AAPPS WEB Site / Bulletin Vol.13 No.3

AAPPS Bulletin Vol.13 No.3 June 2003

Special Announcement

The AAPPS Website Established

AAPPS Bulletin Editorial Office

It is our great pleasure to announce that the first version of the AAPPS Website has been completed through the serious efforts from Professor Hideaki Takabe, our newest member in the Editorial Board. The Website address is http://www.aapps.org/.

According to Professor Takabe, almost 100,000 scientists and students belong to AAPPS and there is no way without an on-line Journal to inform AAPPS activities to all of them. In the case of Physical Society of Japan (JPS), there is a mailing list of almost 10,000 members out of about 18,000 JPS members. This web-address was sent to all JPS members with a message from JPS through this mailing list. In addition, opening of this URL would also be announced through the message printed in JPS Bulletin in the next month.

This website was designed and completed after an Editorial Meeting last March in Taipei, with attendance from Won Namkung (President, AAPPS), Tien T. Tsong (Vice President, AAPPS), Seunghwan Kim (Editorial Board, AAPPS Bulletin), Hiroshi Toki (Council Member, AAPPS), Hideaki Takabe (Osaka University), WY. Pauchy Hwang (Editorial Board, AAPPS Bulletin), Maw-Kuen Wu (Editorial Board, AAPPS Bulletin), Chien-Te Chen (Editorial Board, AAPPS Bulletin). Most important of all, the AAPPS website features an instant on-line publication of the AAPPS Bulletin. Indeed, you may download a Bulletin article of interest to you. We would appreciate it if you could also inform your colleagues of this website. We are sure that you might enjoy it.

The Draft for the UN Resolution on 2005 as the International Year of Physics

Provided by Won Namkung, AAPPS President

The 58th General Assembly of the United Nations,

Recognising that physics throughout history has largely contributed to knowledge, civilisation and culture around the world, recognising that physics research has been and continues to be a driving force to scientific, technological and economic development,

Bearing in mind that many emerging fields in science and technology, such as nanoscience, information technology and biotechnology, derive a large part of their bases and tools from fundamental discoveries in physics and applications thereof,

Recognising that physics will continue to play a vital role in addressing many challenges of the 21st century in fields fostering sustainable development, such as environmental conservation, clean sources of energy, and acting towards public health and security,

Recalling that Albert Einstein is a widely recognised scientific figure who contributed enormously to the development of physics, beginning in 1905 with his groundbreaking papers on the photoelectric effect, the size of the molecules, the Brownian motion, and the theory of relativity that led to the most famous equation E = mc²,

Noting that 2005 will be the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s important scientific achievements,

Recalling that upon proposition by the European Physical Society (EPS) the 3rd World Congress of Physical Societies held in Berlin, December 2000, endorsed a world-wide celebration of physics in 2005, and that the General Assembly of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) unanimously approved the proposition for 2005 as a world year of physics,

Proclaims the Year 2005 as the International Year of Physics;
Requests that the observance of the Year 2005 be a special occasion for giving impetus to education and research in physics as well as to public understanding of physics;
Invites Governments, the United Nations system, all concerned non-governmental organisations, other actors of civil society, the private sector and the media to highlight and give enhanced recognition to the role of physics in social, cultural and economic development and its positive impact and contribution to society;
Invites all involved in promoting physics education and research to take additional steps, including strengthening existing and emerging fields of physics research, and in promoting the public understanding of physics to ensure that support for physics continues and that physics studies at all levels continue to attract an adequate number of students;
Invites the Secretary General to present to it at its 59th session a report containing a draft programme of action for the effective observance of the Year, in consultation with all relevant actors including United Nations bodies, under an item entitled “The International Year of Physics” to be included in the provisional agenda of that session.