An Insider's History of Some of the Significant Changes In the APS from the 1960s to Today

It has been over 50 years since I first joined the American Physical Society. A lot has changed. The APS in the 60s did not have a single Forum and all divisions were related to sub-field of physics research plus the History of Physics Division. The APS governance and meeting's structure did not provide for issues relate to physics and society, undergraduate and graduate education, minorities, women, industrial physics, international physics, communication of science, and many more subjects quite typical of APS in 2014. From the start, I was a very active member of APS and one of the original petitioners for the Division on Physics and Society. Ultimately this led to the APS Forum structure, the Panel on Public Affairs and many APS formal committees. Two of the major impetuses for change in the late 60s were the need to debate the role of science in the unpopular war in Vietnam and the overproduction and poor employment prospects for new Ph.D.s. I, and colleagues, (with little original encouragement from the APS leadership), arranged for the discussion on many new topics at the meeting and proposed changes within the governance of the Society. In the late 1980s I joined the APS and was involved in many changes over the next 20 years. ultimately as Associate Executive Officer and Director of the APS Centennial in 1999. As indicated earlier, I've been with the APS for over 50 years and will present its history as a participant-insider. Topic covered include my surprise election to the APS governance in 1972, the establishment of the Forum on Physics and Society (and the restrictions imposed on its governance), my role as the father (or mother) of the women's movement at APS, the complexities and politics of the move of APS headquarters from New York to College Park, the establishment of the tabloid APS News and many more subjects. Currently I am producing staged-readings of science-based plays at the March and April 2014 APS meetings for the Forum on History of Physics.