Essay: the tau lepton and thirty years of changes in elementary particle physics research.

Starting with the 1975 discovery of the tau lepton, I look back on the last three decades of change in the substance and style of experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics. I recount the major accomplishments of those decades and predict a bright future for particle physics in the next two decades. Turning to three problems, I lament the change in theoretical style and taste, I discuss the growth in the complexity, size, and cost of particle physics experiments, and I conclude with a pessimistic comment on the size of particle physics collaborations.

Study of charmless hadronic B meson decays to pseudoscalar-vector final states.

We report results of searches for charmless hadronic B meson decays to pseudoscalar( pi(+/-), K+/-, pi(0), or K(0)(S))-vector( rho, K(*), or omega) final states. By using 9.7x10(6) BB pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we report the first observation of B(-)--->pi(-)rho(0), B(0)-->pi(+/-)rho(-/+), and B(-)-->pi(-)omega, which are expected to be dominated by hadronic b-->u transitions. The measured branching fractions are (10.4(+3.3)(-3.4)+/-2.1)x10(-6), (27.6(+8.4)(-7.4)+/-4.2)x10(-6), and (11.3(+3.3)(-2.9)+/-1. 4)x10(-6), respectively. Branching fraction upper limits are set for all of the other decay modes investigated.

Observation of B --> K(+/-) pi(0) and B --> (K)0 pi(0), and evidence for B --> pi(+)pi(-).

We have studied charmless hadronic decays of B mesons into two-body final states with kaons and pions and observe three new processes with the following branching fractions: beta(B-->pi(+)pi(-)) = (4.3(+1. 6)(-1.4)+/-0.5)x10(-6), beta(B-->K(0)pi(0)) = (14.6(+5.9+2.4)(-5.1-3. 3))x10(-6), and beta(B-->K(+)/-pi(0)) = (11.6(+3.0+1.4)(-2.7-1.3))x10(-6). We also update our previous measurements for the decays B-->K(+)/-pi(-/+) and B+/--->K(0)pi(+/-).

Two-body B meson decays to eta and eta('): observation of B --> eta K*.

In a sample of 19 x 10(6) produced B mesons, we have observed the decays B-->eta K(*) and improved our previous measurements of B-->eta'K. The branching fractions we measure for these decay modes are B(B+-->eta K(*+)) = (26.4(+9.6)(-8.2)+/-3.3)x10(-6), B(B(0)-->eta K(*0)) = (13.8(+5.5)(-4.6)+/-1.6)x10(-6), B(B(+)-->eta'K(+) = (80(+10)(-9)+/-7)x10(-6), and B(B(0)-->eta'K0) = (89(+18)(-16)+/-9)x10(-6). We have searched with comparable sensitivity for related decays and report upper limits for these branching fractions.

Measurement of charge asymmetries in charmless hadronic B meson decays.

We search for CP-violating charge asymmetries (alpha(CP)) in the B meson decays to K(+/-)pi(-/+), K(+/-)pi(0), K(0)(S)pi(+/-), K(+/-)eta('), and omega pi(+/-). Using 9.66 million upsilon(4S) decays collected with the CLEO detector, the statistical precision on alpha(CP) is in the range of +/-0.12 to +/-0.25 depending on decay mode. While CP-violating asymmetries of up to +/-0.5 are possible within the standard model, the measured asymmetries are consistent with zero in all five decay modes studied.

Professionals: their problems, their fears, and their social responsibilities.

Professional societies have been reluctant to enter actively into the public processes by which decisions are made on economic, social, and political issues. This reluctance comes from (1) fears about the status of the profession and the professional society, (2) fears about economic reprisal, (3) potential conflicts between the goals of a philosophy of trade unionism and the goals of a philosophy of professional social responsibility, and (4) domination of some professional societies by nonprofessional business, industrial, or administrative groups. This reluctance has been justified by the development of a myth that the professional can exercise individual social responsibility while maintaining the neutrality of his institutions and societies. This myth must be ignored because our public decision-making processes can only function properly if groups, such as professional societies, actively enter that decision-making process.

The scientific advisory system: some observations.

The scientific advisory system is effective on limited technical questions, and such questions provide much of its work. On broad technical questions, however, the scientific advisory system is not effective. Unfortunately this category includes most of the crucial environmental questions. Finally, the advisory system, as presently constituted, combined with the multiple functions of the scientific establishment, is detrimental in important ways to the process of technical decision-making in this country. This is because the combined effect of the advisory system and the establishment is to impede the development of a more effective and comprehensice role for the scientific community in the technical decision-making process.