They're the Rodney Dangerfields of the physics world.

Although their work touches the lives of most Americans countless times each day, condensed matter physicists "don't get enough respect," said Brian Schwartz, of the City University of New York.

That's largely because most people don't have a clue what a condensed matter physicist does.

"It's not as sexy as cosmology or particle physics," said Schwartz, a professor of physics. "We don't have the cachet. We're the Rodney Dangerfields."

More than 7,000 physicists and students are in Denver this week for the annual meeting of the American Physical Society. It's the biggest physics meeting on the planet this year, according to meeting sponsors.

Most of this year's attendees are condensed matter physicists, scientists who study the fundamental properties of solids, liquids and other, more exotic, substances. The work sounds esoteric, and much of it is.

But it's the intellectual engine that powers the electronics revolution, Schwartz said. Engineers apply the knowledge the physicists generate, using it to make things. Digital cameras, laptop computers, cell phones, iPods, DVD players. You name it, condensed matter physicists provided insights that made the products possible.

"These people try to figure out ways of cramming more data into smaller spaces and to speed up the process," said Phillip Schewe, of the American Institute of Physics.

The end result? Cell phones with built-in digital cameras, music players and Internet access.

"Virtually everything we rely on to make our lives easier and more comfortable has some connections to the physical sciences," said City College of New York physicist Michael Lubell.

This week's meeting highlights the latest developments in the various branches of condensed matter physics and materials research. The topics range from the elusive goal of room-temperature superconductivity to the development of new semiconductor materials, more efficient solar cells and advanced magnets.

These days, the hottest areas include nanoscience and quantum computation.

Nanoscientists manipulate individual atoms and molecules and try to combine them to make inconceivably small devices. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; the thickness of a human hair is between 50,000 and 100,000 nanometers.

Some day, nano-scale robots may scrape away plaque coating the walls of clogged arteries, bombard tumors with radiation or deliver medicines directly to diseased tissues, Lubell said.

Quantum computers would use atoms and molecules, instead of integrated circuits, to store information and execute computations. The result: more- powerful, more-energy-efficient computers.

"This is all nascent. It's going to be a while before any of this matures," Lubell said. "But it is one of the frontiers."

The wide-ranging presentations at this week's meeting include papers about icicle formation, the physics of curling ribbons, electrical resistance in ovarian cancer cells and liberal arts education in the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The meeting runs through Friday at the Colorado Convention Center.

Even scientists can be baffled by everyday life

The scientists at the American Physical Society meeting in Denver are a bright bunch who deal with incredibly complex problems. Consider the title of this physics project: Self-organized criticality in a zirconium bead pile. Or this one: Fullerene nanostructures in defect-rich graphite investigated with scanning, tunneling and microscoping. But sometimes, even these very brainy folks are stumped by the same things that baffle ordinary people. The Rocky Mountain News asked several attendees the following question: "What is it in day- to-day life that baffles you?"

• Mark Patty Columbia, Mo. University of Missouri

"Balancing my checkbook. We do so much math in our work that I've almost forgotten how to do the basic stuff, like trying to figure the tip at the restaurant last night. It was ridiculous. We had eight people there, and everybody pulled out their calculator."

• Jenny Parra

Clovis, Calif. California State University

"I'm confused about love. All the logic goes out the window. People can be intelligent and logical and love comes in and - BAM! - they're doing stupid and silly things."

• Christopher Ashman

Alexandria, Va.

Naval Research Lab

"I was helping my brother bleed the master cylinder on his truck. It should have been a simple problem to understand, but the solution was to take it to a garage and let them do it."

• Mary E. Mills Wooster, Ohio

College of Wooster

"I find myself being awkward and having difficulty in conversation and in dealing with people. . . . I laugh a lot. I find random things funny, and I just start laughing out of nowhere. And people look at me like I'm crazy. I enjoy laughing."

• Jacob Burress Columbia, Mo.

University of Missouri

"I'm writing everything in print for so long that I really struggle to write in cursive. Even my signature is scribble. There's a cursive J and then scribble."

• Michael Buettner

Charlottesville, Va.

University of Virginia

"I find it very interesting how cities work. There are a lot of people. And, from this, certain structures emerge. It somehow puzzles me because it's structure out of -chaos, and you can see this everywhere."

• Michael Garrett

Calgary, Alberta

University of Calgary

"The way people interact. People are impossible to understand."

ericksonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5129

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