"Incontrovertible" in Physics

Dr. Robert Park, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, former Executive Director of the American Physical Society

INCONTROVERTIBLE: APS FELLOW HAL LEWIS RESIGNS MEMBERSHIP.

Hal Lewis, a Fellow of the APS, has resigned his APS membership of 67 years. News stories described his resignation as a protest of the official APS position on global-warming; but that's not quite what his resignation letter says. He begins by recounting how things were before the serpent persuaded physicists to taste the fruit of the money tree. An oversight committee of "towering physicists beyond reproach" assured the independence of the study panel. The second paragraph is Hal's actual resignation: "How different it is now," he writes. "The giants no longer walk the earth. The money flood has become the raison detre of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame and I am forced with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society." Hal couldnt resist pissing on the APS Global Warming Statement, which he thinks is a scam. The APS statement uses the word "incontrovertible" to describe the evidence for or against global warming. Incontrovertible should be unacceptable to physicists. What sets physics apart from other ways of knowing is openness to revision if better information becomes available. Openness to new knowledge is the most important concept science can offer the world.


... Bob Park, U.Maryland, Physics Dept.

Emphasis mine. - S.Colyer