Société Suisse de Physique
Schweizerische Physikalische Gesellschaft
Swiss Physical Society


SPG Mitteilungen - Communications de la SSP

Nr. 2 - 11/1997

SPG Mitteilungen - Communications de la SSP : Nr. 1 - 06/1997






Annual Meeting of the SPS in Bern, February 26/27 1998
On behalf of the Swiss Physical Society (SPS), the Swiss Society of Biomedical Engineering (SSBE), the Swiss Group of Colloid and Interface Science (SGCIS) and the Swiss Society for Neutron Scattering we invite you to attend our next annual meeting in Bern, February 26/27, 1998.
The purpose of the meeting is to provide a forum for information exchange and interdisciplinary communication between scientists and technologists from various fields. Besides general oral contributions and (presumably) poster presentations on the traditional topics (condensed matter, applied physics, theoretical physics, astrophysics and particle physics), the organizers have selected the following topics for emphasis: colloid physics and soft condensed matter, biomedical engineering, micro- and nanotechnology, astrophysics and neutron scattering. In a further session devoted to physicists working outside of the academic world, people from very different fields will report about their professional education and experience.
Parallel to the scientific program, companies will have the opportunity to participate in an exhibition, presenting their products and services. In addition, we are planning an excursion to the new telescope of the university of Bern in Zimmerwald following the general assembly of the SPS on Thursday evening. For more information on the telescope in Zimmerwald please check http://sauron.unibe.ch/aiub/index.html. The conference dinner will also be organized in Zimmerwald (restaurant Löwen). Please register in time for the excursion, since the number of participants for the telescope visit is limited.
We would like to point out that the present form of the meeting has been chosen in order to promote the participation and the exchange of views between researchers from academic institutions, industrial researchers, developers and users. We would be pleased if you and your collaborators decide to contribute an oral presentation or a poster at the meeting or just attend the meeting and exhibition. We are looking forward to a very interesting meeting, and we recommend that you attend both days in Bern !
The preliminary program is follows:


Short description of the topical main sessions:

Topical sessions 'Physicists and their professional careers outside of academia'
The aim of this session is to provide an overview of the broad variety of different careers that have started with a physics degree. Physicists in different business and governmental job environments are invited to present their personal view of careers in physics and to describe how their education stimulated and affected their personal careers.

In particular, we are planning to invite a patent lawyer, a science journalist, a software expert, a business consultant and others. The session will be opened by a plenary talk by Maurice Campagna (ABB Research). The session is targeted at a general audience: young physicists will get 'inside information' about the true value of their physics education, their academic supervisors will get feedback on what the students may need in their 'real' life, and professionals will get an introduction into other professional careers.

Topical sessions 'Biomedical Engineering' and 'Colloids'
The organization of the applied physics meeting (ANDO) is progressing, and certain options are already crystallizing. As always, proposals and suggestions are welcome: it is what makes these meetings attractive and gives them new strength.
In addition to the usual presentations taking place in applied physics (ANDO, ANgewandte DOmänen), there will be two special sessions at the annual meeting resulting from requests of the 'Swiss Society of Biomedical Engineering' (SSBE) and of the 'Swiss Group of Colloid and Interface Science' (SGCIS) to participate as co-organizers of the SPS annual meeting.
The diverse fields of activities covered by the 'Swiss Society of Biomedical Engineering' will be presented in a plenary applied physics session. Participation of industry in the 'Biomedical' Session is planned to take place in the form of an exhibition by industrial colleagues in the field of 'BioMed' and 'Nanotechnology'. The exhibition will include the domain of 'Colloids'. Invited talks will be organized for these two topical sessions, as well as for the usual ANDO sessions.
The 'Colloid' session will cover the broad field of soft condensed matter, including also the 'colloidal' aspects of plasma physics. The two topical sessions are closely related, but complementary, and will stress the interdisciplinary aspects of modern applied physics.

Topical sessions 'Micro and Nanotechnology'
Miniaturization has been driving technology for decades and is expected to be of key importance also in the future. Impressive achievements in this field have enabled control of the ultra small that could hardly be imagined some years ago. This session provides a forum to present current knowledge and abilities, with a perspective on the future, as they vary and conform in the opinion of leading technologists and scientists working on the micro and nanometer scale. We invite contributions presenting technological problems and/or their solutions from all scientists who may provide knowledge and capabilities to further our understanding of the miniature world. It would please us if both scientists and technologists in a variety of fields would contribute: chemists, physicists, electrical and mechanical engineers, bio-molecular scientists and others.

