of this galaxy is thought to be due

to two large galaxies that are in the process of merging. Such mergers are

common in the relatively congested environment of galaxy clusters. An

alternative hypothesis is that the apparent structure is the result of a

coincidence in time when the two galaxies are passing one another, like

ships in the cosmic sea.

There is more. Black holes can come in pairs! Galaxies commonly

collide and merge to form new, more massive galaxies. A merger between

two galaxies should bring two super massive black holes to the new, more

massive galaxy formed from the merger. The two black holes gradually

spiral towards the center of this new galaxy, engaging in a gravitational

tug-of-war with the surrounding stars. The result is a black hole dance.

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Astronomers expect many such waltzing super massive black holes

in the universe, but until recently only a handful had been found. In

January of 2010, astronomers announced the discovery of 33 pairs of

waltzing black holes in galaxies. This result shows that super massive

black hole pairs are more common than previously known from

observations. Also, the black hole pairs can be used to estimate how often

galaxies merge with each other.

The largest known black hole inhabits the core of M87, a giant

elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. The M87 black hole appears to

be about (6.4 ± 0.5) x 10^ solar masses, with an event horizon diameter of

about 18 billion km - almost twice the diameter of the orbit of Pluto.

Figure 12 contains a series of photos of M87 with its jet. Surrounding the

black hole is a rotating disk of ionized gas that is oriented roughly

perpendicular to the jet. This gas is moving at velocities of up to roughly

1,000 km/s. Gas is accreting onto the black hole at an estimated rate equal

to the mass of the Sun every ten years.

Conclusion

Black holes retain their fascination despite the decades of solid

research. They are both simple and complex: simple because it takes only

three parameters to describe them; complex because it takes GTR to

handle the dynamics. They come singly, in binary systems, and in pairs,

but never ‘naked’. They come both small and large in mass. They are

impossible to see, but their effects on their environment can be distinctive,

although they are not cosmic vacuum cleaners. We think they are found in

the centers of most galaxies. There are dozens of possible detections of

stellar mass black holes.

Gravity trumps all the other forces of nature in these objects. It

compresses the mass of a dozen Suns, or a million, or a billion into a

pinpoint of infinite density. Space and time are squeezed out of existence,

and the structure of the universe turns into a “quantum foam” that’s ruled

by laws that scientists do not yet fully comprehend. We have a lot more to

learn.

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Crvdit: Fiacci Owan (NRAO), John (STScl)andoo(l«agu»s

Th« ('tolonal Rado Astronomy Obsorvatoty isa tacMy o< lha

Nalonai Scwnca Foundarion.opaiattd und«< cooparativ*

agiaamanlby Assocatad Urvt^rsias. Inc

Figure 12. A series of multi-wavelength photos of M87 and its jets. Lobes of matter from

the jet extend out to a distance of 250,000 light-years. Start in the center, then move to

the upper left and follow clockwise the expansions of each image.

' The term ‘black hole’ was first publicly used in 1967 by physicist John Wheeler during

a lecture. He always insisted that it was suggested to him by somebody else.

" John Michell (1724 - 1793) was an English natural philosopher and geologist whose

work spanned a wide range of subjects from astronomy to geology, optics, and

gravitation.

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Henry Cavendish FRS (1731 - 1810) was a British scientist noted for his discovery of

hydrogen which he called inflammable air.

" Michell, J. “On the Means of Discovering the Distance, Magnitude, &c. of the Fixed

Stars, in Consequence of the Diminution of the Velocity of Their Light, in Case Such

a Diminution Should be Found to Take Place in any of Them, and Such Other Data

• Should be Procured from Observations, as Would be Farther Necessary for That

Purpose.”./^/?//. Trans. R. Soc. (London) 74: 35-57 (1784).

' Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (23 March 1749 - 5 March 1827) was an

astronomer/mathematician.

" It represents the curvature in a Riemannian manifold. A tensor is a geometrical higher-

order vector. Think of a matrix, although all matrices are not tensors.

Einstein called A his greatest blunder. Today scientists use it to explain ‘dark energy’.

It was originally introduced by Einstein to allow for a static universe (/.e., one that is

not expanding or contracting). This effort was unsuccessful for two reasons: the

static universe described by this theory was unstable, and observations of distant

galaxies by Hubble a decade later confirmed that our universe is, in fact, not static

but expanding.

This allows one to measure intervals and to define distance in the curved space.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914 Schwarzschild volunteered for military service.

While at the Russian front he wrote two papers on relativity theory providing the

first exact solution to the field equations.

A few months after Schwarzschild’s work, mathematician Johannes Droste

independently gave the same solution for the point mass.

Singularities are difficult to describe. They are absolute termination points - cessation

of existence.

Actually Schwarzschild solved the equations with no mass and, then, in the weak field

approximation, used the mass to bring it into coincidence with the Newtonian limit.

Stationary means the black hole might rotate but not translate. A non-stationary black

hole might be one that is orbiting another object.

There are other metrics that are beyond the scope of this paper.

Bardeen J.M., Carter, B., Hawking, S., Commiin. Math. Phys. 31, 161-170 (1973)

This means the infinity disappears in some coordinate systems.

D. Finkelstein, Phys. Rev. 110, 965-967 (1958).

Which means we do not really know what happens.

It can orbit at this distance (and not fall in) if it moves quickly enough.

“ The nCT is not allowed.

Science News, 178, p 28.

See JWAS, Winter 2010 issue for a description of this experiment.

White holes cannot exist, since they violate the second law of thermodynamics.

Binary x-ray sources have a visible star and an invisible source of x-rays.

Because angular momentum is conserved, observations of binary systems can give the

total mass of the system.

1 parsec is 3.08568025 x |0'^ km.

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The Dark Side of Astronomy

Sethanne Howard

USNO, Retired

With all that starlight around how can there be dark stuff? Astronomers

now routinely use dark matter and dark energy to match observations. 1

discuss both dark matter and dark energy, describing their properties and

implications. Despite all we do know, there is far more that we do not

know.

Introduction

For millennia astronomy has used information gleaned from the

electromagnetic spectrum - first with optical light and then with other

wavelengths. The universe is awash in light. One might even ask why the

night sky is dark with all that light around. This is known as Olbers’

paradox: a dark sky conflicts with an infinite and unchanging universe.

The light from an infinite number of stars will fill the sky, and yet the

night sky is dark. The Big Bang Model solves this paradox. According to

the model the universe has a finite age (so there are not an infinite number

of stars), and the universe is expanding. The original light from the Big

Bang event is now in the microwave regime - the cosmic microwave

background - where our eyes do not see it. It takes a very sensitive

microwave detector to ‘see’ the cosmic microwave background. So we

have our beautiful dark night sky.

Figure 1 . The Coma cluster of galaxies

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In 1933 the Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky observed the Coma

cluster of galaxies. This cluster contains over 1000 galaxies and is found

in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Figure 1 is an optical image of the

Coma cluster. All of the asymmetrical objects in the figure are galaxies.

Zwicky asked the question: what is the total mass of the cluster? At

this time in astronomical history, there was no robust way to estimate the

mass of an individual galaxy. If there were, one could simply add up the

individual masses. He estimated the cluster’s total mass in two ways:

(1) Based on the motions of galaxies near its edge under the

assumption that the galaxies were not escaping and were bound to the

cluster. This is a good assumption. It says the cluster is a bound system

and is not flying apart; and

(2) Based on the number of galaxies and total brightness of the

cluster. In other words mass follows light (this means the mass to light

ratio is unity when both are measured in solar units — = 1 where M is the

A

mass and A is the luminosity). At the time this was also a good

assumption. He could measure the brightness and therefore infer the mass.

He found that there was about 400 times more estimated mass

using method (1) than was visually observable by method (2). This is far

outside any error of measurement. This means that the gravity of the

visible galaxies in the cluster (via method 2) was far too small to constrain

(bind to the cluster) the moving galaxies, so something extra was required.

Based on these conclusions, Zwicky inferred that there must be some non-

visible form of matter that would provide enough of the mass and gravity

to hold the cluster together. This unexpected result became known as the

“missing mass problem.”

Nothing changed for 40 years after Zwicky’ s initial observations.

The missing mass remained missing. No observations indicated that the

mass to light ratio was anything other than unity. With — = 1 the

A

implication is that the circular velocity of the stars revolving about a

galaxy center would drop with distance from the galaxy center - similar to

a Keplerian drop-off.‘ In other words, as one moves from galaxy center to

edge the light decreases and so, therefore, does the mass. Astronomers did

question the issue, but there was no resolution. I remember when I was a

mere research assistant at Tick Observatory in 1965. I knew nothing of

this issue, so when a staff astronomer asked me if the mass to light ratio

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could be other than unity I said, showing my ignorance, of course, why

not. He smiled a gentle, forgiving smile.

Initial Observations of Dark Matter

Then, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Vera Rubin, a young

astronomer at the Carnegie Institution of Washington presented findings

based on measurements of the velocity curve" of spiral galaxies to a

greater degree of accuracy than had ever before been achieved.

Spiral galaxies look rather like cosmological fried eggs. They are

quite flat when seen edge-on, and display a wide variety of circular shapes

when seen face-on. See Figure 2 for two examples.

Together with fellow staff-member Kent Ford, Rubin announced at

a 1975 meeting of the American Astronomical Society the discovery that

most stars in spiral galaxies orbit at roughly the same speed

(approximately 220 km/s) regardless of distance from the center. This

implies that their mass densities are uniform well beyond the location with

most of the stars (the galactic bulge; i.e., the yolk in the fried egg). This

means that even though the light falls off as one moves away from the

center, the mass does not. These results suggest that either Newtonian

gravity does not apply universally (an unacceptable conclusion), or that,

conservatively, upwards of 50% of the mass of galaxies are contained in a

relatively dark galactic halo.

Figure 2. The left image is a spiral galaxy seen almost face-on. It has intricate structure.

The right image is another spiral galaxy seen edge-on. It looks flat.

A galactic halo is a spherical distribution of matter surrounding a

spiral galaxy. The spiral disk 'floats’ in the middle of the spherical ball of

dark matter. Dark matter responds to gravity but nothing else. It cannot be

'seen’ in any part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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Met with skepticism, Rubin insisted that the observations were

correct. Eventually other astronomers began to corroborate her work, and

it soon became well-established that most galaxies were in fact dominated

by dark matter. Zwicky was vindicated.

Figure 3 illustrates the issue. A rotation curve is the locus of points

for the circular speed as a function of distance from the galaxy center. ‘A’

(the dotted line) represents the expected Keplerian drop-off in orbital

speed with distance - the farther from the center the slower the star

travels. 'B’ (the solid line) represents Rubin’s observational results.

Rubin’s pioneering work has stood the test of time. Measurements

of velocity curves in spiral galaxies were soon followed by velocity

dispersions of elliptical galaxies.

Elliptical galaxies are rather like cosmological hard boiled eggs.

They look the same regardless of the direction of view. See Figure 4.

Measurements of the velocity dispersions in ellipticals also indicate a high

dark matter content.

Figure 3. Rotation curve of a typical spiral galaxy: predicted (A) and observed (B). Dark

matter can explain the velocity curve having a ‘flat’ appearance out to a large radius. The

velocity is plotted on they axis, and the distance from the galaxy center on the x axis.

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More Observations of Dark Matter

Rubin estimated a dark matter component that was 50% of the total

amount of gravitating matter. Subsequent measurements of the diffuse

interstellar gas found at the outer edge of galaxies indicate that the

galaxies are gravitationally bound up to ten times their visible radii. This

has the effect of pushing up the dark matter component from the 50%

measured by Rubin to the now accepted value of nearly 95%.

Measurements of dark matter are now routine. For example

astronomers no longer assume that mass follows light - that the mass to

light ratio is unity. Galaxy mass profiles are thought to look very different

from their light profiles. The typical model for dark matter in galaxies is a

smooth, spherical distribution in halos that surround the disk.

The Milky Way (our own galaxy) is part of the Local Group of

galaxies. These are galaxies that form a close grouping with the Milky

Way (including the Andromeda galaxy). Recently (2010) astronomers

found that a member of the Local Group, the galaxy Segue I, has a

combined visual mass of about 1000 stars (it is a small galaxy) yet the

whole mass is more than 500 times larger. Segue 1 may be made of mostly

dark matter.

In 2005, astronomers from Cardiff University claimed to discover

a galaxy made almost entirely of dark matter, 50 million light years away

in the Virgo Cluster. This galaxy, named VIRGOHI21, does not appear to

contain any visible stars: it was seen with radio frequency observations of

hydrogen. Based on rotation profiles, the scientists estimate that this object

contains approximately 1000 times more dark matter than hydrogen and

has a total mass of about 1/lOth that of our own Milky Way. For

comparison, the Milky Way is believed to have roughly 10 times as much

dark matter (in its halo) as ordinary matter. Skeptics of this interpretation

argue that VIRGOHI21 is simply a tidal tail of the nearby galaxy NGC

4254. The nature of this galaxy remains a contentious issue.

Low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies are important

sources for studying dark matter, because they have an uncommonly low

ratio of visible matter to dark matter (hence the name), and have few

bright stars at the center which would otherwise impair observations of the

rotation curve of outlying stars. LSBs are probably dark matter-dominated,

with the observed stellar populations making only a small contribution to

rotation curves. This class of galaxy is extremely important because it

allows one to avoid the difficulties associated with the de-projection (the

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tilt of the disk to the line-of-sight) and disentanglement of the dark and

visible contributions to the rotation curves.

Dark matter has the ability to deflect light.*'" Gravitational lensing

observations of galaxy clusters allow direct estimates of the true

gravitational mass based on its effect on light from background galaxies.

In clusters such as Abell 1689 (Figure 5), lensing observations confirm the

presence of considerably more mass than is indicated by the clusters’ light

alone. The short, thin arcs of light in the image are due to lensing.

Figure 5. Cluster Abell 1689

According to observations of structures larger than galaxies, as

well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for 23% of the mass-

energy density of the observable universe. In comparison, ordinary matter

accounts for only 4.6% of the mass-energy density of the observable

universe, with the remainder attributable to dark energy. From these

figures, dark matter constitutes 83% of the matter in the universe, while

ordinary matter makes up only 17%. Figure 6 illustrate the various

percentages for today and for 13.7 billion years ago.

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Figure 6. The top pie chart gives the percentages for today. The bottom pie chart gives

the percentages for 13.7 billion years ago according to the Big Bang Theory .

Counter Examples for Dark Matter?

There are a few galaxies that have velocity profiles that indicate an

absence of dark matter, such as the elliptical galaxy NGC 3379. However

in 2006, using observations of globular clusters in NGC 3379, astronomers

found evidence for normal quantities of dark matter in the galaxy’s dark

halo. This .is contrary' to the previous observations that indicated a paucity

of dark matter in the galaxy.

Globular clusters (10^ stars) are sprinkled in the halos of spiral

galaxies.' They show little evidence that they contain dark matter.

It is important to note here that it is possible to form a spiral disk

of stars and gas that follows a flat rotation curve without bringing in dark

matter. The Mestel gravitational potential can accomplish this. The

astronomer Mestel was an expert in galaxy dynamics.'' A Mestel disk

(with a flat rotation curve) forms when a uniformly rotating spherical

cloud with slightly decreasing density (center to edge) collapses while

conserving angular momentum. Such a disk is an observationally close

approximation to a thin disk of stars and gas. However, these disks are

difficult to maintain. They tend to become gravitationally unstable unless

there is some dark matter in a spherical halo surrounding the disk. A 3D

spherical gravitational field will stabilize the disk against fragmentation.

These few counter examples are not very robust. Dark matter

seems firmly established through observations.

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What Is Dark Matter?

All of these observations of dark gravitating matter beg the

question, just what is it?

First, the chief property of dark matter is that, it is “dark,” i.e. it

emits no light - not visible, not x-ray, not infrared. So it is not large clouds

of hydrogen gas, since we can usually detect such clouds in the infrared or

radio. It is not in the form of stars and planets that we can see in the

optical.

Second, dark matter must interact with visible matter

gravitationally. So the dark matter must be massive enough to cause the

gravitational effects that we see in galaxies and clusters of galaxies.

Third, dark matter is not antimatter because we do not see the

unique gamma rays that are produced when antimatter and matter

annihilate.

Fourth, dark matter particles must be electrically neutral; otherwise

they would scatter light and thus not be dark.

Finally, we can rule out large galaxy-sized black holes on the basis

of how many gravitational lenses we see. High concentrations of matter

bend light passing near them from objects further away, but we do not see

enough lensing events to suggest that such objects make up the required

25% of dark matter contribution.

That is it. In other words, we do not know much.

However, there are a few viable dark matter possibilities. The two

main categories of objects that scientists consider as possibilities for dark

matter include MACHOs (yes, really!) and WIMPs (again, really!). These

are acronyms which help astronomers to remember what they represent.

MACHOs (MAssive Compact Halo Objects): MACHOs are

objects ranging in size from small stars to super massive black holes.

MACHOs are made of ordinary matter (like protons, neutrons and

electrons) and are found in the halos of galaxies.

Astronomers detect MACHOs by using their gravitational effects

on the light from distant objects. The gravitational attraction of a massive

object can bend the path of a light ray, much like a lens does. So when a

massive dark MACHO passes in front of a distant object {e.g. a star or

another galaxy), the light from the distant object is “focused” and the

distant object appears brighter for a short time. Astronomers search for

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MACHOs in the halo of our Galaxy by monitoring the brightness of stars

near the center of our Galaxy and in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).''"

The MACHO Project, one of the groups using this gravitational

lens technique, observed about 1 5 lensing events toward the LMC over a

span of six years of observations. They set a limit of 20% as the

contribution to the dark matter in our Galaxy due to objects with mass less

than 0.5 that of the Sun. So while they have been observed, astronomers

have found no evidence of a large enough population of these objects that

would account for all the dark matter in our Galaxy.

What about neutron stars and black holes as MACHOs? Neutron

stars and black holes are the final results of a supernova of a massive star.

Because a supernova usually leaves behind a remnant cloud of visible gas,

neutron stars and black holes must travel far from the remnant to ''hide."

On the positive side neutron stars are veiy^ massive, and if they are

isolated, they can be dark. On the negative side, because they result from

supemovae, they are not necessarily common objects. There is no

evidence that they occur in sufficient numbers in the halos of galaxies.

Black holes are not likely sources of dark matter because they have

such a dramatic effect on their surroundings -they typically produce high

energy jets that are easy to observe.

The most common view is that dark matter is not ordinary' matter

(electrons, protons, neutrons) at all; instead it is made up of other, more

exotic particles like axions or WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive

Particles).

WIMPs are subatomic particles which are not made up of ordinaiy

matter. They are weakly interacting because they can pass through

ordinary matter without any effects. They are massive in the sense of

having mass (whether they are light or heavy depends on the particle). The

prime candidates include neutrinos, axions, and neutralinos.

Neutrinos were first "invented" by physicists in the early 20^^

century to make particle physics interactions work properly. They were

later discovered, and physicists and astronomers had a good idea how

many neutrinos there are in the Universe. But they were thought to be

without mass. In 1998 one type of neutrino was discovered to have a mass,

albeit very small. This mass is too small for the neutrino to contribute

significantly to the dark matter despite the large number of them present in

the Universe.

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Axions are particles which have been proposed to explain the

absence of an electrical dipole moment for the neutron. They thus serve a

purpose for both particle physics and for astronomy. Although axions may

not have much mass, they would have been produced abundantly in the

Big Bang. Current searches for axions include laboratory experiments and

searches in the halo of our Galaxy and in the Sun.

Neutralinos are members of another set of particles that have been

proposed as part of a physics theory known as supersymmetr>^ This theory'

is one that attempts to unify all the known forces in physics. Neutralinos

are proposed as massive particles (they may be 3 Ox to 5000x the mass of

the proton), but they are also the lightest of the electrically neutral

supersymmetric particles. Astronomers and physicists are developing

ways of detecting the neutralino either underground or searching the

universe for signs of their interactions. A lightest neutralino of roughly

10-10000 GeV is the leading WIMP dark matter candidate.

So far there have been no detections of axions or neutralinos.

There are other factors that help scientists determine the mix

between MACHOs and WIMPs as components of the dark matter. Recent

results by the WMAP satellite'"^^^ show that our universe is made up of only

4% ordinary matter. This seems to exclude a large component of

MACHOs. About 23% of our universe is dark matter. This favors the dark

matter being made up mostly of some type of WIMP. However, the

evolution of structure in the universe indicates that the dark matter must

not be fast moving, since fast moving particles prevent the clumping of

matter in the universe. We want clumping because galaxies and planetary'

systems form from such clumps. So while neutrinos may make up part of

the dark matter, they are not a major component because they move too

fast. Particles such as the axion and neutralino appear to have the

appropriate properties to be dark matter. However, they have yet to be

detected.

The conclusion is that we simply do not know what makes dark

matter; however, the evidence is strong that there is something dark that

responds to gravity.

Ordinary matter and dark matter make up only about 28% of the

Universe. That leaves us with the majority player in the universe - dark

energy.

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Dark Energy

In the early 1990’s, one thing was fairly certain about the

expansion of the Universe. It was expanding. It might have enough energy

density to stop expanding and re-collapse, it might have so little energy

density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow

the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been

observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. The Universe is full

of gravitating matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter

together.

Then in the late 1990’s two teams'^ published observations of Type

la supemovae (SN). Since then, these observations have been corroborated

by several independent sources. The latest studies (in 2011) have

reinforced the results, shrinking the error bars by about 30 percent.

A Type la SN is a sub-category of cataclysmic variable stars that

results from the violent explosion of a white dwarf star. A white dwarf is

the remnant of a star that has completed its normal life cycle and has

ceased nuclear fusion. Type la SN have a characteristic light curve, the

graph of luminosity as a function of time after the explosion. See Tigure 7.

The similarity in the absolute luminosity profiles of nearly all

known Type la SN has led to their use as a secondary^ standard candle in

the distance ladder used in extragalactic astronomy. The cause of this

uniformity in the luminosity curve is still an open question.

That means if a Type la SN is observed in a distant galaxy then we

know the distance to that galaxy. We observe the apparent luminosity and

since all Type la’s have the same absolute luminosity we can use the

distance-luminosity relation^ to get the distance.

Figure 7. An illustration of the light curve of a supernova Type la. Luminosity is plotted

versus time since the explosion. These are good for standard candles because the

maximum luminosity is always the same for this type of supernova.

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These observations showed that, a long time ago, the Universe was

actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion of the

Universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought; it has

been accelerating. The Big Bang impelled galaxies apart in an expanding

Universe. But in defiance of cosmic gravity it appears that galaxies are

picking up speed instead of slowing down. This is shocking. No one

expected this-; no one knew how to explain it; it was an enormous surprise.

But there it was in the data.

The extra expansion of the Universe in recent times is revealed by

the excessive faintness of distant Type la SN, whose brightness calibrates

their distances. In other words the supemovae were too faint for their type

- they are further away than they ought to be due to their brightness. For

them to be as faint as they are, the Universe had to speed up to get them as

distant as they are observed to be. See Figure 8.

Distance in 10^ light years

Figure 8. The small dots are measurements of a supernova plotted as distance versus

redshift. The solid line marks where the mean ought to fall if the universe were uniformly

expanding. Note that the distant supemovae fall beneath the line; therefore, the

observations show that the supemovae are fainter than expected.

Dark energy is hardly science fiction. What is true for a ball tossed

in the air only to return to Earth is not true for the Universe. Although

cosmologists adopted a cute name, dark energy, for whatever is driving

this apparently anti-gravitational behavior on the part of the Universe,

nobody claims to understand why it is happening, or its implications for

the future of the universe and of the life within it, despite thousands of

learned papers and scores of conferences.

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Figure 9 shows a diagram of how the Universe might have evolved

within the concept of dark energy.

The consequences of dark energy for fundamental physics will not

be clear until its origin is discovered, but the effects on the universe are

dramatic. Dark energy effectively contributes 70-75% of the current

energy density of the Universe, governing the expansion of space, causing

it to accelerate over the last ~7 billion years, and will determine the fate of

the Universe. Such a phenomenon is not predicted within the experimental

experience of gravity as an attractive force.

Expanding universe

Figure 9. This diagram shows changes in the rate of expansion since the Universe's birth

13.7 billion years ago. The more shallow the curve, the faster the rate of expansion. The

curve changes noticeably about 7.5 billion years ago, when objects in the Universe began

flying apart at a faster rate. Astronomers theorize that the faster expansion rate is due to a

mysterious, dark energy that is pulling galaxies apart. Credit; NASA/STSci

Gravitation as an attractive force acts to slow down the cosmic

expansion, so dark energy acts in this sense as antigravity or cosmic

repulsion. This can however occur within general relativity for substances

with strongly negative pressure. Recall the main set of equations for the

theory of general relativity:

g: + Ag:

8^G

rj^V

^// '

The left side essentially says that space is driven by geometry^ The right

side says that energy and mass follow that geometry. The second term on

the left hand side was inserted by Einstein to obtain the stationary

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Universe he believed it to be: 'A’ is the cosmological constant. He

abandoned the term after Edwin Hubble’s observations showed that the

Universe was expanding.

It is now thought that adding the cosmological constant term to

Einstein’s equations does not lead to a static Universe at equilibrium

because the equilibrium is unstable; if the Universe expands slightly, then

the expansion releases vacuum energy, which causes yet more expansion.

Likewise, a Universe which contracts slightly will continue contracting.

The nature of this dark energy is a matter of speculation. It is

known to be very homogeneous, not very dense, and is not known to

interact through any of the fundamental forces other than gravity. Since it

is not very dense — roughly 10 grams per cubic centimeter — it is hard to

imagine experiments to detect it in the laboratory. Dark energy can only

have such a profound impact on the Universe, making up 74% of universal

density, because it uniformly fills otherwise empty space.

Various types of dark energy have been proposed, including a

cosmic field associated with inflation; a different, low-energy field dubbed

“quintessence” (named after the ancients Greeks’ fifth element); and the

cosmological constant, or vacuum energy of empty space. Unlike

Einstein’s A, the cosmological constant in its present incarnation does not

balance gravity in order to maintain a static Universe; instead, it has

negative pressure that causes expansion to accelerate.

Empirically, the onslaught of cosmological data in the past decades

(all those observations of Type la SN) strongly suggests that our Universe

has a positive cosmological constant. The explanation of this small but

positive value is an outstanding theoretical challenge. The challenge

comes from explaining dark energy as a property of space. Einstein was

the first person to realize that empty space is not empty. It has the property

that it is possible for more space to come into existence.

The version of Einstein’s gravity theory that contains a

cosmological constant makes a prediction: empty space can possess its

own energy. Because this energy is a property of space itself, it would not

be diluted as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of

this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would

cause the universe to expand faster and faster. Unfortunately, no one

understands why the cosmological constant should even be there, much

less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the observed

acceleration of the Universe.

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Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from

the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, empty space is actually full

of temporary (virtual) particles that continually form and then disappear (a

kind of quantum foaming). But when physicists tried to calculate how

much energy this would give empty space, the answer came out wrong -

wrong by a lot. The number came out 10 times too big. It’s hard to get

an answer that bad. So the mystery continues.

A last possibility is that Einstein’s theory of gravity is not correct.

That option would not only affect the expansion of the Universe, but it

would also affect the way that normal matter in galaxies and clusters of

galaxies behaved. This fact would provide a way to decide if the solution

to the dark energy problem is a new gravity theory or not: we could

observe how galaxies come together in clusters. But if it does turn out that

a new theory of gravity is needed, what kind of theory would it be? How

could it correctly describe the motion of the bodies in the Solar System, as

Einstein’s theory is known to do, and still give us the different prediction

for the universe that we need? There are candidate theories, but none are

compelling.

The thing that is needed to decide between dark energy

possibilities - a property of space, a new dynamic fluid, or a new theory of

gravity - is more and better data.

Theorists still don't know what the correct explanation is, but at

least they have given the solution a name - dark energy.

Dark Energy Opponents

Not all experts are comfortable with the idea that a strange force is

mysteriously tugging the universe apart.

One alternative is the idea that our cosmic neighborhood - the

solar system and the whole Milky Way - happens to sit at the center ot a

relatively empty bubble of space eight billion light-years across (a void). It

this were the case, we would measure the same accelerated expansion rate

we do, except it would be an illusion created by our special position in the

void.

But the latest precision measurements of the universe’s

acceleration seem to rule out that idea, which predicts a somewhat

different value for the expansion rate. However, the latest results do not

disqualify all versions of the void model. In some more complicated

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scenarios in which the Big Bang did not happen at the same time at all

points in space, this hypothesis could still be valid.

However, ultimately many scientists are dubious of all the void

models because they put us in a special place in the universe. Copernicus

shot that idea down.

Some Current Work

Arthur Chemin^* and his colleagues are working on applying dark

energy on small cosmic scales. In the standard Cold Dark Matter model

with dark energy (ACDM), all celestial bodies are embedded in a perfectly

uniform dark energy background and experience a repulsive antigravity

action. In the cold dark matter theory, structure grows hierarchically, with

small objects collapsing first and merging in a continuous hierarchy to

form more and more massive objects. In the hot dark matter paradigm,

popular in the early eighties, structure does not form hierarchically

{bottom-up), but rather forms by fragmentation {top-down), with the

largest superclusters forming first in flat pancake-like sheets and

subsequently fragmenting into smaller pieces like our Galaxy the Milky

Way. The predictions of hot dark matter strongly disagree with

observations of large-scale structure, whereas the cold dark matter

paradigm is in general agreement with the observations. So the cold dark

matter approach is the one favored currently.

Chemin’s team asks the question, can dark energy have strong

dynamical effects on small cosmic scales as well as large scales? The

distant supemovae give us the global effect of dark energy; is there an

effect on a scale as small as the Tocal Group? They find that the

antigravity produced by dark energy is stronger than the gravity of the

Tocal Group at distances larger than ~I5 Mpc from the group center. In

other words, the answer to their question is yes. The effects of dark energy

can be seen on many different scales.

Conclusion

More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy

there is because we know how it affects the Universe’s expansion. Other

than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns

out that roughly 70% of the Universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes

up about 25%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed

with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of

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the Universe. Maybe it should not be called normal matter at all, since it is

such a small fraction of the Universe.

What do we know? We know that the light we can detect makes

for a Universe filled with beautiful things, and for us here on Earth, that

light makes an awesome night sky.

‘ A Keplerian drop-off is what the planets do in our Solar System. The farther from the

Sun, the slower the planet travels.

" A velocity curve is a plot of circular velocity (y axis) versus distance from the center (x

axis).

Science News August 28, 2010.

Just as non-dark matter does.

' A globular cluster is small spheroid of densely packed stars ~ 10^ stars. Globular clusters

orbit around the disk of spiral galaxies. There are, for example, about 100 globular

clusters surrounding the Milky Way.

L. Mestel, ytpJ, 126, 553, 1963.

The LMC is another member of the Local Group of galaxies.

A satellite observing the cosmic microwave background.

"" One at U. Berkeley and one at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

^ M — m = — 5(logjQ d — \) where Mis the absolute magnitude, m is the apparent

magnitude, and d is the distance.

A. Chemin et al. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 520, 104, 2010.

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Cosmic Distance Ladder

Sethanne Howard

USNO, retired

Abstract

Astronomers use a wide variety of methods to determine the distance to

celestial objects. The ultimate goal is to obtain the Hubble constant and

establish the Hubble law. With this law one can measure the most distant

object and determine the parameters that control our universe.

Introduction

There is no meter stick long enough to reach the stars; therefore,

astronomers use a succession of methods to determine the distances to

celestial objects. This succession is known as the cosmic distance ladder.

It has taken millennia to figure how to measure such extreme distances,

extreme, that is, compared to distances here on Earth.

Measurements of the size of the Earth go back in time to at least

the ancient Greeks. Eratosthenes (3”^^ century BCE) came surprisingly

close to determining the radius of the Earth (he was perhaps one sixth too

high). Eratosthenes also invented the concepts of latitude and longitude.

The great Indian mathematician Aryabhata (CE 476 - 550) was a pioneer

of mathematical astronomy. He came within one percent of the current

value for the circumference of the Earth. John O’Connor and Edmund

Robertson' wrote of the medieval Persian Abu Rayhan al Biruni (CE 973 -

1048) that:

Important contributions to geodesy and geography were also made

by Biruni. He introduced techniques to measure the Earth and

distances on it using triangulation. He found the radius of the Earth

to be 6339.6 km, a value not obtained in the West until the 16^^

century^

Triangulation is important in determining distances. Triangulation

is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles

to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than

measuring distances to the point directly. The point can then be fixed as

the third point of a triangle with one known side and two known angles

(the old angle-side-angle trick from geometry). This is a useful tool on

Earth, especially for surveying.

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If the triangle is very large (as it is in astronomy) then one can use

the small angle approximation. Figure 1 shows the relationships for a large

triangle. In this case, the distance .s is very nearly equal to the distance O.

fhe smaller the angle 9 the closer they are to each other. The small angle

approximation gives:

6

cos^ ~ 1 .

2

tan 6-0

Figure 1 . A large triangle where A is the distance from the origin to the point d.

In astronomy, the angle subtended by the image of a distant object

is often only a few arcseconds, so it is well suited to the small angle

approximation. The linear size {s) is related to the angular size (0) and the

distance from the observer {A) by the simple formula:

s^e — - —

206265

when 9 is measured in arcseconds. The number 296,265 is approximately

equal to the number of arcseconds in a circle (1,296,999) divided by In.

