Physics PhD’s…whence…whither…when?

OCT 01, 1962

The rate of production of physics doctorates in the United States—stationary at 500 per year for almost a decade—is now rising with a rate of increase of approximately 7% per year. Lindsey R. Harmon, director of research of the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council, reports here on some of the geographic, educational, and sociological characteristics of the new PhD’s in physics. The NAS‐NRC studies complement those of the US Office of Education and the American Institute of Physics in reporting the extent to which the nation is meeting the critical need for highly educated manpower in physics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3057794

L. R. Harmon

During most of the decade of the 1950’s, the production of physics doctorates was on a plateau at about 500 per year. Recent evidence is that it has begun to climb again, at about the long‐term rate of an increase of 7% per annum. The data on physics doctorate output, shown in Table 1 and in Figure 1, come from the Doctorate Records File of the Office of Scientific Personnel of the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council. Figure 1 is plotted on semilogarithmic paper so that a given percentage rate of increase will appear as a straight line. For the last four years, the increase each year has come very near to the 7% per annum rate of increase, which, over many decades, tends to characterize doctorate output in all fields combined.

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L. R. Harmon, National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council, U.S..