Topical sessions 'Astrophysics'
We intend to devote two plenary talks (by Ruth Durrer and Willy Benz) and an afternoon parallel session to astrophysical aspects, ranging from particle and nuclear physics to the early universe, galaxies, stars, and the solar system, targeting questions such as exotic dark matter, neutrino properties and the solar neutrino problem, open questions in nuclear physics and their role in stellar evolution and explosions, the source, acceleration and composition of cosmic rays, gamma ray line observations, evolution of galaxies and the connection to matter in the solar system, including meteorites and comets.

Topical sessions 'New opportunities for neutron scattering at SINQ'
SINQ is the first continuous spallation neutron source with comprehensive instrumentation for neutron scattering. The first generation instrument particularly emphasizes the use of cold neutrons and comprises nine different instruments: high-resolution diffractometers and spectrometers, a small angle scattering facility, and a reflectometer. Some of the instruments have options for polarization analysis which greatly benefits from new developments in efficient polarizing supermirror devices. Some of the exciting applications in condensed matter research performed during the first few months of SINQ operation will be presented.


We would like to encourage colleagues to submit contributed talks to the above mentioned main sessions. However, contributions to all the other well established topics (condensed matter, applied physics, nuclear and particle physics, theory) are welcome as well.

Please remember: there will be no contributed talks or posters at our joint fall meeting with the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

As a consequence the number of submitted papers for our meeting in February 1998 may exceed that much we can accept as oral contributions. Therefore, we are considering the possibility to present contributions also in the form of posters. You will be asked when you submit an abstract whether you would also be willing to present your contribution in the form of a poster.

Information on the SPS annual meeting on the World Wide Web
We intend to post the latest information on our annual meeting on the home page of the SPS: http://www.sps.ch/sps/




Short Communications

Annual Meeting of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SAS) in Airolo, Sept. 23-26, 1998

 As already mentioned in our previous 'SPS Communications' 6/97, the committee of the SPS decided to participate at the Annual Meeting of the Swiss Academy of Sciences in an active manner rather than organizing our own traditional fall meeting.

We have been asked by the SAS to suggest several topics for their meeting in Airolo in fall 1998. The Academy selected the subject

Energy Research in Switzerland

and decided to organize a session in collaboration with the SPS devoted to this subject. Since there are many activities going on in this field in Switzerland, it should be a good opportunity to organize an attractive session. We are currently collecting ideas about potential speakers who are experts in this field. It is the aim of such a session to attract people from the whole Academy, and not just physicists. Suggestions from your side for speakers and subjects are welcome. Please contact one of the committee members or write to sps@ubaclu.unibas.ch

Grants for young physicists ...

 The annual budget of the Swiss Physical Society provides a limited amount of money in order to support activities of young physicists important to their professional training not covered by regular foundations of universities or other institutions. Typical events supported by the SPS are the attendance at a course or the participation at a workshop or conference. An important prerequisite for the application for financial support by the SPS is the lack of any other local sources to finance the planned activity. For more information contact the treasurer or president of the SPS. Financing of events taking place in 1997 is still possible.

... and funds for other activities by the SPS

The Swiss Physical Society is also able to provide financial support for organizers of courses, workshops and conferences. Early requests enable us to include the appropriate amount in the budget submitted to the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, travelling support for delegates of the various physics institutions is funded by the SPS. All these funding activities by the SPS are financed from annual contributions of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

Wanted: new delegates for the SPS committee

 Our present Swiss Academy delegate Hans Beck has indicated that he would like to resign from his duties by February 1998. However, since we are in the process of intensifying the collaboration with our umbrella organization, the Swiss Academy of Sciences, we are looking for a new SAS delegate in the SPS committee. One of the major tasks will certainly be to develop new ideas about future joint symposia for the annual SAS meetings in fall. Suggestions for potential candidates from your side are welcome. We intend to elect the new SAS delegate at our General Assembly in February 1998.

Delegate for job market related problems
Since many years, when Fritz Kneubühl terminated his job market related activities, the SPS has no longer offered any support for people looking for a job. We think that especially in the present situation, such a service is more important than ever. Therefore, we would like to initiate a new place to go for problems related to the job market for physicists. We have found a candidate who is willing to take care of this task: Aline Cossy (present address: EMPA Dübendorf, Aline.Cossy@empa.ch ). A first step has already been taken. We are planning to cooperate closely with the electronic job market of the AVETH ('Assistentenvereinigung der ETH') called telejob. This institution is presented also in these communications and will be present at the exhibition at our annual meeting in Bern this coming February.