The exact formula is:

f

s = 2^ tan

V

Ok ^

1296999,

The above approximation follows when tan(9) is replaced by 0.

The Astronomical Unit

Measurement starts locally with the Earth. Once people had a

handle on Earth sized distances, and they had a tool kit of standard

measuring devices (e.g., the kilometer, the second, the gram), then they

could consider measuring the sky. To begin with, astronomers needed a

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precise determination of the distance between the Earth and the Sun,

which is called the Astronomical Unit (AU).

Historically, the transits of Venus across the Sun were used for

this. By measuring how long it took Venus to transit across the Sun, one

could derive the value for the AU. Astronomers would observe the Venus

transit in two different locations on Earth. Using the times of the transits

they could calculate the solar parallax (which cannot be measured

directly). By combining that with the relative distances of the Earth and

Venus from the Sun they could calculate the AU. Parallax occurs when the

eye sees an object appear to shift compared to distant objects.

Another method involved work by the astronomer Simon

Newcomb in 1895. He also used data from the transits of Venus. He then

collaborated with A. A. Michelson to measure the speed of light with

Earth-based equipment; when combined with the constant of aberration

(which is related to the light-time per unit distance) this gave the first

direct measurement of the Earth-Sun distance in kilometers.

Astronomers now use radar and telemetry instead of transits.

Precise measurements of the relative positions of the inner planets can be

made by radar and by telemetry from space probes. As with all radar

measurements, these rely on measuring the time it takes for light to reflect

from an object. The measured positions are then compared with those

calculated by the laws of celestial mechanics: the comparison gives the

speed of light in AUs, which is 173.144 632 6847(69) AU/day. Because

the speed of light in meters per second (csi) is fixed in the International

System of Units, this measurement of the speed of light in AU/day (cau)

also determines the value of the astronomical unit in meters:

AU = 86400-^.

^AU

In 1976 the International Astronomical Union revised the

definition of the AU for greater precision, defining it as that length for

which the Gaussian gravitational constant takes the value

0.017 202 098 95 when the units of measurement are the astronomical

units of length (AU), mass (solar mass) and time (day). The Gaussian

gravitational constant is equal to the square root of the Newtonian

gravitational constant G; it is also roughly equal to the mean angular

velocity of the Earth in orbit around the Sun. The best current (2009)

estimate of the International Astronomical Union (lAU) for the value ol

the AU in meters \s\ AU= 149 597 870 700(3) m.

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rhe uncertainties of the various methods are given in Table I. The

AU is given in Gigameters.

1 able I - Uncertainty in measurement of the AU.

Once the AU was known precisely, astronomers could move

outward to other objects. At the base of the ladder are fundamental

distance measurements (like the AU), in which distances are determined

directly, with no physical assumptions about the nature of the object in

question. This fundamental work is done by astronomers specializing in

the discipline of astrometry - precise astronomical measurements. The

AU, then, is the first rung on the distance ladder and becomes a baseline

for distances to the nearby stars. Subsequent rungs will eventually depend

upon assumptions about the physical state of the object being used.

Parallax

The next rung on the distance ladder comes from trigonometric

parallax. Parallax is an apparent displacement or difference in the

apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight.

Triangulation is the technique that uses parallax. This technique can be

used only for objects ‘close enough’ (within about 1000 parsecs) to Earth.

The distance unit parsec stands for^^allax second - the distance at which

the angle subtended by the celestial object is one arcsecond. Figure 2 is a

photo of a statue in honor of the parallax method. Astronomers usually

express distances in units of parsecs (pc); light-years are used in popular

media, but almost invariably values in light-years have been converted

from numbers tabulated in parsecs in the original source.

As the Earth orbits around the Sun, the position of nearby stars will

appear to shift slightly against the more distant background of stars (this

shift is called parallax). These shifts form angles in a right triangle, with 2

AU making the short leg of the triangle and the distance to the star is the

long leg. See Figure 3.

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The amount of shift is quite small, measuring one arcsecond for an

object at a distance of 1 parsec (3.26 light-years), thereafter decreasing in

angular amount as the reciprocal of the distance.

Figure 2. Statue of an astronomer and the concept of the cosmic distance ladder by the

parallax method, made from the azimuth ring and other parts of the Yale-Columbia

Refractor (telescope) (c 1925) wrecked by the 2003 Canberra bushfires which burned out

the Mount Stromlo Observatory; at Questacon, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

Figure 3. A diagram illustrating astronomical parallax.

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Because parallax decreases as distance increases, useful distances

can be measured only for stars whose parallax is larger than the precision

of the measurement. Stars are quite distant, so observations of the tiny

parallax awaited the development. of precision instrumentation. In fact, the

lack of an observed parallax for stars had long been used to 'prove’ the

[earth's central position in the Universe - not orbiting the Sun. The first

stellar parallax (of the star 61 Cygni) was measured by Friedrich Wilhelm

Bessel (1784 - 1846) in 1838. He arrived at a parallax of 313.6

milliarcseconds (mas), close to the currently accepted value of 287.18

mas. fhis was a valuable proof that the Earth orbited the Sun. Bessel is

also known for the Bessel functions in mathematical physics.

First done on the ground, and now done in space, parallax

measurements typically have an accuracy measured in mas. In the 1990s,

HIPPARCOS, an astrometric satellite in Earth orbit (1989 - 1993), had the

mission of measuring precise parallaxes. It obtained parallaxes for over a

hundred thousand stars with a precision of about a mas, providing useful

distances for stars out to a few hundred parsecs.

So the next rung on the ladder has a precision of about a

milliarcsecond. The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, due to

launch in 2012 and come online in 2013, will be able to measure parallax

to an accuracy of 10 microarcseconds. As one moves farther out in space

the precision drops. It can never improve. This is an important point. The

farther out one goes the greater the uncertainty. Astrometry, as always,

forms the basis of the distance ladder. Trigonometric parallax is good for

stars to a distance of about 100 parsecs. Overall, this is not very far.

Using the AU as the baseline forms the first and most precise type

of parallax: trigonometric parallax. There are others: statistical parallax,

secular parallax, moving cluster parallax, and spectroscopic parallax.

Cross referencing one method to another allows one to move outward in

distance. Overlap between methods is necessary.

The statistical parallax comes from a statistical analysis of the

motion of stars that are located at about the same distance, are with the

same spectral class, and show a similar brightness range. It assumes that

the average radial velocity of the set of stars is the same as the average

transverse velocity. One can then obtain a mean parallax for that set of

stars. This method is useful for measuring the distances of bright stars to

about 500 pc.

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The secular parallax uses the motion of the Sun through space as

the baseline. For stars in the Milky Way disk, this corresponds to a mean

baseline of about 4 AU/year (this is how far the Sun moves at 16.9 km/s

with respect to the local standard of rest). After several decades, the

baseline can be orders of magnitude greater than the Earth-Sun baseline

used for traditional parallax. However, secular parallax introduces a higher

level of uncertainty because the relative velocity of other stars is an

additional unknown. When applied to samples of multiple stars, the

uncertainty can be reduced; the precision is inversely proportional to the

square root of the sample size. As with statistical parallax, this method is

useful to a distance of about 500 pc.

Neither of these two methods is useful for individual stars. There

are uncertainties in the brightness measures and in the velocity measures.

Secular parallax is the better choice when the velocity of the Sun is greater

than the average radial velocity of the sample. Statistical parallax is better

when the velocity of the Sun is less than the average radial velocity of the

sample.

The moving cluster parallax uses the motions of individual stars in

nearby star clusters (such as the Hyades cluster) to find the distance to the

cluster. One assumes that the stars in the cluster are about the same age

and about the same distance from Earth. This method gives the Hyades

cluster a distance of 45.53 ± 2.64 pc. The average of HIPPARCOS

trigonometric parallaxes for Hyades members gives a cluster distance of

46.34 ± 0.27 pc. Thus, when comparing the two methods, one can see that

they do not give identical results, even for a nearby object; hence the need

for more data. This clearly indicates the loss in precision as one moves

outward from Earth.

Spectroscopic parallax is a method useful to a distance of about

10,000 parsecs. When the spectrum of a star is observed carefully, it is

possible to determine the surface temperature and the surface gravity of

the star. Knowing these two allows us to determine the intrinsic luminosity

(the brightness emitted by the star). Knowing the luminosity and the flux

(the value received at Earth), one can determine the distance from the

inverse square law. However, this only works for 'normaf stars (stars on

the main sequence), and any given single object might not be normal.

Additionally, this method depends upon theoretical models of stars and is

only as good as the models (which are actually rather good).

In astronomy, the brightness of an object is usually given in terms

of its absolute magnitude, M This quantity is derived from the logarithm

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c

of its luminosity as seen from a distance of 10 pc. The apparent ;

magnitude, m, (the magnitude as seen by the observer), can be used to ^

determine the distance D to the object in kiloparsecs (where 1 kpc equals I

10'’ pc) as follows: • i

5 log,o m - M - 5

kpc

where m represents the apparent magnitude and M represents the absolute

magnitude. For this to be correct both magnitudes must be in the same

frequency band (z.e., one cannot compare blue magnitudes to red

magnitudes) and there can be no relative motion in the radial direction.

There is an additional issue with interstellar extinction. The space between

stars is not empty. It contains gas and dust which makes distant objects

appear fainter and redder than they actually are. One must correct for this.

Measurements of the interstellar extinction are part of fundamental

astronomy.

The difference between apparent and absolute magnitudes {m- M)

is called the distance modulus, and astronomical distances, especially

intergalactic ones, are sometimes tabulated in this way.

As an example of spectroscopic parallax consider the star Spica. Its

apparent magnitude is 0.98. Its spectral type” is B1 which means its

absolute magnitude can range from -3.2 to -5.0. The distance modulus

therefore gives a range in distance of 157.05 to 68.54 pc. HIPPARCOS

measurements give a distance of 80.38 pc. Hence the method can work but

is not very^ precise.

Wow, all this work and we have yet to leave the Milky Way,

which has a diameter of about 30,000 pc.

Other individual celestial objects can have fundamental distance

estimates made for them under special circumstances. If the expansion of a

gas cloud, like a supernova remnant or planetary nebula, can be observed

over time, then an expansion parallax distance to that cloud can be .

estimated. The distance estimate comes from computing how far away the ,

object must be to make its observed absolute velocity appear with the

observed angular motion. ^

Expansion parallaxes in particular can give fundamental distance 5

estimates for objects that are very far away, because supernova ejecta have I

large expansion velocities and large sizes (compared to stars). Further, L

they can be observed with radio interferometers which can measure veiy^

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small angular motions. These combine to mean that some supernovae in

other galaxies have fundamental distance estimates. Though valuable,

such cases are quite rare, so they serve as important consistency checks on

the distance ladder rather than workhorse steps by themselves.

The Standard Candle

To move outward in distance one starts with trigonometric

parallaxes, then observes the same object with the other types of less

precise parallaxes to calibrate and scale them. Once this is done one has

the distance ladder reaching about 10,000 pc - halfway across the Milky

Way.

At this point one must put aside the parallax method and use other

methods. With few exceptions, distances based on direct measurements

are available only out to about a thousand pc, which is a modest portion of

our own Galaxy. For distances beyond that, measurements are going to

depend upon physical assumptions, that is, knowledge of the object in

question. One must recognize the object and assume the class of objects is

homogeneous enough that its members can be used for a meaningful

estimation of distance - a standard candle as it were.

Almost all of the remaining rungs on the ladder are standard

candles of one kind or another. A standard candle is an object that belongs

to some class that has a known brightness (z.e., all members of the class

have the same brightness). By comparing the known luminosity of the

latter to its observed brightness, the distance to the object can be computed

using the inverse square law.

Two problems exist for any class of standard candle. The principal

one is calibration, determining exactly what the absolute magnitude of the

candle is. This includes defining the class well enough that members can

be recognized, and finding enough members with well-known distances

that their true absolute magnitude can be determined with enough

accuracy. The second lies in recognizing members of the class, and not

mistakenly using the standard candle calibration upon an object which

does not belong to the class. At extreme distances, which are where one

most wishes to use a distance indicator, this recognition problem can be

quite serious.

Another significant issue with standard candles is the question of

how standard they are. For example, all observations seem to indicate that

Type la supernovae that are of known distance have the same brightness

(corrected by the shape of the light curve); however, the possibility that

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the distant lype la supemovae have different properties than nearby Type

la supernovae exists. The use of Type la supemovae is cmcial in

determining the correct cosmological model. If indeed the properties of

the Type la’s are different at large distances, i.e. if the extrapolation of

their calibration to arbitrary distances is not valid, ignoring this variation

can dangerously bias the reconstruction of the cosmological parameters.

That this is not merely a philosophical issue can be seen from the

history of distance measurements using Cepheid variables (this technique

is described below). In the 1950s, astronomer Walter Baade discovered

that the nearby Cepheid variables used to calibrate the standard candle

were of a different type than the more distant ones used to measure

distances to nearby galaxies. The nearby Cepheid variables were young,

massive stars with much higher metal content than the distant old, faint

ones. As a result, the old stars were actually much brighter than believed,

and this had the ultimate effect of doubling the distances to the globular

clusters, the nearby galaxies, and the diameter of the Milky Way.

Cepheids

Now that Cepheids have been mentioned, let me discuss this

important class of stars. They are a crucial mng in the distance ladder.

Cepheids are luminous variable stars that radially pulsate. The strong

direct relationship between a Cepheid’ s luminosity and its pulsation period

makes them an important standard candle for Galactic and extragalactic

sources. Type I Cepheids undergo pulsations with very regular periods on

the order of days to months.

A relationship between the period and luminosity for Type I

Cepheids was discovered in 1908 by Henrietta Swan Leavitt in her

investigation of thousands of variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds.

Figure 4 is the figure from her discovery paper of 1912.

To use them as standard candles, one observes the pulsation period

to get the luminosity (absolute magnitude). By then measuring the

apparent brightness (value observed at Earth) one has everything needed

to use the distance modulus m - M. The work was so important that

Leavitt was considered for the Nobel Prize, but she died before her name

could be submitted.

One needs a distance measurement from some other method for at

least one Cepheid to correlate the class to the distance ladder. The original

Cepheid variable, delta Cephei, is close enough that we have a

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trigonometric parallax measurement for it. Figure 5 shows the data from

HIPPARCOS for delta Cephei.

logaiithm of period in days

Figure 4. (From Leavitt’s publication): ‘in Figure 2 ... a straight line can readily be drawn

... showing that there is a simple relation between the brightness of the variables and their

periods.... Since the variables are probably at nearly the same distance from the Earth,

their periods are apparently associated with their actual emission of light, as determined

by their mass, density, and surface brightness.”

-Leavitt (1912)

HIP 110991

Figure 5. The period luminosity plot for delta Cephei from Hipparcos data. The dots are

the observations; the line is the predicted curve.

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In addition, using data from the HIPPARCOS astrometry satellite,

astronomers calculated the distances to many Galactic Cepheids using the

trigonometric parallax technique. The resultant period-luminosity

relationship for Type 1 Cepheids .was:

=-2.81 log(P)- (1.43 ±0.1)

where My is the absolute magnitude and P is the period. The uncertainty is

now much greater than the uncertainty for the AU. Once the class is

calibrated using Milky Way Cepheids, one can then move out to the

nearby Small. Magellanic Cloud using Cepheids found there and leap-frog

to the Large Magellanic Cloud and outward to the Andromeda galaxy.

To date, NGC 3370, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo,

contains the farthest Cepheids yet found at a distance of 29 Mpc. Cepheid

variable stars are in no way perfect distance markers: for nearby galaxies

they have an error of about 7% and up to a 15% error for the most distant.

There are a number of technical issues with Cepheids. Tying down

the errors is a difficult process and is on-going. In fact, in 2009 astronomer

Allen Sandage said that the existence of a universal period-luminosity

relation of classical Cepheids is an only historically justified illusion.

Nevertheless they remain an important rung on the distance ladder.

The same principle used for Cepheids applies to RR Lyrae variable

stars. RR Lyrae variables are periodic variable stars, commonly found in

globular clusters, and often used as standard candles to measure galactic

distances. This type of variable is named after the prototype, the variable

star RR Lyrae in the constellation Lyra. Once one knows that a star is an

RR Lyrae variable (e.g., from the shape of its light curve), then one knows

its luminosity. From that one can determine the distance. RR Lyrae stars

are useful standard candles for objects within the Milky Way.

Binary Stars

Binary star systems”' are very important in astronomy because

calculations of their orbits allow the masses of their component stars to be

directly determined, which in turn allows indirect estimates of other stellar

parameters, such as radius and density. This also determines an empirical

mass-luminosity relationship from which the masses of single stars can be

estimated. Binaries can sometimes be used as distance indicators.

Binary' stars are often detected optically, in which case they are

called visual binaries. These binaries are seen as two separate stars. Many

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visual binaries have long orbital periods of several centuries or millennia

and therefore have orbits which are uncertain or poorly known. Binary'

stars may also be detected by indirect techniques, such as spectroscopy

{spectroscopic binaries). If a binary star happens to orbit in a plane along

our line of sight, its components will eclipse and transit each other; these

pairs are called eclipsing binaries, or, if they are detected by their changes

in brightness during eclipses and transits, photometric binaries.

The distance to a visual binary star may be estimated from the

masses of its two components, the size of their orbit, and the period of

their revolution around one another. A dynamical parallax is an (annual)

parallax which is computed from such an estimated distance.

In the last decade, the advent of 8 meter class telescopes has

enabled the measurement of eclipsing binaries’ fundamental parameters

{e.g., mass, radius). This makes it feasible to use them as indicators of

distance. Recently, they have been used to give direct distance estimates to

the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Andromeda

galaxy, and the Triangulum galaxy. These galaxies are in the Local Group

- the group of galaxies that contains our Milky Way. Eclipsing binaries

offer a direct method to gauge the distance to galaxies to a new improved

5% level of accuracy out to a distance of around 3 Mpc.

Andromeda is about 778 kpc from the Milky Way. Astronomers

first used an eclipsing binary to determine the precise distance to the

Andromeda galaxy in 2005. This distance is in excellent agreement with

other, less direct determinations. The binary, known as

M31VJ00443799+4129236 (I had to share the name!), has two hot blue

stars of spectral types O and B. As the stars orbit each other every' 3.54969

days, they pass in front of and behind each other.

By comparing the absolute and apparent magnitudes of the two

stars, the astronomers concluded the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.52±0.14

million light-years from Earth. This agrees perfectly with the Cepheid-

based distance to Andromeda: 2.5 million light-years. The distance,

however, does not depend on first assuming a distance to the Large

Magellanic Cloud and leap-frogging from there. The agreement means

astronomers can probably trust Cepheid distances to more distant galaxies,

such as those in the Virgo and Fornax clusters.

Nevertheless the uncertainty is now at the 5% level.

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Beyond Cepheids

A succession of distance indicators, which is the distance ladder, is

needed for determining distances to other galaxies. Objects bright enough

to be recognized and measured at large distances are so rare that few or

none are present nearby, so there are too few examples close enough with

reliable trigonometric parallax to calibrate the indicator. For example,

Cepheid variables, one of the best indicators for nearby spiral galaxies,

cannot be satisfactorily calibrated by trigonometric parallax alone. There

are not enough overlapping stars. The situation is further complicated by

the fact that' different stellar populations generally do not have all types of

stars in them. Cepheids in particular are massive stars, with short lifetimes,

so they will only be found in places where stars have very recently been

formed. Consequently, because elliptical galaxies usually have long

ceased to have large-scale star formation, they will have few or no

Cepheids. Instead, distance indicators whose origins are in an older stellar

population (like RR Lyrae variables) must be used. However, RR Tyrae

variables are less luminous than Cepheids (so they cannot be seen as far

away as Cepheids can).

Because the more distant steps of the cosmic distance ladder

depend upon the nearer ones, the more distant steps include the effects of

errors in the nearer steps, both systematic and statistical ones. The result of

these propagating errors means that distances in astronomy are rarely

known to the same level of precision as measurements in the other

sciences, and that the precision necessarily is poorer for more distant types

of object.

There are still only about 30,000 stars with relative parallax

accuracy better than 10%. And these stars are all in the solar neighborhood

with few Cepheids and RR Lyraes.

Another concern, especially for the very brightest standard candles,

is their '‘standardness:” how homogeneous the objects are in their true

absolute magnitude. For some of these different standard candles, the

homogeneity is based on theories about the formation and evolution of

stars and galaxies, and is thus also subject to uncertainties in those aspects.

For the most luminous of distance indicators, the Type la supemovae, this

homogeneity is known to be poor; however, no other class of object is

bright enough to be detected at such large distances, so the class is useful

simply because there is no real alternative.

So where do we go from here? We look at Type la supemovae.

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Type la Supernovae

Figure 6 shows a supernova in the galaxy NGC 4526. The

supernova is the bright spot in the lower left. It is, temporarily, as bright as

the galaxy. Type la supemovae (SN) have a very well-determined

maximum absolute magnitude as a function of the shape of their light

curve and are useful in determining extragalactic distances up to a few

hundred Mpc.

Figure 6. Supernova SN 1994D in the NGC 4526 galaxy (bright spot on the lower left).

Image by NASA, ESA

Type la SN are some of the best ways to determine extragalactic

distances. la’s occur when a binary white dwarf star begins to accrete

matter from its companion red dwarf star. As the white dwarf gains matter,

eventually it reaches its Chandrasekhar Timit of 1.4 This is as

massive as it can get. Once that limit is reached, the white dwarf star

becomes unstable and undergoes a runaway nuclear fusion reaction.

Because all Type la SN explode at about the same mass, their absolute

magnitudes are all the same. This makes them very useful as standard

candles. All Type la SN have a standard blue and visual magnitude of

-M,. - -19.3 ±0.3.

Therefore, when observing a Type la SN, if it is possible to determine

what its peak magnitude was, then its distance can be calculated. It is not

necessary to capture the SN directly at its peak magnitude. Compare the

shape of the light curve (taken at any reasonable time after the initial

explosion) to a family of parameterized curves to determine the absolute

magnitude at the maximum brightness. This method also takes into effect

interstellar extinction/dimming from dust and gas. So the method is to

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observe the SN to get its apparent brightness at maximum, and since the

absolute luminosity is known, use the distance modulus to get the

distance.

Using Type la SN is one of the better methods, particularly since

SN explosions can be visible at great distances (their luminosities rival

that of the galaxy in which they are situated), much farther than Cepheid

variables (500 times farther). Much time has been devoted to the refining

of this method, fhe current uncertainty approaches a mere 5%,

corresponding to an uncertainty of just 0.1 magnitudes.

There are other specialized distance indicators, but they are

typically empirical and lack a robust underpinning.

Future Possibility

The D-a relation, used in elliptical galaxies, relates the angular

diameter (D) of the galaxy to its velocity dispersion (a). The observed

velocity dispersion is the result of the superposition of many individual

stellar spectra, each of which has been Doppler shifted because of the

star’s motion within the galaxy. Therefore, a can be determined by

analyzing the integrated spectrum of the whole galaxy; the galaxy

integrated spectrum will be similar to the spectrum of the stars which

dominate the light of the galaxy, but with broader absorption lines due to

the motions of the stars. The velocity dispersion is a fundamental

parameter because it is an observable that better quantifies the potential

well of a galaxy.

The parameter D is, more precisely, the galaxy’s angular diameter

—2

out to the surface brightness level of 20.75 B-mag arcsec . This surface

brightness is independent of the galaxy’s actual distance from us. Instead,

D is inversely proportional to the galaxy’s distance. This relation between

D and o is:

log,o(D) = 1.3331og(cj) + C

where C is a constant which depends on the distance to the galaxy clusters.

This method has the possibility of becoming one of the strongest

methods of extragalactic distance calculators. As of today, however,

elliptical galaxies aren’t bright enough to provide a calibration for this

method through the use of techniques such as Cepheids. So instead

calibration is done using cruder methods like supemovae.

Washington Academy of Sciences

63

Conclusion

The purpose of the ladder is to obtain the Hubble Constant, Hq.

Hubble observed that the fainter the galaxy the more its spectra was

redshifted. Figure 7 shows Hubble’s original plot. Finding the value of the

Hubble constant was the result of decades of work by many astronomers,

both in amassing the measurements of galaxy redshifts and in calibrating

the steps of the distance ladder. Hubble’s Law relates redshift to distance

and is the primary means we have for estimating the distances of quasars

and distant galaxies in which individual distance indicators cannot be

seen. The redshift, z, is given by the shift in the spectral line:

z = — - 1, and

A

cz - H^d

where d is the distance. So if one can measure the redshift, z, then one can

determine the distance.

A 2011 determination of Hq is Hq = 73.8 ± 2.4 (km/s)/Mpc. By

linking Cepheid observations in the galaxy NGC 4258 with those in host

galaxies of supemovae, this recent determination claims to reduce the

error to less than 5%. The age of the Universe is inversely proportional to

//q. This puts an uncertainty of about ±0.1 billion years for the age of the

Universe.

After all this we realize that the age of the Universe and the

Hubble constant ultimately depend upon that first rung of the ladder

determined by astronomers who work in the field of astrometry. Figure 8

is an old cartoon showing this dependence. It does not really overstate the

case. Errors in the cosmic distance ladder do indeed increase with

distance. As one ascends the ladder, the more precise the preceding rung

is, then the more precise the next link will be.

Summer 201 1

64

*BOOtll

»ooni

Figure 7. Hubble’s original plot relating redshift (y axis) to distance (x axis)

THE ASTRO HOMICAL PYRAMID

ILJLUSTMTING THE irniRDEPEM)E/CE OF T>€ VARIOUS AREAS OF STICY

GET BACK TO BASICS ~ support AsTROMgTRv

Figure 8. The only problem I have with this cartoon is that they are all men!

' John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson (1999). Abu Arrayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad

al-Biruni, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, U. St. Andrews, Scotland.

" This is a scale based on the spectrum that runs from hot (O stars) to cool (M stars). The

scale has seven levels: OBAFGKM. Each level defines a range of absolute

magnitudes.

These are stars that orbit each other.

Washington Academy of Sciences

Outgoing President’s Remarks

WAS Awards Banquet - May 201 1

Mark Holland

65

Greetings to all: Ladies and Gentlemen. WAS members,

distinguished awardees, honored guests. The awards banquet is one of the

highlights of the Washington Academy calendar. Allow me to begin by

thanking all of the many people responsible for putting together this

evening’s program and handling the logistics: the WAS banquet and

Awards Committees and our Executive Director, Peg Kay. We thank you

all for your hard work.

The founding fathers of the WAS established the Academy for the

purpose of “encouraging scientific endeavor in all its forms.” As this

year’s Academy President, I suppose that makes me the 113th head

cheerleader for the Washington area science team. We have a lot to cheer

about. It still amazes me that within our relatively small geographic area,

more than 60 scientific societies and institutions are affiliated with the

WAS. What a vital atmosphere and what fertile ground for the scientific

endeavor!

During the past year, the Academy continued its long-standing

support of junior scientists through the activities of the Junior Academy

and STARS program. It is wonderful to see that Dick Davies has so ably

taken over the reins of this program from Paul Hazen and that it is

thriving. Congratulations to Dick and to Paul for a job well done. Last fall

Summer 201 1

66

we sponsored a lecture by Capt. Phillip Renaud of the Living Oceans

Foundation on their work charting reef communities. We also presented a

second installment of our “Science is Murder” series, a panel discussion

by popular mystery writers who incorporate science themes in their work.

Both of these programs were well attended and well received. The

affiliates’ reception, held in November at AAAS, featured a talk by Dr.

(iene Williams, our Vice President for Affiliated Societies, on a scientific

expedition to Iceland.

Of all our activities during 2011, the one that makes me the most

happy is the establishment of College and University Chapters of the

Washington Academy. With the establishment of these chapters, the

Academy has a mechanism for reaching out to the next generation of

scientists and welcoming them into the profession. I encourage any of you

here in the audience this evening with ties to a local college or university

to consider starting an Academy Chapter. Please contact me for additional

information. The upcoming CapSci meeting in 2012 will be a great

opportunity for our college and university students to showcase their work

and make contact with working professionals whose scientific interests

mesh with their own.

Finally, I invite each of you and the societies you represent to take

an active role in the work of the WAS. We cheerleaders of the Academy

are here to encourage the scientific endeavor. Flelp us as active

participants to identify ways in which we can be more supportive of your

work and the collective work of our scientific community.

Thank you to the Academy and to all of you for your

encouragement and support during the past year. I look forward to

continuing to work with the Academy and our next President (head

cheerleader), Gerry Christman.

Washington Academy of Sciences

AWARDEES

Physical Sciences,

Gerald Fraser

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gary E. Machlis

Summer 201 1

Health Sciences

Naomi L. Corman Luban

Biological Sciences

Mina Izadjoo

Washington Academy of Sciences

69

Leo Schubert Award for the Teaching of Science in College

David L. Trauger

Engineering Sciences

Neal F. Schmeidler

Summer 201 1

70

Banquet Speaker

Sam Kean

Can the Periodic Table Tell a Story?!

May 12, 2011

Minutes by Ron Hietala of Sam Kean’s Talk

On the occasion of the Annual Meeting and Award Ceremony of the

Washington Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jacqueline Maffucci introduced

Sam Kean, the featured speaker. Mr. Kean is a correspondent for Science

magazine and recently published his first book. The Disappearing Spoon

and other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World

from the Periodic Table of the Elements (Little, Brown, 2010). The book

has received very favorable reviews and comments. Briefly, reviewers

find it, as do I, an unusually good read and a fun, interesting book about

science, especially science history. Mr. Kean’s address to the Academy

was also a recount of tales from the Table.

When a kid in the third grade or so Mr. Kean had a streak of strep throat

infections. He stayed home from school for several periods. His mom

took his temperature with an old fashioned thermometer, and more than

once. Mr. Kean, who says he was a clumsy kid, dropped it and broke it.

He was secretly excited by this. Brilliant spheres of mercuiy^ scattered

about the floor. His mother got down with a toothpick to scoot the blobs

together. It was cause for wonder how two blobs would come close

together, and, with a jiggle, jump into one slightly larger blob. Mercury

Washington Academy of Sciences

71

was so neat that the Keans kept it in a little pill bottle. Sam's mother

would get it down sometimes and show it to the kids. That was how he

got started on the Periodic Table.

When they gave him the Table in school, he looked for mercury and did

not find it. When he learned the symbol for mercury was Hg, he found

that really strange; neither of those letters actually occurs in the word,

mercury. He asked around about it and found the letters come from Tatin

and Greek words.

This led to further inquiry. He found the element had been known since

ancient times. There was a god with the same name and a planet named for

it. Alchemists used mercury in their experiments and demonstrations.

Nearer home, Mr. Kean found some more history involving mercury. In

South Dakota, they always had a long section of history courses devoted to

Tewis and Clark. Benjamin Rush, a physician who was also one of the

signers of the Declaration of Independence, supported the Expedition.

Rush stayed behind to fight a yellow fever epidemic but did leave a mark

by assisting them nevertheless.

One of Rush’s favorite treatments was a mercury chloride sludge. He

prescribed this often, sometimes until his patients’ hair and teeth fell out

and they drooled. He also had a patented mercuric pill called "Dr. Rush’s

Bilious Pills.” About four times the size of an aspirin, 600 of them went

with Tewis and Clark. They were powerful laxatives, popularly referred to

as thunderclappers, and Rush encouraged their liberal use. They flushed

people’s systems very effectively. Historians and archeologists today can

pinpoint the locations of some Tewis and Clark camps by concentrations

of mercury in the soil.

From this one element, Mr. Kean said, he learned much beyond chemistry.

He learned about history, alchemy, entomology, poisons, and psychology.

He gravitated toward the teachers who told stories that included such

broad context with their material, and that was the pattern he followed in

The Disappearing Spoon.

Take aluminum, for instance. Today it is one of the most common metals.

For a long time, it was more precious than silver and gold. This was

because it was very hard to get it purified, to separate it from the oxygen.

When scientists did start to get it, it was considered miraculous; it was

light, strong, and beautiful. Kings and emperors wanted it. Mr. Kean

showed a picture of an aluminum sculpture used by Napoleon III as a

centerpiece. Gold items held places off the center. Napoleon III also had

Summer 201 1

72

an aluminum cutlery set used by his most important guests, while less

favored guests used the gold pieces. The top of the Washington Monument

was finished with a small square of aluminum, to show the wealth of the

developing nation in 1884.

Not long after that, chemists figured out how to separate aluminum

efficiently. One of the chemists, Charles Martin Hall, formed a company

called Alcoa, which started shipping aluminum at the breathtaking rate of

50 pounds a day. The price of aluminum dropped quickly from dozens of

dollars an ounce to 25 cents a pound.

So aluminum has all the elements of a great story. It had a romantic

history, a breakthrough development, and a great change in practice.

Finally, it had a new and changed state of being. Your interpretation may

depend on your temperament, whether aluminum was better off as a

precious metal or a useful metal.

Cadmium has a similar story arc. Early on, it found use as a pigment to

make red and yellow paints. Painters favored the vibrant cadmium

colors. In Japan about the time of WWI, they were refining zinc.

