The Institute for Advanced Physics                                                      Fall 2006          

    The Institute News                                    Vol. IV, No. 2

•       Fourth Annual Summer Conference at Notre Dame
•       IAP Initiates a Small Donor Program
•       Members Work on Textbook, Tri-fold, EWTN Series and Audio Book
•       Candidate Members and Consultants Assist in Education and Administrative Tasks

Fourth Annual IAP Summer Conference
at The University of Notre Dame

From left to right, top row: Dr. John Keck, Fr. Neal Nichols, Dr. Joseph Haller,  Dr. Anthony Rizzi, Fr. Vincent Bork,
Fr. Timothy Walsh. Bottom row: Dr. Murray Daw, Dr. Ralph McInerny, Fr. Benedict Ashley, Dr. Ken Klenk, Dr. Dermott Mullan, Fr. Matthew Green

This past July, the faculty and members of IAP met at The University of Notre Dame for the Institute's fourth summer conference.  The meeting's purpose: to work together on the Institute's major long-term project of writing a series of undergraduate-level physics textbooks called Physics for Realists.      The importance of the project cannot be overstated.  The current generation of physicists, including the conference participants, were formed in the current intellectual miasma that blinds our civilization to the truth that modern science is not the last word on the natural world, but that science depends on a broader philosophy of nature for its proper understanding.  The goal, which we are advancing towards everday, is to form some of the present and next generation of scientists (today's students) in this realistic conception of nature that doesn't permenantly abstract away obvious realities like the order and purpose of the world.  Having been raised in this integral vision, the young scientiests will be equipped to reclaim the universities and our civilization for the philosophical sanity that gave them birth.      The conference began on Wednesday, July 26 with a welcome gathering for pizza.   Thursday began with Mass and breakfast.  The day focused on the first textbook in the series, Mechanics. Dr. Anthony Rizzi, an MIT and Princeton physics graduate and IAP Director, is providing the physics and philosophical leadership for the historical project.  Dr. Rizzi welcomed the participants and IAP faculty and introduced the purpose and approach of the textbook.  Fr. Benedict Ashley, philosopher and IAP Adjunct Faculty, presented a paper he and Dr. Rizzi wrote on "Categories and Physics" in which he discussed how each of the Aristotelian categories were founded on quantity and flowed naturally out of ordinary observations of the mobile world.  Dr. Rizzi summerized the first four chapters which were the topic of last year's conference.  Dr. Rizzi also presented newly drafted chapters on energy, work, angular momentum and gravity. The Institute for Advanced Physics          PO Box 15030,

During the two day conference, participants had two sessions in which they broke up into two groups led by Dr. Joseph Haller, physicist and IAP Certified Member, and Fr. Matthew Green, philosopher and IAP Certified Memer.  During the first session, physicists developed end-of-chapter problems and the philosopher group designed figures and drafted biographical history boxes of significant scientists.  During the second work group session, the physicists continued work on problem sets and drafted a rough cover design for the textbook.  Fr. Green had designed, after group input from last years conference, a promotional tri-fold for the Mechanics text and the philosophy group critiqued the tri-fold.  They also  composed a summary of the Enlightenment's misuse and misunderstanding of science and its application to further its religion purged society. Ideas for promoting use of the textbook in a liberal arts curriculum were also suggested. Dr. Ralph McInerny, philosopher and IAP Advisory Board Member, presented the final talk "On Analogy as Logic" in which he noted that philosophy of nature is the start of science and that there is a great continuity between the two.  After dinner Friday, IAP's hydrogen rocket (see photo under Small Donor Program below) was launched.  It takes several minutes for the launch pad of the toy to electrolyze the hydrogen propellant from water (electricity separates water into hydrogen and oxygen gases that with a spark explosively recombine to propel the rocket).  Dr. Rizzi conducts this experiment in his ICU video lectures and in the 2007 EWTN series on The Science Before Science.  Being scientists, it was inevitable that some of us would use trigonometry to estimate the maximum altitude of the rocket's flight: 120 ft. Adapted from an article by Dr. John Keck, physicist and IAP Certified Member. Baton Rouge, LA 70985 info@IAPweb.org

IAP Initiates a Small Donor Program

Dr. Ken Klenk, IAP Small Donor Program Coordinator, and Dr. Anthony Rizzi, Director, holding one of the raffle  prizes, a hydrogen rocket

