End of the Century: APS Today

To Advance & Diffuse the Knowledge of Physics

100 Years of the American Physical Society

The American Center for Physics, headquarters of APS
College Park, Maryland

The American Physical Society continues to serve the international physics community with journals, meetings, and public programs of the first rank.

In 1997, APS members ratified a new, augmented mission statement: In the firm belief that an understanding of the nature of the physical universe will be a benefit to all humanity, the objective of the Society shall be the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics.

There is no doubt that the Society will keep on its august course in years to come.

Speaking as much to members today as to our founders 100 years ago, Henry Rowland proclaimed:

The study of nature's secrets is the ordained method by which the greatest good and happiness shall finally come to the human race. Let us go forward, then, with confidence in the dignity of our pursuit. Let us hold our heads high with a pure conscience while we seek the truth, and may the American Physical Society do its share now and in generations yet to come in trying to unravel the great problem of the constitution and laws of the Universe.

Henry Rowland
The Highest Aim of the Physicist
APS Presidential Address, 1899

Curator: Sara Schechner Genuth
Gnomon Research Exhibit Director: Barrett Ripin APS History: Harry Lustig Journals History: R. Mark Wilson Researchers: George Trigg
Ruth Kastner
Steven Norton
Amy Halsted Exhibit Design: Puches Design Inc. Fabrication: Malone Displays