Cadmium has similar properties to zinc, and some of the processes

yielded cadmium that contaminated the zinc. When they got the

cadmium separated, they dumped it in the streams. It followed the

streams down to the rice paddies. Rice, it seems, is a cadmium sponge,

and farm families soon experienced problems including kidney disease,

pain and brittle bones. One woman reportedly had her wrist broken by a

doctor taking her pulse. They called it itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease, for

the pained shouts of the afflicted.

A local doctor figured out that what was happening was chronic

cadmium poisoning. A long and tortuous civil action resulted in a large

settlement for the victims, and cadmium became a symbol for evil in

Japan.

Even in the 1980’s, in making another in the Godzilla series of movies, the

evils of cadmium were summoned. To kill off Godzilla, the heroes used

missiles tipped with cadmium. Cadmium, even in 1980, was the nastiest

thing they could imagine. Considering that Godzilla was himself the

biological accident of an H-bomb explosion that is quite a distinction for

cadmium.

Washington Academy of Sciences

73

Mr. Kean speculated that, had he given this talk a title, it might have been,

can the Periodic Table tell a story....” Not, '‘Can the Periodic Table Tell

a Story?” but, “Boy, Can the Periodic Table Tell a Story!” You can really

learn a lot of science from the Periodic Table. People remember and

absorb better what they learn through stories. The personalities of the

people also tell us things.

People eat and breathe the Periodic Table. They bet huge sums of money

on it. Philosophers use it to probe the meaning of science. It even spawns

wars sometimes.

During the cold war, the Periodic Table was a contested field. Science was

then acknowledged to be led by European scientists, who viewed

Americans as upstarts. Elements then discovered might have been named

for Alabama, Illinois, or Virginia, where they were discovered. The

European scientists who were in charge then did not trust the American

claims. Eater European scientists found these elements and named them

things like Francium. After WWII, however, Americans, especially the

Berkeley group, started filling in box after box after box.

When the Soviets got going in science during the cold war, they generally

had the support of Stalin. That was with the exception of the new variety

of physics. Stalin, who considered himself an intellectual authority on just

about everything, was suspicious of the developing sciences of relativity

and quantum mechanics. Tie wanted them gone. He thought they were

spooky and counterintuitive. He was planning to order the purge when he

was told by a brave adviser that this might hurt the nuclear weapon

program. Stalin thought about that a few seconds and then said, “Eeave the

physicists in peace; we can always shoot them later.” On that basis, Soviet

atomic physics moved ahead apace.

Soviet scientists were more comfortable studying elements. These new

elements had obvious value and obvious validity. Their accomplishments

were ones that the whole Soviet Union could be proud of They did make

progress, and in 1963, they finally beat the Americans at what had become

the Americans’ game; they discovered an element before the Americans

did.

Then, the Americans treated the Soviets the same way the Europeans had

treated the Americans. The Americans refused to admit the validity of the

proof of the new element. Subsequent discoveries were contested at length

Summer 201 1

74

and with strength, and the disputes over who had discovered them

outlasted the cold war.

I'he Americans managed to get one named Seaborgium, after Glenn

Seaborg. This seemed quite boorish elsewhere in the world, as the

tradition had been that you had to be dead before you could enjoy such an

honor. Mr. Kean showed a picture of Mr. Seaborg as an elderly, smiling

cherub looking proudly at his box, box 106, on the Table. New rules were

made after that, and if they last, Mr. Seaborg will be the only living man

ever so fortunate as to have his name in the Table. Mr. Kean calls the

Table "the most limited real estate in science,” as there are only 100 plus a

few spaces on it.

In writing The Disappearing Spoon, Mr. Kean spoke to many scientists,

some of whom had not looked at the Table in decades. Some were

surprised at how much this very fundamental construct had changed. It

used to be only eight boxes wide. Some elements did not even rate their

own box; they shared one with another element across a diagonal line.

Many elements have been added.

One might wonder, are they going to discover more elements? Presumably

so. The most recent one was added only a little over a year ago. It is called

by a temporary name, ununseptium, which is Tatin for 117. It filled the

bottom row and made the Table a perfect rectangle, and that may be the

last time that occurs, also. The larger elements are very fragile and last a

few seconds at most, so discovery is likely to be more haphazard from this

point forward.

The Table has been pictured in many ways. It has been portrayed as a

galaxy, as board games, as a sort of double helix, maps, mobius strips, and

even as a Rubik's cube. (That last one was patented.) Mr. Kean found one

woman who went to a photomat and made about 120 pictures of herself

She used them to decorate a Periodic Table which she keeps on her

refrigerator. Mr. Kean doesn’t know how some of these unorthodox Tables

are useful, but he is pleased that people continue to tinker with the Table.

Finally, Mr. Kean pointed out that the Table, in addition to being a veiy^

compact scientific heuristic, has implications that are very broad. Astro-

scientists have searched for ways to try to communicate with intelligent

life elsewhere in the universe. This is a tough question, since these beings

would likely share little of our culture. Flow could we communicate with

them; what might we have in common with them? Various ideas were

Washington Academy of Sciences

75

offered, such as prime numbers and pi, the relationship of the

circumference of a circle to its diameter. Mr. Kean liked the notion of

using the Periodic Table. There are only 100-some elements in the

universe and it seems likely intelligent beings would know of them. It is a

literally universal concept, perhaps the most nearly perfectly universal

concept we know, and the elements are arranged the same eveiy^where.

After the talk, Mr. Kean offered to answer questions and sell books. The

appreciative audience took both offers.

Summer 201 1

76

DELEGATES TO THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

REPRESENTING AFFILIATED SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

Acoustical Society of America

American/International Association of Dental Research

American Association of Physics Teachers, Chesapeake Section

American Fisheries Society

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration

American Meteorological Society

American Nuclear Society

American Phytopathological Society'

American Society for Cybernetics

American Society for Microbiology

American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

American Society of Plant Physiology

Anthropological Society of Washington

ASM International

Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

Association for Computing Machinery

Association for Science, Technology, and Innovation

Association of Information Technology Professionals

Biological Society of Washington

Botanical Society of Washington

Chemical Society of Washington

District of Columbia Institute of Chemists

District of Columbia Psychology Association

Eastern Sociological Society

Electrochemical Society

Entomological Society of Washington

Geological Society of Washington

Flistorical Society of Washington, DC

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Washington DC Section

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Northern Va. Section

Institute of Food Technologies

Institute of Industrial Engineers

Instrument Society of America

Marine Technology Society

Mathematical Association of America

Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Paul Arveson

J. Terrell Hoffeld

Frank R. Haig, S.J.

Ramona Schreiber

David W. Brandt

Michael Greeley

Kenneth Carey

Steven Arndt

Kenneth L. Deahl

Stuart Umpleby

VACANT

Kimberly Hughes

Daniel J. Vavrick

Mark Holland

Marilyn London

Toni Marechaux

Jodi Wesemann

Kent Miller

F. Douglas Witherspoon

Barbara Safranek

F. Christian Thompson

Emanuela Appetiti

Jim Zvvolenlk

David Williams

Ronald W. Mandersheid

Robert L. Ruedisueli

F. Christian Thompson

Bob Schneider

VACANT

Michael Eidelkind

Richard Hill

Murty Polavarapu

Isabel Walls

Neal F.Schmeidler

Hank Hegner

Judith T. Krauthamer

Sharon K. Hauge

Duane Taylor

Washington Academy of Sciences

DELEGATES TO THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

REPRESENTING AFFILIATED SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

i

I

National Capital Astronomers

National Geographic Society

Optical Society of America

Pest Science Society of America

Philosophical Society of Washington

Society of American Foresters

Society of American Military Engineers

Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine

Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Soil and Water Conservation Society

Technology Transfer Society

Virginia Native Plant Society, Potomac Chapter

Washington Evolutionary Systems Society

Washington History of Science Club

Washington Chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and Management

Washington Paint Technology Group

Washington Society of Engineers

Washington Society for the History of Medicine

Washington Statistical Society

World Future Society

Jay H. Miller

VACANT

Jim Cole

VACANT

Peg Kay

Denise Ingram

VACANT

Bill Boyer

Clifford Eanham

VACANT

Jerry L.R. Chandler

Albert G. Gluckman

Russell R. Vane III

VACANT

Alvin Reiner

Alain Touwaide

Mike Cohen

Russell Wooten

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Volume 97

Number 3

Fall 2011

Journal of the

WASHINGTON

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Edrtor’s Comments J. Maffucci i

Haig Dedication F. Haig ii

Instructions to Authors v

Affiliated Institutions vi

2011 State of the Future - Analysis Summary J. Glenn, T. Gordon, E. Florescu 1

The Global Reef Expedition: Science without Borders® A. Bruckner 19

Exoplanets S. Howard 33

Innovations in STEM Education S. James and C. Marrett 55

Membership Application 67

ISSN 0043-0439

Issued Quarterly at Washington DC

Washington Academy of Sciences

Founded in 1898

e

1

F

Board of Managers

Elected Officers

President

Gerard Christman

President Elect

James Cole

Treasurer

Larry Millstein

Secretary

Terrell Erickson

Vice President, Administration

Jim Disbrow

Vice President, Membership

Sethanne Howard

Vice President, Junior Academy

Dick Davies

Vice President, Affiliated Societies

Victor Miriel

Members at Large

Denise Ingram

Michael Cohen

Paul Arveson

Frank Haig, S.J.

Neal Schmeidler

Catherine With

Past President Mark Holland

Affiliated Society Delegates

Shown on back cover

Editor of the Journal

Jacqueline Maffucci

Associate Editor

Sethanne Howard

Academy Office

Washington Academy of Sciences

Room 113

1200 New York Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202/326-8975

The Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences

The Journal \s the official organ of the Academy.

It publishes articles on science policy, the history

of science, critical reviews, original science

research, proceedings of scholarly meetings of

its Affiliated Societies, and other items of interest

to its members. It is published quarterly. The last

issue of the year contains a directory of the

current membership of the Academy.

Subscription Rates

Members, fellows, and life members in good

standing receive the Journal free of charge.

Subscriptions are available on a calendar year

basis, payable in advance. Payment must be

made in US currency at the following rates.

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Other Countries $35.00

Single Copies (when available) $15.00

Claims for Missing Issues

Claims must be received within 65 days of

mailing. Claims will not be allowed if non-

delivery was the result of failure to notify the

Academy of a change of address.

Notification of Change of Address

Address changes should be sent promptly to

the Academy Office. Notification should

contain both old and new addresses and zip

codes.

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Send address changes to WAS, Rm 113,

1200 New York Ave. NW

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Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences (ISSN 0043-0439)

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email: was@washacadsci.org

website: www.washacadsci.org

iRRARV

N ' 201?

MC2

AxiA^MWrn

Letter troin the Editor

As the school year begins, I want to take a moment to'coAlihend'an;^

members who serve as mentors to the next generation of scjeritists. We all

know the importance of encouraging young students to pursue the

sciences. The Washington Academy of Sciences has been actively

engaged in this through various programs, including the Junior Academy

and CapSci. I want to extend this to the Journal and encourage you to look

upon the Journal as another tool to entice students to enter the world of

research. I would like to devote an issue each year, or perhaps a section

each issue, towards student publications. We at the Journal are happy to

work with students to develop ideas, language, and anything else that they

might need, and in the end. we’d like to showcase their talents. We

welcome all genres of manuscript, to include primary research, literature

reviews, opines, or other. We are happy to entertain suggestions. I ask you

to please help me by encouraging your students to pursue this opportunity

to publish. I am sure that not only will it benefit our students, but our

readers as well.

With that, I give you the Fall 2011 Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences. We offer four articles. The first article is a general overview of

environmental trends as studied by The Millennium Project and reported

in their State of the Future-201 1 report. Once we have you thinking about

these overall trends, we then travel to the ocean to learn about the research

mission of The Global Reef Expedition. This is a truly amazing project

that has cross-cultural cooperation to study the coral reefs, so as to

understand the extent of damage to these structures, in the hopes that we

can then help to protect them. Following this. Exoplanets takes us in the

opposite direction to learn about the meticulous science behind the search

for planets. Finally, we end where I began this letter, with an article

entitled Innovations in STEM Education.

We hope that you enjoy.

Jacqueline Maffucci

Editor, The Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences

Fall 2011

11

Foreword

The following paper is an offering by the Reverend Frank Flaig, SJ.

Rev. Haig is an emeritus professor of physics at Loyola University,

Baltimore. He is a long time member of the Academy, serves on the

Board, and is an active supporter of all Academy activities. He has

published in the Journal before, most recently in 2006, Volume 92-2: “The

Role of Academies of Science in the Critical Examination of New Ideas:

Looking at Gaia.”

His brother was General Alexander Haig. General Haig served his

country in many capacities. He was the Secretary of State under President

Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff for President Richard

Nixon. He served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, the second-highest

ranking officer in the Army, and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe

commanding all US and NATO forces in Europe. A veteran of the Korean

and Vietnam Wars, General Haig was a recipient of the Distinguished

Service Cross, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart.

Rev. Haig generously donated a portion of General Haig’s estate to

the Academy to be used for office operating funds. The Academy is more

than grateful for this donation and asked Rev. Haig to write the following

article for the Journal in honor of his brother.

Washington Academy of Sciences

Ill

The Dedicatory Gift for the Office of the Washington

Academy of Sciences

The Reverend Frank Haig, SJ

Loyola University

The estate of General Alexander Meigs Haig, Junior, has made a

special bequest to endow the expenses of the office of the Washington

Academy of Sciences. Naturally one would like to know why General

Haig is associated with such a gift and what its meaning could be.

General Haig was a soldier but a soldier in the American tradition. So was

George Washington. So was Dwight Eisenhower. So was George

Marshall. All of these wanted to protect not just the physical security of

our country but also a whole way of life and culture.

In thinking about this situation I would like to do something a bit out of

the ordinary for a scientific journal. I would like to present the homily

given on the occasion of the funeral of General Haig. If we consider the

occasion and the location we can understand that the words are more

religious in tone than would be the norm for a scientific publication. I beg

your indulgence on that point because the talk really tells us something

profound about General Haig and why he would be delighted to support

the Washington Academy of Sciences and its activities.

The Funeral Homily for General Alexander M. Haig, Jr.

March 2, 1910

In the modem Catholic tradition there are three readings presented at a

funeral liturgy. Let us take a sentence from each and see how they give us

light and hope and some insight into the career of Alexander Haig.

First, the prophet Isaiah proclaims: '‘On this mountain he will destroy the

veil that veils all peoples.”

And Our Lord says: "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

And Saint Peter announces: “ ... you rejoice with inexpressible joy touched

with glory, because you are achieving faith's goal, your salvation.”

What is that veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all

nations, of which the prophet speaks? Isaiah, like every sacred poet, I

Fall 2011

IV

would imagine, does not want to limit our thoughts. And so, he is probably

examining ignorance, sin, and death. Alexander Haig held firmly to the

ideals of the American tradition. He believed in the enlightenment that

suffuses our great documents. He strove against the sins of treason and

cowardice. It may sound strange to hear but as a soldier he was against

war and wanted peace. In one famous action in North Korea as a young

captain he saved 14,000 people. His dream was a dream of peace although

not peace through weakness.

He always thought that the way to bring other peoples to the wisdom of

our democratic system was for our nation to be a city set on a hill.

Democracy is not sold by having bigger guns than others. It is made

attractive by showing a life and a culture that others would freely want to

share.

And so, we come to that wonderful expression of Saint Peter in our second

reading: "joy touched with glory."

Whose joy are we speaking of? Well, first, Al’s joy at a life lived with

honor and dignity; our joy in looking at a career that honors our country

and our church; our nation’s joy at the lifework of one of its outstanding

leaders.

It is not a simple joy. All the faithful have a joy if they live a life inspired

by the Spirit of Christ. You can see that truth in Al’s life with his family,

with his wonderful wife Patricia and his children, Alex and Brian and

Barbara. In addition, that joy leads the faithful close to Christ and His

Father. It is a joy that is rich and fruitful and luxuriant and even

extravagant. A joy touched with glory.

A1 Haig was a splendid soldier, a brilliant and effective business leader, a

citizen who understood the classic trio of family, faith, and flag, a

profound patriot, the sort of public servant every nation prays to have and

rejoices when that prayer is favorably answered.

Washington Academy of Sciences

V

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

1. Manuscripts should be in Word (Office 03/07) and not PDF.

2. They should be 6,000 words or fewer (exceptions may be made by

the Editor). If there are seven or more graphics, reduce the number

of words.

3. Graphics (photographs, drawings, figures, tables) must be in

graytone only (no color accepted), and be easily resizable by the

editors to fit the Journal’s page size. Do not wrap text around the

graphics.

4. References (and bibliography, if included) may be in the format

generally acceptable for the disciplinary or professional field

represented by the manuscript. They must be accurate, complete,

and consistent in format throughout the paper.

5. Include both an e-mail address and a postal address for the author

(or primary author) including title and institutional affiliation if

any.

6. Papers are peer reviewed.

7. Send Manuscripts by e-mail as an attachment, or on a CD, to

Joumal@washacadsci.org or directly to the editor, Jacqueline

Maffucci - iamaffucci@gmail.com. Hard copy cannot be accepted.

Manuscripts can be accepted by any of the Board of Discipline

Editors.

Emanuela Appetiti - anthropology at eappetiti@hotmail.com

Elizabeth Corona - systems science at elizabethcorona@ gmail.com

Jim Eigenreider - science education at iim@deepwater.org

Terrell Erickson - environmental natural sciences at

ten^ell.ericksonl@wdc. nsda.gov

Mark Holland - botany at maholland@:salisbur\'.edu

Kiki Ikossi - engineering at ikossi@ieee.org

Carol Lacampagne - mathematics at clacampagne@earthlink.net

Raj Madhaven - engineering at rai.madhaven@ nist.gov

Kent Miller - computer sciences at kent.l.miller@alumni.cmu.edu

Jean Mielczarek - physics and biology at mielczar@phvsics.gmu.edu

Robin Stombler - health at rstombler@:auburnstrat.com

Alain Touwaide - history of medicine at atouwaide@ hotmail.com

Steve Tracton - atmospheric studies at straction@:hotmail.com

Fall 2011

VI

AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

The National Institute For Standards and Technology

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

The John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress

Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Koshland Science Museum

American Registry of Pathology

Living Oceans Foundation

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Foreword

The Millennium Project was founded in 1996 after a three-year

feasibility study with the United Nations University, Smithsonian

Institution, Futures Group International, and the American Council for the

UNU. It is now an independent non-profit global participatory futures

research think tank of futurists, scholars, business planners, and policy

makers who work for international organizations, governments,

corporations, NGOs, and universities.

The Millennium Project manages a coherent and cumulative process

that collects and assesses judgments from over 2,500 people since the

beginning of the project selected by its 40 Nodes around the world. The

Millennium Project has been scanning a variety of sources to produce

monthly reports on emerging environmental issues with potential security

or treaty implications. More than 300 items have been identified during

the past year and about 2,000 items since this work began in August 2002.

The full text of the items and their sources, as well as other Millennium

Project studies are included in Chapter 9 on the CD and are available at

cost on The Millennium Project’s Web site. The work is distilled in its

annual State of the Future, Futures Research Methodology series, and

special studies. The following is excerpted from the 2011 State of the

Future Report available from www.millenniumproject.org.

The 2011 State of the Future ends with some brief conclusions.

The readers are invited to draw their own conclusions and share them

at mp-public@mp.eim3.net (after signing up at

http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/mp-public.html). The

Millennium Project is on Tinkedin and Twitter @MillenniumProj.

Fall 2011

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201 1 State of the Future - Analysis Summary

Excerpted by: Jim Disbrow

Principles: Jerome Glenn, Theodore Gordon, Elizabeth Florescu

Millennium Project

The world is getting richer, healthier, better educated, more

peaceful, and better connected and people are living longer, yet half the

world is potentially unstable. Food prices are rising, water tables are

falling, corruption and organized crime are increasing, environmental

viability for our life support is diminishing, debt and economic insecurity

are increasing, climate change continues, and the gap between the rich

and poor continues to widen dangerously.

There is no question that the world can be far better than it is — IF

we make the right decisions. When you consider the many wrong

decisions and good decisions not taken — day after day and year after

year around the world — it is amazing that we are still making as much

progress as we are. Hence, if we can improve our decision making as

individuals, groups, nations, and institutions, then the world could be

surprisingly better than it is today.

Now that the Cold War seems truly cold, it is time to create a

multifaceted compellingly positive view of the future toward which

humanity can work. Regardless of the social divisions accentuated by the

media, the awareness that we are one species, on one planet, and that it is

wise to learn to live with each other is growing, as evidenced by the

compassion and aid for Haiti, Pakistan, and Japan; the solidarity with

democracy movements across the Arab world; the constant global

communications that connect 30% of humanity via the Internet; and the

growing awareness that global climate change is everyone’s problem to

solve.

Fifty years ago, people argued that poverty elimination was an

idealistic fantasy and a waste of money; today people argue about the

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3

best ways to achieve that goal within 50 years. Twenty-five years ago,

people thought that civilization would end in a nuclear World War III;

today people think everyone should have access to the world’s knowledge

via the Internet, regardless of income or ideology.

The 2011 State of the Future offers no guarantee of a rosy future.

It documents potentials for many serious nightmares, but it also points to

a range of solutions for each. If current trends in population growth,

resource depletion, climate change, terrorism, organized crime, and

disease continue and converge over the next 50 - 100 years, it is easy to

imagine an unstable world with catastrophic results. If current trends in

self-organization via future Internets, transnational cooperation, materials

science, alternative energy, cognitive science, inter- religious dialogues,

synthetic biology, and nanotechnology continue and converge over the

next 50- 100 years, it is easy to imagine a world that works for all.

The coming biological revolution may change civilization more

profoundly than did the industrial or information revolutions. The world

has not come to grips with the implications of writing genetic code to

create new lifeforms. Thirteen years ago, the concept of being dependent

on Google searches was unknown to the world; today we consider it quite

normal. Thirteen years from today, the concept of being dependent on

synthetic life forms for medicine, food, water, and energy could also be

quite normal.

Computational biophysics can simulate the physical forces among

atoms, making medical diagnostics and treatment more individually

accurate. Computational biology can create computer matching programs to

quickly reduce the number of possible cures for specific diseases, with

millions of people donating their unused computer capacity to run the

matching programs (grid computing). Computational media allows

extraordinary pixel and voxel detail when zooming in and out of 3D images.

Computational engineering brings together the world’s available information

and computer models to rapidly accelerate efficiencies in design. All these

are changing the nature of science, medicine, and engineering, and their

acceleration is attached to Moore’s law; hence, computational everything will

continue to accelerate the knowledge explosion. Tele-medicine, tele-

education, and tele-everything will connect humanity, the built environment,

and computational everything to address our global challenges.

The earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear disasters in Japan exposed the

need for global, national, and local systems for resilience — ^the capacity to

anticipate, respond to, and recover from disasters while identifying future

Fall 2011

4

technological and social innovations and opportunities. Related to resilience

is the concept of collective intelligence — maybe the “next big thing” to help

us make better decisions.

After 15 years of The Millennium Project’s global futures research, it

is increasingly clear that the v^^orld has the resources to address its

challenges. What is not clear is whether the world will make good decisions

fast enough and on the scale necessary to really address the global

challenges. Hence, the world is in a race between implementing ever-

increasing ways to improve the human condition and the seemingly ever-

increasing complexity and scale of global problems.

So, how is the world doing in this race? What’s the score so far? A

review of the trends of the 28 variables used in The Millennium Project’s

global State of the Future Index provides a score card on humanity’s

performance in addressing the most important challenges; see Box 1 and

Figures 1 and 2. Some data in Figures 1-3 had to be adjusted for graphic

illustration purposes; those adjustments are indicated in the respective

labels in brackets.

Figure 1. Where we are winning

Literacy, adult (%)

GDP/capita [/100]

School enrol., second. (%)

Life expectancy

Internet users (%)

Women in parliaments (%)

R&D expenditures (%) [*10]

Physicians /1 .000 people [*10]

GDP/unit of energy

HIV (%) riO]

Malnutrition (%)

Nuclear proliferation

Pop Growth (%) [*10]

Lack of water (%)

Major armed conflicts

Poverty (%. 1.25/day)

Debt (% of GNI) [*10]

Infant mortality (%/1 .000 birth)

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

90

IOC

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I

j

i Box 1. The World Score Card

! ^

Where we are winning

I . Improved water source (percent of population with access)

I 2. Literacy rate, adult total (percent of people age 15 and above)

! 3. School enrollment, secondary (percent gross)

I 4. Poverty headcount ratio at $ 1 .25 a day (PPP) (percent of population)

, (low- and mid-income countries)

1 5 . Population growth (annual percent) (A drop is seen as good for

I some countries, bad for others)

I 6. GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$)

I 7. Physicians (per 1,000 people) (surrogate for health care workers)

j 8. Internet users (per 1,000 people)

9. Infant mortality (deaths per 1,000 live births)

10. Life expectancy at birth (years)

I I . Women in parliaments (percent of all members)

12. GDP per unit of energy use (constant 2000 PPP $ per kg of oil

equivalent)

13. Number of major armed conflicts (number of deaths >1,000)

14. Undernourishment (percent of population)

I 15. Prevalence of HIV (percent of population 15^9)

16. Countries having or thought to have plans for nuclear weapons

(number)

17. Total debt service (percent of GNI) (low- and mid-income

countries)

18. R&D expenditures (percent of national budget)

Where we are losing

19. Carbon dioxide emissions (kt)

20. Global surface temperature anomalies

2 1 . People voting in elections (percent of population)

22. Levels of corruption (15 largest countries)

23. People killed or injured in terrorist attacks (number)

24. Number of refugees (per 100,000 total population)

Where there is uncertainty

25. Unemployment, total (percent of total labor force)

26. Non-fossil-fuel consumption (percent of total)

27. Population in countries that are free (percent of total global

population)

28. Forestland (percent of all land area)

Fall 2011

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Figure 2. Where we are losing

Global Temp. AfX)m.[*1(X)]

CO2 emissions (mmt)

Terrorism victims [/5000]

Corruption (15 ctries)

Refugees (per 100,000) [/10]

Voting (%)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 3. Where trends are not clear

Forest area (%)

Population in "free" ctries (%)

Non-fossil fuel consumption (%)

Unemployment (%)

Figure 4. 2011 State of the Future

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An international Delphi panel selected over a hundred indicators

of progress or regress for the 15 Global Challenges, with some of

the driving Key Questions identified below. Indicators were

then chosen that had at least 20 years of reliable historical data and

later, where possible, were matched with variables used in the

International Futures model. The resulting 28 variables shown in Box

1 were integrated into the State of the Future Index (SOFI) with a

10-year projection. SOFIs have also been computed for countries and

could be applied to sectors like communications, health, water, and so

forth.

15 Global Challenges

facing humanity

Sustainable development

and climate change

by The Millennium Project

iiiillenniuni-projcct i>rg

8

Key Questions of the 1 5 Global Challenges

1 . How can sustainable development be achieved for all while addressing

global climate change?

2. How can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflicts?

3. How can population growth and resources be brought into balance?

4 . How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes?

5 . How can policymaking be made more sensitive to global long-term perspectives?

6. How can global convergence of information and communications

technologies work for everyone?

7. How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the

gap between rich and poor?

8. How can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune

microorganisms be reduced?

9. How can the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and

institutions change?

10. How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic

conflicts, terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction?

1 1 . How can the changing status of women help improve the human

condition?

12. How can transnational organized crime networks be stopped from

becoming more powerful and sophisticated global enterprises?

13. How can growing energy demands be met safely and efficiently?

14. How can scientific and technological (S&T) breakthroughs be

accelerated to improve the human condition?

15. How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated

into global decisions?

All questions are addressed in the full version of the 2011 State of the

future: http://www.millennium-proiect.org .

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The 201 1 SOFI in Figure 4 shows that the 10-year future for the

world is getting better. However, in many of the areas where we are

winning we are not winning fast enough, such as reductions in HIV,

malnutrition, and debt. And areas of uncertainty represent serious

problems: unemployment, fossil fuel consumption, political freedom,

and forest cover.

Some of the areas where we are losing could have quite serious

impacts, such as corruption, climate change, and terrorism.

Nevertheless, this selection of data indicated that 10 years from now,

on balance, will be better than today.

Some Factors to Consider

Atmospheric CO2 is at 394.35 ppm as of May 2011, the highest in at

least 2 million years. Each decade since 1970 has been warmer than the

preceding one; 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest year on record. The world is

warming faster than the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) projections. Even the most recent estimates may understate reality,

since they do not take into account permafrost melting.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the

United Nations’ (UN) Livestock’s Long Shadow report, the meat industry

adds 18% of human-related greenhouse gases (GHGs), measured in

CO2 equivalent, which is higher than the transportation industry. A

large reinsurance company found that 90% of 950 natural disasters in

2010 were weather-related and fit climate change models; these

disasters killed 295,000 people and cost approximately $130 billion.

Humanity’s material extraction increased eight times during the

twentieth century. Today our consumption of renewable natural

resources is 50% larger than nature’s capacity to regenerate. In just 39

years, humanity may add an additional 2.3 billion people to world

population. There were 1 billion humans in 1804; 2 billion in 1927;

6 billion in 1999; and 7 billion today. China is trying to become the

green-growth giant of the world; it is too big to achieve reasonable

standards of living for all its people first and then clean up later. Its

next Five Year Plan (2011-15) allocated $600 billion for green

growth initiatives.

Some believe the global ecosystem is crashing due to climate

change, drying rivers and lakes, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, coastal

dead zones, and collapsing bee populations unable to fertilize the

Fall 2011

10

food chain. Lester Brown in Plan B 4.0 argues that nothing less than

cutting CO2 by 80% by 2020, keeping population to no more than 8

billion by 2050, restoring natural ecosystems, and eradicating

poverty will save the ecosystem, and he proposes lowering income

taxes as carbon taxes go up.

Since half of the largest 100 economies in the world are

corporations, the former executive secretary of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) argues that

political leaders must give the business community a more central role

in the transition to the green economy.

Falling water tables worldwide and increasing depletion of

sustainably managed water have led some people to introduce the

concept of “peak water,” similar to peak oil. Fossil water - fossil

fuels: both will peak, then what? It takes 2,400 liters of water to

make a hamburger. Since 1990, an additional 1.3 billion people

gained access to improved drinking water and 500 million got better

sanitation. Yet 884 million people still lack access to clean water

today (down from 900 million in 2009), and 2.6 billion people still

lack access to safe sanitation. Half of all hospital patients in the

developing world are there for water-related diseases.

As fertility rates fall and longevity increases, the ability to meet

financial requirements for the elderly will diminish; the concept of

retirement and social structures will have to change to avoid

intergenerational conflicts. There were 12 persons working for every

person 65 or older in 1950; by 2010, there were 9; and by 2050, the

elderly support ratio is projected to drop to 4. There could be 150

million people with age-related dementia by 2050. Advances in brain

research and applications to improve brain functioning and

maintenance could lead to healthy long life, instead of an infirmed

long life.

Food prices are the highest in history and are likely to continue

a long-term trend of increases if there are no major innovations in

production and changes in consumption, due to the combination of

population growth, rising affluence (especially in India and China),

the diversion of corn and other grains for biofuels, soil erosion,

aquifer depletion, loss of cropland, falling water tables and water

pollution, increasing fertilizer costs (high oil prices), market

speculation, the diversion of water from rural to urban areas,

increasing meat consumption, global food reserves at 25-year lows.

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11

and climate change’s increasing droughts and flooding, melting

mountain glaciers that reduce water flows, and eventually saltwater

invading croplands. New approaches like saltwater agriculture,

growing pure meat without growing animals, various forms of agro-

ecology to reduce cost of inputs, and increasing vegetarianism would

help.

Nearly 30% of the population in Moslem-majority countries is

between 15 and 29 years old. Many who are without work and tired

of older hierarchies, feeling left behind, and wanting to join the

modern world brought change across North Africa and the Middle

East this year. This demographic pattern is expected to continue for

another generation, leading to both innovation and the potential for

continued social unrest and migration.

The social media that helped the Arab Spring Awakening is

part of a historic transition from many pockets of civilizations

barely aware of each other’s existence to a world totally connected

via the current and future forms of the Internet. More data went

through the Internet in 2010 than in all the previous years combined,

and more electronic than paper books were sold by Amazon.

Humanity, the built environment, and ubiquitous computing are

becoming a continuum of consciousness and technology reflecting

the full range of human behavior, from individual philanthropy to

organized crime. New forms of civilization will emerge from this

convergence of minds, information, and technology worldwide.

The number and percent in extreme poverty is falling. The

world economy grew 4.9% in 2010 while the population grew 1.2%;

hence, the world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita grew

3.7%. Nearly half a billion people rose out of extreme poverty

($1.25 a day) between 2005 and 2010. Currently this figure is about

900 million or 13% of the world. The World Bank forecasts this to

fall to 883 million by 2015 (down from 1.37 billion in 2005). UNDP’s

new Multidimensional Poverty Index finds 1.75 billion people in

poverty. In either case, the number of countries classified as low-

income has fallen from 66 to 40. However, the gap between rich and

poor within and among countries continues to widen. According to

Forbes, Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs) produced

108 of the 214 new billionaires in 2011. There are a total of 1,210

billionaires in the world now, of which 1 15 are citizens of China and

101 are Russian. The factors that increase the price of food, water.

