Christian Szablewski-Paz

HST 401
Professor Horgan

27 September 2022


Less Diversity, Less Thinking

There are a multitude of underlying problems within the field of physics.  Some are directly questions relating to physics itself that have just been yet to be answered.  Others include the lack of racial and gender diversity within the field, with a physicist even backing this up with a claim that women’s brains make them worse at physics!  Despite the backlash this received from many experts, it still supports an idea that it is difficult to diversify a field dominated by established, older white men.  Claims like these are made by the few, and are supported by more than one would think.  They are also discouraging to women and minorities and could possibly even be a contributing factor as to why the field’s racial and gender gap is among the highest in science.

There are many questions in physics that we do not yet have the answer to.  One of these, put simply, is “What is matter made of?”  Currently it is understood “that matter is made of atoms, and atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons” (Falk).  It is also known that matter is broken into even smaller particles called quarks, but is it possible for scientists to go even deeper and discover particles that are even more fundamental?  Physicists have developed the standard model for particle physics, but this doesn’t provide all of the answers.  Physicists also know that atoms are always electrically neutral - the proton charge always cancels out the electron charge, but we don’t know why.  Another, debatably more interesting, question is how did life evolve from nonliving matter?  Many scientists believe that before biological evolution began, there was chemical evolution - the process of simple inorganic molecules reacting to form complex organic molecules (Falk), but what caused this is still unknown and is only speculated.  The true strength of gravity, a fundamental force that highly impacts how we perceive modern physics, is also unknown.  Gravity feels weak to us in respect to electromagnetism and the two kinds of nuclear forces, however, many scientists believe that this may be due to the fact that gravity leaks into hidden extra dimensions that are currently impossible to detect.  It’s shocking how little we seem to know about a force as fundamental as gravity.

According to The American Physical Society, Over 2014-2018 Physics Bachelors and PHD students consisted of over 80% white people.  There were roughly 3% black, 7% hispanic, and 8% Asian people with women making up only 20%.  The statistic has been the same for years, stemming from the birth of modern physics to now.  In 1974, physicist Mary James was encouraged to apply for a prestigious internship in California.  Being a young Black woman from Chicago, she claims that the idea seemed far-fetched, but she applied anyway, and was accepted.  She explained her exposure to these types of internships made her more acceptable to the “white male ‘priesthood’ that sets the discipline’s culture” (Mervis).  This culture has historically excluded minorities and women, and rather than giving students the help they need, James and other black physicists claimed, the priesthood too often decides that those students are simply unworthy of joining the profession.  This way of thinking is so common in the industry that it has received a name - the deficit model.  Despite the initiatives pushing women and minorities to join physics, and rather all fields of STEM, there is a paradox in which it is predominantly white men making the hiring and recruiting decisions for these fields.  Their biases, whether conscious or unconscious, are a major contributor as to why there is still a major race and gender gap in these fields.  It is discouraging for the applicants, so their decision making process may lead them towards other fields, and the “getting their foot in the door” process is significantly more difficult for them.

How are these two problems related: the amount of unanswered questions in physics and the gender/race gap?  I’ll put it simply.  If there was more diversity in physics, there would be a way more diverse variety of ideas and theories that would form.  This is true for all areas of science, and any other field that involves bouncing off each other’s ideas.  I strongly believe that the reason why this field has seemed to slow down in progress, and that some questions seem to be unanswerable, is at the very least partly due to the extreme lack of diversity in the people attempting to answer these questions.  I would go as far to make the argument that the lack of diversity could even make physicists blind to potentially asking the wrong questions!  Diversity in any field is extremely important because it causes a greater possibility for diverse thinking, leading to new ideas that could potentially answer these fundamental questions.

Works Cited

Allen, Michael. “Gender Gap in Physics among Highest in Science.” Physics World, 19 Apr. 2018, https://physicsworld.com/a/gender-gap-in-physics-amongst-highest-in-science/.

Mervis, Jeffrey. “Diversity Researchers Say Fix the System in Physics, Not the Students.” Science, Science.org, 2 Mar. 2022, https://www.science.org/content/article/diversity-researchers-say-fix-system-physics-not-students.

Falk, Dan. “The 7 Biggest Unanswered Questions in Physics.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 8 Aug. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/7-biggest-unanswered-questions-physics-ncna789666.

“Field of Degree: Women.” Physics - Field of Degree: Women - Nsf.gov - Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering - NCSES - US National Science Foundation (NSF), National Science Foundation, https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/digest/fod-women/physics.cfm#:~:text=Despite%20increases%20in%20the%20number,of%20all%20the%20physical%20sciences.

Horgan, John. “What's Wrong with Physics.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 27 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/whats-wrong-with-physics/.

“Physics Degrees by Race/Ethnicity.” American Physical Society, American Physical Society, https://www.aps.org/programs/education/statistics/degreesbyrace.cfm. 

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