IAP has initiated its Small Donor Program as an outreach to a wider community of persons to take the message and mission of IAP to a larger audience of supporters.  At the same time, it is hoped that we can establish a base of small donors that could assist IAP with financial support.   The Small Donor Program has several components, which will be implemented in stages, including:  a raffle, subscriptions to an Institute newsletter, and annual sponsor memberships.  Raffle ticket sales begin in September 2006 and end with a drawing on June 1, 2007.  Donations for tickets can be made in the amount of $10 each or a book of 10  for $100. Dr. Ken Klenk, physicist and IAP Certified Member, is IAP's Small Donor Program Coordinator.  He will recruit volunteers in four regions around the country to sell raffle tickets in their local community.  These volunteers play an important role in advancing IAP's mission: … to advance modern science in a balanced fashion that does not leave behind the correct philosophical foundations, nor the proper moral and spiritual components. The Institute for Advanced Physics    PO Box 15030,

Our goal with the raffle is to introduce 5,000 individuals to IAP's mission and involve them by a $10 or more donation in supporting our many projects which include: Publish a series of advanced high school/college level physics textbooks that include the balanced philosophical perspective and do not distort or omit the essential Christian influence in modern science Produce a five series program on The Science Before Science for ETWN to air in April 2007 co-hosted by Dr. Anthony Rizzi and Marcus Grodi Publish an annual professional journal Education out reach to professionals through our Certified Membership program (a graded semester long course) and graduate courses through ICU; and non-professionals through Associate Membership program, student internships, high school programs; and future publications for all levels including junior high students and the non-scientist layman Public lectures and media interviews Publish first rate research as part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration involving over 400 scientists world-wide      The grand prize for the raffle is an original oil painting of the IAP logo -- St. Thomas Aquinas contemplating the atom.  Other prizes include two hydrogen powered rockets and autographed copies of The Science Before Science.  Click HERE to view the raffle rules.     We do need volunteers to sell raffle tickets in their communities.  If you could assist IAP at this time, please contact Ken Klenk at klenk@consultssc.com or  (605) 336-0776. Baton Rouge LA 70985                  info@IAPweb.org

Members and Volunteers Work on Textbook, EWTN Series, Audio Book, and more

Dr. Joe Haller, IAP Certfiied Member, worked with Dr. Rizzi at the Institute in September developing figures for the Mechanic textbook. Dr. Haller has a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona (1992) and subsequently worked for five years as a research associate in the U of A theoretical astrophysics group. He now works in Las Vegas, Nevada doing GPS data integration, risk analysis, and Monte Carlo modeling.  He and his wife Karen have two children. Phillip Bellini, IAP Associate Member, has initiated a project to publish an audio version of The Science Before Science. Mr. Bellini has started the narration of the book and will keep us updated on his progress. Mr. Bellini is the Director of Religious Education at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, New Orleans, LA. He has also served as District Representative for Envoy Magazine, and as a lead conference coordinator for Houston-based Fullness of Truth Ministries. IAP thanks Certified Member John Keck for donating several physics books to IAP’s library. If you have any physics or philosophy books you would like to donate, please email the titles with author names to Susan at info@iapweb.org.

James Louviere, IAP Associate Member, volunteered two Saturdays to assist with editing on the EWTN series The Science Before Science: A Guide to Thinking and Believing scheduled to air in April 2007. Mr. Louviere is director of the Religious and Family jewelry department, Stuller, Inc. He also serves as President of Champions of the Truth, a non-profit lay organization.  In this capacity, he hosts a weekly, local, live, call-in, TV talk show, and he also produces video and audio materials for many Catholic authors and teachers. David Girior, IAP Associate Member Candidate, a Baton Rouge, LA engineer, has assisted in reviewing an IAP article written by Prof. Rizzi, called What is Math Really?, to reground modern mathematics. It will help college math professors get back to the foundations and understand themselves as well as help their students understand the proper relationship between the formalism and the meaning of mathematics.  IAP extends a special thank you to Luis Dellert, Jr. and several consulting members of the St. Joseph Foundation, San Antonio, TX, as well as Archbishop Phillip Hannan, New Orleans, LA, for their numberous hours in consultation and meetings earlier this year on an important administrative matter. We remain grateful to all who support IAP with service, donations and prayers.

Calendar Highlights November 4, 2006 Dr. Rizzi is a plenary speaker at the American Maritain Association conference on Nature, Science and Wisdom: The Role of the Philosophy of Nature in Nashville, TN The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth.                                       St. Thomas Aquinas       quote contributed by Jim Latimer, RI

A Great Christmas Gift! With a donation of $50 or more you will receive an autographed soft cover copy of The Science Before Science: A Guide to Thinking in the 21st Century. Send check or money order to: “The Institute for Advanced Physics” PO Box 15030 Baton Rouge, LA 70895 Please include your email address and phone number!  And don’t forget to tell us who’s name to address the autograph to in the book.