Fall 2011

12

and energy are increasing; this has to be countered to address world '

poverty.

The world financial crisis and European sovereign debt

emergencies continue to shift power to Asia, yet its leadership has

not yet begun to help create that multifaceted general view of the

future that humanity can work toward together. China became the

second largest economy, passing Japan in 2010, and has more

Internet users than the entire population of the United States. By

2030 India is expected to pass China as most populous country in

the world. Together these two account for nearly 40% of humanity

and are increasingly becoming the driving force for world economic

growth.

World health is improving, the incidence of diseases is falling,

and people are living longer, yet many old challenges remain and

future threats are serious. During 2011 there were six potential

epidemics. The most dangerous may be the NDM-1 enzyme that can

make a variety of bacteria resistant to most drugs. New HIV

infections declined 19% over the past decade; the median cost of

antiretroviral medicine per person in low-income countries has

dropped to $137 per year; and 45% of the estimated 9.7 million

people in need of antiretroviral therapy received it by the end of

2010. Yet two new HIV infections occur for every person starting

treatment. Over 30% fewer children under five died in 2010 than in

1990, and total mortality from infectious disease fell from 25% in

1998 to less than 16% in 2010. People are living longer; health care

costs are increasing, and the shortage of health workers is growing,

making tele-medicine and self-diagnosis via biochip sensors and

online expert systems increasingly necessary.

Advances in synthetic biology, mail-order DNA, and future

desktop molecular and pharmaceutical manufacturing could one day

give single individuals the ability to make and deploy biological

weapons of mass destruction. To counter this, advances in sensors to

detect molecular changes in public spaces will be needed, along with

advances in human development and social engagement to reduce

the number of people who might be inclined to use these

technologies for mass murder.

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13

Another troubling area is the emerging problem of information

and cyber warfare.

Governments and military contractors are engaged in an

intellectual arms race to defend themselves from cyberattacks from

other governments and their surrogates. Because society’s vital

systems now depend on the Internet, cyberweapons to bring it down

can be thought of as weapons of mass destruction. Information

warfare’s manipulation of media can lead to the increasing mistrust

of all information.

Meanwhile, old style wars have decreased over the past two

decades, cross-cultural dialogues are flourishing, and intra-state

conflicts are increasingly being settled by international interventions.

Today, there are 10 conflicts with at least 1,000 deaths per year

(down from 14 last year): Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, NW

Pakistan, Naxalites in India, Mexican cartels, Sudan, Libya, and one

classified as international extremism. The U.S. and Russia continue

to reduce nuclear weapons while China, India, and Pakistan are

increasing them. According to the Federation of American

Scientists, by February 2011 there were 22,000 nuclear warheads, of

which 2,000 are ready for use by the U.S. and Russia. The number

and area of nuclear-free zones is increasing, but the number of

unstable states grew from 28 to 37 between 2006 and 2011. Much of

Central America could be called a failed or failing state in that

organized crime controls people’s lives more than governments do.

Africa’s population could double by 2050, with a growing number of

unemployed youth and over 13 million AIDS orphans, increasing the

likelihood of social instabilities and future conflicts.

With the potential collapse of Yemen, oil piracy along the

Somali coast could increase. Ninety percent of international trade is

carried by sea; 489 acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships

were reported to IMO in 2010, up from 406 in 2009.

Fall 2011

14

Investments into alternatives to fossil fuels are rapidly

accelerating around the world to meet the projected 40-50% increase

in demand by 2035.

China has become the largest investor in “low-carbon energy,”

with a 2010 budget of $51 billion. Three Mile Island, Chernobyl,

and now Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disasters have left the future of

that industry in doubt and strengthened the anti-nuclear movement in

Japan and Europe.

Without major breakthroughs in technological and behavioral

changes, the majority of the world’s energy in 2050 will still come

from fossil fuels. Therefore, large-scale carbon capture and reuse has

to become a top priority to reduce climate change. Energy

efficiencies, conservation, electric cars, tele-work, and reduced meat

consumption are near-term ways to reduce energy GHG production.

Automakers around the world are in a race to make lower-cost plug-

in hybrid and all electric cars. Engineering companies are exploring

how to take CO2 emissions from coal power plants to make

carbonates for cement and grow algae for biofuels and fish food.

China is exploring tele-work programs to reduce long commuting,

energy, costs, congestion.

Empowerment of women has been one of the strongest drivers

of social evolution over the past century, and many argue that it is

the most efficient strategy for addressing the 15 Global Challenges.

Only two countries allowed women to vote at the beginning of the

twentieth century; today there is virtually universal suffrage, the

average ratio of women legislators worldwide has reached 19.2%,

and over 20 countries have a woman head of state or government.

Patriarchal structures are increasingly challenged, and the movement

toward gender equality is irreversible.

Although the world is waking up to the enormity of the threat

of transnational organized crime, the problem continues to grow.

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while a global strategy to address this global threat has not been

adopted. World illicit trade is estimated at $1.6 trillion per year (up

$500 billion from last year), with counterfeiting and intellectual

property piracy accounting for $300 billion to $1 trillion, the global

drug trade at $404 billion, trade in environmental goods at $63

billion, human trafficking and prostitution at $220 billion, smuggling

at $94 billion, weapons trade at $12 billion, and cybercrime costing

billions annually in lost revenue. These figures do not include

extortion or organized crime’s part of the $1 trillion in bribes that

the World Bank estimates are paid annually or its part of the

estimated $1.5-6. 5 trillion in laundered money. Hence the total

income could be $2-3 trillion — about twice as big as all the military

budgets in the world.

The increasing complexity of everything in much of the world

is forcing humans to rely more and more on computers. In 1997

IBM’s Deep Blue beat the world chess champion. In 2011 IBM’s

Watson beat top TV quiz show knowledge champions. What’s next?

Just as the autonomic nervous system runs most biological decision

making, so too computer systems are increasingly making the day-

to-day decisions for civilization.

The acceleration of Science and Technology ( S&T)

continues to fundamentally change the prospects for civilization, and

access to its knowledge is becoming universal. Computing power

and lowered costs predicted by Moore’s Law continues with the

world’s first three-dimensional computer chip introduced by Intel for

mass production.

China currently holds the record for the fastest computer with

Tianhe-1, which can perform 2.5 petaflops per second; IBM’s Mira,

ready next year, will be four times faster.

Is it possible that the acceleration of change will grow beyond

conventional means of ethical evaluation? Will we have time to

understand what is right and wrong as one change after the next

makes it difficult to just keep up? For example, is it ethical to clone

ourselves, or bring dinosaurs back to life, or invent new life forms

from synthetic biology? These are not remote possibilities in a

distant future; the knowledge needed to do them is being developed

now. Despite the extraordinary achievements of S&T, future risks

from their continued acceleration and globalization needs to be

better forecasted and assessed. At the same time, new technologies

Fall 2011

16

also make it easier for more people to do more good at a faster pace

than ever before. Single individuals initiate groups on the Internet,

organizing actions worldwide around specific ethical issues. News

media, blogs, mobile phone cameras, ethics commissions, and Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are increasingly exposing

unethical decisions and corrupt practices, creating an embryonic

global conscience. Our failure to inculcate ethics into more of the

business community contributed to the global financial crisis and

resulting recession, employment stagnation, and widening rich-poor

gap.

Future Arts, Media, and Entertainment

The explosive, accelerating growth of knowledge in a rapidly

changing and increasingly interdependent world gives us so much to

know about so many things that it seems impossible to keep up. At

the same time, we are flooded with so much trivial news that serious

attention to serious issues gets little interest, and too much time is

wasted going through useless information. How can we learn what is

important to know in order to make sure that there is a good future

for civilization? Traditionally, the world has learned through

education systems, art, media, and entertainment — and now with

advances of communication and entertainment technologies, we have

even more information and media at our fingertips on any number of

ever-growing delivery systems.

Inspired by the Florentine Camerata Society, a sixteenth-

century “think tank” responsible for the creation of the art form we

know today as the European opera. The Millennium Project created

the Arts and Media Node. The Node invited futuristic artists, media,

and entertainment professionals and other innovators around the

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world to suggest and discuss future elements or seeds of the future

of arts, media, and entertainment. After a month of online

discussions, 34 elements were chosen and put into a Real-Time

Delphi for an online international assessment. Writers, producers,

performing artists, arts/media educators, and other professionals in

entertainment, gaming, and communications were nominated by the

40 Millenniumi Project Nodes around the world to share their views.

One distillation of the views of the participants shows that the future

of arts, media, and entertainment will be a global, participatory, tele-

present, holographic, augmented reality conducted on future versions

of mobile smart phones that engage new audiences in the ways they

prefer to be reached and involved.

Environmental Security

Environmental security is increasingly dominating national and

international agendas, shifting defense and geopolitical paradigms

because it is increasingly understood that conflict and environmental

degradation exacerbate each other. The traditional nation-centered

security focus is expanding to a more global one due to geopolitical

shifts, the effects of climate change, environmental and energy

security, and growing global interdependencies.

The Millennium Project defines environmental security as

environmental viability for life support, with three sub-elements:

preventing or repairing military damage to the environment,

preventing or responding to environmentally caused conflicts, and

protecting the environment due to its inherent moral value.

Conclusion

This year’s State of the Future is an extraordinarily rich

distillation of information for those who care about the world and its

future. Since healthy democracies need relevant information, and

since democracy is becoming more global, the public will need

globally relevant information to sustain this trend. We hope the

annual State of the Future reports can help provide such information.

The insights in this fifteenth year of The Millennium Project’s

work can help decision makers, opinion leaders, and educators who

fight against hopeless despair, blind confidence, and ignorant

indifference — attitudes that too often have blocked efforts to

improve the prospects for humanity.

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The Global Reef Expedition: Science without Borders®

Andrew W. Bruckner

Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Washington. D.C.

Abstract

The Global Reef Expedition (GRE) is a five year research program to map,

characterize and assess the resilience of coral reef ecosystems and develop

tools for conservation and management. In 2011, the Khaled bin Sultan

Living Oceans Foundation embarked upon a Global Reef Expedition,

completing three research projects in the Bahamas (Cay Sal Bank, the

Inaguas and Ftogsty reef, and Andros and Abaco Islands) and one in St.

Kitts and Nevis. Research locations in 2012 include Jamaica, Navassa,

Colombia, the Galapagos and French Polynesia, followed by sites off

remote Pacific islands, the Coral Triangle, the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

The primary goals of this five year multidisciplinary research and education

mission are to map, characterize and assess coral reefs worldwide, educate

local communities and stakeholders on the importance of these ecosystems,

and provide resource management agencies with tools and information to

aid in conservation and management. The GRE targets remote, understudied

reefs that are affected minimally by direct human impacts, with comparative

work done on coral reefs off populated coastlines. High resolution

multispectral satellite imagery (DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 satellite) is

used for navigation, to identify survey sites, and as a platform for habitat

characterization. On the ground efforts include (1) the identification and

characterization of each habitat type and mapping of the spatial distribution

of different habitats; (2) evaluation of the diversity, demographics and

health of the species found in these habitats; and (3) characterization of

environmental factors and ecological processes that are likely to enhance

the resilience of these ecosystems. These data and resulting tools are

incorporated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) database and

provided to local managers and other stakeholders for use in spatially-based

ecosystem management approaches.

Introduction

Shallow water coral reefs are found in tropical areas, roughly

between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. They are most prolific in

environments with suitable temperatures (16-30° C) and salinity (30-35

ppt), high light penetration, oligotrophic waters with minimal

sedimentation and turbidity, and adequate water flow, occurring from just

below the water’s surface to a maximum of 50-75 m depth. Coral reefs are

estimated to cover from 284,300 km^ (Spalding et al. 2001) to about

920,000 km^ when including associated seagrass beds, mangroves and

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Other shallow marine habitats (Costanza et al. 1997), with 91% of this area

in the Indo-Pacific.

Coral reefs are the most complex ecosystem in the marine

environment. This complexity is expressed in both the variety of

interconnected benthic habitats and a vast array of associated biota, with

representatives from 32 of the 34 described animal phyla. At least one-

third of all known marine fishes spend at least some portion of their lives

in coral reef habitats (Sale 2002). The high diversity is largely due to the

heterogeneous nature of coral reef habitat, which can accommodate large

size-ranges of reef fishes and numerous functional niches in relatively

small areas.

Coral reefs are also one of the few ecosystems that are built upon

biogenic substrates created by the dominant organisms found on reefs. The

reef substrate consists of limestone originating primarily from the

skeletons of stony corals and crustose coralline algae, which has

undergone significant modifications in form and area on relatively short

time scales. Through grazing activities, bioerosion, and physical breakage

during storms, coral skeletons are progressively eroded to produce rubble

and sand. Other organisms and a host of chemical, biological, and physical

processes cement this material together to form a durable reef substrate,

resulting in intricate structures that have enormous surface heterogeneity

at a wide variety of spatial scales (Choat and Bellwood 1991).

While the diversity of reef fishes is influenced by the complexity of

the reef habitat created by the corals, fishes are also an important, dynamic

component of this unique ecosystem. Through interactions at virtually all

trophic levels, coral reef fishes modify the reef community structure and

help maintain the health of the associated habitat forming corals, and they

are major conduits for the movements of energy and nutrients into, within,

and out of the reef ecosystem (Hobson 1991; Bellwood and Wainwright

2002). The ecological importance of coral reef fishes also extends beyond

the boundaries of the coral habitat. Many reef fishes that are pelagic

piscivores and planktivores often feed, and become prey, far away from

the coral reef, and the pelagic egg, larval, and juvenile stages form a vast

prey resource for predators in oceanic waters.

Coral reefs are a rare but critically important resource. Although they

occupy less than 1.2% of the world’s continental shelf area and only

0.09% of the total area of the world’s ocean, at least 109 countries,

territories, and states are directly dependent on the resources and services

they provide (Birkeland 1997; Spalding et al. 2001). Many economies are

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dependent on their products, including sources of protein, biomedical

compounds and traditional medicines, and raw materials for construction,

as well as their value in terms of employment, recreation, coastal tourism,

and coastal protection from storm damage and erosion. Coral reefs are a

significant part of many countries natural heritage and are also of great

value to the world overall, as they are hotspots of marine biodiversity.

Costanza et al. (1997) estimated reef ecosystems globally provide US$375

billion each year from living resources and ecosystem services.

Nevertheless, the value of reefs is dependent on their continued

functioning as ecosystems.

The Global Coral Reef Crisis

Over the past decade, reefs worldwide have witnessed a rapid decline

in their health with concurrent losses of corals, declines in fish stocks, and

phase shifts from high productivity coral-dominated ecosystems to low

productivity algal reefs (Hughes 1994). Recent estimates suggest that 20%

of the world’s reefs are degraded beyond the potential for recovery, 24%

are under imminent risk of collapse and another 26% are under a longer-

term threat of collapse (Wilkinson 2008). Furthermore, many of the reefs

around the world no longer resemble reefs of 30 years ago.

This global crisis has been attributed to unprecedented and increasing

rate by overfishing, use of destructive fishing gear and techniques, land

based pollution, coastal development, and other human impacts. These

localized human impacts are exacerbated by recent large-scale

disturbances associated with climate change, including episodes of mass

bleaching, disease outbreaks, plagues of coral-eating predators, and more

severe hurricanes (Harvell et al. 2007; Baker et al. 2008; Rotjan and

Lewis 2008). The synergistic effects of these man-made and natural

factors are causing dramatic, long-lasting changes in community

composition and structure, and concurrent losses of ecosystem services

and products from reefs (Hughes 1989, 1994; Knowlton 1992; Aronson et

al. 2004; McClanahan et al. 2007).

The Western Atlantic has been affected most severely by global and

local-scale threats and these ecosystems have exhibited the most dramatic

declines in coral reef health. Until 1980, Caribbean coral reefs were

dominated by three species of corals - large stands of elkhom coral

{Acropora palmata) extended for 100s of meters forming dense thickets in

the shallow reef crest. In shallow, protected back reef areas and on the

tops of reef spurs at depths of 5-15 meters the intertwined branches of the

fragile staghorn coral {Acropora cervicornis) created complex thickets.

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often interspersed with lobate colonies of star coral (Montastraea

annularis), and providing juvenile habitat and refuge for resting schools of

grunts, snappers, and other reef fish. On the fore reef, star coral

{Montastraea annularis complex) grew into mountainous pinnacles, often

5-10 meter in height or taller, with extensive caves, crevices, and channels

between the corals. Deeper, sheets of lettuce coral {Agaricia lamarki), star

coral, brain corals and other corals with a plating morphology formed

overlapping shingles that extended to the base of the reef, at depths of SO-

SO m. Many Caribbean reefs had 50-70% living coral cover, with colorful

sponges, gorgonians, and other invertebrates filling the spaces between

corals.

By the mid-1980s, Caribbean reefs began to change. The long-spined

black urchin {Diadema antillarum) suffered a Caribbean-wide mass

mortality event in 1982-1983. White band disease ravaged stands of

elkhom and staghorn coral, with disease outbreaks spreading throughout

the region in the 1980s and 1990s. Since 1995, new diseases have emerged

and these are primarily targeting the long-lived, massive corals like star

coral. Regional scale coral bleaching first occurred during the 1982-1983

el nino event, and it has progressively increased in severity, with

destructive regional and global-scale destructive bleaching events

occurring in 1997-1998, 2005 and 2009-2010. Concurrently, overfishing

and destructive fishing practices have led to depletion of groupers and

other top predators, and a progressive pattern of fishing down the food

chain is underway. Terrestrial runoff and land-based pollution are

deteriorating water quality, resulting in blooms of fleshy macroalgae that

outcompete corals. Poorly managed coastal development projects that

include dredging, burial of reefs, and the removal of mangroves and

seagrass beds further degrade coral reef habitats and eliminate important

nursery areas. These, and a host of other human impacts, are exacerbating

the newest and most significant threat to coral reefs - climate change.

Persistence of reefs as coral-dominated systems and continued

functioning after large, stochastic perturbations depends on four primary

factors: the extent of damage, synergistic impacts of anthropogenic and

natural stressors, the health and resilience of reef building corals, and the

communities’ capacity for recovery (Smith et al. 2008). Ecological

recovery and rapid restoration of normal reef processes has been

documented in systems with intact functional groups and a high degree of

spatial heterogeneity and connectivity (Nystrom et al. 2008), while

degraded, overfished reefs fail to recover even after several decades of

protection. During the Global Reef Expedition, research will emphasize

A

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these four factors. The Foundation is targeting those nations that lack

capacity and infrastructure to collect the scientific data they urgently need

to fill knowledge gaps and contribute to new, ecosystem-based

management approaches.

Operations

The Tiving Oceans Foundation (LOF) is a private operating, public

benefit foundation based in Washington DC. TOF scientists and partners

have conducted coral reef research over the last ten years with projects in

the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Red Sea, Mediterranean and Caribbean.

The primary research platform is the Golden Shadow, a 67 m motor yacht

that is graciously provided by HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan of Saudi

Arabia (Figure 1). The vessel carries multiple surface support vehicles,

including a 38-foot dive boat, various tenders and the Golden Eye, a

Cessna caravan float plane. The Golden Shadow has a stem elevator

platform used to launch and recover the Golden Eye, as well as its various

tenders, and can handle loads up to 12 tons. The platform is invaluable for

diving access and recovery in difficult sea conditions. The Golden Shadow

also contains a fully functional dive locker with a recompression chamber,

a small laboratory outfitted with aquaria, an ocean chemistry system and

other laboratory equipment, a Seakeepers weather and seawater

monitoring system, and a satellite communication system.

Figure 1 . Golden Shadow with one of our dive platforms, the Golden Osprey.

The Foundation relies on a core group of scientists from academic

institutions worldwide for field activities, supplementing this with

graduate students and Post Docs through our fellowship program, and

partner with local and regional scientists, managers and stakeholders to

implement the project. The GRE includes research, training for divers

(Figure 2) and future scientists and managers, and education for

communities, students, other local stakeholders, and the public about the

importance of coral reefs and how they can contribute to their

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preservation. The GRE began in April 201 1 completing three missions in

the Bahamas and one in St. Kitts and Nevis. Over the next five years, LOT

will circumnavigate the globe to examine additional reefs in the

Caribbean, followed by locations in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and

the Red Sea.

Figure 2. Diver measuring corals along a transect tape. The diver is holding a one meter

bar and a slate.

Research Objectives

The long-term goal of the GRE is to increase scientific understanding

of fundamental processes that shape coral reef ecosystems in the context

of linkages and interactions at a “landscape” scale. High resolution

mapping and habitat characterization underpin all Expedition studies and

take advantage of the improvements made in recent years with

multispectral satellite imagery. Using imagery collected by the new

WorldView-2 satellite (DigitalGlobe Inc.) for key areas that are currently

unmapped and identified as vital for conservation by resource

management agencies in each country, these ecosystems are surveyed and

ground-truthed using visual, photographic and acoustic sampling

techniques. These data are incorporated into a Geographic Information

System (GIS) database and are used to create high resolution habitat maps

that depict the location, size, and distribution of various coral reef habitats,

seagrass beds, mangroves, algal communities, sand flats, and other

shallow marine habitats. Together, these tools form the basis for marine

spatial management.

The EOF has also developed a standardized protocol to assess the

health and resilience of reefs that allows comparison and ranking of reef

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condition within individual locations, across geographic gradients, and

between ocean basins. While typical monitoring programs provide data on

cover of various organisms and the diversity and abundance of fishes,

these often have limited taxonomic specificity (e.g., growth forms of

corals are recorded instead of genera- or species-based data). Monitoring

programs only rarely include an examination of the population dynamics

of reef-building corals (e.g., size structure and amount of partial mortality)

and fail to incorporate other parameters that allow an examination of

relationships among coral, algae, and other functional groups.

The protocol LOT is applying during the GRE includes four major

components: (1) an assessment of the primary biotic compartments that

make up the reef community; (2) ecological interactions that drive

dynamics within and among these groups; (3) habitat and environmental

influences that directly affect the reefs; and (4) external drivers of change,

including anthropogenic and climate factors. Representative sites are

selected using high resolution multispectral satellite images and habitat

maps, with sampling undertaken across gradients of human pressure and

environmental regimes. Coral assessments focus on the diversity, benthic

cover, size structure, extent of recent and old partial mortality, levels of

recruitment, and condition of reef-building corals (Table la). Fish

assessments include quantitative surveys of the abundance and size

structure of more than 100 species of reef fishes, emphasizing species of

major importance in the ecological functions of the reef ecosystem and

fisheries targets, including key herbivores, piscivores, scavengers, coral

feeders, sessile invertebrate feeders, planktivores, and detritivores (Table

1 b). In addition to measures of substrate condition and cover and biomass

of algae, more than 30 physical, environmental, and anthropogenic

resilience indicators are also assessed (Table Ic).

In addition to the coral reef assessments, key ecological processes that

shape these ecosystems - such as recruitment, herbivory, and bioerosion -

are compared and contrasted across biophysical gradients and between

geographic localities. An evaluation of specific parameters - such as

diversity, productivity, habitat structure, anthropogenic stressors (fishing

pressure), and various oceanographic parameters - is undertaken to

determine their influence on ecological states of the reefs. For example, a

number of different herbivore functional groups are recognized that

mediate coral-algal dynamics, but each functional group contributes in a

different manner, and their diversity, biomass and vulnerability to stresses

(e.g. fishing) strongly affects how robustly each functional group

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contributes to reef resilience. By assessing species assemblages of major

herbivores, characterizing feeding patterns of different species and

relationships between algal diversity and palatability by herbivorous

fishes, and quantifying algal diversity and biomass, relative patterns of

algal production, extent of herbivory, and risks of shifts towards

macroalgal domination are assessed for each site. These data provide an

indication of the consequences of fisheries that target herbivores and

possible management measures to minimize impacts on reef health.

As LOT explores reefs around the world, representative sites in each

country are established as Legacy Sites. These are similar to forest plots

established by forestry biologists: large patches of reef that are

permanently marked, digitally photographed to create high resolution

mosaics illustrating each coral, sponge and other benthic organisms, and

characterized in detail. By revisiting these sites every 2-5 years, it is

possible to evaluate changes, such as the survival and growth of coral

recruits and patterns of recovery from acute disturbances. These sites can

also form a framework for future monitoring and will improve

understanding of the fates of these systems under new management

schemes and future climate change impacts.

Application of Findings to Management

Through research conducted during the GRE, LOT will acquire the

knowledge and develop tools needed to assist resource managers in (1)

implementing marine spatial planning with emphasis on development of

marine protected areas, (2) promoting sustainable use of coral reef

resources, and (3) preventing catastrophic declines of coral reefs and

losses of ecosystem services that may be induced by large-scale global

disturbances. The combined results of this work will contribute to a

regional understanding of the current status of the coral reefs, and are

intended to be used to predict future directions of reef health and

categorize areas according to their level of threat and resilience. The

knowledge gained through the GRE will help determine the role of

individual species and community interactions in supporting fully

functional reef ecosystems, and the environmental, biological, and

physiological conditions that allow particular species to better survive

under substandard conditions. It will also allow modeling and forecasting

the key drivers of ecosystem health and components that can promote

ecosystem recovery following periodic acute disturbances. By

incorporating the information into landscape-scale management

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approaches, the likelihood that reefs can persist under future scenarios of

climate change can be greatly enhanced.

Today is like no other time in the past. Scientists know much more

than ever before about coral reefs. The keystone species found here are

known and the GRE will further clarify their importance in structuring

these ecosystems. The major stressors have been identified, and their

contribution to reef degradation will be further clarified through global

assessments of reef health across geographical, biophysical, and

anthropogenic gradients. Together with the resulting habitat maps, these

data can help identify decisive actions that can be taken to mitigate these

impacts. Through the GRE, EOF will fill knowledge gaps, share this

information with the world in a timely manner, and provide technology

and tools to resource managers that can aid in implementing the

appropriate conservation and sustainable management approaches.

References

Aronson, R. B., I. G. MacIntyre, C. M. Wapnick, and M. W. O’Neill. 2004. Phase shifts,

alternative states, and the unprecedented convergence of two reef systems. Ecology

85: 1876-1891.

Baker, A. C., P. W. Glynn, and B. Riegl. 2008. Climate change and coral reef bleaching:

An ecological assessment of long-term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook.

Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science 80: 435^71.

Bellwood, D. R., and P. C. Wainwright. 2002. The history and biogeography of fishes on

coral reefs. Pages 5-32 in P. F. Sale, editor. Coral reef fishes, dynamics and diversity

in a complex ecosystem. Academic Press, San Diego, California.

Birkeland, C. 1997. Chapter 1: introduction. Pages 1-10 C. E. Birkeland, editor. Life

and death of coral reefs. Chapman and Hall, New York.

Choat, J. H., and D. R. Bellwood. 1991. Reef fishes: their history and evolution. Pages

39-66 in P. F. Sale, editor. Coral reef fishes, dynamics and diversity in a complex

ecosystem. Academic Press, San Diego, California.

Costanza, R., R. d’Arge, R. de Groot, S. Farber, M. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S.

Naeem, R. V. O’Neill, J. Paruelo, R. G. Raskin, P. Sutton, M. van den Belt. 1997.

The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253-

260.

Harvell, D., E. Jordan -Dahlgren, S. Merkel, E. Rosenberg, L. J. Raymundo, G. Smith, E.

Weil, and B. L. Willis. 2007. Coral disease, environmental drivers, and the balance

between coral and microbial associates. Oceanography 20: 172-195.

Hobson, E. S. 1991. Trophic relationships of fishes specialized to feed on zooplankters

above coral reefs. Pages 69-95 in P. F. Sale, editor. The ecology of fishes on coral

reefs. Academic Press, San Diego, California.

Hughes, T. P. 1989. Community structure and diversity of coral reefs - the role of history.

Ecology 70: 275-279.

Hughes, T. P. 1994. Catastrophes, phase shifts, and large-scale degradation of a

Caribbean coral reef Science 265: 1547-1551.

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Knowlton, N. 1992. Thresholds and multiple stable states in coral reef community

dynamics. American Zoology 32: 674-682.

McClanahan, T.R., M. Ateweberhan, N. A. J. Graham, S. K. Wilson, C. R. Sebastian, M.

M. M. Guillaume, and J. H. Bruggemann. 2007. Western Indian Ocean coral

communities: bleaching responses and susceptibility to extinction. Marine Ecology

Progress Series 337: 1-13.

Nystrom, N., N. A. J. Graham, J. Lokrantz, and A.V. Norstrom. 2008. Capturing the

cornerstones of coral reef resilience: linking theory to practice. Coral Reefs 27: 795-

809.

Rotjan, R. D. and S. M. Lewis. 2008. The impact of coral predators on tropical reefs.

Marine Ecology Progress Series 367: 73-91.

Sale, P. F. 2002. Management of coral reef fishes. Pages 359-360 in P. F. Sale, editor.

Coral reef fishes, dynamics and diversity in a complex ecosystem. Academic Press,

San Diego, California.

Smith, L., J. Gilmour, and A. Fleyward. 2008. Resilience of coral communities on an

isolated system of reefs following catastrophic mass-bleaching. Coral Reefs 27: 197-

205.

Spalding, M. D., C. Ravilious, and E. P. Green. 2001. World atlas of coral reefs.

University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

Wilkinson, C. 2008. Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008. Townsville, Australia:

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network and Reef and Rainforest Research Center.

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Table la. Resilience assessments for stony corals.

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Table lb. Other bioindicators of resilience.

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Table Ic. Physical and environmental resilience indicators.

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Exoplanets

Sethanne Howard

USNO, Retired

Abstract

Are there planets around other stars? This question finally has been answered

in our lifetime. The answer is a very definite yes! However, most of the

planets detected to date are large, Jupiter-mass or greater. The question we

would really like to answer is: Are there Earth-like planets in a habitable

zone around other stars? In other words, are we alone? That question is much

more difficult to answer. But, we are making progress towards that goal. An

extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside our Solar System. There

are well over 500 candidate extra-solar planets identified as of May 6, 201 1.

Introduction

The SEARCH for other planets and the search for other life are of

long standing interest to humanity. “’Tis not probable we are the only

fools in the universe,” is a quote from Entretiens sur la pluralite des

mondes by de Fontenelle in 1686. People often speculated on other life

and planets.

The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been

rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the

discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars.

There is now clear evidence for substantial numbers of three types of

exoplanets: gas giants, hot-super-Earths in short period orbits, and ice

giants. The following website tracks the day-by-day increase in new

discoveries and provides information on the characteristics of the planets

as well as those of the stars they orbit: The Extra-solar Planets

Encyclopedia at http://exoplanets.eu.

There are a few general questions we can address right away. Perhaps

the first one is: what is a planet? Among other duties the International

Astronomical Union (lAU) is the governing body for naming and defining

astronomical objects as established by international treaty. The official

definition of “planef ’ used by the lAU only covers the Solar System and

thus takes no stance on exoplanets. As of April 2011, the only definitional

statement issued by the lAU that pertains to exoplanets is a working

definition issued in 2001 and modified in 2003. This definition contains

the following criteria:

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• Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for

thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13

Jupiter masses for objects of solar metallicity) that orbit stars or

stellar remnants are “planets” (no matter how they formed). The

minimum mass/size required for an extra-solar object to be

considered a planet should be the same as that used in our Solar

System.

• Substellar objects with true masses above the limiting mass for

thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are “brown dwarfs,” no matter

how they formed or where they are located.

• Free-floating objects in young star clusters with masses below the

limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are not

“planets,” but are “sub-brown dwarfs” (or whatever name is most

appropriate).

The prose is a bit lawyer-like; however, basically a planet is a body that

cannot fuse deuterium and has less mass than about 13 Jupiters.

Now that we have a working definition of a planet, another question is:

do planets exist? We know of one example for sure - our own Solar

System. So it certainly is possible. We also know, in general, how planets

form:

• Stars form in collapsing molecular clouds. Disks of material appear

to be a natural result of the cloud collapse. We can see these disks

around young stars forming in our Galaxy.

• If these disks contain enough material (besides hydrogen and

helium gas) then planets can form as the disk cools and condenses.

Finally then, what does our Solar System tell us about planetary

systems in general?

• Planets orbit in the same plane as expected if they formed in a

rotating disk.

• Planets (except Mercury) have almost circular orbits.

• Small rocky planets form near the Sun (or central star); gas giants

far from the Sun. We explain this by temperature: near the Sun it

was too warm for water to condense; far from the Sun water ice

was stable, adding to the material available to form planets - and

gas molecules were moving more slowly allowing the growing

planets to trap large amounts of hydrogen and helium gas from the

disk.

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Since these characteristics are consistent with planet formation from a

circum-stellar disk, we would expect other planetary systems to be similar

to our own.

Early History of Planet Searches

Astrometry is the oldest search method for extra-solar planets.

Astrometry^ is the precise measurement of stellar positions and motions

and is the most fundamental aspect of astronomical work. The search

method dates back at least to statements made by William Herschel in the

late 18^^ century. He claimed that an unseen companion was affecting the

position of the star he cataloged as 70 Ophiuchi (star number 70 in the

constellation of Ophiuchus).

