The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of physics. It publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the prestigious ''

Physical Review ''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The journal was established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the Ame ...

'' and ''

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics ...

'', and organizes more than twenty science meetings each year. It is a member society of the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

. Since January 2021, it is led by chief executive officer

Jonathan Bagger Jonathan Anders Bagger (born August 7, 1955) is an American theoretical physicist, specializing in high energy physics and string theory and known for the Bagger–Lambert–Gustavsson action. Bagger received his bachelor's degree in 1977 from Da ...

History

The American Physical Society was founded on May 20, 1899, when thirty-six physicists gathered at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for that purpose. They proclaimed the mission of the new Society to be "to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics", and in one way or another the APS has been at that task ever since. In the early years, virtually the sole activity of the APS was to hold scientific meetings, initially four per year. In 1913, the APS took over the operation of the ''

,'' which had been founded in 1893 at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, and

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

publication became its second major activity. The ''Physical Review'' was followed by ''

Reviews of Modern Physics ''Reviews of Modern Physics'' (often abbreviated RMP) is a quarterly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society. It was established in 1929 and the current editor-in-chief is Michael Thoennessen. The jo ...

'' in 1929 and by ''

'' in 1958. Over the years, ''Phys. Rev.'' has subdivided into five separate sections as the fields of physics proliferated and the number of submissions grew. In more recent years, the activities of the society have broadened considerably. Stimulated by the increase in federal funding in the period after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and even more by the increased public involvement of scientists in the 1960s, the APS is active in public and governmental affairs, and in the international physics community. It also conducts extensive programs in education,

science outreach Science outreach, also called education and public outreach (EPO or E/PO) or simply public outreach, is an umbrella term for a variety of activities by research institutes, universities, and institutions such as science museums, aimed at promotin ...

(specifically

physics outreach Physics outreach encompasses facets of science outreach and physics education, and a variety of activities by schools, research institutes, universities, clubs and institutions such as science museums aimed at broadening the audience for and a ...

), and media relations. Fourteen divisions and eleven topical groups covering all areas of physics research. Six forums reflect the interests of its fifty thousand members in broader issues, and nine sections organized by geographical region. In 1999, APS Physics celebrated its centennial with the biggest-ever physics meeting in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. In 2005, APS took the lead role in United States participation in the

World Year of Physics The year 2005 was named the World Year of Physics, also known as Einstein Year, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's " Miracle Year", in which he published four landmark papers, and the subsequent advances in the field of ...

, initiating several programs to broadly publicize physics during the 100th anniversary of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

annus mirabilis ''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", or "miraculous year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are remembered, notably ...

Einstein@Home Einstein@Home is a volunteer computing project that searches for signals from spinning neutron stars in data from gravitational-wave detectors, from large radio telescopes, and from a gamma-ray telescope. Neutron stars are detected by their puls ...

, one of the projects APS initiated during World Year of Physics, is an ongoing and popular

distributed computing Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers. The components of a distributed system commu ...

project.

Name confusion and change proposal

During the summer of 2005, the society conducted an electronic poll, in which the majority of APS members preferred the name ''American Physics Society''. The poll became the motivation for a proposal of a name change promised in the leadership election that year. For legal reasons, the planned name change was eventually abandoned by the APS Executive Board. To promote public recognition of APS as a physics society, while retaining the name American Physical Society, the APS Executive Board adopted a new logo incorporating the phrase "''APS Physics''." APS introduced a new logo to replace the ''APS Physics'' logo on November 1, 2022.

Journals

The American Physical Society publishes 17 international research journals and an open-access online news and commentary website ''

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

''. * ''

'' (PRL): Letters; fundamental research in all fields of physics. * ''

Physical Review X ''Physical Review X'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the American Physical Society covering all branches of pure, applied, and interdisciplinary physics. It is part of the '' Physical Review'' family of journals. Sin ...

'' (PRX):

Open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

; pure, applied, and interdisciplinary physics. * ''

PRX Energy PRX may refer to: * Pressure reactivity index, a medical tool for monitoring patients with acute brain injuries * PRX (telephony), a telephone switching platform developed by Philips * Public Radio Exchange, a web-based public-radio distribution ...

'' (PRX Energy): Open access; advances in energy science and technology. * ''

PRX Life PRX may refer to: * Pressure reactivity index, a medical tool for monitoring patients with acute brain injuries * PRX (telephony), a telephone switching platform developed by Philips * Public Radio Exchange, a web-based public-radio distribution ...

'' (PRX Life): Open access; quantitative biological research. * ''

PRX Quantum ''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The journal was established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the Americ ...

'' (PRX Quantum): Open access; advances in quantum information science and technology. * ''

'' (RMP): Reviews and Colloquia; Broad fundamental physics. * ''

Physical Review A ''Physical Review A'' (also known as PRA) is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society covering atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum information. the editor was Jan M. Rost ( Max Planck ...

