March 2007 Archives

Recently, at the new French synchrotron facility, SOLEIL, the first experimental results have been obtained in spite of the technically difficult situation that is still preventing the beamline from functioning under normal operating conditions. The absorption spectroscopic experiments were done on a kidney stone, which is an agglomerate of many different nanometer-scale crystalline materials. For more information on the recent status of SOLEIL, visit http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/

Albert V. Baez, the co-inventor of X-ray focusing optics, has died at the age of 94 in San Mateo County, Calif. Born in Puebla, Mexico, and raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Baez earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Drew University, a master's in math from Syracuse University and a Ph.D in physics from Stanford University. Dr. Baez was a physics professor at several universities, including the University of Redlands, Stanford, MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. In 1948, while he was still a graduate student at Stanford, Baez and his supervisor, physics professor Paul Kirkpatrick, developed a grazing-incidence X-ray mirror for focusing optics, which has since been used in X-ray microscopes and X-ray telescopes all over the world. Recent technological advancements have taken their innovation to the state-of-the-art level, and X-ray microscopes with Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirrors can now achieve a spatial resolution of less than 50 nm. Professor Baez switched from experimental physics during the cold war to a career in physics education. In 1951, he worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, moving with his family to Iraq, where he directed the UNESCO mission there and worked as a professor of physics at Baghdad University. Dr. Baez was the father of folk singers Joan Baez and Mimi Farina. The Los Angeles Times (March 23, 2007) carries an obituary written by Valerie J. Nelson. For details of the Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirror, see the paper, P. Kirkpatrick and A. Baez, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766 (1948).

It has long been believed that birds can in some way use the natural magnetism of the earth to navigate. Recently, scientists from the University of Frankfurt employed micro X-ray fluorescence as well as micro XAFS spectroscopy to analyze the skin of the upper beak of homing pigeons. Within the skin lining, they established the existence of tiny maghemite (g-Fe₂O₃) and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) particles (with a ratio of around 9:1) in the dendritic nerve branches that were arranged in a 3D pattern. According to the research team, this strongly supports the theory that the upper beak of pigeons houses a highly sensitive magneto-receptor that can be used for navigation. The experiments were done with synchrotron X-rays at HASYLAB in Hamburg, Germany. For more information, see the paper, "A novel concept of Fe-mineral-based magnetoreception: histological and physicochemical data from the upper beak of homing pigeons", G. Fleissner et al., Naturwissenschaften, published online in mid-March, 2007.

The 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medals recipients have been announced as follows; Chemistry, Klaus Biemann (Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Earth and Environmental Science, Steven W. Squyres (Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University), Electrical Engineering, Robert H. Dennard (IBM Fellow, Silicon Technology Department, IBM Research Division), Life Science, Nancy S. Wexler (Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University), Materials Engineering, Merton C. Flemings (Director, Lemelson Program-MIT Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Physics, Yoji Totsuka (Former Director-General High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan), and Arthur McDonald (Director, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute, Queen's University, Canada). For more information on Benjamin Franklin Medals, visit http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/