Physical Review Letters

["Barbara Hicks" <hicks@aps.org>]

Contact
Amy Halsted
halsted@aps.org
631-591-4232

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS:  50 YEARS OF MOVING PHYSICS FORWARD

Ridge, NY, 3 January 2008:  The American Physical Society (APS) 
is pleased to announce that the 50th Anniversary of Physical 
Review Letters occurs during 2008.  We will mark the occasion 
throughout the year with many events relating to the overall 
theme:  Moving Physics Forward.  A new web site, 
http://prl.aps.org/50years, dedicated to the 50th celebration has 
been launched and features:

--A series of editorials on issues facing the journal as well as 
on scientific publishing

--Highlighting of selected Letters that have made enduring 
contributions to physics

--A 50-year timeline featuring seminal developments in physics 
and physics publishing

--Notice of activities and events to celebrate the 50th 
Anniversary of PRL

--Essays covering research, publishing, science policy, and 
personal reminiscences of PRL's 50 years

According to APS Editor in Chief Gene Sprouse, "This year marks 
the 50th anniversary of the first 'Letters' journal, Physical 
Review Letters.  We are proud that APS started this innovation in 
publishing.  PRL is now a premiere physics journal offering broad 
coverage of the most important physics results.  Throughout 2008 
we will celebrate its first 50 years with items in the Journal 
and on the web, and with events at meetings and elsewhere."

The anniversary site is part of a brand new PRL web site 
(http://prl.aps.org/) that features a new visual design, clearer 
navigation, highlighted content, and quick access to the latest 
Letters and other information about the journal.

"The PRL 50th Anniversary launch presented us with a golden 
opportunity to update the main PRL web site as well," said Mark 
Doyle, APS Assistant Director of Journal Information Systems and 
leader of the redesign effort.  "The new design, which will be 
rolled out to all APS journal websites over the next month, 
enables us to better highlight content.  But this is just the 
first step - 2008 will bring many more exciting innovations as we 
provide better access to the great wealth of information 
published in the APS journals."

--About PRL:  Physical Review Letters (PRL) is the world's 
foremost physics letters journal, providing rapid publication of 
short reports of significant fundamental research in all fields 
of physics.

--About APS:  The American Physical Society is the world's 
largest professional body of physicists, representing over 46,000 
physicists in academia and industry worldwide.  It has offices in 
Ridge, NY; Washington, DC; and College Park, MD.  For more 
information: www.aps.org

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