Reviews the career and accomplishments of the physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, including a discussion of scientific concepts associated with Dirac. (JN)

Fifty subjects were physics graduate students in Taiwan, and forty-five were physics graduate students in the United States. Results indicated Taiwanese students pursuing their studies in the United States did not feel as well prepared as their counterparts. Recommendations include revision of undergraduate curriculum and requiring more English…

Compares and contrasts industrial and university physics departments, focusing on the group dynamics and work environment of a corporate physics (General Motors). A major difference between these departments lies in the motivation for and evaluation of research, not in the selection of research topics. (Author/JN)

A problem is detailed which has a solution that embodies geometry, trigonometry, ballistics, projectile mechanics, vector analysis, and elementary computer graphics. It is felt that the information and sample computer programs can be a useful starting point for a user written code that involves missiles and other projectiles. (MP)

Discusses computer/computing experiences at Ardsley High School (Westchester County, New York) to foster computer literacy and to show students how computers can be used to check/verify calculations. Focuses on programs developed for chemistry classes and problems with commercially available programs for physics. (JN)

Traces the development of quantum field theory over the last 50 years beginning with the research of Paul Dirac. Includes past and current research endeavors of various scientists. (JN)

Focuses on past achievements of physicists beginning with the discovery of gaseous nebulae and listing seven commonly found characteristics of this and other observational discoveries which can foster further discovery. Suggests how theory is related to observation and where physicists make their greatest contributions to astronomy. (Author/JN)

Reviews the history of vacuum technology. Includes vacuum pump developments (mechanical, ion, and cyrogenic pumps), measurement techniques, the development of the American Vacuum Society, and electronics in vacuum technology. (JN)

This report reviews some goals for laboratory activities in contemporary science teaching, discusses an investigation that analyzed and compared laboratory activities from two major physics guides, and discusses the implications of the goals and analysis for physics teaching. Six major deficiencies in the two laboratory handbooks are identified.…

An experimental technique to develop inferential thinking in less scientifically-oriented community college students is described. Students activate unlabeled gas discharge tubes and identify the gases by comparing color photographs with spectrometer observations. Includes methods for taking color photographs of spectra. (SK)

Summarizes 10 findings of a national survey of the status of introductory astronomy courses for nonscience majors. Findings focus on instructors, course length, laboratory components, laboratory equipment and exercises, texts, enrollment, mathematics prerequisites, and instructors' needs to enhance their teaching capabilities. (SK)

Describes a physics classroom in Briarcliff High School, Briarcliff Manor, New Jersey. Over 50 percent of the student body studies at least a year of physics before graduating, but less than 15 percent take a computer course. The physics programs discussed illustrate five different computer applications. (MP)

Describes a ripple tank demonstration that displays interference patterns responsible for producing beats and provides photographs of computer simulations of various beat interference patterns. Includes programs for the computer simulation and equations of constructive interference paths in beat interference patterns. (Author/SK)

Addressed to readers who know nothing of quantum theory, a hypothetical device containing some black boxes is described and relevant features of the device's behavior are presented. The conundrum posed by the existence of such a device is pointed out. An appendix explains what is in the black boxes. (SK)

This study compared the attitudes toward science teaching and proficiency in the science process skills of elementary education majors enrolled in a physics course v a science methods course. Science process skills appear to be more effectively taught in the physics course. (Author/MK)