Sunday, June 14, 2020
By:
When budding physicists are first learning about the rich history of their field, they realize that all researchers are standing on the shoulders of giants. They hear the names of famous scientists from across the centuries. Newton, Bohr, Feynman, Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenburg– I could go on.
Samuel Elmer Imes is not one of those names. When I came across it, I had been reading as many Physics Today articles as I could stuff into my schedule. I’d broken story after story into its constituent parts, examined its narrative, and scoured the paragraphs in search of what gives each piece that unique Physics Today flare. Towards the end of this endeavor, I came across an article about a Harlem Rennisance man. Imes was a black physicist who built his career during the early development of quantum mechanics. His research in precision molecular spectroscopy showed that rotational energy is quantized, and he was a well-respected member of his field.
The article, published in October of 2018, felt particularly relevant this week. The day before I came across Imes’ history, AIP (including Physics Today) had participated in #ShutDownSTEM, in which we set aside normal tasks and dedicated ourselves to anti-racism resources. It’s not hard to see the effects of racism in physics. Thumbing through some statistics is enough to show that we have a problem– a deep, complicated problem with no simple solution. This past Wednesday was an effort to raise awareness, but this was only a first step. We still have miles left to go, and I’m optimistic that my field won’t be complacent.
Samantha Creech