The first known formal astrometric calculation for an extrasolar planet

was made by Captain W. S. Jacob in 1855 at the East India Company’s

Madras Observatory. He reported that orbital anomalies made it “highly

probable” that there was a “planetary body” in the 70 Ophiuchi system.* In

the 1890s Thomas J. J. See of the University of Chicago and the United

States Naval Observatory stated that the orbital anomalies proved the

existence of a dark body in the 70 Ophiuchi system with a 36-year period

around one of the stars.** However, Forest Ray Moulton (probably around

1915) proved that a three-body system with those orbital parameters

would be highly unstable. During the 1950s and 1960s, Peter van de Kamp

of Swarthmore College made another series of detection claims, this time

for planets orbiting Barnard’s Star.***

Astronomers now generally regard all the early reports of detection as

erroneous. For two centuries claims had circulated of the discovery of

unseen companions in orbit around nearby star systems that all were

reportedly found using this method, culminating in the 1996

announcement of multiple planets orbiting the nearby star Talande 21185

by astronomer George Gatewood. None of these claims survived scrutiny

by other astronomers, and the astrometric technique fell into disrepute. All

claims of a planetary companion of less than 0.1 solar mass made before

1996 using this method are likely spurious.

In 2002, astronomers did succeed in using astrometry to characterize a

previously discovered planet around the star Gliese 876 (star number 876

in the Gliese catalog of stars).

One potential advantage of the astrometric method is that it is most

sensitive to planets with large orbits. This makes it complementary to

other methods that are most sensitive to planets with small orbits.

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However, very long observation times are required — years, and possibly

decades, as planets far enough from their star to allow detection via

astrometry also take a long time to complete an orbit.

The first published, confirmed discovery of an exoplanet was made in

1988 by the Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and

S. Yang.^'" Although they were cautious about claiming a planetary

detection, their radial-velocity observations (see below for a description of

this technique) suggested that a planet orbited the star Gamma Cephei.

Partly because the observations were at the very limits of instrumental

capabilities at the time, widespread skepticism persisted in the

astronomical community for several years about this and other similar

observations. Another source of confusion was that some of the possible

planets might instead have been brown dwarfs, objects that are

intermediate in mass between planets and stars. The following year,

however, additional observations were published that supported the reality

of the planet orbiting Gamma Cephei, though subsequent work in 1992

raised serious doubts. Finally, in 2002, improved techniques allowed the

planet’s existence to be confirmed.

Another early detection was in 1992, with the discovery of two

confirmed terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B 1257+12. The

first confirmed detection of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star

was made in 1995, when a giant planet, 51 Pegasi b, was found in a four-

day orbit around the nearby G-type star 51 Pegasi. The frequency of planet

detections has increased since then.

Why Can’t We See Planets The Way We Can See Mars?

Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent

star. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of detecting such a faint light

source, the light from the parent star causes a glare that washes it out. As

viewed from a distant star, the Sun is 600,000,000 times as bright as

Jupiter, 2.5 billion times as bright as Saturn, and 25 billion times as bright

as Earth.

Planets are also distant. Because of the great distances to the stars, the

small angular separation between a star and its planet is difficult to

resolve.

For these reasons, a planet would be lost in the glare of its host star.

Only a very few exoplanets have been observed directly.

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Instead, astronomers generally had to resort to indirect methods to

detect extra-solar planets. At the present time, several different indirect

methods have yielded success.

Indirect Methods of Detection

There are four main indirect methods, the first two are the primary

ones: (1) Detecting Planets by Radial Velocity Searches; (2) Detecting

Planets via Transits, (3) Detecting Planets through Gravitational

Microlensing; (4) Detecting Planets through Timing.

Detecting Planets by Radial Velocity Searches

From Newton’s laws we know that the gravitational pull is mutual; a

planet pulls on its star just as the star pulls on the planet. Thus, the two

objects will orbit around their common center of mass; while the planet

executes one orbit around the star, the much more massive star executes a

small wobble as well. For example, Jupiter’s gravitational pull causes the

Sun to wobble at a speed of about 12 meters/sec. We can detect the motion

of the star pulled by an unseen planet via the Doppler shift of the star’s

spectral lines; z.e., the tiny variations in the radial velocity of the star with

respect to Earth.

Radial velocity is the velocity of an object in the direction of the line

of sight {i.e. its speed straight towards or away from an observer). In

astronomy, radial velocity most commonly refers to the spectroscopic

radial velocity. The spectroscopic radial velocity is the radial component

of the velocity along the line-of-sight between the emitter and the

observer, so the frequency of the light decreases for sources that are

receding (redshift) and increases for sources that are approaching

(blueshift) - the Doppler shift. Astrometric radial velocity is the radial

velocity as determined by astrometric observations (for example, a secular

change in the annual parallax).

The Doppler shift of a spectral line depends on the ratio of the object’s

velocity to the speed of light. One determines the velocity, v, by

measuring the wavelength shift (AX) from the central wavelength X:

AA _ V

A c

Radial velocity can be used to estimate the masses of the binary

systems and some orbital elements, such as eccentricity and semi-major

axis. The same method is also used to detect planets around stars, in the

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way that the radial velocity variation determines the planet’s orbital

period, while the resulting size of the displacement allows the calculation

of the lower bound on a planet’s mass. Radial velocity methods alone may

only reveal a lower bound, since a large planet orbiting at a very high

angle to the line of sight will perturb its star radially as much as a smaller

planet with an orbital plane on the line of sight. It has been suggested that

planets with high eccentricities calculated by this method may be

mimicking two planet systems of circular or near-circular resonant orbit.

The graph in Figure 1 illustrates the sine curve created using Doppler

spectroscopy to observe the radial velocity of an imaginary star which is

being orbited by a planet in a circular orbit. Each dot is a measurement of

the position of the star’s spectral line (as shifted from its central position).

Observations of a real star will produce a similar graph, although

eccentricity in the orbit will distort the curve. When Vstar is the velocity of

parent star, the observed Doppler velocity is K= Vstar sin(i), where i is the

inclination of the planet’s orbit to the line perpendicular to the line-of-

sight.

Figure 1. The Doppler shift of an imaginary star

To observe such a small Doppler shift, a very special accurate

spectrograph is required, as well as a sophisticated computer analysis. An

Olympic sprinter runs the 100-meter dash in 10 seconds, or 10 m/sec. You

or I could run at 3 m/sec (briefly!). And that’s the sensitivity of these

specialized spectrometers.

A team led by astronomers Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler developed

,such an instrument. In 1995, they put their instrument on the Keck 10-

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meter telescope and began systematic observations of several hundred

stars, expecting to accumulate years of data to detect planets on orbits like

Jupiter. Well, within a year, the first planet detection was announced - a

planet with a 4-day period. Soon, a number of Jupiter-mass planets on

very short orbits were discovered.

The velocity of the star around the center of mass is much smaller than

that of the planet, because the radius of its orbit around the center of mass

is so small. Velocity variations down to 1 m/s can be detected with

modem spectrometers, such as the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial

Velocity Planet Searcher) spectrometer at the 3.6 meter telescope in La

Silla Observatory, Chile, or the HIRES (High Resolution) spectrometer at

the Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

The major problem with Doppler spectroscopy is that it can only

measure movement along the line-of-sight, and so depends on a

measurement (or estimate) of the inclination of the planet’s orbit to

determine the planet’s mass. If the orbital plane of the planet happens to

line up with the line-of-sight of the observer, then the measured variation

in the star’s radial velocity is the true value. However, if the orbital plane

is tilted away from the line-of-sight, then the tme effect of the planet on

the motion of the star will be greater than the measured variation in the

star's radial velocity, which is only the component along the line-of-sight.

As a result, the planet’s tme mass will be higher than expected. We do not

know the orientation of the orbit: how much it is tilted to our line of sight.

Since we can only measure the motion towards or away from us, we do

not necessarily measure the full velocity of the star.

To correct for this effect, and so determine the tme mass of an extra-

solar planet, radial velocity measurements must be combined with

astrometric observations, which track the movement of the star across the

plane of the sky, perpendicular to the line-of-sight. Astrometric

measurements allow researchers to check whether objects that appear to be

high mass planets are more likely to be brown dwarfs.

The radial velocity method has certain selection effects: it is easier to

detect more massive objects and easier to detect objects on close-in orbits.

So, we don’t yet know whether smaller, Earth-like planets are common.

Also, the unknown tilt of the orbit plane means that the 'planet’ mass is a

lower limit.

A further problem is that the gas envelope around certain types of stars

can expand and contract, so these stars are variable. This method is

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unsuitable tor finding planets around these types of stars, as changes in the

stellar emission spectrum caused by the intrinsic variability of the star can

swamp the small effect caused by a planet.

fhe radial velocity method is best at detecting very massive objects

close to the parent star — so-called “hot Jupiters” - which have the

greatest gravitational effect on the parent star, and so cause the largest

changes in its radial velocity. Observation of many separate spectral lines

and many orbital periods allows the signal to noise ratio of observations to

increase, thus increasing the chance of observing smaller and more distant

planets; planets like the Earth remain undetectable with current

instruments.

This has been a veiy' productive technique used by planet hunters. The

method is distance independent, but requires high signal-to-noise ratios to

achieve high precision, and so is generally only used for relatively nearby

stars out to about 160 light-years from Earth. It easily finds massive

planets that are close to stars, but detection of those orbiting at great

distances requires many years of observation. Planets with orbits highly

inclined to the line of sight from Earth produce smaller wobbles, and are

thus more difficult to detect. One of the main disadvantages of the radial-

velocity method is that it can only estimate a planet’s minimum mass. The

posterior distribution of the inclination angle depends on the true mass

distribution of the planets. The radial-velocity method can be used to

confirm findings made by using the transit method (see the section on

this). When both methods are used in combination, then the planet’s true

mass can be estimated.

Results of Radial Velocity Searches So Far

Two groups (Marcy et al, at Berkeley; Mayor et al. at Geneva) have

now been searching for planets with this technique for almost 15 years.

They use special spectrometers with very stable platforms and calibration

combined with the largest optical telescopes on Earth. The limiting

velocity sensitivity is now down to just 1.5 meters/sec!

At least 50 stars have been found to have multiple planets. Because the

detection of multiple periodicities in the radial velocity curve requires

many more data points, the number of multiple planet systems is likely to

increase as the research teams acquire more data.

The exoplanets detected by this technique (> 520 objects as of 3/2011)

have characteristics very different from our solar system:

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1 . Large gas giants are found very close to the central star.

2. Most of the detected planets have large masses, comparable to the

mass of Jupiter; many are larger than Jupiter.

3. Many planets are on very elliptical orbits (about half of the

sample).

One method for detecting smaller planets is to observe stars less

massive than the Sun. Stars with mass 0.5 to 0.3 that of the Sun are quite

common. They are fainter - and not as hot - as the Sun, but could still

have a habitable zone 0.1 - 0.2 AU from the star.

In the past three years, 12 planets have been detected with masses of 2

to 15 times the mass of Earth, small enough that these may be rocky

planets. (Jupiter's mass is 318 x Earth’s mass). Two of them orbit within

the potential habitable zone around one of these fainter stars:

One recent example: 4 planets around the small red star GJ58E

Mass of planet

(Earth masses)

1.94

15.6

5.0

7.7

Distance from Star

0.03 AU - least massive planet yet detected!

0.04 AU

0.07 AU inner edge of habitable zone?

0.25 AU habitable zone?

Could it be that these faint red stars have habitable planets? As of 2010

two more candidate exoplanets were discovered around GJ581.

Detecting Planets via Transits

When a planetary-sized object crosses in front of a star, we call it a

transit (since only a small percentage of the light is blocked, it’s not really

an eclipse). We see occasional transits of Venus or Mercury here in our

Solar System. So, another method of detecting a planet is to search for a

small decrease in the amount of light from a star when a planet crosses in

front of it. Of course, only a small fraction of the planetary systems will be

oriented so that a planet crosses in front of a star as seen from Earth.

From ground-based telescopes, quite a few transiting planets have

been detected. The decrease in the amount of light from the star during a

transit is about 0.5% - 2%, corresponding to a fairly large planet. See

Figure 2. From the percentage decrease and the duration of the brightness

decrease, we can determine the size of the planet:

)

i

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• rhe drop in brightness during the transit tells us the fractional area

of the star that is blocked by the transiting planet.

• If we know the true cross-section area of the star (from stellar

models, compared to the Sun), then we can determine the cross-

section area of the planet, and thus its diameter.

When combined with radial velocity measurements to determine the mass

of the planet, we can then calculate the density of the planet, a real

physical quantity that tells us something about the nature of the object (gas

giant versus rocky planet).

While the other methods provide information about a planet’s mass,

this photometric method can determine the radius of a planet. If a planet

crosses (transits) in front of its parent star’s disk, then the observed visual

brightness of the star drops a small amount. The amount the star dims

depends on the relative sizes of the star and the planet. For example, in the

case of HD 209458, the star dims 1.7%.

Figure 2. Example of the transit method. The bottom figure shows the dip in light as the

planet passes in front of the star.

The main advantage of the transit method is that the size of the planet

can be determined from the light curve. When combined with the radial

velocity method (which determines the planet's mass) one can determine

the density of the planet, and hence learn something about the planet's

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physical structure. The nine planets that have been studied by both

methods are by far the best-characterized of all known exoplanets.

The transit method also makes it possible to study the atmosphere of

the transiting planet. When the planet transits the star, light from the star

passes through the upper atmosphere of the planet. By studying the high-

resolution stellar spectrum carefully, one ean detect elements present in

the planet’s atmosphere. A planetary atmosphere (and planet for that

matter) could also be detected by measuring the polarization of the

starlight as it passed through or is reflected off the planet's atmosphere.

This method has two major disadvantages. First, planetary transits are

only observable for planets whose orbits happen to be perfectly aligned

from the astronomers' vantage point. The probability of a planetary orbital

plane being directly on the line-of-sight to a star is the ratio of the

diameter of the star to the diameter of the orbit. About 10% of planets with

small orbits have such alignment, and the fraction decreases for planets

with larger orbits. For a planet orbiting a sun-sized star at 1 AU, the

probability of a random alignment producing a transit is 0.47%. However,

by scanning large areas of the sky containing thousands or even hundreds

of thousands of stars at once, transit surveys can in principle find extra-

solar planets at a rate that could potentially exceed that of the radial-

velocity method, although it would not answer the question of whether any

particular star is host to planets.

Second, the method suffers from a high rate of false detections. A

transit detection requires additional confirmation, typically from the

radial-velocity method.

The secondary eclipse (when the planet is blocked by its star) allows

direct measurement of the planet’s radiation. If the star’s photometric

intensity during the secondary eclipse is subtracted from its intensity

before or after, only the signal caused by the planet remains. It is then

possible to measure the planet’s temperature and even to detect possible

signs of cloud formations on it. In March 2005, two groups of scientists

carried out measurements using this technique with the Spitzer Space

Telescope. The two teams, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for

Astrophysics, led by David Charbonneau, and the Goddard Space Flight

Center, led by L. D. Deming, studied the planets TrES-1 and HD 209458b

respectively. The measurements revealed the planets’ temperatures: 1,060

K (790°C) for TrES-1 and about 1,130 K (860°C) for HD 209458b.

However some transiting planets orbit such that they do not enter

secondary eclipse relative to Earth.

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I'he CoRoT mission, developed primarily by the French Space

Agency, was the first space mission dedicated to observing transits. It has

been in orbit around Earth for over 4 years and can reliably detect

brightness changes of 0.1%. The 17^^ CoRoT exoplanet was announced in

2010.

Detecting Planets through Gravitational Microlensing

Gravitational microlensing occurs when the gravitational field of a star

acts like a lens, magnifying the light of a distant background star. This

effect occurs only when the two stars are almost exactly aligned. Tensing

events are brief, lasting for weeks or days, as the two stars and Earth are

all moving relative to each other. More than a thousand such events have

been observed over the past ten years. See Figure 3 for an illustration.

Gravitation Microlensing

Planet

A Lens

Star

Source

Star

Figure 3. Illustration of the microlensing search for a planet

If the foreground lensing star has a planet, then that planet’s own

gravitational field can make a detectable contribution to the lensing effect.

Since that requires a highly improbable alignment, a very large number of

distant stars must be continuously monitored in order to detect planetary'

microlensing contributions at a reasonable rate. This method is most

fruitful for planets between Earth and the center of the Galaxy, as the

Galactic center provides a large number of background stars.

In 1991, astronomers Shude Mao and Bohdan Paczyhski of Princeton

University first proposed using gravitational microlensing to look for

exoplanets. Successes with the method date back to 2002, when a group of

Polish astronomers (Ansezej Udalski, Marcin Kubiak and Michal

Szymahski from Warsaw, and Bohdan Paczyhski) during project OGLE

(the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) developed a workable

technique. During one month they found several possible planets, though

limitations in the observations prevented clear confirmation. Since then.

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four confirmed extrasolar planets have been detected using microlensing.

As of 2006 this was the only method capable of detecting planets of

Earthlike mass around ordinary main-sequence stars.

A notable disadvantage of the method is that the lensing cannot be

repeated because the chance alignment never occurs again. Also, the

detected planets will tend to be several kiloparsecs away, so follow-up

observations with other methods are usually impossible. However, if

enough background stars can be observed with enough accuracy then the

method should eventually reveal how common Earthlike planets are in the

Galaxy.

On May 18, 201 1 astronomers announced the discovery of a new class

of Jupiter-sized planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the

light of a star. The team believes these lone worlds are probably outcasts

from developing planetary systems and, moreover, they could be twice as

numerous as the stars themselves. These are free-floating planets.

The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand microlensing

survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way during 2006 and 2007,

revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of

Jupiter. The isolated orbs, also known as orphan planets, are difficult to

spot, and had gone undetected until now. The planets are located at an

average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light years from Earth.

The survey, the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA), is

named in part after a giant wingless, extinct bird family from New

Zealand called the moa. A 5.9-foot (1.8-meter) telescope at Mount John

University Observatory in New Zealand is used to regularly scan the

copious stars at the center of our Galaxy for gravitational microlensing

events.

This could be just the tip of the iceberg. The team estimates there are

about twice as many free-floating Jupiter-mass planets as stars. In

addition, these worlds are thought to be at least as common as planets that

orbit stars. This adds up to hundreds of billions of lone planets in our

Milky Way alone. The team sampled a portion of the Galaxy, and based

on these data, can estimate overall numbers in the Galaxy.

The study, led by Takahiro Sumi from Osaka University in Japan,

appears in the May 19 (2011) issue of the journal Nature. The survey is

not sensitive to planets smaller than Jupiter and Saturn, but theories

suggest lower-mass planets like Earth should be ejected from their stars

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more often. As a result, they are thought to be more common than free-

tloating Jupiters.

Detecting Planets through Timing

When a double star system is aligned such that - from the Earth’s

point of view - the stars pass in front of each other in their orbits, the

system is called an eclipsing binary star system. The time of minimum

light, when the star with the brighter surface area is at least partially

obscured by the disc of the other star, is called the primary eclipse, and

approximately half an orbit later, the secondary eclipse occurs when the

brighter surface area star obscures some portion of the other star. These

times of minimum light, or central eclipse, constitute a time stamp on the

system, much like the pulses from a pulsar (except that rather than a flash,

they are a dip in the brightness). If there is a planet in circum-binary orbit

around the binary stars, the stars will be offset around a binary-planet

center of mass. As the stars in the binary are displaced by the planet back

and forth, the times of the eclipse minima will vary; they will be too late,

on time, too early, on time, too late, etc. The periodicity of this offset may

be the most reliable way to detect extra-solar planets around close binary

systems.

Direct Imaging

As mentioned previously, planets are extremely faint light sources

compared to stars and what little light comes from them tends to be lost in

the glare from their parent star. So in general, it is very difficult to detect

them directly.

Ultimately, the goal is to image planets around other stars directly and

to wring all the information possible out of those photons (planet

temperature from infrared and atmospheric composition from infrared and

visible light spectra).

The first direct detection was a single pixel in an image using an

opaque disk within the camera (called a coronograph) to block the star’s

light and allow a long exposure image. This was planet Fomalhaut b,

around the bright star Fomalhauf \ The method used a series of selections:

• Observe a star that is larger, hotter, and more massive than the

Sun. Thus the planet forming disk of material was presumably

larger and more massive, and the habitable zone farther from the

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Star. An orbiting planet may be farther from the star, making it

easier to detect.

• Observe at near-infrared wavelength where the brightness contrast

between star and planet is not quite so extreme.

• Select a young star, where a larger planet has not lost all of its

initial heating and will be brighter in the infrared.

They acquired images of Fomalhaut with space-based and ground-

based telescopes, using an opaque disk in the camera to block the light

from Fomalhaut. Images taken two years apart consistently show a faint

dot that has moved slightly, consistent with the orbital velocity expected at

that distance from Fomalhaut. The planet is about 119 AU from the star.

Since the luminosity of Fomalhaut is 16 times that of the Sun, the planet

would receive illumination from the star comparable to Neptune in our

solar system.

Some projects to equip ground based telescopes with planet-imaging-

capable instruments include: Gemini telescope (GPI), the Very Targe

Telescope (SPHERE), and the Subaru telescope (HiCIAO).

In July 2004, a group of astronomers used the European Southern

Observatory’s Very Earge Telescope array in Chile to produce an image

of 2M 1207b, a companion to the brown dwarf 2M1207. In December

2005, the planetary status of the companion was confirmed. The planet is

believed to be several times more massive than Jupiter and to have an

orbital radius greater than 40 AU.

Up until the year 2010, telescopes could only directly image

exoplanets under exceptional circumstances. Specifically, it is easier to

obtain images when the planet is especially large (considerably larger than

Jupiter), widely separated from its parent star, and hot so that it emits

intense infrared radiation. However in 2010 a team from NASA’s Jet

Propulsion Eaboratory demonstrated that a vortex coronagraph could

enable small scopes to directly image planets. They did this by imaging

the previously imaged HR 8799 planets using just a 1.5 m portion of the

Hale Telescope. See Figure 4. The planet masses are 10, 10, and 7 times of

Jupiter.

Images taken in 2003 and reanalyzed in 2008 revealed a planet

orbiting Beta Pictoris which in 2009 was observed to have moved to the

other side of the star. See Figure 5.

48

Figure 4. Direct image of exoplanets around the star HR8799 using a vortex coronagraph

on a 1 .5m portion of the Hale telescope.

Figure 5. ESO image of a planet near Beta Pictoris. The planet is the bright spot about 1 1

o’clock near the center of the image. The dotted circle (upper right) is the size of the orbit

of Saturn scaled to this star.

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In September 2008, an object was imaged at a separation of 330AU

from the star IRXS J 160929. 1-2 10524, but it was not until 2010 that it

was confirmed to be a companion planet to the star and not just a chance

alignment. An additional system, GJ 758, was imaged in November 2009,

by a team using the HiCIAO instrument of the Subaru Telescope.

The Kepler Mission

The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (z.e., those one half to

twice the size of the Earth), especially those in the habitable zone of their

stars where liquid water and possibly life might exist. As of September

2010, Gliese 581 g, fourth planet of the red dwarf star Gliese 581, is the

strongest possibly terrestrial exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone

surrounding its star, although the existence of Gliese 581 g has been

questioned by another team of astronomers, and it is now listed as

unconfirmed at The Extra-solar Planets Encyclopaedia.

Named for Johannes Kepler, the Kepler Mission was launched March

6, 2009 riding aboard a Delta II rocket. The Kepler spacecraft watches a

patch of space for indications of Earth-sized planets moving around stars

similar to the Sun. There are over 100,000 stars like the Sun in the area.

Using special detectors similar to those used in digital cameras, Kepler

will look for a slight dimming in the stars as planets pass between the stars

and Kepler - the transit method. The observatory’s place in space will

allow it to watch the same stars constantly throughout its multi-year

mission. It is a job only a computer could love.

Figure 6 shows the field of view of the Kepler instrument. It points

between the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra at a dense field of stars.

Data from the Kepler mission have been used to estimate that there are at

least 50 billion planets in our own Galaxy.

Kepler is sensitive enough to detect planets even smaller than Earth.

By scanning a hundred thousand stars simultaneously, it will not only be

able to detect Earth-sized planets, it will be able to collect statistics on the

numbers of such planets around sun-like stars.

The goal is to find Earth-like planets by searching for transits that

cause a brightness decrease of just 1/10,000 with a periodicity of about 1

year - such detections will require all four years of data, in order to record

repeated transits with a constant period.

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Figure 6. Field of view of Kepler

As of February 2011, Kepler had identified 1,235 unconfirmed

planetary candidates associated with 997 host stars, based on the first four

months of data from the space-based telescope, including 54 that may be

in the habitable zone. Six candidates in this zone were thought to be

smaller than twice the size of Earth, though a more recent study found that

one of the candidates is likely much larger and hotter than first reported.

• 68 planets with radii <1.25 Earth radii

• 288 planets with radii between 1.25 and 2 Earth radii

• 662 planets with radii between 2 and 6 Earth radii (Neptune-sized)

• 165 Jupiter-sized planets with radii between 6 and 15 Earth radii

o (Jupiter’s radius is 1 1 Earth radii)

• 19 objects larger than 2 Jupiter radii

About 75% of these planets are smaller than Neptune (4 Earth radii).

So far, 408 of the planets are in multiple-planet systems. And these results

are Just from 4 months of data, so only short-period close-in orbiting

planets are included. These are called ‘candidate’ planets because follow-

up observations are not yet available.

The Kepler dataset is so massive that astronomers are studying other

things with the dataset. An international team of astroseismologists, led by

the University of Birmingham, has used data from the NASA Kepler

Mission to sample the ‘stellar music’ of 500 stars similar to the Sun,

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according to research published 8 April 2011 in the journal Science. The

team used the information from these natural resonances, which is coded

in pulses of starlight, to measure the properties of these stars and will now

be able to compare their findings with predictions based on models of the

Milky Way.

Figure 7. Artist’s conception of Kepler 1 1.

Figure 7 is an artist’s conception of the Kepler 1 1 solar system

compared to our own. It shows the Kepler- 11 planetary system and our

solar system from a tilted perspective to demonstrate that the orbits of

each lie on similar planes. Kepler 1 1 has the fullest, most compact

planetary system yet discovered beyond our own. All six planets orbiting

Kepler 1 1 are larger than Earth, with the largest ones being comparable in

size to Uranus and Neptune. If placed in our solar system, the outermost

planet would orbit between Mercuiy' and Venus, and the other five planets

would orbit between Mercury^ and our sun. The innermost planet, Kepler

1 lb, is ten times closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun.

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Summing It Up

exoplanets. eu (May 2011)

Planetary candidates detected by radial velocity or astrometry

419 planetary systems

500 planets

50 multiple planet systems

Planetary candidates detected by transits

1 2 1 planetary systems

128 planets

1 0 multiple planet systems

1,235 candidates from Kepler, 16 confirmed

Planetary candidates detected by microlensing

1 1 planetary systems

12 planets

1 multiple planet systems

Planetary candidates detected by direct imaging

2 1 planetary systems

24 planets

1 multiple planet systems

Planetary candidates detected by timing

7 planetary systems

12 planets

4 multiple planet systems

After detecting hundreds of exoplanets in the 15 years up thru 2010, we

are on the exciting threshold of detecting thousands of exoplanets and

identifying Earthlike candidates. Perhaps someday soon we will know if

there is life out there.

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" See, T. J. J. (1896). “Researches on the Orbit of 70 Ophiuchi, and on a Periodic

Perturbation in the Motion of the System Arising from the Action of an Unseen

Body.” The AstronomicalJournal, 16, 17.

van de Kamp, P. (1969). “Alternate dynamical analysis of Barnard’s star.”

Astronomical Journal, 74, 757.

Campbell, B.; Walker, G. A. H.; Yang, S. (15 August 1988). “A search for substellar

companions to solar-type Astrophysical Journal, 331, 902.

' Mayor, M. et al. (2009). “The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XVI II:

An Earth-mass planet in the GJ 581 planetary system”. Astronomy and Astrophysics,

507,487.

" Kalas, P. et al. (2009). “Fomalhaut b: Direct Detection of a c Jupiter-mass Object

Orbiting Fomalhaut.” Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc., 41, 491.

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Washington Academy of Sciences

55

Innovations in STEM Education

Sylvia M. James and Cora B. Marrett

National Science Foundation

Abstract

Recent changes in the K-12 career and technical education (CTE) sector

suggest that the effective strategies utilized in this context may also be of

interest to those concerned about science, technology, engineering and

mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. Today’s

comprehensive CTE programs incorporate cutting edge technologies,

sustainable practices, and workforce preparation in collaboration with

local business and industry, often while also preparing students for

postsecondary study. Concurrently, it has become apparent that

preparing students for the future STEM workforce requires the

utilization of all of the educational and community resources at our

disposal, and increasingly educators and policymakers are looking to the

informal sector. High quality, STEM enrichment programs offered

outside of the classroom setting may provide authentic learning

experiences and increase interest and engagement in STEM and related

careers, especially among diverse populations. However, the link

between CTE and informal science education remains relatively

unexplored. Systematic study of career and technical secondary schools

could strengthen our understanding of the various paths through which

successful STEM education might be achieved. Additionally, closer

examination of seemingly common goals in informal science education

programs for youth may offer additional tools to prepare students for a

world in which STEM knowledge and skills are valuable and necessary

assets.

Innovations in STEM Education

The educational system in the United States has come under increasing

scrutiny as school districts grapple with the challenge of preparing students

for citizenry in an increasingly complex and technologically advanced

global economy. Policymakers enact legislation that attempts to provide the

tools for ensuring that high quality education is available to all students.

National and common core standards aim to provide consistency and

continuity in student knowledge and understanding of foundational

concepts. Leaders from business and industry collaborate with academia

to identify twenty-first century skills, taking actions often with the same

Fall 2011

56

enthusiasm evident in a report from the 1990s from the U.S. Department of

Labor: the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary^ Skills.’

Perhaps the quality education the U.S. seeks can be achieved through a

broad range of innovative strategies. This article explores changes in the

career and technical education sector at the K-12 level, suggesting that the

sector warrants enhanced attention by those concerned about science,

technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in the United

States. The sector deserves closer analyses, given how different the

education is that it now provides from the vocational emphases of the past.

Moreover, the changes in this sector suggest that key aims of STEM

education can be achieved through various mechanisms - an important

condition in a society marked by substantial diversity. Although there is

some systemic work on career and technical secondary schools, the link

between them and the world of informal science education remains

relatively unexplored. Based, however, on findings from informal science

education programs, especially those targeting secondary school youth in

comprehensive enrichment programs, there are reasons to conclude that

stronger ties between this kind of school and supportive activities outside of

the traditional school day could contribute to greater student success. More

systematic study of career and technical secondary schools could strengthen

our understanding of the various paths through which successful STEM

education might be achieved.

Our call for greater cognizance of career and technical education results

from two developments. The first: our visit to a highly transformed career

school in the Washington, DC area - the Phelps Architecture, Construction

and Engineering High School. The second: the conclusion from a recent

report that we know far less than is desired about successful schools, and

especially about how different attributes of schools matter for different

populations of students.” To set the stage for the discussion, we begin with

an overview of the challenges associated with STEM education in the

United States.

STEM Education Challenges

Several indicators imply that the U.S. is not succeeding in preparing its

pre-college students for work and life in a world characterized increasingly

by advances in science and technology. Some of the indicators appear in the

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The Program

measures mathematics and science literacy among countries belonging to

the Organization for Economic and Cultural Development (OECD).

Olt-cited are the outcomes from comparisons undertaken in 2009. The

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57

outcomes: lower average literacy scores in mathematics for students in the

United States than the average across the OECD countries. That was the

result as well in 2003 and 2006. Although there was improvement from

2006 to 2009, in the latter year the US still lagged behind seventeen other

nations.

The scores in science were slightly more encouraging. In 2009, the level

of science literacy among U.S. students was comparable to the OECD

average and higher than what had been found for the U.S. in 2006.

Nonetheless, U.S. students’ average scores still fell behind those in twelve

of the other OECD countries.*"

A bleak picture emerges as well from the National Assessment of

Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2009, fourth- eighth- and twelfth-graders

were tested in physics as well as the life, and earth and space sciences and

were ranked at one of three levels: basic, proficient, or advanced. Only 34

percent of the fourth-graders performed at or above the proficient level,

meaning that they “demonstrated competency” in difficult material. At the

secondary level, eighth- and twelfth-graders’ scores at the proficient level

were even lower at 30 percent and 21 percent respectively.*'

The results from 2009 cannot be compared with those of prior years,

due to modifications made to the assessment. What has remained

consistent, however, are achievement gaps in science between white

students and other racial and ethnic groups. For mathematics, the results

are somewhat more encouraging. Although the 2009 data continued to

show gaps between population groups, the size of those gaps had narrowed

from previous years.'^

The unfavorable international comparisons have helped promote the

development of specialized STEM schools. Although some of the emerging

career and technical high schools share selected traits with such specialized

schools, contrasts can be found. To highlight the contrasts we sketch first

characteristics of special schools for STEM education.