Delegate for physics courses at secondary schools (Gymnasien, gymnases)
The committee of SPS has often been contacted to become active in questions related to physics courses at secondary schools (Maturitätsanerkennung, Stoffkataloge für Physikunterricht). In order to react in a competent manner, we suggest the establishment of a delegate for this task. Heini Mühry, who is an active physics teacher both at the Gymnasium Oberwil (BL) and the university of Basel, is willing to become a delegate for these problems.

Further suggestions for candidates are welcome. Again please contact one of the committee members or write to sps@ubaclu.unibas.ch.


Considerable success in SPS 1998 awards announcement

 The announcement of the three SPS awards has attracted great interest. The president obtained more proposals than ever: 23 candidates or groups of candidates have been nominated for the SPS awards 1998. In particular, the various institutions submitted the following number of proposals:
CSEM Zürich: 1, EPFL: 8, ETH Zürich: 5, IRRMA: 1, PSI: 1, Uni Bern: 1, Uni Geneva: 2, Uni Fribourg: 1, Uni Lausanne: 1, Uni Zürich: 2.

The president of the SPS has forwarded the proposals to the president of the award committee, Walter Kündig, who, by the way, initiated the SPS awards in 1989.

In the course of the award announcement, it has been criticized that people from industry can not be nominated for the SPS awards. In addition, it has been suggested that candidates should have the possibility of nominating themselves for the awards. We propose to discuss these points at our General Assembly in February in Bern.

More awards

We would like to draw our members' attention to two other awards which have recently been announced:

Announcement of the 'Prix Media' by the Swiss Academy of Sciences
This award has been initiated for excellent journalistic activities on scientific subjects. The deadline for the application is December 31, 1997. The prize amounts 10'000.- SFr. and the award rules can be obtained from the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SANW Generalsekretariat, Bärenplatz 2, 3011 Bern) or check http://www.sanw.unibe.ch/ or http://www.sanw.unibe.ch/root/docs/prixmedia.html.

Announcement of the Max Auwärter award 1998
The Max Auwärter Foundation in Balzers, FL, announces every second year the Max Auwärter award for students and younger employees of academic institutions for scientific contributions published by a single author in the field of surface physics, interface chemistry and both anorganic and organic thin films. The deadline for the application is March 31, 1998. The prize amounts 90'000.- ö.S. For more details or submission of applications contact
O.Univ. Prof. Dr. Hannspeter Winter, Institut für allgemeine Physik, Technische Universität Wien, A - 1040 Wien, Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8 - 10/134, Austria


Conferences

 Annual Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society in Konstanz, March 16 - 20, 1998
The divisions of Quantum Optics, Atomic Physics, Molecular Physics and Mass Spectrometry of the German Physical Society meet in Konstanz on March 16 - 20, 1998. The participation of Swiss scientists is welcome. For further information please contact the local organizer:
Prof. Dr. J. Mlynek, Fakultät für Physik, Universität Konstanz, Fach 695, D-78457 Konstanz
E-mail: dpg.tagung@uni-konstanz.de
Internet: http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Physik/dpg-tagung

telejob - die elektronische Stellenbörse des AVETH stellt sich vor

http://www.telejob.ethz.ch/telejob/

Anlässlich ihres 20-jährigen Jubiläums im Sommer 1989 gründete die AVETH die elektronische Stellenbörse telejob mit dem Ziel, eine Plattform für die Vermittlung von Doktoranden- und Post-Doc-Stellen zu schaffen. Seit diesen Anfängen hat telejob sein Angebot ständig erweitert. Im Jahre 1990 konnte eine Vereinbarung mit der Schulleitung der ETH Zürich getroffen werden, die telejob als Stellenbörse der Technischen Hochschulen anerkennt. Die ETH unterstützt telejob seither mit der geeigneten Infrastruktur (Büroräume, Rechnerplattform). Im folgenden Jahr wurde eine Zweigstelle bei der EPF Lausanne unter der Leitung der dortigen AssistentInnenvereinigung ACIDE eröffnet. Kooperationsverträge mit der ETH, dem Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (SNF), der Schweizerischen Hochschulkonferenz (SHK) und dem Bundesamt für Bildung und Wissenschaft (BBW) waren weitere Marksteine der Entwicklung. telejob konnte sich dadurch als die Schweizerische elektronische Stellenbörse für junge Akademiker etablieren. Eindrucksvolles Zeugnis der Führungsrolle auf dem wissenschaftlichen Stellenmarkt ist beispielsweise die Tatsache, dass das Nachwuchsförderungsproramm der SHK für Assistenzprofessuren exklusiv bei telejob ausgeschrieben wird. Namhafte europäische Organisationen (CERN, ESA, ESO, ESRF etc.) nutzen telejob, um eine Vielzahl von Inseraten zu veröffentlichen, nicht nur für Forscher, sondern auch zur Besetzung von Kaderstellen.

