The most popular Physics Today articles of 2017

As in previous years, the list of the Physics Today website’s most popular stories contains thought-provoking pieces on new discoveries and historical explorations. But notably, many of the articles on the list also encourage physicists to look inward: Can physics be taught more effectively? Are some graduate students and postdoctoral researchers being set up to fail? How can scientists reform peer review? Those are the kinds of questions PT will continue to explore, online and in print, in 2018.

Here is a summary of our 10 most read stories this year:

Feynman bump. The largest single day of traffic on PT‘s website came on 11 May, on what would have been Richard Feynman’s 99th birthday. Readers couldn’t resist getting a glimpse of a notebook Feynman filled out in high school as he taught himself calculus. Books editor Melinda Baldwin, who pored through the notebook, wrote that the meticulous notes “illustrate one of the famous physicist’s defining qualities: his insatiable curiosity. . . . When he found a subject that interested him, he was not about to wait for the right teacher to come along; he was determined to master it himself.”

Hands-on physics. Undergraduate astrophysics student Ricardo Heras invoked Feynman in a commentary critical of the traditional methods for teaching physics. Whereas Feynman favored encouraging students to think creatively, Heras wrote, most courses are based on rote memorization and mind-numbing calculations. Heras advocated for classes that adhere to Feynman’s philosophy of learning by creating. Commenters largely supported Heras’s thesis but worried that students in more freewheeling courses might miss out on acquiring fundamental knowledge that is necessary to pursue advanced research.

Heras and other creativity-craving physicists would appreciate Spencer Axani’s June article on designing an inexpensive, easy-to-build desktop muon detector. In a project meant for the IceCube neutrino experiment in Antarctica, Axani and his adviser, Janet Conrad, found that they could build an instrument to measure cosmic-ray muons for less than $100. When the MIT scientists posted a breakdown of their design on the arXiv preprint server, they received an overwhelming response—not from particle astrophysicists, but from high school and undergraduate students interested in following the blueprint for themselves. Axani, Conrad, and colleagues recently launched the CosmicWatch program, which helps students and teachers build their own muon detectors and use them to measure cosmic-ray flux and perform muon tomography.

Magazine highlights. Online readers share PT print subscribers’ enthusiasm for articles that explore deep questions and probe physics history. The most popular feature stories included astrobiologist Charles Cockell’s rundown of the fundamental physical principles that have fed into the creation and evolution of life on Earth. Another top pick was Alex Wellerstein and Edward Geist’s investigation into the Soviet Union’s first hydrogen bomb, which, despite its relative inefficiency, served as an important stepping stone to future multimegaton models. Readers also rushed to scrutinize physicist Richard Muller’s provocative and testable theory of time, which he discussed in an online interview published as a supplement to the February review of Muller’s book. “The moment we call ‘now,’” he theorized, “is the time that was just created to match the new space created from the expansion of the universe.”

Two other popular print articles sparked vibrant discussion among readers. National Air and Space Museum curator Margaret Weitekamp’s analysis of The Big Bang Theory addressed the long-running CBS comedy’s influence on the public’s perception of scientists. Weitekamp pointed out that the show portrays scientists “more diverse in gender, ethnicity, and especially disciplinary focus than is often seen on television.” And she argued that despite accusations of the sitcom’s playing to stereotypes, the characters are more accurately described as “quirky but lovable” than mad scientist. As evidenced by the comments on the article and on Facebook, plenty of readers disagreed with Weitekamp’s assessment.

Meanwhile, Melinda Baldwin’s feature-length dive into peer review inspired readers to question the status quo. Though the article explored peer review from a historical perspective, it also raised concerns about the efficacy of the current system, especially at a time when the science publishing industry is in flux. “If scientists are to transform peer review’s future,” Baldwin wrote, “they must consider what purpose they want it to serve—and whether that purpose can indeed be fulfilled by reports from two or more referees.”

Mental health comes to the forefront. Back in March, Georgia Tech physics PhD candidate Andrea Welsh contacted Physics Today to propose writing an essay about mental health in the physics community. In the resulting deeply personal piece , Welsh described the dual struggles of combating her depression and worrying about sharing her experiences with those in her department. She soon discovered that she was far from alone. Since publication, many people have confided in Welsh; others have shared their stories at conferences or online. Welsh encourages the physics community to facilitate the discussion of mental health by setting up support groups and training mentors.

Two months later, the publication of a remarkable paper in the European Physical Journal C reinforced the idea that Welsh had hit on a major issue. Oliver Rosten, the author of the study on conformal algebra, dedicated his work to a friend and colleague who had died by suicide five years earlier. Right in the acknowledgments section, Rosten attributed his friend’s death at least in part to the psychological toll of an unjust postdoctoral system, particularly for those with mental health struggles. Two journals rejected Rosten’s paper when he refused to change the language. When the paper did appear, it resonated with physicists and the broader academic community, many of whom agreed with the author’s recommendations of higher pay, better training, and more mental health support for postdocs. Physics Today‘s coverage of Rosten’s paper and the changes he hopes it will inspire was the most read article of the year.

Andrew Grant is Physics Today‘s online editor. He encourages readers to email story ideas, whether about research, workplace experiences, or anything else, to pteditors@aip.org .