STEM Schools: A Model for Success

Educational researchers, policymakers, parents and other stakeholders

often laud the potential of STEM schools, institutions in which STEM

disciplines are central and criteria for admissions are selective. The Thomas

Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in northern Virginia,

founded in 1985 from a collaboration involving the Fairfax County School

System and local business, illustrates the specialized school model. The

school offers a comprehensive curriculum, which emphasizes critical

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thinking skills and the integration of STEM with humanities, as in the IBET

(Integrated Biology, English, and Technology) course, a requirement for all

incoming freshmen. The freshman class typically includes approximately

480 ninth graders, selected from over 3,300 applicants residing in

Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun and Prince William Counties, in

addition to the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church. Thomas Jefferson

announces its quest for highly motivated students with good grades

(although not necessarily all A’s) and “a passion” for STEM.'"'

fhe North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics represents

another specialized STEM school. This coeducational, residential

institution was launched in 1978 by the North Carolina General Assembly

to serve junior and senior high school students from all 13 congressional

districts in the state. A competitive admissions process selects only an

estimated 340 students per class, drawn so as to produce demographic

diversity. The college admission rate for graduates: 99 percent.

Contributing to the high rate is the grounding the school provides in core

subjects, coursework in science, mathematics, computer science,

humanities, and laboratory skills as well as in research.'"”

Not all specialized STEM schools are of recent vintage. The Bronx

Fligh School of Science - noted for its four years of laboratory science,

three years of mathematics and foreign language, a year of research during

the sophomore year, and an extensive array of advanced placement courses

- opened its doors in 1938. Today, with over 2900 students, it is one of

eight specialized schools serving a diverse group of gifted students from

across New York City.'"”^

The Bronx High School of Science and similar institutions belong to a

national organization that endeavors to promote collaboration, strong

programs in education, research and practice as well as policies to advance

such schools. The National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools

of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST) was established in

1988 to support STEM schools, specifically secondary institutions

“...whose primary purpose is to attract and academically prepare students

for leadership in mathematics, science, and technology.’”''

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The Vocational School Sector

Phelps High School does not share its history with the Bronx High

School of Science or many of the other institutions within the National

Consortium. Instead, its roots are in the world of vocational education. Such

education traditionally prepared students for the trades - carpentry,

welding, and automobile repair, for example. The description of vocational

education in Wikipedia portrays its job-centered character. ‘‘Vocational

education and training prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or

practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a

specific trade, occupation or vocation. It is sometimes referred to as

technical education as the trainee directly develops expertise in a particular

group of techniques or technology.”^

Phelps High School emerged as a product of vocational education and

of racial segregation in the District of Columbia. Opened in 1933, Phelps

provided African American students with training primarily for jobs in

construction. The underlying philosophy: “all forms of labor, whether with

the head or hand, are honorable.”^*

But the growing discontent nationally with vocational education and the

civil rights movement changed the fortunes of Phelps. Nationally, students

from all backgrounds moved away from work-centered education to

academic programs offering preparation for higher education. That move

was evident in the District of Columbia, resulting in the closure of one

vocational school after another.

Reportedly, perspectives from the civil rights movement played directly

into the fate of Phelps. A Washington Post article reported in 2008 that

vocational education sputtered in the civil rights era, “attacked by activists

as an attempt to steer black students into blue-collar jobs and out of the

college-prep track, where many whites were.”^*^ Such attacks undoubtedly

made a difference, but even before the civil rights era, it was not uncommon

for African American students and their parents to look askance at the

offerings at Phelps and the students pursuing them. The emphasis on

preparation for the trades simply did not prove alluring to many in the

population.^”'

Changing conditions, along with declining enrollments, a decaying

infrastructure and countless other problems led the District to close Phelps

in 2002. The current Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering

High School, opened in 2008 with an orientation different from what had

prevailed earlier.

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On Career and Technical Education

I'he new Phelps differs from its predecessor in its infrastructure as well

as its programs. A completely remodeled building houses state-of-the-art

laboratories and green technologies that have earned Phelps the designation

of LEED Silver Certified Green School. The expertise of such

organizations as the Washington Architectural Foundation, Associated

General Contractors, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters

contributed substantially to the planning for the modem stmcture of Phelps.

Programmatically, Phelps reflects the transition of vocational education

to career and technical education, or CTE. This form of education aims to

•‘empower students for effective participation in a global economy as

world-class workers and citizens.”^*'" It focuses heavily on the content of

courses, aiming to provide students with the knowledge needed for

additional academic work or immediate employment.

The CTE emphasis at Phelps appears in the eight majors the school

offers, ranging from architecture to welding and sheet metal. The latter

subjects have parallels with vocational education in the past. That is not the

case for the major in architecture or for what the Cisco Networking

Academy offers. In a dedicated CADD laboratory, students can try their

hands at design or use joysticks and flat screen monitors to develop and

assess their skills for operating cranes in the heavy equipment laboratory.

Students learn about sustainable technologies by monitoring energy from

photovoltaic solar arrays, wind turbines, and a geothermal cold-water loop

that are part of Phelps’ infrastmcture.

The technologies and laboratories now available place the students

light-years away from their predecessors at Phelps. But in their courses, the

students are exposed to the conceptual knowledge found in the programs

outside of the CTE sector, since the school offers a complete college

preparatory program as well. In addition, the hands-on instruction, the

simulations, and the design work give the students the authentic encounters

often associated with preparation for and inspiration in STEM education.

Such engagement could be especially significant for students likely to have

limited experiences with STEM activities outside of the school setting or

for those who might consider pursuing STEM degrees at the college level.

The recent study from the National Research Council (NRC) on

successful schools described CTE schools as major contenders in today’s

STEM school arena. Unfortunately, the research base is limited for all

types of STEM schools, including those within the CTE orbit. We offer our

Washington Academy of Sciences

61

impressions of the contributions CTE schools can make, based on our

understanding of programming at Phelps. Those impressions cannot

substitute, of course, for systematic study on how such schools in fact

prepare students for citizenship and work in a world where innovation is

sought.

Beyond the School

For many students experiences outside of the school setting reinforce

the learning pursued within the borders of the institution. For others,

STEM-related activities are highly constrained outside of those borders and

they may benefit from additional access. The NRC publication. Learning

Science in Informal Environments: People, Places and Pursuits, notes that

informal learning encompasses experiences in non-school environments

that can be characterized as lifelong, life-wide, and life deep. A broad range

of venues and social settings may serve as hubs for informal STEM learning

including museums, science centers, zoos, aquariums, libraries, community

settings, and also the home.^'" The potential of the informal sector to

strengthen STEM education accounts for programs the National Science

Foundation supports through the Division of Research on Eeaming in

Formal and Informal Settings (DRL). Next we provide a brief discussion of

theories and perspectives associated with informal learning programs and

sample strategies, while considering the potential for collaboration with

schools.

Theoretical Perspectives and Program Designs

Informal science education programs are often informed by

sociocultural theories of learning, which focus on learning in context;

addressing cultural issues important to learning; and extending the notion of

learning beyond the accumulation of facts to include participation, identity,

access, and engagement. Students take an active role in their learning as

they co-construct knowledge with mentors in learning communities.

Additionally, the use of authentic learning experiences that make

connections to day-to-day activities and promote learning across contexts

provide a seamless connection between informal and formal learning.^''"

The NRC report on informal learning also cites the use of sociocultural

perspectives to support project designs, which are often supplemented by

cognitive learning theories and positive youth development approaches.

Additionally, a summary of study findings indicates positive impacts on

youth STEM and career interests, in addition to academic gains, although

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62

there is still a reliance on a wide assortment of evaluations to support

impacts associated with cognitive gain and skill development/'""

Interestingly, several parallels can be found between the aims of CTE

and informal learning programs for youth such as promoting interest in

S'fEM and STEM careers and providing authentic learning experiences,

lake their formal education counterparts, informal youth programs

frequently emphasize approaches that research suggests are important for

steering students into STEM career paths, by building on interest during

early adolescence and offering intensive research experiences during high

school. Many of the projects target youth who are underserved and

underrepresented in STEM, who would not normally have access to high

quality informal science experiences.

In a longitudinal study of urban girls participating in a year-round

natural science enrichment program, the participants credited the program

activities, including classes, field trips, and STEM content with influencing

their educational and career paths. While all students did not pursue STEM

majors, the college enrollment rate exceeded 93 percent.^^ Youth programs

that enable participants to make contributions to their community through

work experiences and examination of environmental issues are also

common. Apprenticeship models commonly used in CTE schools are

adopted in non-school contexts because they enable students to learn about

the culture and practice of science, develop identities as scientists, use the

language of science in a supportive environment, develop in-depth

understanding of concepts, and access diverse tools.™ Not surprisingly,

social media is a frequently utilized mechanism for supporting STEM

learning in informal settings.^"

Collaborations with Schools

Recognizing the growing interest in and potential associated with

learning in informal learning settings, in 2007, NSF funded a demonstration

project designed to capitalize on the strengths of both formal and informal

learning settings. The Academies for Young Scientists (AYS) program

targeted students in grades K-8, and the 16 projects had the common goal of

integrating STEM across learning contexts for the express purpose of

augmenting interest and awareness of STEM careers.^^*'" At a culminating

conference, several important trends emerged that may contribute to the

existing repertoire of findings related to informal STEM learning. Like

many informal science education experiences, activities were tailored to

meet the needs of the local population, allowing for a great deal of

Washington Academy of Sciences

63

flexibility in design and scaffolding to support participant interest and

exploration in STEM. The programs were structured to allow for voluntary,

self-directed learning that is not typically a hallmark of classroom STEM

instruction, resulting in enrichment experiences for students at both ends of

the academic spectrum - those who are in need of additional STEM

experiences as well as students who already exhibit some mastery in the

subject matter. For example, participation in AYS programs was often

associated with engagement of youth who were not highly motivated by

“school STEM” which was enlightening for their classroom teachers.^'"

Collaborations between formal and informal science education

institutions such as those in AYS are of interest to many. The Center for

Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), released a report in

March 2010 focused on this very topic. The report emphasized the benefits

of such collaborations including stronger science programs that incorporate

best practices associated with informal settings, emergent learning

communities, and increased equity and access for those who may be

underserved and underrepresented in STEM.^'"'

Despite the inference that informal science learning programs may have

some goals in common with CTE schools, there is little empirical evidence

at this time to support this claim or the suggestion that there might be some

benefit to a closer association between the two. However, the potential for

informal science education to strengthen the science learning in schools is

an idea that has wide appeal.

Summary

CTE schools offer excellent examples of interventions that can be

utilized to meet the goal of preparing young people to enter the future

STEM workforce. As these schools continue to emerge as educational

exemplars, they may offer models that can support STEM education goals.

Informal science learning also continues to gain prominence, as an

analysis of research provided solid evidence that learning occurs in

nonschool settings through “everyday experiences, designed settings, and

programs.”^^''" Several federal reports have lauded the strengths of high

quality informal science education programs, including the ability to foster

increased interest, motivation, and the pursuit of STEM education and

career trajectories in youth from diverse backgrounds and under-resourced

communities.^^''"'’

The prevailing theme among educators and policymakers appears to be

that the full responsibility for the preparation of a STEM literate citizeniy’

Fall 2011

I

64

should not fall upon schools, even well-equipped STEM and CTE schools,

especially when nonschool activities are an untapped resource for

cultivating student interest and engagement in STEM. All that remains is to

address the paucity of research that exists to document the impacts of

informal Sl’EM experiences and the cumulative impacts of rich

collaborations between schools and informal science education institutions.

More research is needed to understand CTE schools and other novel

approaches to STEM education and workforce preparation utilized in both

formal and informal learning environments, which are of particular benefit

to students who have traditionally been underserved in STEM.

Notes

' U. S. Department of Eabor, The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving

Necessary Skills. (1991). What work requires of schools: A SCANS

report for America 2000. Retrieved from

http://www.scans.jhu.edu/NS/HTML/AboutCom.htm

“ National Research Council. (2011). Successful K-12 STEM Education:

Identifying effective approaches in science, technology, engineering

and mathematics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

OECD. (2010). PISA 2009 at a glance. Retrieved from

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264095298-en

National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). The nation 's report

card: Grade 12 reading and mathematics 2009 national and pilot state

results (NCES 2011-455). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Education.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). The nation ’s report

card: Science 2009 (NCES 201 1-451). Washington, DC: U.S.

Department of Education.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. (2011).

About TJ. Retrieved from http ://www/tj hsst.edu/

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. 2010-2011 Profile.

Retrieved from http://www.ncssm.edu/

The Bronx High School of Science. (201 1). Retrieved from

http://www/bxscience.edu/

Washington Academy of Sciences

65

National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics,

Science and Technology. (2006). Overview. Retrieved from

http://www.ncsssmst.org/default.aspx

^ Wikipedia. (201 1) Vocational Education. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_education

(201 1) Education Design Showcase. Retrieved from

http://ww^.educationdesignshowcase.com/View.esiml?pid=247&lasts

earch=grade%5Fid%3D7

Haynes, V. D. (2008, May 11). ''At D.C. Phelps high, a return to the

future.'' Washington Post. Retrieved from

http://www.washingtonpost.eom/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/10/A

R2008051002360.html

For example, one of our group, Howard Goines, had attended the DC

public schools and attested to the disdain his classmates sometimes

expressed towards Phelps.

Cumberland County Schools. (2011). Career and technical education.

Retrieved from http://www.cte.ccs.kl2.nc.us/

National Research Council. (2009). Learning science in informal

environments: People, places, and pursuits. Washington, DC: The

National Academies Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher

psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and

identity. New York, NY : Cambridge University Press.

National Research Council. See note xv.

Roberts, L. F. & Wassersug, R. J. (2009). Does doing scientific research

in high school correlate with students staying in science? A half-century

of retrospective study. Research in Science Education, 39, 251-256.

^ Tai, R. H., Liu, C. Q., Maltese, A. V. & Fan, X. (2006). Planning early

for careers in science. Science, 312: 5777, 1 143-1 144.

Fadigan, K. A. & Hammrich, P.L. (2004). A longitudinal study of the

educational and career trajectories of female participants of an urban

informal science education program. Journal of Research in Science

Teaching, 41 825-860.

Fall 2011

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66

Richmond, G., & Kurth, L. A. (1999). Moving from outside to inside:

High school students’ use of apprenticeships as vehicles for entering

culture and practice as science. Journal of Research in Science

Teaching, 36(6), 611-691 .

Bull, G., Thompson, A., Searson, M., Garofalo, J., Park, J., Young, C.,

& Lee, J. (2008). Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences

in the age of participatory media. Contemporary Issues in Technology

and Teacher Education, 8{2). Retrieved from

http://www.citejoumal.org/vol8/iss2/editorial/articlel.cfm

National Science Foundation. (2006). Academies for young scientists

(NSF 06-560). Retrieved from

http://www.nsf.gOv/pubs/2006/nsf06560/nsf06560.htm

Bevan, B., Michalchik, V., Bhanot, R., Rauch, N., Remold, J., Semper,

R., & Shields, P. (2010). Out-of-school time STEM: Building

experience, building bridges. San Francisco: Exploratorium.

Bevan, B., Dillon, J., Hein, G.E., Macdonald, M., Michalchik, V.,

Miller, D., Root, D., Rudder, L., Xanthoudaki, M., & Yoon, S. {2919).

Making science matter: Collaborations between informal science

education institutions and schools. A CAISE inquiry group report.

Washington, DC: Center for Advancement of Informal Science

Education (CAISE).

National Research Council. See note xv.

National Science Board. (2010). NSB Report: Preparing the Next

Generation of STEM Innovators. Retrieved from

http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsbl033

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. (2010).

Prepare and inspire: K-12 education in science, technology,

engineering, and math (STEM) for America's future. Retrieved from

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-ste

m-ed-fmal.pdf

Washington Academy of Sciences

67

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Editor’s Comments

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I am excited to present to you the Winter 2011 issue of the Joumat'”^^

of the Washington Academy of Sciences, which focuses on service-

learning. Honestly, before this issue, I had never heard of the term service-

learning. It is a hands-on, integrated approach to learning that connects

students with their community and fosters a cooperative partnership for

reciprocal learning; both the community and the student benefits.

This issue focuses on the service-learning program that is on-going

at George Washington University. The first article introduces the theory

and history behind service-learning, to get the reader familiar with the

subject at hand. The second article illustrates a specific example of the use

of service-learning in an undergraduate classroom at GWU. Finally, the

third article introduces the reader to the use of service-learning

internationally, emphasizing both the benefits and the challenges in

implementing such a program abroad.

My hope is that this issue will familiarize you with service-

learning, and perhaps inspire you to consider service-learning in your own

lives as academics, scientists, and community members. While reading

these articles, I was reminded of my first job after graduating from my

undergraduate institution. It wasn’t until I applied my training to hands-on

activities {i.e. my first job out of college) that I really solidified my

understanding of these principles. Service-learning is a means of

introducing this hands-on application earlier, to enhance the student’s

learning experience, as well as foster a lasting relationship with

community interests. Although we focus here on undergraduate and

graduate applications, this is a learning technique that can be applied at

any age.

Further information can be found at: George Washington University’s

Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service

http://www.gwu.edu/explore/campuslife/studentinvolvement/serviceengag

ement/serviceleaming and The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

http://www.serviceleaming.org /

Enjoy!

Jacqueline Maffucci

Winter 201 1

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

1. Manuscripts should be in Word (Office 03/07/10) and not PDF.

2. They should be 6,000 words or fewer (exceptions may be made by

the Editor). If there are 7 or more graphics, reduce the number of

words.

3. Graphics (photographs, drawings, figures, tables) must be in

graytone only (no color accepted), and be easily resizable by the

editors to fit the Journal’s page size. Do not wrap text around the

graphics.

4. References (and bibliography, if included) may be in the format

generally acceptable for the disciplinary or professional field

represented by the manuscript. They must be accurate, complete,

and consistent in format throughout the paper.

5. Include both an e-mail address and a postal address for the author

(or primary author) including title and institutional affiliation if

any.

6. Papers are peer reviewed.

7. Send Manuscripts by e-mail as an attachment, or on a CD, to

Joumal@washacadsci.org or directly to the editor. Dr. Jacqueline

Maffucci - iamaffucci@gmail.com. Hard copy cannot be accepted.

Manuscripts can be accepted by any of the Board of Discipline

Editors.

Emanuela Appetiti - anthropology at eappetiti@hotmail.com

Elizabeth Corona - systems science at elizabethcorona@gmail.com

Jim Eigenreider - science education at iim@deepwater.org

Terrell Erickson - environmental natural sciences at

terrell.erickson 1 @wdc. nsda.gov

Mark Holland - botany at maholland@salisbur\ .edu

Kiki Ikossi - engineering at ikossi@ieee.org

Carol Lacampagne - mathematics at clacampagne@eaithlink.net

Raj Madhaven - engineering at raj .madhaven@nist.gov

Kent Miller - computer sciences at kent.l.miller@alumni.cmu.edu

Jean Mielezarek - physics and biology at mielczar@physics.gmu.edu

Robin Stombler - health at rstombler@aubumstrat.com

Alain Touwaide - history of medicine at atouwaide@hotmail.com

Steve Tracton - atmospheric studies at straction@hotmail.com

Washington Academy of Sciences

Service-Learning as a Method of Instruction

Stuart Umpleby

The George Washington University

Abstract

Service-learning is a new educational method that is expanding the involvement

of universities in their neighboring communities. It also tends to promote the

civic and moral development of students. This paper explains what service-

learning is and how it is consistent with the history of universities in general and

particularly universities in the U.S. with their focus on applied knowledge. The

paper describes how service-learning has developed in the U.S. and how it is

practiced in a School of Business. The article presents some important lessons

learned from conducting service-learning at The George Washington University.

Service-Learning Defined

Service-learning is now being practiced at many levels of

education in the United States. Common service-learning activities include

the following: Middle school students (11-14 years old) may help to clean

up a part of the city and then write essays about keeping the city clean or

the importance of caring for the environment. High school students (15-18

years old) sometimes help to deliver meals to elderly or terminally ill

people and then write essays on what life is like for people in different

stages of life. Undergraduate and graduate students in the School of

Business at The George Washington University often do group projects

with local organizations. Students in management work in teams of 3 to 5

as consultants to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government

agencies or businesses. These projects are the ‘‘laboratory” part of a

management course. The client is a second instructor. Students have an

opportunity to observe an organization while helping the organization to

improve its processes. Students write a paper in which they describe the

work they did and use as many concepts from the course as they can,

thereby connecting the concepts in the textbook with their personal

experiences.

Service-learning can be defined as “service performed by students,

aimed at attending to a real need of the community, and oriented in an

explicit and planned way to enhance the quality of academic learning.”

(Tapia, et al., 2006, p. 68) A service experience should be personally

Winter 2011

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meaningful and beneficial to the community. In addition, there should be

clearly identified learning objectives, student involvement in selecting or

designing the service activity, a theoretical base, integration of the service

experience with the academic curriculum and opportunities for student

reflection. (Furco and Billig, 2002, pp. 7-8)

Individuals may cognitively process knowledge in one of four

ways: personal experiences, reflective observations, abstract

conceptualizations, or active experimentations. Based on their

personalities, individuals may prefer one learning style over another. A

major strength of service-learning projects is that they contain both

personal experiences and reflective opportunities. Thus students are likely

to be responsive to service-learning activities regardless of their learning

style. (Lester, et ai, 2005, p. 279)

Three reasons can be given for encouraging service-learning: aid

the community, more effective learning and moral development.

Advocates of service-learning argue that a key value of service lies in its

ability to foster heightened moral awareness. Service-learning projects

expose students to community needs. Service activities are an opportunity

to infuse the message that organizations can “do well by doing good.”

Service-learning experiences therefore can be seen as an instructional

technique that encourages individuals to be socially responsible and

engage in moral actions. (Lester, et al., 2005, p. 279)

Service-learning is not simply a pedagogy. Rather, service-learning

is a means to empower students and educational institutions to become

more aware of the needs of the communities of which they are a part and

to become engaged and civically active in mutually beneficial ways.

Community-based service that relates to course and curricular content is

becoming increasingly embedded in curricula. Evidence is beginning to

show that service-learning has not only begun to transform education, but

it also has transformed the lives of many of the students involved. (Casey,

et al., 2006, p. xi)

An Historical Commitment to Community Service

Universities have a long history of making important contributions

to their surrounding communities. European universities emerged in

decentralized medieval society and became more widespread in the

fifteenth and sixteenth centuries due in part to actions by city authorities

and regional authorities. Universities were supported because of the

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recognition that the growth and dissemination of knowledge was of value

to the community. (Florax, 1992, pp. 275-276)

The U.S. has a tradition of people organizing efforts to serve public

interests. In his famous nineteenth century study of American society, de

Tocqueville noted Americans’ habit of forming voluntary associations to

advance their own and the community’s interests. De Tocqueville

suggested that such associations were crucial to the vitality of American

society, pointing out that their activities served to shape the participants’

recognition of the coincidence of personal and public interest, which he

called ‘‘the principle of interest rightly understood.” (Pritchard, 2002, p. 4)

Universities in the U.S. have been said to engage in the three

activities of education, research and service. The role of universities in

providing service to society beyond simply educating the next generation

has a long histoiy\ In 1862, the U.S. government passed the Morrill Act,

which established agricultural and engineering extension services at state

universities. Under this act, the federal government gave land to the states.

The states were to sell the land and use the money to buy stocks that

would generate perpetual income to support the universities. The

universities were to teach students, conduct research on improved

methods, and communicate the results of the research directly to farmers

and businessmen through “extension agents.” Extension agents were

similar to traveling salesmen for new agricultural and engineering

methods. Hence, the activity of service was changed and universities took

a more active role in providing service to society.

Students and faculty members at U.S. universities have been doing

volunteer work with community organizations for many years. For

example, Russell Ackoff, his colleagues and students worked not only

with business clients but also with community leaders in the

neighborhoods near the University of Pennsylvania. (Ackoff, 1974) These

consulting activities were discussed in class and were part of the

curriculum. However, the rapid growth of service-learning as a teaching

method is rather recent. The growth of service-learning in the U.S. can be

described as passing through several stages.

1 . Students have long worked in groups to complete a large

assignment. This method of learning is a step beyond lectures,

exams, and term papers.

2. At least by the 1970s some students were doing projects which

were not just hypothetical projects or laboratory exercises. Rather,

students worked on projects with real clients with real problems.

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3. The term “service-learning” was invented and defined as a

pedagogical method.

4. Books and articles on service-learning began to appear in the

educational literature.

5. Articles on service-learning began to appear in discipline-oriented

journals. Hence, publications about service-learning spread beyond

schools of education to the journals of other disciplines.

Increased attention to service in the educational curriculum arises

at a time when modem industrial economies have become more

knowledge intensive. Universities are important social institutions that

contribute to economic growth. So, combining education, research and

service, rather than keeping them separate is arising in part due to an effort

to couple the knowledge creating activities of the university more closely

to the community.

“From community colleges to major research universities, relations

to surrounding communities are central to the higher educational agenda.

The institutions of higher education profiled in this book are using various

strategies to revitalize local neighborhoods while concurrently fulfilling

some aspect of their educational mission.” (Maurrasse, 2001, p. 181)

Service-learning is one example of this heightened commitment to

community service.

Another reason for the spread of service-learning is the

motivations of faculty members.

I started assigning group projects with real clients in 1978, soon

after arriving at GW. Although there certainly is a role for textbook

problems, I feel that students learn more from working on real problems

than on hypothetical problems.

One indication of the spread of service-learning in the U.S. is the

growth in membership of Campus Compact, which was founded in the

mid 1980s by the presidents of three universities - Brown University,

Georgetown University and Stanford University. Their intent was to

persuade the presidents of other universities to encourage faculty, students

and staff to engage in service activities. The “compacf’ is a statement that

university presidents are asked to sign. If the president signs then that

university becomes a member of Campus Compact (www.compact.org)

and becomes publicly committed to engaging in service-learning

activities. Figure 1 shows the growth in the number of university

presidents who have signed the compact since 1985.

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Figure 1: The Growth of Campus Compact

The American Emphasis on Applied Knowledge

Service-learning can be seen as an extension of a long-standing

commitment in the U.S. to practical knowledge. Some countries

emphasize theoretical knowledge to the neglect of applied knowledge.

Richard Feynman, who won a Nobel Prize in physics, described his

experience of teaching in Brazil. Fie was puzzled by the observation that

his students could answer some questions quickly and accurately, but

other questions, which seemed the same to him, they could not answer at

all.

After a lot of investigation, I finally figured out that the students had

memorized everything, but they didn’t know what anything meant.

When they heard “light that is reflected from a medium with an

index,” they didn’t know that it meant a material such as water...

Everything was entirely memorized, yet nothing had been translated

into meaningful words. (Feynman, 1984, pp. 212-213)

Service-learning provides a way of relating textbook assignments

and classroom discussions to personal experiences.

Winter 201 1

6

Thomas Ehrlich, former president of Indiana University and

former chair of Campus Compact, has described a debate over the nature

of a liberal education which occurred in the U.S. in the 1930s. On one side

was Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago and his

colleague Mortimer Adler. They argued for focusing the undergraduate

curriculum on a selection of “Great Books.” They claimed that the study

of the works of major Western thinkers would lead to a set of principles

covering all aspects of human life.

On the other side philosopher John Dewey argued that this claim

was dangerous because the notion of fixed truths requires a seal of

authenticity from some human authority, which leads away from

democracy and toward fascism. He also argued that purely intellectual

study should not be separated from practical study or from the great

practical problems confronting society.

Such separation can only weaken the intellect and undercut the

resolution of those problems. Study Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas, and the

others, Dewey urged, but recognized that contemporary learning from

their writings requires the application of their insights to contemporary

issues... At the time of the debate and for most of the next half-century

leaders in higher education generally concurred that Hutchins won the

argument. The premise of service-learning is.... however, that Dewey was

right and Hutchins was wrong. Service-learning is the various pedagogies

that link community service and academic study so that each strengthens

the other. The basic theory of service-learning is Dewey’s: the interaction

of knowledge and skills with experience is key to learning. (Ehrlich, 1996,

pp. xi-xii)

Service-learning is one of several trends in pedagogy that together

mark a shift in undergraduate education from an emphasis on teaching to

one on learning. Among the other trends are a focus on problems rather

than disciplines, an emphasis on collaborative rather than individual

learning, .... and careful articulation of learning outcomes coupled with

assessment of learning success. (Ehrlich, 1996, p. xiii)

Robert Coles (1993) makes the case for the impact on moral

character that derives from community service in conjunction with guided

reflection, a necessary ingredient of service. Service-learning can enhance

interpersonal skills that are key in most careers - skills such as careful

listening, consensus building, and leadership. Dewey wrote that education

should be the primary means of social progress, not just a means to

develop the intellect for its own sake. Democracy depends on an involved

Washington Academy of Sciences

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citizenry. Lee Shulman suggested in 1991 that service learning may

become the “clinical practice of the liberal arts.” (Ehrlich, 1996, p. xv)

The Benefits of Service-Learning

Service-learning is now being studied from several points of view,

depending on the interests of researchers. Key topics that are being

discussed concern implementation of service-learning in curricula,

methods of implementation, establishment of collaboration with the

community, and benefits of service-learning for all parties (students,

faculty, community and educational institution).

The motivation of faculty members to adopt service-learning as a

method of instruction has been studied by Barbara Holland (2003). She

found that there are different sources of faculty motivation. Faculty

members might be motivated by personal values, values that inspire their

commitment to a life of service, the success of their discipline and the

quality of their teaching and research. Hence, service-learning and

collaboration with the community can be a result of either individual or

professional goals.

Measuring the outcomes of service-learning for the various parties

has been attempted by many authors. In their studies, they pay most

attention to the outcomes for students. The most difficult to measure or

identify are the outcomes for educational institutions. The benefits for the

community are obvious. Students do work that would increase the

expenses of community organizations if the work were done by employees

or professionals who were paid for their work. Clearly, both students and

client organizations benefit. Some participants benefit more than others

but certainly implementation of service-learning as part of a course will

have positive impacts on students, faculty, community and educational

institutions.

Janet Eyler and her colleagues have summarized the research on

service-learning in higher education over the past few years. Among their

findings, each of which is annotated with references, are the following:

• Service-learning has a positive effect on student personal

development such as sense of personal efficacy, personal identity,

spiritual growth, and moral development.

• Service-learning has a positive effect on interpersonal

development, the ability to work well with others, and leadership

and communication skills.

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• Service-learning has a positive effect on reducing stereotypes and

facilitating cultural and racial understanding. However, a few

studies suggest that service-learning may subvert as well as

support course goals of reducing stereotyped thinking and

facilitating cultural and racial understanding.

• Service-learning has a positive effect on sense of social

responsibility and citizenship skills.

• Students and faculty report that service-learning has a positive

impact on students’ academic learning.

• Students and faculty report that service-learning improves

students’ ability to apply what they have learned in the “real

world.”

• Service-learning participation has an impact on such academic

outcomes as demonstrated complexity of understanding, problem

analysis, critical thinking, and cognitive development.

• Students engaged in service-learning report stronger faculty

relationships than those who are not involved in service-learning.

• Service-learning improves student satisfaction with college.

• Students engaged in service-learning are more likely to graduate.

• Faculty using service-learning report satisfaction with quality of

student learning. They report commitment to research. They

increasingly integrate service-learning into courses.

• Colleges and universities report that community service positively

affects student retention and enhances community relations.

• Communities report satisfaction with student participation and

enhanced community relations. (Eyler, et al., 2003, pp. 15-19)

Implementation of Service-Learning

Service-learning in the curriculum can be implemented in several

ways. (Enos and Troppe, 1996) Service-learning can be a fourth-credit

option (add a fourth credit to a regular three-credit course), a stand-alone

module (three credits) or part of a normal course. In terms of its place in

the curriculum, service-learning can be incorporated into an introductory

course, a required course, or an elective course. Service-learning can be

included as course clusters, as capstone projects, etc. Each university

needs to adjust the implementation of service-learning depending on the

field and the abilities of students. Service-learning can be implemented in

every field but not in every course.

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Establishing partnerships between a university and the community

is very important. Partnerships are usually established in three stages:

designing partnerships based on values, building collaborative working

relationships among partners, and sustaining the partnerships. (Torres and

Schaffer, 2000) In many service-learning activities students work as

individuals on tasks arranged by leaders of non-governmental

organizations (NGO) and university administrators. However, in graduate

management classes students often do group projects with organizations

where one student is employed.

Service-learning at The George Washington University

Service-learning is widely practiced at The George Washington

University. In the past few years, more than 30 faculty members in 17

departments have integrated service-learning into their course offerings.

(Benton-Short and Morrison, 2007, pp. 4-5) The Center for Civic

Engagement and Public Service is the clearinghouse for service-learning

activities at The George Washington University. The Center’s staff

members work to support service-learning across all academic

departments by providing resources, support, and information to faculty,

students, administrators and community partners. The staff has established

more than 60 campus-community partnerships with local schools,

agencies, and community organizations. Faculty engaged in service-

learning may access the Center as a resource for identifying a community

partner for service-learning projects. (Benton-Short and Morrison, 2007,

pp. 8-9)

Benefit to Students

By doing group projects students experience the psychological

sequence of working in a team - forming, storming, nooning, and

performing. (Tuckman, 1965) Students are able to apply what they have

learned in the classroom. They gain experience with organizations and the

problems they face. They learn not only to solve well-formulated textbook

problems but also to identify ill-defined problems in an organizational

setting. Students gain confidence in their ability to solve organizational

problems.

