Credentials and conformity
DOI: 10.1063/1.2963023
I applaud and agree with William Aghassi (Physics Today, October 2007, page 12 ) when he writes, “In today’s physics community only credentials and conformity count.” Actually, credentials also mean little today, unless your research is in a trendy topic like string theory and you write from a famous university like MIT, Cambridge University, Imperial College, or Caltech. Gatekeepers and editors shun originality.
In his book The Einstein Decade, 1905–1915 (Academic Press, 1974), physicist Cornelius Lanczos commented, “How fortunate that someone of the calibre of [Max] Planck was editor of Annalen der Physik [in 1905]…. Today none of these papers would see the light of day!”
More about the Authors
Howard D. Greyber. (hgreyber@yahoo.com) San Jose, California, US .
