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separate achievements in optical technology that have transformed spectroscopy, photography, and communication. Charles K. Kao, 75, garnered half of the $1.4 million prize “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.” Willard S. Boyle, 85, and George E. Smith, 79, will share MORE ONLINE the other half of the prize “for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit— the CCD sensor,” or charge-coupled device. A CCD can accumulate light-inducing charges over its metal-oxide semiconductor surface and uses so-called charge bubbles to record images in electronic form. The technology is the basis for digital photography and is at the heart of many spectroscopic instruments. Boyle and Smith dreamed up the CCD one October day while working at Bell Laboratories, in Murray Hill,
OBAMA EMBRACES CHEMICAL SAFETY PLANT SECURITY: Administration
endorses requirement for safer technologies in chemical security bill
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HE OBAMA Administration has endorsed an
industry-opposed provision in antiterrorism legislation that would give the federal government the authority to order high-risk chemical facilities to switch to safer manufacturing processes or to use less hazardous substances. “The Administration supports, where possible, using safer technology, such as less toxic chemicals, to enhance the security of the nation’s high-risk chemical facilities,” said Rand Beers, a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official, in testimony before a House of Representatives Energy & Commerce subcommittee on Oct. 1. The pending legislation, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (H.R. 2868), would make permanent the current temporary federal program for regulating security at thousands of facilities across the U.S. where chemicals are made, used, or stored. The bill would also make several changes in the existing DHS
regulations—the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, or CFATS. H.R. 2868 would require facilities to assess methods for reducing the consequences of a terrorist attack, including whether alternative chemicals, processes, or technologies are cost-effective and feasible and would actually reduce risk. The bill also gives DHS the authority to mandate that the riskiest facilities adopt so-called inherently safer technology (IST). “This is a commonsense policy that will help make facilities reduce the likelihood that they will become attractive terrorist targets,” Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said. Martin J. Durbin, vice president of federal affairs for the American Chemistry Council, which represents more than 130 chemical companies, told the subcommittee that giving DHS the power to order process changes or chemical substitution is unnecessary. The costly requirements of CFATS already drive “each facility to consider all possible risk-reduction options, including methods to reduce consequences, or inherently safer approaches when developing a site security program,” Durbin said. At a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee in June, DHS officials did not take a position on the IST proposal but did say the department would need to hire additional experts if Congress adopts the mandate.—GLENN HESS
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HE 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes two
Kao
Boyle ASSOCIATED PRESS
AWARDS: Revolutionary optical technologies take this year’s honor
N.J., in 1969. During a discussion that took no more than an hour, they sketched out the device’s basic structure and principles of operation. Today, the devices are used in scanners, surveillance satellites, electron microscopes, and most optical spectrometers. “In spectroscopy, CCDs have provided the ability to view a wide range of wavelengths simultaneously, with unprecedented sensitivity, wide wavelength capabilities, and large dynamic ranges,” notes University of Arizona chemistry professor and instrumentation expert M. Bonner Denton. “Boyle and Smith’s contributions have led to a revolution in optical spectroscopy and electronic imaging. Clearly, they deserve this recognition and honor for their contributions.” Kao’s award-winning contribution was made in 1966, while he was working at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, in Harlow, England. There he investigated the fundamental properties of optical fibers with respect to communication, taking into consideration both the physics and materials properties necessary. Ultimately, he determined that optical communication would be possible with very pure glass fibers. Modern telephone, Internet, and cable television are all possible because of the groundwork Kao laid. According to the Nobel committee, were we to unravel all the glass fibers currently in use, we would a have a single strand long enough to encircle the globe 25,000 times.—BETHANY HALFORD
Smith
DREAMSTIME
NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS
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OCTOBE R 1 2 , 20 0 9
Congress is debating changes to antiterrorism standards that will impact chemical facilities.
