Brief Biography

of

Robert L. Park

Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of Maryland and Director of the Washington Office of the American Physical Society. His preparation for law school at the University of Texas was interrupted in 1950 by the Korean War. Ignoring his legal talent, the United States Air Force insisted he should be an electronics officer. On his return to the University of Texas in 1956, Park decided the Air Force might have been on to something. He switched to physics and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors two years later. In 1960 he became the Edgar Lewis Marston Fellow at Brown University, where he studied surface physics under the late Harry Farnsworth, one of the pioneers of the field. Park received his PhD in 1964.

In 1965 he joined Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, and in 1969 became head of the Surface Physics Division at Sandia. He was appointed Professor of Physics and Director of the Center of Materials Research at the University of Maryland in College Park in 1974. He became chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy four years later.

He is the founding editor of Applications of Surface Science and he is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society.

On his sabbatical year in 1982, he was asked by the American Physical Society to open an Office of Public Affairs in Washington D.C. His sabbatical still seems to be going on; he divides his time between the APS and the University of Maryland. He has served on more committees and panels than he chooses to remember. Park is the author of What’s New, a controversial weekly electronic commentary on science policy issues. He is also a regular contributor of opinion articles in major newspapers, and a frequent guest on radio and television news programs.

In 1998, he received the Joseph A. Burton Award of the American Physical Society for his contributions to the public understanding of issues involving the interface of physics and society.

He is the author of the book, “Voodoo Science.”

THE SEVEN WARNING SIGNS OF VOODOO SCIENCE

by

Robert L. Park

In a time of dazzling scientific progress, the public has come to expect a steady stream of miracles from science. Those with little exposure to the methods and ideas of modern science, however, may have trouble distinguishing genuine scientific advances from the claims of misguided zealots or unscrupulous hucksters. Scientists, of course, first ask whether a claim violates firmly established scientific principles, such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that have heretofore provided a reliable guide. The public, however, must generally look for other clues to distinguish genuine scientific advances from a noisy gaggle of false claims. From a review of misguided science claims, I have extracted seven of the most common warning signs that should alert the public, as well as other scientists, that the science may be voodoo.