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The Assignment

Service-learning courses contain key elements that set them apart

from traditional classes. The main differentiator of a service-learning

course is that part of the course occurs outside of the classroom and in the

community. Service-learning courses possess a greater amount of

complexity in terms of the number of stakeholders involved and the

quality, resonance, and nature of knowledge transfer and competence

building. Within a service-learning course, a student’s learning will go

beyond the course subject matter to include capacity building, team work,

leadership, communication and citizenship. (Faculty Service-Learning

Toolkit, 2007)

Students in the School of Business at GW are doing service-

learning projects as part of some courses. The assignment is to improve

the functioning of some organization. The students use the knowledge and

methods that they have acquired from the textbook and classroom

discussions. Before the students start to work on a project, the professor

provides specific guidelines and recommendations on how to do the

project. These guidelines help students do the project effectively. See the

website http://www.gwu.edu/~rpsol/service-leaming.

Students also receive instmctions for working on the project

effectively and achieving the project goals. At the end of the semester,

when students finish the project, they prepare a final report which is

presented both to the client and in class in front of their classmates.

Students are given instmctions on how to prepare the final report. The

client completes an evaluation form and sends it to the instmctor. The

guidelines help students to develop an appropriate path for doing the

projects so they do not lose time. The guidelines also make the projects

more comparable.

Types of Projects

From 1992 to 2007 my students worked on 70 projects for

different clients - local and state government, nonprofit organizations,

businesses, and universities. The projects can be classified according to

the type of organization. The distribution of the projects in terms of

numbers and percentages is listed in Table 1. (Levkov and Umpleby,

2009)

Washington Academy of Sciences

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Table 1: Clients of student projects

Students used their skills and knowledge to do different kinds of

tasks in their project activities. Short descriptions of a few projects show a

wide range of activities:

• An international non-governmental organization needed help

finding specific solutions to improving processes in the areas of

marketing, strategic management, and human resources.

• Students worked with a U.S. government agency to incorporate

improvements into the new budget development process for the

fiscal year 2008 budget cycle.

• A department of the city government sought recommendations for

the proposed restructuring of the information systems department

and suggestions for how the staff could keep their technical skills

current.

• Students worked with a U.S. government agency to find the best

governance model for managing a web portal.

• Students worked with an office at GW to create a mentor program

for incoming, international students pursuing an undergraduate

degree.

Choosing a Project

There are several possible ways that students can find a project.

Students can be assigned a project by the instructor, they can choose a

project from a list of possible projects or they can find a project through

their work place or through friends. In my classes, students usually work

with an organization where one student is employed. I also suggest

possible projects and clients.

Depending in part on the class the students do a wide variety of

projects, for example improving office procedures, creating a cross-

cultural training program, revising personnel procedures, conducting a

Winter 2011

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survey of customers or employees, building a website, or guiding a

strategic planning process.

Integration of the Internet into Service-Learning

Email has made it much easier for students to work together on a project.

Since the internet is now worldwide, students are choosing to do projects

with clients in other countries. Usually the client is a friend or relative of a

student in the group. Here are a few examples of international projects.

• One member of a group was a Korean student who had a brother

who worked in Mexico. The brother’s firm made auto parts at a

factory in Mexico. The Korean managers were having difficulty

communicating with the Mexican workers due to cultural

differences. So, in a Cross-cultural Management class a group of

students created a training program for the Korean managers and

Mexican workers, so they would better understand the cultural

differences between Korea and Mexico.

• A group of students in an organizational behavior course worked

with Somali television. Somalia was a failed state. For several

years it had had no government, because the Somali government

officials had moved to Kenya to avoid the chaos in Somalia. But

many organizations continued to function, including Somali

television. The owner lived in Tondon. My students worked with

the owner via email on two projects. First, they found a code of

journalistic ethics, which was used in training the journalists in

Somalia. Second, they obtained an organization chart from a

television station in Washington, DC, and sent it to the owner in

Tondon along with recommendations on how to organize the

people working at the station in Somalia.

• A student from Ethiopia shared the class notes on quality

improvement methods with the Ethiopian government official in

charge of quality improvement in Ethiopia. Via email she

explained the class notes and provided additional books and

articles.

Lessons learned

The work of the students is invariably rated very highly by the

clients. What students are able to accomplish in one semester is quite

impressive. The most frequent suggestion from clients is that students

should work with them more closely.

Washington Academy of Sciences

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When projects are conducted by graduate students, usually they

decide to work with an organization in which one or more students are

working. Several benefits result when the student chooses the client:

• Increased trust between the students and the client

• Better collaboration

• More knowledge of the organization and the processes and

problems within the organization

• Less difficulty defining and analyzing the problems and

developing solutions

• A greater likelihood that the recommended changes will be

implemented, because essential support for implementation

continues with the student employee.

We have also learned that projects work better when the person

desiring that the project be done is the same person the students work

with. In the DC government projects we found that sometimes a superior

wanted the project to be done, but the students worked with a person lower

in the chain of command. In these cases the immediate client often seemed

to feel that the students were there to observe and to report to the higher

level manager. This perception sometimes led to non-cooperation, which

interfered with completing the project in a timely fashion.

Conclusion

In the United States service-learning has proven to be an effective

means both for education and for community development. Service-

learning is a new pedagogical method which is spreading rapidly in the

U.S. and in other countries. Research shows that it improves the

effectiveness of education and has a beneficial effect on students’ sense of

social responsibility. The work that students do is beneficial to

neighboring communities and organizations. Service-learning aids

learning, is a way for universities to contribute to their communities, and

helps to instill democratic values.

Winter 2011

14

References

Ackoff, Russell L. (1974). Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach

to Societal Problems. New York: Wiley.

Benton-Short, Lisa and Emily Morrison. (2007). “Service-Learning

Advisory Board Report on Service-Learning,” A working paper. The

George Washington University, Washington, DC.

Casey, Karen McKnight, et al. (2006). Advancing Knowledge in Service-

Learning: Research to Transform the Field. Greenwich, CT:

Information Age Publishing.

Coles, Robert. (1993). The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin.

Ehrlich, Thomas. (1996). “Forward,” in Jacoby, Barbara (ed.). Service-

Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. xi-xvi.

Enos, Sandra L. and Marie Troppe. (1996). “Service-Learning in the

Curriculum,” in Barbara Jacoby and Associates (eds.). Service

Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices, San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Eyler, Janet S., et al. (2003). “At a Glance: What We Know About the

Effects of Service-Learning on College Students, Faculty, Institutions,

and Communities, 1993-2000,” in Campus Compact. Introduction to

Service-Learning Toolkit: Readings and Resources for Faculty.

Second Edition. Providence, RI: Brown University, pp. 15-19.

“Faculty Service-Learning Toolkit,” (2007). Community Campus

Partnership for Health and National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

Feynman, Richard P. (1984). Surely YoiTre Joking, Mr. Feynman!’':

Adventures of a Curious Character. New York: W.W. Norton and

Company.

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Impacts of Academic Knowledge Infrastructure. Brookfield, VT:

Ashgate Publishing.

Furco, Andrew and Shelley H. Billig (eds.). (2002). Service-Learning:

The Essence of the Pedagogy. Greenwich, CT: Information Age

Publishing.

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Holland, Barbara. (2003). "Factors and Strategies that Influence Faculty

Involvement in Public Service,” in Campus Compact. Introduction to

Service-Learning Toolkit: Readings and Resources for Faculty.

Providence, RI: Brown University, pp. 253-256.

Lester, Scott W., et al. (2005). "Does Service-Learning Add Value,

examining the Perspectives of Multiple Stakeholders,” in Academy of

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Learning, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 278-294.

Levkov, Nikola and Stuart Umpleby. (2009). "How Service-Learning is

Conducted in a School of Business,” in CEA Journal of Economics,

Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 26-34, Center for Economic Analyses, Skopje,

Macedonia.

Maurrasse, David J. (2001). Beyond the Campus: How Colleges and

Universities Form Partnerships with Their Communities. New York:

Routledge.

Pritchard, Ivor A. (2002). “Community Service and Service-Learning in

America: The State of the Art,” in Furco, Andrew and Shelley H.

Billig (eds.). Service-Learning: The Essence of the Pedagogy.

Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

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Schools”, in Casey, Karen McKnight, et al. (eds.). Advancing

Knowledge in Service-Learning: Research to Transform the Field.

Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Torres, Jan and Julia Schaffer. (2000). “Benchmarks for

Campus/Community Partnerships,” in Campus Compact. Introduction

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Psychological Bulletin. 63 (6): pp. 384-99.

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Washington Academy of Sciences

Preparing “academic citizens:” Service-learning in Research

Universities

17

Phyllis Mentzell Ryder

George Washington University

Abstract

Service-learning is often promoted as a way of increasing civic engagement and

concern for public life. While these are excellent goals, their prominence may

obscure the ways that service-learning benefits students as burgeoning scholars.

1 argue that conducting research with and for community organizations helps

students understand that academic work is accountable to both public and

academic communities. At the same time, comparing the community-building

strategies of both public and academic communities introduces students to the

rhetorical moves by which scholars signal their disciplinary affiliations. A

reflexive approach to service- learning emphasizes students’ roles as scholars as

much as it emphasizes their role as citizens.

Introduction

As a philosophy of teaching embraced across many disciplines, service-

learning is employed to promote students’ civic and academic engagement.

Studies of K-12 service learning programs show that students who participate in

service-learning are more politically engaged, more tolerant of others, and even

fifteen years later are more likely to remain active in community work and to vote

than those who do not participate in such classes (Corporation for National and

Community Service 2007). Moreover, students develop better problem-solving

skills, understand complex ideas more fully, feel more connected to their schools,

and receive higher grades on content area tests (Corporation for National and

Community Service 2007). When college students take service-learning classes,

they have better attitudes, skills, and more understanding of social issues (Eyler,

Giles and Braxton, 1997).

As a strategic institutional initiative, the growth of service-learning can be

understood as a response to the broader public portrayal of “the academy” as a

distant, elite place that is out of touch with the “real world.” In times when public

budgets are highly scrutinized, research pursuits that are seen as too cerebral are

regularly ridiculed by those who would have universities focus on pragmatic

concerns. Articles written for specialized academic journals are criticized for their

dense, academic language and convoluted sentences; the complexity of academic

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thought is shrugged off as elitist obfuscation. Legislatures and businesses call on

higher education to focus on what matters to them, such as training students to be ;

future workers and entrepreneurs. Connecting academic work with community .

work can effectively counter some of those concerns by making visible the •

usefulness of fields that aren’t readily seen as “pragmatic.” And indeed, many I

students value service-learning courses precisely because of the connections they |

can make between academic content and the “real world.” |

To break down this conceptual division between “academic” and “public” i

work, service-learning helps extend the definition of “public work.” Often we talk I

about “public” life as that which happens outside of the university; we profess !

that what we are teaching “in here” can better serve students and communities i

when they work “out there.” But I think we present a disingenuous view of the

relationship between academic and public life when we treat the two as so

completely separate. If we reflect more fully on the intersections of these arenas i

and use that overlap, we will help our students understand that they can draw on a I

similar set of intellectual, community-building tools to navigate both worlds.

A longitudinal study of students at Harvard University reveals that when ;

students viewed their writing and research projects as activities with a purpose ;

beyond the specific class, they grew more as writers and felt more engaged with |

their studies (Sommers and Salz 2004). Students were more receptive to feedback >

and more engaged in their work. My approach to service-learning tries to harness

this motivation and to provide a framework through which students can look at i

work both inside and outside the academy and see how it draws on similar j

rhetorical approaches and meets similar needs. The goal is to teach academic „

writing in such a way that students recognize it as public work. ,

i

In this paper I first offer a precautionary story about setting up service- '

learning partnerships: I argue that professors need to pay special attention to what ;

communities can teach us. Then I explain the common rhetorical features of i

academic articles and the publications of community organizations: both scholars |

and community organizations draw on rhetorical strategies to build their public

support. Both work hard to convince their audiences that their methods of making ;

and sharing knowledge are valuable. Both make implicit arguments about what is :

worth paying attention to, what an audience should do, and how people in the '

audience are connected to each other. After briefly explaining these rhetorical

strategies, I will show how they appear in both a community document (a “report !

card” compiled by two local environmental organizations about the state of the ?

Anacostia River) and a scholarly article (a chemistry article that studies how i

PCBs flow down the Anacostia River). Because students in service-learning !

I

n

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19

courses are surrounded by both academic and public ways of working, talking,

and writing, they have an opportunity to study how people indicate these

underlying values within both kinds of writing. When service-learning professors

show students this overlap, we not only prepare them for writing in both places,

but we also give them tools to analyze and reflect on the values that are inherent

in the writing they may be asked to do in either place. We can show them how to

move back and forth successfully and with integrity.

Epistemological Questions: Who makes knowledge and how?

The term “service-learning” designates many different relationships

between classrooms and communities. Sometimes students perform direct service

with a community organization (serving as tutors for an after-school program, for

example, or serving food at a shelter). Sometimes students take on research and

writing tasks commissioned by an organization (conducting community surveys

about health issues or local development; creating marketing materials or

researching best practices). Sometimes students work individually; sometimes the

whole class takes on a project together. In this article, I work with a model in

which students conduct research (either individually or collaboratively) on behalf

of the organization. This research may be commissioned by the organization, or it

may be developed in response to a need that the student identifies after working at

the site. This model of service-learning, sometimes called community-based

research, requires the student to collaborate closely with the community

organization to identify parameters, understand local context, and gain access to

community resources.^

If we and our students enter into a commitment to produce research for or

with a community organization, that community relationship must be approached

mindfully. In particular, we need to be careful about how we understand what

counts as “knowledge.” The tension between academic and community

knowledge is constant. Faculty and students have the luxury of time and resources

to conduct research that nonprofit staff may not be able to carry out, but members

of community organizations have a much fuller understanding of the context and

history that will affect what knowledge is useful and appropriate to their settings.

As we design service-learning courses, we can include units that investigate how

community organizations draw on academic scholarship in developing and

carrying out their programs, and units that examine where academic scholarship is

supplemented — or even corrected — by knowledge-on-the-ground. We should

regularly emphasize the question of who makes knowledge and how? What kind

of knowledge is valued where? What is knowledge supposed to do? What

responsibilities and obligations do knowledge-makers have?

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1

Understanding the relationship between academic perspectives and

community perspectives requires careful listening and preparation. When I first

started teaching service-learning courses, I made the mistake of organizing my

course around academic theories that I expected would be illustrated through the

community work my students were engaged in. My course drew on theories of

participatory democracy and rhetorics of social protest; we investigated the

qualities of direct democracy and how citizens might be empowered to rally for

change. Our readings were about grassroots democracy that pressured government

for policy and funding changes. The community organizations I worked with,

though, drew on different models of social change: they developed on-going,

measurable projects that might transform a neighborhood slowly. They developed

after-school tutoring programs for middle school students; they brought people

together to clear hiking trails and plant gardens. Because of the design of my

course, my students left the semester feeling as if these community organizations

were adequate but not particularly important. They didn’t see community

organizations as vital to democratic life. As a teacher, I had to pause and

reconsider. Instead of beginning with academic theories, I had to begin with the

community organizations themselves and understand that democratic vision,

which I then built into my course. Whereas my first course design reinforced the

hierarchy of the academy judging the community, my second course design began

by assuming the community had the knowledge and the theory. Through my class,

the students and I worked to understand their perspective and integrate it with the

academic literature. At the same time, we came to see how community

perspectives pushed and challenged academic scholarship.

Another misfire offers a second cautionary reminder. The activities we

develop together and the way we prepare our students to enter into those

partnerships need to attend to the particular historical and contemporary tensions

in a place. David Coogan (2006) describes a service-learning writing class that

was invited to help increase parental involvement in Chicago’s public schools. He

observes that the class chose an ineffective rhetorical approach because they had

not attended carefully enough to the historical dynamics of the community’s

experiences. They had not understood what kind of change the parents felt was

possible. What Coogan’ s example makes clear is that all public work is contested

work: all communities struggle to define who they are and how they come

together.

The admonition to pay attention to local context applies to service-

learning partnerships in all academic fields: chemistry students working with

environmental organizations to study waterways, education students working with

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21

tutoring programs to boost academic achievement— we all must prepare for our

partnerships by understanding how past government, community, and cultural

dynamics might affect the work we undertake. At the same time, we must

consider how the context of the university, with its own agendas and

epistemological ideals, impacts the relationships. Making all of these components

visible to students is an exciting and important aspect of service-learning courses.

Rhetorical Moves of Public Making

Mindful of my admonition to learn from the communities we work with, I

want to show that analyzing public writing can help us see academic writing in

new ways. Because the methods and audiences for academic writing can be so

specialized, it’s easy to assume that academic writing is distinct and isolated from

any writing that would be used in community organizations. An academic paper

that analyzes how specific chemicals flow down a river is a very different sort of

document than a brochure from a community organization working to clean up

that river is. However, the chemistry article, like the brochure, is a response to a

particular rhetorical situation. Neither the article nor the brochure is a simple

transcription of fact. Just as the brochure is crafted to draw on the values of its

local audience, the academic article is carefully crafted to demonstrate the

author’s understanding and affirmation of the values of the academic community.

Both authors have to persuade their audiences that what they say is important and

worth reading, that the author is the most qualified person to learn from, and that

the author has taken into account the values and expectations of that audience.

Moreover, both texts project how the audience is expected to advance this work,

to continue what it takes to find the answers to the problem posed. In this sense,

academic writing is a form of public writing.^^

I find that I can better name and explain these rhetorical strategies when

my students and I begin by looking at public writing, especially the documents

produced by nonprofit community organizations. Community organizations make

their mission and vision very explicit; in websites and pamphlets, we can readily

see overt statements about their purpose and methods. Moreover, it’s easy for

students to understand why community organizations need to regularly convey

their worldview — their sense of how the world is and how it should be — and why

community organizations need to assert that they have the capacity and the right

methods for getting to that vision. Beginning with community documents, we can

then begin to see the similar rhetorical strategies in academic work.

We can break down the public-making strategies by looking at several

components of public writing: purpose (what creates the need for this work?).

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22

agency and capacity (who can do the work?), and interdependence (with whom do

they do this work?). Looking at each of these components of writing can help us

uncover the worldview that the text is advancing. I offer a brief glossary of these

concepts here.

Purpose: Community organizations and academics alike have to signal the

reasons for doing this work in this place at this time; in so doing, they delineate

what they see as possible and why it matters. Community organizations are

explicit about their purpose in mission statements; these are often incorporated

into their publications in some way. Those mission statements define the problem

or ideals that motivate them (sometimes emphasizing the urgency of a bad

condition, sometimes highlighting a vision they strive toward). All of the

documents that the community organization produces flow from this mission and

vision.

At the university, the mission and vision is not made quite so explicit.

Some college departments and universities publicize their mission statements, and

these ideals might be conveyed in strategic plans or Presidential addresses. If we

consider that the most frequent publications of universities are academic articles

and books, a value built into universities when such publication is a requirement

for tenure or promotion, then the purpose for university work is to create new

knowledge. In academic articles, we find, the '‘problem” being addressed is a gap

in knowledge, a misunderstanding of how the world works. Academic writing is

motivated by a need to correct or advance what has come before.

In both communities, the purpose for writing is defined in such a manner

that it suggests who can do the work and what actions need to take place.

Agency and Capacity: One of the most critical steps in bringing people

together as a public who will take action together is to convince the audience that

they are the ones who can do the work, and that they have the right tools to do so.

Nonprofit organizations might define agency and capacity in various ways.

Sometimes they highlight civic power (the importance of voting and monitoring

the public policy decisions of those in power); sometimes they highlight

consumer power (boycotting, pressuring corporations to change their behaviors);

sometimes they highlight do-it-yourself community power (such as removing

trash from a river, creating after-school programs, or putting on a community

fair).

Academics locate their agency and capacity within their disciplinary

research methods, methods designed to ensure objective and thorough analysis.

The author convinces the audience that the methods are appropriate for this

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23

particular question under review. At the same time, the author invites researchers

to continue to investigate the problem and the methods for answering it. In

providing an answer to the gap in knowledge, the researcher contributes to an on-

going scholarly conversation, and invites further reflection on the methods or the

outcomes of the research. In this way, academic writing perpetuates its own vision

of what matters: it perpetually demands that scholars create new, more, better

knowledge. Just as a community document rallies its audience to take specific

action, so the scholarly article serves to motivate and extend the work of the

academy.

Interdependence: Public writing speaks to multiple audiences: it addresses

individuals who are part of a broader public, equally invested in the issue at hand.

It has to signal to the reader that he or she is part of that larger group and that by

working together, the reader can accomplish more than he or she can individually.

The rhetorical strategy that accomplishes this is to address both friends and

strangers simultaneously. One might name leaders and associations that are part

of the cause already and also name concrete opportunities for new people to get

involved. One might describe people currently in the community who have

similar values or experiences as those who have not yet joined, so that they can

see themselves already there.

In academic writing, the audience is an academic public that is committed

to creating knowledge together over the long term. As Joseph Harris (2006)

explains convincingly in Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts, academics

draw on the works of those who have come before by extending their ideas,

countering their findings, or drawing on their methodology. Especially in the

review of literature sections, but often throughout the analysis, academics name

colleagues working on the same kinds of questions. These moves demonstrate that

knowledge-making is clearly a collaborative enterprise. Indeed, all the rules for

accurate and complete citation are in place to ensure that the collaborative motive

is not compromised by sloppy or unethical attribution. They are tools that

academics use to reinforce and perpetuate their interdependence; they signal that

no individual scholar can arrive at a full, complex view of the world — we need

each other.

Faculty teaching service-learning courses can help students understand

how writers invoke the public value of their work for both community and

academic contexts. The framework helps us to the common rhetorical strategies in

academic and community work. Moreover, examining these strategies can help us

name the aspects of service-learning that can be difficult. Sometimes, the

conventions that ensure that one’s place in the academic public can be at odds

Winter 2011

with the conventions of the communities where we work and vice-versa. Students

need to pay critical attention to the distinctions among those conventions if they

hope to cross boundaries effectively.

Anacostia Watershed Society and the George Mason University Chemistry

Department: A Study in Public and Academic Writing

The service-learning context can offer helpful, specific ways to explicate

these rather abstract concepts. Using concrete examples, such as websites and

reports, we can compare the rhetoric of academics and community organizations

and show how those moments in the texts that convey purpose, capacity, agency

and interdependence also convey the underlying value systems within each group.

To illustrate. I’ll offer a case study of the Anacostia Watershed Society in

Washington, DC, their State of the River report, and a study about polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs) in the Anacostia River conducted by George Mason University

chemistry professors and published in the Journal of Environmental Science and

Health.

Overview of the river and the two communities who report about it

The Anacostia River flows through the eastern Washington, DC, bordered

by Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8. It is fed by watersheds in Maryland’s Montgomery and

Prince George’s Counties. Near the southern tip of DC, it feeds into the Potomac;

then it joins the Chesapeake Bay and drains into the Atlantic. The Department of

Health of Washington bans any recreation that would provide primary contact

with the river, and it has declared the fish and shellfish too contaminated to eat.

The pollution in the river has been attributed to overflow from DC sewage

treatment centers during storms, other DC and area stormwater drainage

problems, agricultural chemicals flowing down from Maryland farmlands, and

pollution and leaks from industries and or contaminated sites of now defunct

industries.

One community organization that would like to see the river clean is the

Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS). The mission of The Anacostia Watershed

Society is “to protect and restore the Anacostia River and its watershed

communities by cleaning the water, recovering the shores, and honoring the

heritage in order to make the Anacostia River and its tributaries swimmable and

fishable for the health and enjoyment of everyone in the community.” The

organization maintains on-going partnerships with area universities, and students

are invited to help with trash clean-up and removal of invasive plants. AWS

partners with local science classes at all levels, as well as with local

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25

environmentally-oriented community organizations. They focus on recreational

activities (to help people develop a familiarity with and commitment to the river),

stewardship activities (removing non-native plants, picking up trash, building rain

gardens, monitoring water quality) and advocacy work (identifying sources of

pollution and applying pressure on appropriate targets to address them).

An academic researcher who studies the pollution in the Anacostia River

is professor of chemistry and biochemistiy^ at George Mason University, Dr. Greg

Foster. Like the AWS, the goals of the Foster laboratory include tracking down

sources of contaminants and aiding in river clean-up. The GMU chemistry and

biochemistry department announces that students working with Dr. Foster can

expect to contribute to projects along the Anacostia River:

Students in the Foster research laboratory investigate the sources,

reactions and transport of contaminants in the aquatic

environment. [One of the] ongoing lines of active research . . .

involves determining the amounts and sources of polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs) in storm runoff in the Anacostia River.

In addition to the concrete tasks of identifying pollutants and identifying

best practices for removing them. Dr. Foster contributes to the field of chemistry

and biochemistry by developing analytical methods. A biographical blurb on

George Mason’s Research Groups page describes Foster’s agenda this way:

“divided among assessing urban regions as sources of organic contaminants to

coastal air- and watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay region, developing

technologies to remove contaminants that harm the aquatic environment, and

developing analytical methods.”

This last point is a critical distinction, as it indicates Dr. Foster’s

commitment to the university as a place to develop and refine research methods.

Whereas the AWS hires chemists and biologists to monitor and track the impact

of pollutants. Dr. Foster’s purpose is also to evaluate and improve the

methodology used to do such work. In this way, his affiliation to the university,

and to the broader goals of knowledge creation, exceeds the practical focus on

cleaning up the river.

Analyzing Community and Academic Documents about the Anacostia River

To illustrate how scholars and community members build a sense of

public purpose and capacity in their writing, we can compare the State of the

River Report Card, a publication from the Anacostia Watershed Society, with an

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26

article co-written by Dr. Foster in the Journal of Environmental Science and

Health that also evaluates pollution in the Anacostia River.

The State of the River Report Card is an 8-page 8 ‘A x 1 1 glossy pamphlet

with a full color photo of a Great White Egret and a Great Blue Heron standing in

the Anacostia River. Most of the pages include large graphics and little text. The

first page offers a short welcome statement from the President of the Anacostia

Watershed Society and the Riverkeeper and Executive Director of the Anacostia

Riverkeeper (AR), the organizations that jointly wrote the report. They explain,

“This annual report card is your guide to how well our communities,

environmental groups, and governments are meeting the goal of a fishable and

swimmable Anacostia River as soon as possible It provides a benchmark of

the core river health parameters based on scientific data and policy efforts” (p. 1).

Below the letter, but above the signatures, is a photo of the two leaders, standing

in front of the Anacostia River. The mission statements of the two organizations

are listed. At the bottom of the page, in small print, is a series of “disclaimers”:

these footnotes report the assumptions behind their methodology, with

acknowledgements like, “All available, professionally collected data was used.

The data sets include those collected by DC government, Maryland Department of

Natural Resources, and the Anacostia Watershed Society.” Acronyms are

explained, and explanations about rate calculations are provided.

The remaining pages lay out the findings, using short paragraphs and

plenty of graphics. The second page shows a map of the Anacostia River with

named bridges indicated. Three large “Fail” notations are stamped along the river.

The page defines the three main areas studied and the main impediments to clean

water, and the parameters used to assess the water quality. The third page includes

a chart, delineating the water quality according to each of the assessment areas

and the number of years estimated to meet the water quality standards. Page four

is a political report card, evaluating public policy around stormwater

management, toxics, trash and overall plan for DC, two Maryland counties, the

State of Maryland and the Federal government. The ratings are indicated visually

by thumb-up or thumb-down hands. The final pages provide brief (one-to-two

phrase) explanations of the problems that the river associations seek to address,

with photographs and one or two sentences describing solutions, which include

environmental site design (such as rain gardens) along with political pressure and

legal action to address trash, toxics and bacteria.

The Journal of Environmental Science and Health article, in contrast, is a

dense seven and a half page document followed by a page and a half of footnotes.

The descriptive title is “Polychlorinated biphenyls in stormwater runoff entering

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27

the tidal Anacostia River, Washington, DC, through small urban catchments and

combined sewer outfalls.” The abstract announces that the major findings

contradict previous assumptions about the primary sources of PCB contamination:

“The present study suggests that input of PCBs from Tower Beaverdam Creek is

likely to be greater than those from the two major branches (Northeast and

Northwest Branches) that were believed as primary source areas.”

The article includes an introduction, which reviews the current state of the

Anacostia River, drawing primarily on government reports and identifying the

exigency for this project: “To achieve the first goal of the Anacostia River action

plan — the reduction of pollutant loadings — it is essential to understand the

sources and behavior of pollutants in stormwater runoff, which is regarded as one

of the major pathways delivering urban pollutants to surface water” (p. 568). The

paper argues for the necessary methodology to complete such a task, “A

quantitative understanding of the sources of PCBs in stormwater runoff and its

transport dynamics in the Anacostia River will be essential in developing cost-

effective stormwater runoff control strategies employing effective best

management practices” (p. 568).

After reviewing the sample collection and the strategies and materials used

for extracting PCBs, the majority of the article discusses the level of PCBs in

stormwater runoff, noting that most occur as particles, and then evaluating how

the particles behave in the water. The analysis includes explanations about the

techniques used to evaluate the data, equations that express the relationships of

materials in the stormwater, graphs that show the linear regressions of some

findings. The analysis refers frequently to the previous studies of PCBs in the

Anacostia River and elsewhere, both to give credit when this study uses their

techniques and to indicate how the current study extends the findings or methods

of those works. It concludes with a review of the findings, acknowledgements of

the funding sources for the research, and thirty-five bibliographic endnotes.

Purpose: Both documents arise from a concern about pollution in the

Anacostia River. The State of the River responds to a political need to document

progress (or lack of progress) from DC, Maryland counties, Maryland state and

federal agencies in stemming the causes or cleaning up the pollution. It provides a

water quality report that looks at four indicators of pollution; by highlighting the

number of years until the water quality will meet set standards, it again heightens

the need to take action. The document is created to rally people to take action and

to encourage them to take action with AWS and AR.

Identifying the purpose in academic work can be harder for students, who

often criticize academic work for merely explaining problems and not laying out

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solutions. The scholarly article is also motivated by a concern about pollution in

the Anacostia River and it draws on government sources to clarify the urgency of

the problem. The main focus of the article, though, is not the lack of progress but

a gap in the understanding of the problem itself. The goal is not to rally people to

make change, but to rally people to study the problem more closely so the action

later on taken will be most effective. The article seeks to “understand the sources

and behaviors of pollutants in stormwater runoff,” and while the ending does

suggest some potential best practices to address the sources and behaviors that the

researchers found, the majority of the document lays out the methods and analysis

that allow them to better describe one particular part of the problem. The article is

designed to build on previous research and provide evidence-based data that can

contribute to someone else’s solution design.

Agency and Capacity: We can readily see how the authors of the State of

the River indicate that they have the capacity to take on the problems they’ve

identified. The introductory letter from the Executive Director of Anacostia

Riverkeeper and the President of Anacostia Watershed Society ends with an

upbeat assertion that “We can clean [the River] up if we work together!” After

listing the current failed water quality standards and lack of action by the

politicians, the document outlines the solutions that the nonprofits advance to

address the issues. The problems are depicted visually with photographs of the

river. For the problem “Stormwater,” we see a photo of the River under normal

flow and a photo of the same site with high and turbulent waters. The solution is

“Environmental Site Design,” such as raingardens that “maintain a site’s original

drainage pattern as much as possible by capturing and infiltrating rainwater.”

Similarly, the page on the problem of “Toxics, Trash and Bacteria” uses a

photograph of trash in the water and a picture of an industrial building tagged as a

“legacy toxic site.” Here, the solution is “education, restoration projects, and legal

action.” Finally, the document lists the eight actions individuals can take,

including supporting the organizations by donating and volunteering. The reader

of the document is invoked as someone who has power to pressure the political

entities who received the thumbs-down ratings, and who can support the work of

the organization through donations, volunteering, and a few individual actions.

Finding the indicators of agency and capacity in the academic article is

easier when students understand the audience to be other academics, whose job is

to scrutinize the methodology and analysis of any study. As Frank Haig and Peg

Kay argue in “The Role of Academies of Science in the Critical Examination of

New Ideas,” professional communities “provide a willing but intelligent audience

to which an innovator can make a presentation” (p. 61). Once presented, “a new

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29

idea has to find its way to acceptance. The path may be long and conflicted. The

opposition may be intense and tortuous. The process, however, is necessary to

ensure the emergence of a founded confidence on the part of the broad scientific

community” (p. 61).

Once we understand this context, it’s easy to find the places where the

PCB report authors assert who has the capacity “to understand the sources and

behavior of pollutants in stormwater runoff’ (p. 568). Throughout the article, the

authors anticipate their skeptical audience by reaffirming the capacity of their

disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodology to explain pollutant sources and

behaviors. They regularly anticipate concerns about how they have executed the

techniques, acknowledging and justifying whenever they have made variations on

previous methods. Moreover, they regularly qualify their assertions; they

understand that for their argument to be persuasive, it cannot exceed the capacity

of the methods. In this way, they provide an active and important role for their

academic readers, just as AWS and AR do for their civic readers.

