Reflections on 75 years of Physics Today

Seventy-five years ago this month, physical scientists who belonged to one of the American Institute of Physics’s five member societies received a 40-page magazine with a photograph of Robert Oppenheimer’s porkpie hat on the cover. The first issue of Physics Today, editor Gloria B. Lubkin would later write, “was a gift from [AIP] to the readers, founded among misgivings and doubts as to whether anybody wanted it and whether it could become self supporting.”

Today Physics Today reaches more than 100 000 readers, most of them the members of the 10 societies that now make up AIP. In this month’s issue, editor-in-chief Richard Fitzgerald reflects on how Physics Today and the physical sciences that it covers have changed—and how they haven’t—since the magazine’s debut in May 1948.

Much more has been said about the evolution of the magazine over the last 75 years. The following Physics Today anniversary pieces capture how members of the physics community perceived the state of their fields and how they and the magazine’s editors saw the need to adapt to changes in science and how it is done. Selected quotes offer additional insights and noteworthy observations.

May 1948 (First issue)

• David A. Katcher, “Editorial” (page 3): “Can a science so dependent on precise terminology be reported to the satisfaction of both physicists and nonphysicists? We believe it can and must be, though it means developing a new approach in nontechnical writing for the physicists who will do most of it.”

May 1968 (20th anniversary)

• Gloria B. Lubkin, “Twenty years” (page 23)
• Perspectives by topic:
  • Abraham Pais, “Particles” (page 24): The state of particle physics “is a state not unlike the one in a symphony hall a while before the start of the concert. On the podium one will see some but not yet all of the musicians. They are tuning up. Short brilliant passages are heard on some instruments; improvisations elsewhere; some wrong notes too. There is a sense of anticipation for the moment when the symphony starts.”
  • D. Allan Bromley, “The nucleus” (page 29)
  • Lewis M. Branscomb, “Atoms, molecules and electrons” (page 36)
  • Aden B. Meinel, “Optics” (page 40): “The discovery of the laser, the birth of space optics, the innovation of fast computers to optimize optical designs or to reduce interferometric data and the opening up of the electromagnetic spectrum from short x rays to the radiowave region have been of tremendous value.”
  • Herman F. Mark, “High-polymer physics” (page 43)
  • Raymond J. Emrich and François N. Frenkiel, “Fluid dynamics” (page 44)
  • Melvin B. Gottlieb, “Plasmas” (page 46)
  • Robert S. Marvin, “Rheology” (page 52)
  • John M. Ziman, “Solid state” (page 53): “This is the era of solid-state physics; we do not know when it will end.”
  • James A. Ibers, “Structural crystallography” (page 58)
  • R. Bruce Lindsay, “Acoustics” (page 60): “We know a great deal about noise and its control, but we have not made a very big dent in the removal of the noise pollution in our environment. Here indeed is a challenge to acoustics!”
  • A. G. W. Cameron, “The solar system” (page 61)
  • Lodewyk Woltjer, “Astrophysics” (page 63): “Among the many other areas of spectacular progress I shall just mention … the discovery that an isotropic (probably thermal) radiation field permeates the universe.”
• Perspectives on the past, present, and future of Physics Today:
  • Henry A. Barton, “The early years” (page 66): “Physics Today was edited primarily for physicists (not the public) with emphasis on physics itself and on clarity. There was an avoidance of even simple mathematics—since given up as hopeless by subsequent editors.”
  • Elmer Hutchisson, “The recent years” (page 68)
  • H. William Koch, “Today” (page 72)
  • Ralph A. Sawyer, “Yesterday and tomorrow” (page 138)

May 1973 (25th)

• Charles Weiner, “Physics Today and the spirit of the Forties” (page 23): “We do not need to be reminded of the wealth of knowledge and insight into the physical universe that has unfolded during the past 25 years, nor of the vast social impact of the applications of physics research during the same period. … Now the expectations of increasing government support for basic research have given way to concern for establishing priorities, both within science and in relation to overall national needs.”
• H. Richard Crane, “25 years later: time of self-examination” (page 104)

May 1998 (50th)

• David A. Katcher, “How Physics Today hatched” (page 6)
• Toni Feder, “The editors look back” (page 9): “Reminded of a 1955 gaffe now legendary at the magazine, [former editor-in-chief Robert R.] Davis says, ‘Einstein’s missing obit! One of those unredeemable disasters!’ When he didn’t find the right person to write it, ‘time sped by, other things got in the way, and in the end nothing got done. … The past is unforgiving.’ ”
• Gloria B. Lubkin, “A personal look back at Physics Today” (page 24): Around the time of the post-Sputnik physics buildup of the mid 1960s, American Physical Society secretary Karl “Darrow complained that Physics Today was carrying too many ads and that we should stop selling so many. He complained that the magazine was getting too thick to fit in his raincoat pocket.”
• Perspectives by decade:
  • “1948–1958" (page 38)
  • “1958–1968" (page 58)
  • “1968–1978" (page 78)
  • “1978–1988" (page 98)
  • “1988–1998" (page 118)

May 2018 (70th)

• Melinda Baldwin, “Physics Today ads track employment boom and bust” (online, 7 May 2018): “The archives of Physics Today reminds us that physics is not immune to economic downturns—and that the physics community should be prepared to advise and support young physicists when the job market takes a turn for the worse.”
• David Kaiser, “The origins of Physics Today” (page 32): “As physicists’ worlds continue to evolve, so too will their forms of communication and the way in which they are perceived.”