AIP annual report: 1955

The January 1956 “25th Anniversary Issue” of A Physics Today contains articles reviewing what the American Institute of Physics is, relating its history, and presenting statistics about its membership. Reference is made to that issue for such background information. It is timely, however, to recall that the Institute was founded to keep the family of physicists together. The provisions for adhering groups were purposely made flexible to meet varying circumstances. Now several new groups involving many physicists are being formed. They have nothing to lose by becoming Affiliated Societies of the Institute. Unless they do so, the physicists doing full-time work in the fields served by these groups will become detached and lose some of the professional identity which they laboriously gained by years of graduate study. The relationship between Affiliated Societies and the Institute involves no financial commitment on their part nor any restriction other than to maintain appropriate standards. It would be a healthy thing also if some well-established society became interested in becoming a full Member Society of the Institute along with the original five. In view of its purpose, the AIP should not be an exclusive, crystallized organization. The resources and prestige of the Institute are now such that it has much to offer a new member society. An appropriate new member should be welcomed by the old ones.