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Welcome to
Sigma Pi SigmaReception Ceremony*
The Physics Honor Society
*A shortened version of the Sigma Pi Sigma induction ceremony, provided as a guide for chapter officers. Feel free to modify this version to suit the traditions and conditions at your institution. Please refer to the SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma Information Book provided to chapter advisors each fall for more details about the procedures and symbolism.
According to its mission statement,
exists to
Honor scholarship
Encourage interest in physics
Promote service
Provide fellowship
About chapters exist on SPS campuses with a traditional physics bachelor’s degree.
SPS is the Society of Physics Students
The professional society
for physics students and their mentors
SPS and : Linked, but distinct
0500
100015002000
PhDgranting
Master'sgranting
BS only Tw o-year
Other
female
male
total
Numbering over 4000 individuals in over 700 chapters, SPS members receive Physics Today monthly and are eligible for scholarships, research, outreach, and travel awards Go to www.spsnational.org for more information about SPS.
Radiations magazine goes to most of the 40,000 active members of Sigma Pi Sigma. Donors provide annual support for SPS programs, awards, and scholarships. For more info www.sigmapisigma.org
is the
physics honor society(appr. 80,000 historical members)
“I became acquainted with some students at Davidson College, NC…a very high class liberal arts college… [They] came up with …I said, ‘Oh boy, that’s what we ought to have here at Penn State.”
Marsh White, ‘father’ of Sigma Pi Sigma
Some history of /SPS
was established in 1921 at Davidson College, NC
Marsh White, 1931
Wheaton College SPS Installation Ceremony
Penn State’s first Ph. D. recipient, 1926Sigma Pi Sigma Executive Sec. 192?-68Pentagon War Citation---1946Presidential Certificate of Merit---1948AAPT President 1954-55 Co-author, “College Technical Physics”Installation officer for over 200 chapters
Marsh W. White
“Well, I go back to the days … when it was quite customary to paddle the new initiates. …[W]e’d line them up in a row and send them to Pine Grove Mills, and we’d help them along! …You’re supposed to remember them [secret handshakes and such], but I’ve forgotten. When I’d go to install a chapter I’d teach it all to them. You used to shake hands and … say certain names or phrases. So, drifted away from being a ‘fraternity,’ where …there was all kinds of hocus pocus going on.”
In 1934, at the 3rd Congress of Sigma Pi Sigma all elements of secrecy were removed.
1968 -- teams with AIP
In the fifties, the American Institute of Physics and began hatching a plan to work together on student issues. On April 22, 1968, articles of agreement between the AIP Student Sections and were signed, creating the Society of Physics Students with Sigma Pi Sigma included as an honor society within SPS, and both supported by AIP.
CongressesThe first Congress was in 1928 with six
chapters at Davidson CollegeThe 8th Congress, held at Purdue in
1967, approved the union between the AIP Student Sections and Sigma Pi Sigma, ushered in the modern era of the society
The 2004 Congress at University of New Mexico was a kick-off event for celebrating the World Year of Physics in 2005.
Highlights included: Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman and Presidential Science Advisor, John Marburger.
The Wilson building (left, above) and the computing center at FermiLab.
Leon Lederman (below)
The 2008 Congress was held at FermiLab for over 600 people, and featured Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman and Neal Lane. The theme was Scientific Citizenship; about a dozen chapter reports submitted reports, seehttp://www.sigmapisigma.org/congress/2008/
Chicago State students with Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor, authors of Einstein on Race and Racism.
Service
Sigma Pi Sigma members serve the physics community in many ways, for example:-Supporting local and national SPS programs-Representing physics to the public-Providing alumni networks-Working for sound national science policies-Offering science outreach opportunities
Symbolism
The Seal
The KeyVoltmeter with lamp & dynamo
The Motto
The Insignia
Induction: Signing the “Red Book”
Remember, as you pen your name,- Sigma Pi Sigma was founded by students.
- You are joining a distinguished group, connected by common ties of physics.- Membership means honor, encouragement, service and fellowship.
Charge to New MembersContinue your
commitment as physicists to honorable scholarship, irrespective of your ultimate career trajectory. Traditional physicists and ‘hidden physicists’ alike are critical to the future of society.
Learn more about ‘hidden physicists athttp://www.spsnational.org/cup/home.html
Thanks to:Marsh White
AND
“I’m very happy to have been here.” —Marsh White on his 100th birthday, April, 1996 (he died in 1999)
Tracy Schwab, SPS web guruThomas Olsen, SPS Asst. Dir.Kendra Rand, SPS Program CoordinatorEd Neuenschwander, EditorLydia Quijada Sacha Purnell Douglas DaltonJack Hehn, Cathy O ’Riordan, and AIP managementSome sources used:
The SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma Informtion Bookwww.sigmapisigma.org/history.htmwww.research.psu.edu/history/white.shtmlwww.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_1996/April18/CURRENT/white.html