Früh erkannte telejob die Möglichkeiten der globalen elektronischen Vernetzung und wagte bereits Anfang 1994 den damals noch eher ungewöhnlichen Schritt ins World Wide Web. Das durch InfoFax-ETH und ezclassic nur teilweise ausgeschöpfte Potential konnte so erheblich besser genutzt werden, wie die explodierenden Zugriffszahlen - von anfänglich knapp 2'000 auf heute über 14'000 pro Monat - eindrucksvoll belegen. Im gleichen Zeitraum verzehnfachte sich die Zahl der monatlich neu hinzukommenden Stellenangebote auf 250, in jüngster Zeit auch aufgrund wachsenden Interesses seitens der Privatwirtschaft.

Das Jahr 1996 war trotz einschneidender personeller Veränderungen in der Geschäftsleitung von der Festigung des bisher Erreichten geprägt. Im Verlauf des Jahres konnten ausserdem eine Modernisierung und Ausweitung des bestehenden Dienstleistungsangebotes in Angriff genommen werden. Ein wichtiger Schritt in diese Richtung war die Automatisierung des telejob -Sekretariats. Auf diese Weise wurden Ressourcen für eine intensivierte Kundenbetreuung und -akquisition sowie für projektunterstützende Arbeiten freigesetzt.

Für das Jahr 1997 sind mehrere ambitionierte Projekte geplant und bereits teilweise realisiert. So soll beispielsweise das Erscheinungsbild von telejob im World Wide Web zum Vorteil der Benutzer attraktiver gestaltet und mit Zusatzfunktionen ausgestattet werden. Im Zuge der geplanten Institutionalisierung der AVETH ergibt sich für telejob die Möglichkeit, im AVETH-Ressort Privatwirtschaft weitere Dienstleistungen anzubieten. Die Zusammenarbeit von telejob mit dem initiativen und zielstrebigen neuen Vorstand der AVETH trägt bereits erste Früchte in Form des Bewerbungskurses am 25. April 1997. Das erfolgversprechende Anlaufen dieses ersten gemeinsamen Grossanlasses hat telejob ermutigt, weitere Projekte anzupacken, zum Beispiel eine individuelle Karriereplanung für zukünftige Führungskräfte.

Im Moment umfasst die Geschäftsleitung von telejob acht Mitglieder, die ihre Aufgaben ehrenamtlich und mit viel Eigeninitiative erfüllen. Gute Ideen für neue Projekte und Dienstleistungen sind in grosser Zahl vorhanden und lassen auch in Zukunft eine dynamische Weiterentwicklung der Aktivitäten von telejob erwarten.

Informationen über telejob: E-mail: telejob@aveth.ethz.ch

(Erschienen in: 'Aus dem Mittelbau', Zeitschrift der Assistierendenvereinigung der ETH Zürich, AVETH, Ausgabe 1/97 im April 1997)

