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Sydfest Honors Sydney Meshkov on his 75th Birthday

Sydfest Honors Sydney Meshkov on his 75th Birthday

~ A look at the celebration saluting the man and his achievements ~

Sydfest, a celebration honoring Sydney Meshkov (the first editor of this newsletter) and his lifetime achievements, was held at the Aspen Center for Physics on August 25, 2001. Though billed as a 75th birthday party, August 25 might more accurately be described as the conception date for his 75th birthday. Sydfest was organized by Steve Pinsky (Ohio State), Pierre Ramond (Florida), John Schwarz (Caltech) and Mike Simmons (Santa Fe Institute-retired).

The occasion included a day-long symposium of invited talks by former collaborators of Syd's as well as talks by a few close friends. About 50 people attended the lectures, coming from Israel, Sweden and all over the United States. Caltech was represented by Mark Coles, Steve Frautschi, Dave Hitlin, Frank Porter and John Schwarz; Coles, Hitlin and Schwarz spoke. The complete program is listed below.

A reception and banquet at the Gant, a condominium complex, followed the lectures on the evening of August 25. There was a general feeling of warmth and camaraderie throughout. About 95 people came to the reception and banquet, including all of Syd's family, and many physicist and non-physicist friends of all ages. After dinner, Mike Simmons led a fairly gentle roasting of Syd, read various congratulatory messages from Fred Gilman, Myron Bander, Gordon Shaw, Dennis Silverman and others, and introduced a variety of speakers. These included Roy Schwitters, former director of the SSC Laboratory; Sally Mencimer, who ran the Physics Center for 30 years before retiring just a few years ago; DeeDee McCabe, tennis instructor to generations of fizzies (and a true Aspen character); and Paul Fishbane, a collaborator for many years. The evening concluded with the presentation to Syd by Steve Pinsky of a Mac I-book, appropriately inscribed.

Pre-conference activities included an ad hoc welcoming reception on Friday evening at Syd's apartment, featuring wild mushrooms that Syd had picked and Alaskan smoked salmon and smoked halibut.

Scenes from Sydfest

Above: At left, Mark Coles (background) and Pierre Ramond. Next, (from left to right) PAC Chairman Bill Frazer, Frank Porter, and Mark Coles.

At left above, (from left to right) Arnold Perlmutter, S. Peter Rosen, and Moshe Kugler. Next, (from left to right) Mark Coles, Hiroshi Ooguri, and Bill Frazer.

Above: In celebration of Syd's 75th birthday, an inscribed Mac I-book is presented to him by Steve Pinsky. Below: Syd stands with family members at a picnic held the day after Sydfest in Herron Park, Aspen.

8:45 am                  Steve Pinsky             Introduction

Chair: am                John Schwarz
9:00 - 9:30             Harry Lipkin             I Spin--U Spin--V Spin--Forever
9:30 - 10:00           Peter Kaus               Democracy and Hierarchy
10:00 - 10:30         Steve Pinsky            Glueballs and Supersymmetry
10:30 - 11:00         Coffee
11:00 - 11:30         Moshe Kugler          Cumulative Effects of a Small Symmetry Breaking
11:30 - 12:00         Pierre Ramond         Learning from Neutrinos ... Again

Chair: pm               Pierre Ramond
2:00 - 2:30            John Schwarz           The Status of String Theory
2:30 - 3:00            Peter Rosen              Neutrinos from the Sun
3:00 - 3:30            Dick Norton             Superfluidity and Feynman Graphs
3:30 - 4:00            Coffee
4:00 - 4:30            Dave Hitlin               CP Violation in the B Meson System
4:30 - 5:00            Mark Coles             LIGO: Searching for Gravitational Waves