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From: Hal Lewis, University of=20 California, Santa Barbara
To: Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton=20 University, President of the American Physical Society
6 October 2010
Dear = Curt:
When I first joined the = American Physical=20 Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as = yet=20 uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower = warned=20 a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was = then a=20 guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence---it was World War II that = changed=20 all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently = as=20 thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a = contentious=20 social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were = zealots=20 aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as = physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is = an=20 honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled = by the=20 presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki = Weisskopf,=20 and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of = what we=20 did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its = report=20 to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did = the job,=20 and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What = greater=20 tribute could there be?
How different it is now. The = giants no=20 longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison = d'=C3=AAtre of much=20 physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the = support=20 for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon = become clear=20 my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned = into=20 shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my = resignation=20 from the Society.
It is of course, the global = warming scam,=20 with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted = so many=20 scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the = greatest=20 and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life = as a=20 physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should = force=20 himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. = (Montford's book=20 organizes the facts very well.) I don't believe that any real physicist, = nay=20 scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make = that=20 revulsion a definition of the word scientist.
So what has the APS, as an = organization,=20 done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as = the norm,=20 and gone along with it. For example:
1. About a year ago a few of us = sent an=20 e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the = issues,=20 but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of = where we=20 got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage = discussion=20 of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its = principal=20 purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has = been=20 designed to silence debate
2. The appallingly tendentious = APS=20 statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few = people=20 over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS = members as=20 I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to = reconsider it.=20 One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the = poison=20 word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly = not this=20 one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never = troubled=20 to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. = (They did=20 admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word = incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no = one.) In=20 the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but = approved a=20 far longer "explanatory" screed, admitting that there were = uncertainties, but=20 brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The = original=20 Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I = consider=20 pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were = master=20 of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem = to think=20 it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving = vast=20 fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society = as a=20 scientific society is at stake.
3. In the interim the = ClimateGate scandal=20 broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists = were=20 revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and = I lack=20 the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. = None at=20 all. This is not science; other forces are at = work.
4. So a few of us tried to = bring science=20 into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of = APS), and=20 collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a = proposal for a=20 Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the=20 scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial = to all,=20 and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy = to=20 collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS = membership list.=20 We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, = and=20 described in great detail what we had in mind---simply to bring the = subject into=20 the open.
5. To our amazement, = Constitution be=20 damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own = control=20 of the mailing list to run a poll on the members' interest in a TG on = Climate=20 and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a = petition to=20 form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, = and got=20 lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would = have gotten=20 more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or = proposal,=20 and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is = moot. (Any=20 lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague = petition, and=20 then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was = to=20 avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the=20 Council.
6. As of now you have formed = still=20 another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply = ignoring=20 our lawful petition.
APS management has gamed the = problem from=20 the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the = climate=20 change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the=20 organization?
I do feel the need to add one = note, and=20 this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people's = motives.=20 This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple = explanation=20 for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as = they=20 used to be, but I don't think that is an issue. I think it is the money, = exactly=20 what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed = trillions of=20 dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent = trips to=20 exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own = Physics=20 Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the = global=20 warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, = and the=20 University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have = been=20 unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying = goes,=20 you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. = Since I=20 am no philosopher, I'm not going to explore at just which point = enlightened=20 self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of = the=20 ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic=20 question.
I want no part of it, so please = accept my=20 resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still=20 friends.
Hal
Harold=20 Lewis is Emeritus = Professor of=20 Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; = Former member=20 Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on = Nuclear=20 Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former = member,=20 President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on = Nuclear=20 Reactor Safety Chairman Risk=20 Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former = member=20 USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: = Technological=20 Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about = decision=20 making)
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