telejob - la bourse électronique de l'emploi de l'AVETH se présente

 http://www.telejob.ethz.ch/telejob/

Au cours de l'été 1989, à l'occasion de son 20e anniversaire, l'AVETH, l'association des assistants de l'Ecole Polytechnique de Zurich, a fondé la bourse électronique de l'emploi telejob, dont le but était de servir de plateforme pour aider les jeunes diplômés des écoles techniques, écoles supérieures et universités à trouver des emplois de doctorants ou de post-doctorants. Depuis ces débuts, telejob a continuellement amélioré ses services. En 1990 un accord avec la direction de l'Ecole Polytechnique de Zurich permit la reconnaissance officielle de la bourse électronique de l'emploi et l'ETH apporte depuis son soutien en fournissant une infrastructure adéquate et efficace (locaux, ordinateurs, etc.). L'année suivante une 'filiale' voit le jour à l'Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne sous le patronage de l'association de ses assistants (ACIDE). Les étapes suivantes de son développement furent la coopération avec le Fonds National Suisse (FNS), avec la Conférence Universitaire Suisse (CUS) et avec l'Office Fédéral de l'Education et de la Science (OFES). Le progrès réalisé par la direction de telejob pour offrir un service complet et compétent sur le marché du travail peut se mesurer par exemple par l'insertion d'offres d'emplois d'organismes internationaux (CERN, ESA, ESO, ESRF, ...). La direction de telejob vit très tôt le besoin d'être présent sur le réseau Internet, et c'est dès le début de l'année 1994 que telejob se connecte au réseau World Wide Web, un pas que peu franchissent alors. Le potentiel qui n'était alors que partiellement utilisé par InfoFax et ezclassic devient plus globalement accessible comme en teacute;moigne le nombre d'utilisateurs qui passe en peu de temps de 2'000 à plus de 14'000 par mois, un saut quantitatif impressionnant. Depuis 1992 le nombre de nouvelles offres d'emplois a été multiplié par 10 pour atteindre régulièrement plus de 250 par mois, et même plus de 300 par mois depuis peu, ce qui est en partie dû au nouvel intérêt que portent les entreprises privées à telejob.

L'année 1996 a vu de profondes modifications à la direction de telejob, principalement des départs de personnel, mais les bases se sont montrées solides. D'autre part un certain nombre de modernisations et d'extensions de ses services ont été entreprises. Par exemple, un pas important fut la mise en place d'une automatisations du secrétariat telejob. Cela permit de libérer du temps pour l'acquisition de nouveau clients, ainsi qu'une intensification du suivi des clients, et de consacrer plus de temps à d'autres projets.

Pour l'année 1997, plusieurs projets ambitieux ont été mis à l'ordre du jour, certains d'entre eux ont déjà été partiellement réalisés. Par exemple l'image que présente telejob sur le réseau Internet (WWW) a été améliorée au profit des utilisateurs et des fonctions supplémentaires ont été implémentées. Dans le cadre des projets d'institutionnalisation de l'AVETH, il s'est présenté la possibilité pour telejob d'offrir de nouveaux services. La collaboration entre telejob et la nouvelle direction de l'AVETH très avant-garde et dynamique porte déjà ses premiers fruits: le 25 Avril 97 une journée 'Bewerbungskurs' ('La candidature, le chemin de l'emploi', séminaire en allemand) a été organisé avec grand succès à Zurich. Ce succès a très fortement encouragé telejob a organiser d'autres cours ou séminaires, par exemple en vue d'une planification de la carrière pour de futurs cadres.

Actuellement la direction de telejob comporte 8 membres qui se dévouent bénévolement à leur tâche avec beaucoup d'initiative personnelle. Les bonnes idées pour de nouveaux projets ou de nouveaux services sont nombreux, et l'avenir des activités de telejob ne pourra certainement que profiter de ce dynamisme.

Informations sur telejob: E-mail: telejob@aveth.ethz.ch







Vorstand der Schweizerischen Physikalischen Gesellschaft
Le comité de la Société Suisse de Physique


P. Oelhafen - Präsident/président, Universität Basel - oelhafen@ubaclu.unibas.ch
D. Pescia - Vizepräsident/vice-président, ETH Zürich - pescia@solid.phys.ethz.ch
D. Trautmann - Sekretär/secrétaire, Universität Basel, trautmann@ubaclu.unibas.ch
T. Jung - Kassier/trésorier, Paul Scherrer Institut - thomas.jung@psi.ch
P. Stadelmann - Kond. Materie/Matière Cond., EPFL - pierre.stadelmann@cime.uhd.epfl.ch
M. Droz - Theoretische Physik/Physique Théorique, Université de Genève - droz@scsun.unige.ch
E. Steiner - Astro-, Kern- und Teilchenphysik/Astrophysique, Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Paul Scherrer Institut - erich.steiner@psi.ch
A. Pochelon - Angewandte Physik/Physique Appliquée, EPFL - pochelon@eltcv.epfl.ch
Adm. Sekretariat/Secrétariat adm.: B. Maire, 7 chemin du lac, 2068 Hauterive - sspmail@vtx.ch


Email address of the SPS: sps@ubaclu.unibas.ch
SPS home page: http://www.sps.ch/sps/