Interdependence: Examining the rhetoric of interdependence in a

document can help us gain a deeper understanding of how the authors imagine the

members of their audience should relate to each other to accomplish the work at

hand. The nonprofit authors of the State of the River depend on public attention

and action to achieve their political and environmental goals, so their readers must

come away from the document feeling as if they are part of a broader community

that is invested in the cause. The rhetorical challenge in such a document is to

address newcomers and current participants at the same time, and to help them see

their relationship with each other. Some of the gestures that invoke such

interdependence are easy to spot — as in the closing of the introductory letter, “we

can clean it up if we work together! Will you join us?” The audience here is the

newcomer, interested in becoming part of the “us” crowd. The solutions proposed

are described as “our” solutions and what “we” do. However, sometimes the

reader is treated as separate from the organizations, a move that seems to

undermine the message of interdependence. The organizations are given agency

and capacity for certain kinds of change, while the reader is invited to take

different steps. The steps that “you” can take include actions readers can do

individually, without the nonprofits. While the final action is “support the

Anacostia Riverkeeper and the Anacostia Watershed Society,” the overall

phrasing in this section suggests that the reader may not need the organization in

order to accomplish the same goals.

Just as public texts should convince their audiences that they are already

potential actors in that community, so in academic context, the readers should see

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30

that they have a significant, important role in the broader goal of knowledge-

making. Through the exchange of scholarly articles, scholars depend on each

other to help create, critique and extend knowledge. The bigger goal of arriving at

new understanding does not happen alone, and scholars regularly and explicitly

acknowledge their dependence on other scholars throughout their work. We can

see these efforts throughout the PCB article, as the authors name those scholars

who have asked similar questions in other geographical areas: “For comparison

with the present study, some other studies are summarized below” (p. 570). They

also confirm their results by comparing them with similar studies: “This high

enrichment of PCBs in the particle phase is quite common in urban stormwater

samples. Eganhouse and Sheerblom found high concentrations of PCBs in the

particle phase (50-98%) in combined sewer overflow samples” (p. 570). The

general academic habits of citation and attribution are part and parcel of this need

to acknowledge interdependence. By acknowledging how our methods and

analysis have been influenced by previous scholars, we signal that we understand

that on-going knowledge requires us to read each other critically, to explain the

heritage of our ideas, and to offer a clear roadmap for future scholars so that they

can replicate our work. If we skip any of these steps, we risk violating the

expeetations for our roles as members of the academic community.

Public and Academic Writing in Service-Learning classes

To keep my argument relatively concise and straightforward, I limited my

analysis to two documents related to the same public concern. When faculty

develop partnerships with community organizations working on public issues, and

when we help students conceptualize research projects that can be useful to those

organizations, I suggest that we ask students to prepare both academic- and

community-orientated documents based on their research. The challenge of

transforming their analysis to meet the different expectations of each community

allows them to explore the parallels and distinctions in those rhetorical

conventions. I further contend that we provide a helpful framework for

understanding the variations they find. A productive rhetorical framework will

demonstrate that at a broader level, academics regularly signal their participation

in academic communities as they write, and they follow conventions that reveal

their understanding of what aeademics value and their understanding about why

academia itself is valuable to the broader public. To accomplish this, academics

project their purpose, their ageney, their capacity to address the problem, and the

audience’s interdependence with the author and each other. By comparing the

rhetoric of community organizations with the rhetoric of academia, students in

service-learning courses can see that both groups draw on a repertoire of '

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community-building strategies. Naming and analyzing these distinctions can help

students consider their own responsibilities and potential as “academic citizens.”

References

Anacostia Riverkeeper and Anacostia Watershed Society (2010). State of the River

Report. Washington, D.C.: Author.

Coogan, D. (Jun 2006). Service learning and social change: the case for materialist

rhetoric. College Composition and Communication, 57(4), 667-693.

Corporation for National and Community Service. (2007). The impact of service -

learning: A review of current research. New York: Author.

Deans, T. (2000). Writing partnerships: Service-learning in composition. Urbana, 111.:

National Council of Teachers of English.

Eyler, J. S., Giles, D. E., Jr., & Braxton, J. (1997). The Impact of Service-Learning on

College Students. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 4, 5-15.

Haig, F. R., and Kay, P. (2006). The role of academies of science in the critical

examination of new ideas: looking at Gaia. Journal of the Washington Academy of

Sciences Summer, 61-67.

Harris, J. (2006). Rewriting: How to do Things with Texts. Logan, Utah: Utah State

University Press.

Hauser, G. A. (1999). Vernacular voices: The rhetoric of publics and public spheres.

Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

Hwang, H., and Foster, G. D. (2008). Polychlorinated biphenyls in stormwater runoff

entering the tidal Anacostia River, Washington, DC, through small urban

catchments and combined sewer outfalls. Journal of Environmental Science and

Health Part A, 43, 567-575. doi:l 0.1 080/1 0934520801 893527

Ryder, P. M. (201 1). Rhetorics for community action: Public writing and writing publics.

Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.

Sommers, N., and Saltz, L. (2004). The novice as expert: Writing the freshman year.

College Composition and Communication, 56(1), pp. 124-149.

Warner, M. (2005). Publics and counterpublics. Cambridge: Zone Books.

' In Writing Parmerships, Thomas Deans offers a helpful overview and useful advice about

“writing for” and “writing with” communities in service-learning courses.

" For more on theories of public rhetoric, see Hauser, Ryder, Warner. For more analysis of the

public function of the academy, see the final chapter in Ryder.

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Washington Academy of Sciences

Service-Learning in Croatia and the region: progress,

obstacles and solutions

33

Nives Mikelic Preradovic

University of Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to discuss the possibilities of transforming

universities in Croatia and the region into places that take account of the

emerging community trends and current challenges that our students

should be capable of dealing with once they finish their studies. Service-

learning (SL) was introduced in the largest faculty of the University of

Zagreb (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) in 2006-07 through

a series of faculty workshops and through academic courses. The goals

and requirements of this teaching and learning method were based upon

our U.S. experience, gained at the George Washington University. Since

then around 50 SL projects in the IT field have been completed and

evaluated. Service learning was also introduced in the Faculty of

Economy at the University of Rijeka in 2008. In 2009 it was added as a

regulation of the Croatian National Youth program 2009-2013,

approved by the Croatian Government. Also, in the same year the

Croatian translation of the term “service-learning” (“drustveno korisno

ucenje”) offered by the author of this paper became accepted as a

common term at the JFDP (Junior Faculty Development Program)

Regional Conference. Although the workshops were extremely popular

both in Croatia and the region, and although SL courses achieved

remarkable student enrollment in a short time, the number of faculty

who have so far implemented it as a teaching strategy is very low. This

paper discusses the reasons for faculty resistance to engage in SL and

some possible solutions.

Introduction

In this paper we present the recent development and evaluation of

service-learning (SL) in Croatia and the region, explaining the advantages

and drawbacks of the application of SL in the Bologna Process in our

universities.

The Bologna Process is a European reform process driven by the

46 countries aiming at establishing a European Higher Education Area

(EHEA). The Process officially started in 1999, when 29 countries signed

the Declaration in Bologna (hence the name of the whole Process). The

Declaration states the following objectives: adoption of a system of easily

comparable degrees based on two main cycles, undergraduate and

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34

graduate; establishment of a system of credits - European Credit Transfer

System (ECTS) and promotion of European co-operation in quality

assurance.

Croatia joined the Bologna Process in 2001, in Prague, where the

ministers adopted the so-called Prague Communique, introducing several

new elements in the Process: students were recognized as full and equal

partners in the decision making process; the social dimension of the

Process was stressed and the idea that higher education is a public good

and a public responsibility was highlighted.

The purpose of this paper is threefold. The introductory part gives

an overview of the most important problems facing higher education in

Croatia today and presents a remarkable solution to these problems -

service-learning. The second part identifies the problem of integration of

service-learning in the curriculum and provides suggestions to advance

service-learning in Croatia and to improve student confidence and

knowledge of the world by combining service learning and e-leaming

teaching methods. Finally, the third part of the paper describes the

progress of service-learning in Croatia and the benefits it brings to

students and the whole educational system.

Challenges to the Croatian Educational System

The two most important educational issues facing higher education

in Croatia and the region’ today are: theoretical knowledge without skills

and a weak connection between the university and the community and

between the university and the labor market. Higher Education (HE)

institutions in Croatia and the neighboring countries have worked for

many years on their curriculum to keep pace with the scientific

advancement of the field. The community, on the other hand, has its own

development, emerging trends and problems that our students should be

capable of dealing with once they finish their studies. The development of

community, labor market and HE institutions each has taken a different

track.

The London Communique, with the working title Towards the

European Higher Education Area: Responding to Challenges in a

Globalized World is a document of the Ministers of Higher Education in

the countries participating in the Bologna Process. It reviews the progress

made in their countries since meeting in Bergen in 2005. The ministers

emphasized the need for an attractive and competitive labor market in

Europe and pointed out the major problems faced by higher education

Washington Academy of Sciences

35

institutions: preparing students to become active citizens in a democratic

society, as well as preparing them for their constantly changing future

careers, enabling their personal development and stimulating research and

innovation.

All the above mentioned issues are far more complex in Southeast

Europe than they appear to be in other European countries. A detailed

insight into those educational issues in Croatia results from a survey” on

the implementation of the Bologna Process carried out at 5 Universities in

Croatia (University of Zagreb, University of Rijeka, University of Zadar,

University of Split and JJ Strossmayer University of Osijek). The survey

involved a total of 3261 students in their second year of study.

We learned from the survey that 40% of the students study only to

pass the exams at the end of the course, not to acquire knowledge and

more than 50% of them never engaged in class discussion (either because

they never had a chance for it or because they do not feel comfortable

expressing their opinions in front of the large class). For one third of the

students (31%) the biggest problem is low level or almost no practical

work. Many lecturers think that an academic institution is not a place

where students should get knowledge at the application level, but rather on

a more abstract, theoretical level. Therefore, the majority of them

emphasize lecturing and theory rather than application and discussion, and

it is not a rare case that a law student never visits a court or that a language

teacher never tries teaching a class before he or she gets the diploma.

One of the changes that the Bologna Process initiated was

interactive teaching and focusing more on student’s skills, competences

and the practical implications of course material. The most frequently

mentioned student expectations of the Bologna Process in Croatia, which

unfortunately have not been fulfilled to date, are: work in small groups,

teamwork, fieldwork and practical classes. In addition, the results of the

Gallup survey (European Commission: Eurobarometer, 2009) revealed

that 76% of Croatian students strongly agree that they need more

opportunities to acquire skills to meet the demands of today’s workplace -

communication skills, teamwork and learning to learn. Also, 66% of

higher education students in Croatia strongly agree that study programs

should focus on teaching specialized knowledge. Finally, between 70%-

78% of students in Croatia also said enhanced personal development was a

very important goal of higher education. The survey’s fieldwork was

carried out from 12 February to 20 February 2009. Almost 15,000

randomly-selected students in higher education institutions were

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36

interviewed in the 27 Member States of the EU, Croatia, Iceland, Norway

and Turkey.

Regarding opportunities to find a job after getting a degree, most

of the students in Croatia do not have confidence in the current

educational system. The biggest and justified concern our students have is

linked to the weak connection between the labor market and HE. The fact

is that at the moment there are 315,438 unemployed people in Croatia (an

unemployment rate of 18.7%).'" This is one of the largest obstacles for the

country's development. Unemployment continues to grow annually, with a

strong increase among highly-skilled laborers, limiting the

competitiveness of the domestic economy and economic recovery. These

are the most important problems facing higher education in Croatia today.

These issues should be targets for further research and development of the

Croatian Higher Education System.

Service-Learning: A Strategy for the Croatian Educational System

This paper proposes service-learning teaching and strategy as a

way to address these community and educational challenges. The

approach emphasizes the integration of service learning into the

curriculum in Southeast Europe and Croatia in particular.

Service-learning (SL), a teaching strategy that integrates

meaningful community service with academic learning, is a remarkable

solution for bringing community, labor market and HE institutions in

Croatia and the region more closely together to satisfy the goals of the

Bologna Process.

Through service-learning our students could learn not only how to

connect course theory and practice, but also how to help others, give of

themselves, and enter into caring relationships with others in their

community. The goal of service-learning is to assist students to see the

relevance of their new knowledge in the real world. That is what they are

missing at the moment.

Although well developed in North America, SL is for the most part

still absent in Europe. The Community Learning Program that has been

developing since 2001 in the Dublin Institute of Technology was, until

recently, the only European example of service learning.

Service-learning was introduced in the final year of graduate study

in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the largest faculty of the

University of Zagreb (Croatia), in 2006-07 through a series of faculty

Washington Academy of Sciences

37

workshops and academic courses. The goals and requirements for this

teaching and learning method were based upon my U.S. experience gained

at the George Washington University, where I was a Junior Faculty

Development Program scholar.

Up to that point, students of information sciences learned the

theoretical concepts and applied them to imaginary or simulated

circumstances, but rarely managed to apply the acquired knowledge to the

real world. The service-learning projects provided them with structured

time to rethink and implement ideas that they had during their 5 -year

study, but never had an opportunity to transform them into “hands-on”

experiences and observe the results.

In the first two years, about 50 ST projects in the IT field were

completed and evaluated (Mikelic Preradovic, Kisicek & Boras, 2010).

After the successful project outcomes in the test phase, service-

learning was introduced into the final year of undergraduate study as well,

as a part of a new curriculum under the Bologna Process in the Academic

Year 2007-2008. Students were surveyed at the end of that academic year

and the results showed that such placement in real (vs. theoretical)

learning situations was very important in increasing the confidence and

self-esteem they felt they needed once they entered the labor market.

These projects will serve as an excellent reference and indication of their

creativity and ability to engage intellectually, emotionally and socially.

Regarding the unemployment issue, we believe that an innovative

framework to addressing high-skilled youth unemployment would be to

combine service-learning, community development, and career

development into SL projects that would increase student's levels of

personal and social development, core skills and employability and build

life-long connections between students and their communities.

Service-learning can assist our students with developing work/life

skills, knowledge and career passions which could improve their future

work prospects through increased community awareness. Furthermore, it

can increase their ability to develop and match specific and transferable

skills with the requirements of today's labour market. Finally, service-

learning can help (at least as a partial solution) to meet the educational

needs of long-term unemployed people and to develop learning

opportunities in response to identified need.

Despite the obvious benefits ST brings to students and the whole

educational system, it is not yet popular among the faculty in Croatia and

Winter 2011

38

the region, at least not as popular as e-leaming.*'' In the next part we offer

potential explanations and examine how we might overcome the barriers

to the adoption of service-learning in Croatia and Southeast Europe.

Service-Learning: Challenges to Integration in Croatia

With so many obvious benefits, one might think that faculty

members in Croatia would universally embrace service-learning with great

enthusiasm. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Although the service-learning workshops in Croatia were

extremely popular and received strong support from the Dean in the

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the number of faculty who

have since implemented SL as a teaching strategy is very low.

Perhaps the reasons for this can be found in the workshop exit

surveys. When asked if they plan on incorporating SL into their teaching,

a certain number of attendants expressed worry that this teaching strategy

is more time-consuming and requires more devotion than traditional

seminar teaching. They also mentioned logistical difficulties in

implementing SL, since their class is usually big and it is hard to organize

students in groups with similar levels of motivation that will work

productively at the same pace.

Regarding the logistics, teaching loads in Croatia are really heavy.

By way of comparison, a single bachelor course at the Faculty of

Philosophy, University of Zagreb has 60 students enrolled every year on

average, while for the same course at Georgetown University in

Washington, DC, there are up to 10 students enrolled per year.

Apart from the SL issues, another issue is that our faculty teachers

lack autonomy in curriculum design. The Croatian Ministry of Science,

Education and Sports designs the curriculum and dictates what shall be

taught and, unfortunately, the faculty members have a relatively minor

role in that process. Consequently, faculty teachers have less freedom to

innovate in their teaching, but also little tradition and motivation to

innovate.

Although integration of service-learning into curricula affects

Eastern European areas on a larger scale, the problem is not

geographically limited. Although perceived as a successful and innovative

teaching strategy by many practitioners in the field (Strand, Marullo,

Cutforth, Stoecker & Donohue, 2003; Marullo & Edwards, 2000; Bringle,

Games, & Malloy, 1999), barriers against its integration in the U.S.

Washington Academy of Sciences

39

curriculum include: scarce administrative support, faculty participation,

and budgetary constraints (Bringle & Hatcher, 2000; Holland, 1997;

Ward, 1996).

We posit that the above mentioned reasons are not strong enough

for Croatian faculty to avoid engagement in SL projects and teaching

strategy on such a large scale and that they only need an excellent

enticement to recognize sen/ice-leaming as a research and teaching tool

worth the time and the effort.

Our five-year service-learning research and experience shows that

faculty who replace the seminar part of their course with SL projects (in

other words: those who replace imaginary problems and solutions with

real community experience) never give up this teaching method, no matter

how scarce the budget or administrative support may be. On the contrary,

they enthusiastically continue to motivate students to enroll and they

emphasize that every year it becomes less time-consuming, more

meaningful and definitely more than a setting to teach theoretical concepts

in a hands-on manner, once they get past the initial logistics.

The obvious benefits of SL for faculty members is taking on new

roles, seeing students excited and the classroom energized, building

personal connections with students, learning from our students and seeing

greater student involvement in discussions and the relevance of the

subject. These benefits outweight the logistical problems.

Therefore, we believe that we need to discover the key motivators

to raise Croatian faculty’s interest in service-learning. We also believe that

combining service-learning with new and successful e-leaming methods

that are still not used in Croatia (such as introduction of e-Portfolios)

would make the faculty more willing to engage in SL.

E-portfolios are digitized collections of text-based, graphic, or

multimedia artifacts including demonstrations, resources, and

accomplishments that represent what a person has learned over time on

which he/she has reflected. They are designed for presentation to one or

more audiences for a particular rhetorical purpose and can be used for

final assessment as well as for reflection, deep learning, knowledge

growth and social interaction.

The faculty could first start using e-portfolios as a tool for student

reflection in their e-courses; while later it can be employed as a tool for

connection of the service experience to learning in their courses.

Winter 2011

40

Therefore, we plan to explore the possibility to connect SL course

design with e-course design, so that Croatian faculty members get the

opportunity to combine the elements of two educational innovations (e-

leaming and service-learning) in a thoughtful way.

Service-Learning: Progress in Croatia

During the Academic Year 2006-07 the author conducted

workshops for the Croatian faculty in different fields and with different

Croatian universities, school teachers and NGO’s in order to promote SL

and share in-class experiences. Service-learning was also introduced in the

Faculty of Economy, University of Rijeka (described in detail in the paper

co-authored with Jelenc & Mujevic, 2008). As of 2008-09, a stand-alone

elective course “Service-learning in Information Sciences” has been

offered to all students in the University of Zagreb, and thus achieved

remarkable enrollment in a short time.'"

In 2009 SL was added as a regulation of the Croatian National

Youth program 2009-2013 approved by the GovemmenU\ Also, in the

same year the Croatian translation of the “service-learning” term

(“drustveno korisno ucenje”) coined by the author of this paper, became

accepted as a common term at the JFDP Regional Conference'^". Since

2008 all the service-learning projects in the Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences are transformed step by step into service e-leaming

projects, offering faculty and students the ability to apply e-leaming

technology they adore to service-learning pedagogy through service-

learning projects that are (at least partially) conducted online.

Due to the fact that the information technology provides an

opportunity for students of information sciences to help community

organizations, and since information literacy becomes an important social

issue, our students tmly have a great field for activity where they can meet

different interests and apply specific knowledge and skills.

All of our students who took part in service e-leaming projects

used email, discussion boards, content management system (Moodle),

online journals and Word processor collaboration features for sharing,

collecting and organizing their work, as well as their reflection.

Below we briefly describe some of the service e-leaming projects

that were directly related to a community need. In most of these projects,

the students selected the project in consultation with the supervisor in the

chosen NGO, school, library or museum.

Washington Academy of Sciences

41

Project 1. Starting with the school year of 2009-2010, all pupils

who complete the fourth grade of grammar school in Croatia take the state

graduation exam (based on the Act on Primary and Secondary

Education"""^). The state graduation exam has two parts: mandatory exams

in general education subjects such as Croatian language and elective

exams in one or more optional subjects, such as Informatics. Our

information science students came up with the following project idea - an

online demonstration designed as a preparatory step for the state

graduation exam covering the complete information and computer science

curriculum of the state grammar schools. The students’ partner was the

National Centre for External Evaluation of Education that creates paper

exams for all subjects in the state graduation exam and delivers exam

materials to schools.

Our information science students summarized their knowledge and

skills in the field of computer and information sciences and created the

application in the midst of turbulence caused by the introduction of the

state graduation exam. With this project they aimed to gain for their own

benefit, connecting the theory learned during the study with new practical

experiences while at the same time helping the pupils to achieve at a high

level in the state graduation exam.

State Graduation Online Demo Exam in Informatics'^ consists of

50 multiple-choice questions written in ActionScriptS through

collaboration with the National Centre for External Evaluation of

Education. It was tested and evaluated by the third grade pupils of Velika

Gorica grammar schoof, who will take the state graduation exam at the

end of the school year 2011-2012. The evaluation was performed as an

online survey that aimed to identify the impact of the student project on

grammar school pupils and to discover suggestions that could improve the

effectiveness of the exam.

The overall rating of the demo test was high. Regarding the

service-learning component, this project contributed to the pupils'

preparedness for the state graduation exam in an elective subject,

informatics, and offered them an insight into new technology and new

ways of knowledge acquiring and its evaluation (such as e-leaming and

online exams). The questions in the demo exam cover the entire content of

the subject of Informatics for the 4-year grammar schools, while the

simple but interactive online application enables pupils to take the exam

and test their knowledge anytime and anywhere, getting immediate

feedback.

Winter 201 1

42

Project 2. The aim of the project was to develop the educational

corner for the elementary school’s web page""' that would help the school

and its teachers to attract more pupils to visit the web page and learn

something new or possibly affirm their knowledge on a familiar topic

while browsing through the content and the enjoyable educational

activities. Students wanted the pupils to learn in a fun, interesting and

different way providing an e-environment where they felt comfortable to

learn. Our information science students were given numerous handwritten

materials made by the school’s pupils during their school year that

consisted of anagrams, mental maps, games of logic, quizzes on general

knowledge, Croatian language and literature, history, etc. Although it took

a lot of time and effort to convert these handwritten materials into useful

e-activities, students used it as a means to attract pupils. Their basic

hypothesis was that e-activities would look more friendly, interesting and

engaging to pupils, if their own ideas and materials were implemented in

the e-environment.

The educational comer was also intended to motivate the

elementary schools’ teachers to realize the importance of communication

with their pupils using a different medium, an online environment, and to

encourage them to put their educational materials online in order to

establish better communication and interaction with their pupils. Many

teachers embraced this application, while school pupils were excited to

find that their handwritten materials were used for something creative and

useful.

Project 3. Another group of information science students designed

a multimedia project for the NGO “Friends of Animals.”. Although a

leader in their field in Croatia, the NGO was at the very beginning of IT

usage when we first established contact and offered help. They had

computers and a website, but didn't possess the knowledge to use IT as a

driver for reaching their goals.

Therefore, they were excited about the students’ SL project, which

aimed to inform the citizens about the vegetarian products available in our

stores, encourage them to a healthier lifestyle using vegetarian recipes and

to learning about healthy food in an interesting way (via an interactive

database and multimedia applications on a CD-ROM). The NGO was

happy to promote their products by distributing this CD application in the

community for free at an event organized during World Vegetarian Day.

One of our students received a job offer from the NGO for the

position of information technology manager.

Washington Academy of Sciences

43

Project 4. Museology graduate students found that their colleagues

and friends visited museums in Zagreb rarely, and also that it is difficult to

find funding for promotion of museums at the University in the form of

posters and brochures. Therefore, they designed an e-brochure with

appealing design, freely accessible on the website of the Faculty for all

students who want to discover the world of museums in Zagreb. Their

partners were the following institutions: Archaeological Museum,

Croatian History Museum, Croatian Natural History Museum, Croatian

School Museum, Ethnographic Museum, Museum of Arts and Crafts,

Tehnical Museum and Zagreb City Museum. The number of e-brochure

monthly visits is growing, especially in the beginning of the academic

year, when freshmen explore the faculty website.

Project 5. Another project group consisted of Museology graduate

students and information technology students with teacher orientation,

who designed a workbook for children to complete during a visit to the

Zagreb City Museum and art workshops to help them acquire knowledge

in a museum. Their client was the Zagreb City Museum, where they tested

and evaluated the workbook with a group of elementary school pupils.

Both the pupils and the museum staff rated the workbook as an interesting

and useful tool for children, which they can keep as a souvenir from their

visit to the museum.

Each of the above project groups met a real social need, applying

the theoretical knowledge gained during their studies and acquiring new

skills required for activities that they selected due to their interests.

Another 45 groups also successfully completed excellent service-learning

projects.

In order to perform a student satisfaction analysis, we conducted a

survey in 2010 described in detail in the paper co-authored with Kisicek,

S. & Boras, D., 2010. The evaluation was performed as an online survey

that aimed to identify the impact of SL on our students and to collect

suggestions that could improve the effectiveness of the course. The survey

consisted of 20 questions that tried to encourage students to critically

reflect on their SE experience, but also to reflect on the community

partners and the course itself.

Female students were slightly overrepresented in our sample:

71.4% of students taking the survey were female. Interestingly, 57.1% of

the students did volunteer work before taking this course, but most of

them did not perceive it as worth mentioning in their CV. All students

(100%) would recommend the next generation of students to enroll in the

Winter 201 1

44

course. Also, all of them think that the SL project was a rewarding

experience and that they expanded their existing knowledge and skills.

The survey numbers show that the majority of our students are willing to

volunteer in the community after the completion of the project (92.9%).

The overall quality of their service-learning experience was rated

high, with 85.7% of respondents stating it was excellent or good.

Furthemore, 71.4% think their SL experience was more educational than

the traditional seminar at the university. In regards to the relationship with

the community partner, 92.9% of the students would recommend the

community partner to future students.

Regarding the SL project influence on students, 50% of them

strongly agree or agree that they understand better the needs and problems

in their society, 57.1% strongly agree or agree that they feel responsible

for progress in the society, 85.7% of students strongly agree to encourage

other students to enroll in the SL course, while 78.6% strongly agree or

agree that the social aspect of the project demonstrated how they can

become involved in community activities. Furthermore, 78.5% strongly

agree that they learned better the content of the course and study through

the application of knowledge to real community problems, while 57.1%

strongly agree that this was a chance to reflect on their future career and

educational objectives. They consider the most important aspects of

service-learning to be teamwork, interaction with the client, references for

their CV, communication skills, applying knowledge and being able to

give of themselves.

Additionally, students had to define in which areas the project had

a positive impact. 78.6% of them agreed that it influenced their attitude

towards service-learning projects, faculty where SL projects are

implemented, their attitude towards their study and work after study. Also,

85.7% of them agreed the project improved the application and

enrichment of knowledge gained in the study as well as the ability to work

in teams and increased their feelings of personal achievement. Moreover,

71.4% of them agreed the project fostered the desire to help others and a

sense of social responsibility and involvement in the society. Finally,

78.6% of them agreed that it increased their self-confidence and skills

such as communication, problem solving and persistence as well as the

insight into their personal weaknesses and abilities.

In addition, our community partners evaluated the impact of the

project at the end of the semester and 78.6% of them strongly agreed or

agreed that the SL project was really useful for society. All of them

Washington Academy of Sciences

45

expressed interest in future collaboration with our institution and our

students.

Based on the above described experience, it can be concluded that

service-learning offers students a unique opportunity for recognizing the

complexity of the concepts of academic courses and research issues. In

addition to the adoption of theoretical knowledge, these projects enabled

the students to integrate the knowledge with experience. The projects also

enabled the community to solve some problems and to strengthen its

connection to the University. Finally, the commitment of students to the

idea of service-learning made it possible to satisfy the most frequently

mentioned student expectations of the Bologna Process: teamwork,

fieldwork and work on student’s skills, competences and practical

implications of gained knowledge.

Future Work

Communities in which businesses are located today are

international, diverse and sometimes virtual. On the other hand, the

number of e-courses in the universities is growing at an exponential rate,

as well as the challenges of today’s rapidly-changing, technology-

mediated reality. Therefore, both our teachers and students need to prepare

themselves for an increasingly challenging e-linked work environment

with diverse participants and modes of engagement and to see themselves

as a part of a larger social entity in that global work environment.

We assume that service-learning combined with e-leaming tools

can be used to decrease faculty challenges of course development and

facilitation in this new environment and enhance learning. They will be

able to use already available courses and a flexible system, such as a

content management system, that will accommodate future growth and

technology enhancements.

We strongly believe that the Croatian teaching faculty would show

more interest for ST if they were able to be part of a ST project during

their own study. Hence, our objective is to design service-learning e-

courses that will be offered by the Center for Teacher Education at the

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and at the university level so

that every future school or faculty teacher gets a chance to try this method

at the early stage of his or her teaching career.

Finally, we plan to design a workshop for faculty and school

teachers that will combine elements of two educational innovations: e-

leaming and service-learning and share the pointers for the development

Winter 2011

46

of new courses. We also intend to promote the service e-leaming method

through e-portal UPraVO^“ (the portal deals with curriculum planning and

innovative teaching methods) and through the online teaching support

center SPONA"‘".

Reference

1. Bringle, R.G., & Hatcher, J.A. (2000). Institutionalization of

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6. Hammond, C. (1994). Integrating service and academic study:

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http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/

Washington Academy of Sciences

47

10. Marullo, S., & Edwards, B. (2000) From charity to justice. The

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Filozofskog fakulteta Sveucilista u Zagrebu. (coursebook).

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(2003 a). Community-based research and higher education:

Principles and practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

17. Strand, K., Marullo, S., Cutforth, N., Stoecker, R., & Donohue, P.

(2003b). Principles of best practices for community-based

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5-15.

18. Ward, K. (1996). Service-learning and student volunteerism:

Reflections on institutional commitment. Paper delivered at the

American Educational Research Association. New York, N.Y.

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reflection (pp. 72- 80). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Winter 2011

48

' By region we mean the neighboring countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,

Serbia and Macedonia.

" http://www.unizg.hr/bopro/activities/ankete.htm#

http://www.moj-posao.net/Vijest/70975/Nezaposlenih-u-prosincu-jos-vise/2/

the term e-leaming refers to the use of an e-leaming platform: Moodle, Blackboard,

WebCT, WebX.

' The course is accompanied by a website that serves to promote and archive successful

■ student projects: http:/infoz.ffzg.hr/dku/index.htm. access through

http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/infoz/hr/

http://www.propisi.hr/print.php?id=9392

JFDP Regional Conference “Teaching methods and Techniques at the Universities in

South Eastern Europe”, Zagreb, March, 2009.

Official Gazette, 87/08.

"" http://cal.ffzg.hr/Ispit_informatika_za_drzavnu_maturu/proJekt.html accessible through

university login

http://www.gimnaziJa-velika-gorica.skole.hr

http://www.skola-retkovec.hr/edu-kutak/

Xll

http://domus. srce.hr/iuoun/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Item

id=61

http://www.unizg.hr/fileadmin/upravlJanJekvalitetom/pdf/spona/spona.pdf

Washington Academy of Sciences

49

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY 201 1

M=Member; F=Fellow; LF=Life Fellow; LM=Life Member; EM=Emeritus

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Building, College Park MD 20742-4015 (F)

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(LF)

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0052 (F)

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BLACK, JACQUELYN G. (Dr.) School of Arts and Science, Marymount

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CRISPIN, KATHERINE (Dr.) Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie

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MITTLEMAN, DON (Dr.) Apartment 909, 5200 Brittny Dr. S, St.

Petersburg FL 33715-1538 (EF)

MORGOUNOV, ALEXEY (Dr.) CIMMYT, P.K. 39, Emek, Ankara

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MOUNTAIN, RAYMOND D. (Dr.) 5 Monument Court, Rockville MD

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Washington Academy of Sciences

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MOXLEY, FREDERICK (Dr.) 64 Millhaven Court, Edgewater MD

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OLSEN, KATHIE L. (Dr.) 1504 N. 22 Street, Arlington VA 22209 (M)

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OSBORNE, CAROLYN (Dr.) 900 N. Stafford St., Arlington VA 22203

(M)

O'SHEA, PATRICK (Dr.) A. James Clark School of Engineering, 2405

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O'HARE, JOHN J. (Dr.) 108 Rutland Blvd., West Palm Beach FL 33405-

5057 (EF)

PARASCANDOLA, JOHN (Dr.) 11503 Patapsco Dr, Rockville MD

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(LEF)

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(EF)

Winter 2011

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RAMAKER. DAVID E. (Dr.) 6943 Essex Avenue, Springfield VA 22150

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RENAUD, PHILIP (Capt.) Living Oceans Foundation, 8181 Professional

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(M)

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UBELAKER. DOUGLAS H. (Dr.) Dept, of Anthropology, National

Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington

DC 20560-01 12 (F)

UHLANER. J.E. (Dr.) 5 Maritime Drive, Corona Del Mar CA 92625

(EF)

Washington Academy of Sciences

61

UMPLEBY, STUART (Professor) The George Washington University,

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VAISHNAV, MARIANNE P. (Ms.) P.O. Box 2129, Gaithersburg MD

20879 (LF)

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MD 20895-3434 (EF)

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Washington Academy of Sciences

AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

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Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Koshland Science Museum

American Registry of Pathology

Living Oceans Foundation

Winter 201 1

64

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