November 10, 1995 Contact: Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

UCSC PHYSICIST ELECTED FELLOW OF NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Joel Primack, a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest federation of scientists.

The AAAS Council elevates members to the rank of fellow to recognize distinguished efforts toward advancing science or its applications. The council cited Primack for his "pioneering efforts in the establishment of the AAAS Congressional Science Fellows Program and for dedication to expanding the use of science in policy making throughout government." The citation acknowledges Primack's career-long concern with the impacts that science has upon society, and the roles scientists can and should play in shaping those influences.

Primack was a key figure in creating the Congressional Science Fellows Program, which began in 1973. The program brings 25 to 30 young scientists and engineers to Washington, D.C., each year to work for members of Congress and congressional science committees. Many of the fellows remain to pursue full-time careers in science policy. As a result, lawmaking and budgetary decisions are now more informed by accurate scientific and technical input.

Primack also has contributed to the National Science Foundation's Science for Citizens program, the AAAS Clearinghouse on Science and Human Rights, and the American Physical Society's program of studies on issues of social policy. With Princeton physicist Frank von Hippel, he wrote the book Advice and Dissent: Scientists in the Political Arena, which received the 1977 American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society Award. He also has written extensively on issues of energy policy, arms control, and protection of the space environment.

Primack earned an A.B. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, both in physics. He joined the UCSC faculty in 1973. His research focuses on the developing field of cosmology and particle astrophysics, in which scientists make models of how the universe has evolved based upon theories and observations of the kinds of matter it contains.

This year, the AAAS Council elected 273 fellows, including 26 researchers at the University of California. Each new fellow will receive a certificate and rosette in February at a meeting of the AAAS in Baltimore.

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