'' (PRA): Atomic, molecular, and optical physics. * ''

Physical Review B ''Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics'' (also known as PRB) is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, published by the American Physical Society (APS). The Lead Editor of PRB is Stephen E. Nagler and the Chief Editor is Sarma ...

'' (PRB): Condensed matter and materials physics. * ''

Physical Review C Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, clinical examination, or medical checkup, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a Disease, medical co ...

'' (PRC): Nuclear physics. * ''

Physical Review D Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, clinical examination, or medical checkup, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a Disease, medical co ...

'' (PRD): Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology. * ''

Physical Review E ''Physical Review E'' is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal, published monthly by the American Physical Society. The main field of interest is collective phenomena of many-body systems. It is edited by Dario Corradini as of December 2024. While ...

'' (PRE): Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics. * ''

Physical Review Research Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, clinical examination, or medical checkup, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a Disease, medical co ...

'' (PRResearch): Open access; multidisciplinary. * '' Physical Review Accelerators and Beams'' (PRAB):

; accelerator science and technology. * '' Physical Review Applied'' (PRApplied): Experimental and theoretical applications of physics. * ''

Physical Review Fluids ''Physical Review Fluids'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, published monthly by the American Physical Society. The journal focuses on fluid dynamics and also covers geophysical fluid dynamics, biofluid dynamics, nanofluidics and magneto ...

'' (PRFluids): Fluid dynamics. * '' Physical Review Materials'' (PRMaterials): A broad-scope international journal for the multidisciplinary community engaged in research on materials. * '' Physical Review Physics Education Research'' (PRPER):

; experimental and theoretical research on physics education. All members of APS receive the monthly publication ''

Physics Today ''Physics Today'' is the membership magazine of the American Institute of Physics. First published in May 1948, it is issued on a monthly schedule, and is provided to the members of ten physics societies, including the American Physical Society. ...

'', published by the

(AIP).

Units

The American Physical Society has 47 units (divisions, forums, topical groups and sections) that represent the wide range of interests of the physics community.

Divisions

* Astrophysics (DAP) * Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics (DAMOP): The objective of the division is the promotion of the fundamental research on atoms, simple molecules, electrons and light, and their interactions. Historically, this is the oldest division of the American Physical Society. It was created in 1943. The division manages a number of prestigious awards for AMO scientists at various stages of their careers, such as the Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics, Rabi Prize in AMO Physics, Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in AMO Physics, Herbert P. Broida Prize, etc. It also organizes annual DAMOP Meetings attended by many leading AMO researchers, both from the United States and abroad. * Biological Physics (DBIO): With over 2,000 members, the division is the second largest learned society in the world devoted to biological physics, following the

Biophysical Society The Biophysical Society is an international scientific society whose purpose is to lead the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. Founded in 1958, the Society currently consists of over 7,000 members in academia, government, an ...

. The objective of the division is the advancement and dissemination of knowledge on the broad interface of

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

. This includes studying biological phenomena with physics tools and identifying new physics questions within biological contexts. The division supports a program of over 600 (as of 2016) presentations at the annual March Meeting of the APS, on topics ranging from protein biophysics, to neuroscience and evolution. It promotes research and development of biological physics, enhanced the standing of the field, and recognizes important contributions to the field, such as by awarding the Max Delbruck Prize in biological physics. * Chemical Physics (DCP) * Computational Physics (DCOMP): The division has more than 2,000 members, and the objective of the division is the advancement and dissemination of knowledge regarding the use of

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

research and education. This includes, among other areas, their application to

experiments An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome o ...

theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

, and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

as well as the application of physics to the development of computer technology. This division provides to its members an opportunity for coordination and a forum for discussion and communication. In addition, the division promotes research and development in

computational physics Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical analysis to solve problems in physics. Historically, computational physics was the first application of modern computers in science, and is now a subset of computational science ...

; enhances prestige and professional standing of its members; encourages scholarly publication; and promotes international cooperation in these activities. * Condensed Matter Physics (DCMP) * Fluid Dynamics (DFD) * Gravitational Physics (DGRAV) * Laser Science (DLS) * Materials Physics (DMP) * Nuclear Physics (DNP) * Particles and Fields (DPF) * Physics of Beams (DPB) * Plasma Physics (DPP) * Polymer Physics (DPOLY) * Quantum Information (DQI) * Soft Matter (DSOFT)

Forums

* Diversity and Inclusion (FDI) * Early Career Scientists (FECS) * Education (FEd) * Graduate Student Affairs (FGSA) * History and Philosophy of Physics (FHPP) * Industrial and Applied Physics (FIAP) * International Physics (FIP) * Outreach and Engaging the Public (FOEP) * Physics and Society (FPS)

Sections

* Eastern Great Lakes (EGLS) * Far West Section (FWS) * Four Corners (4CS) * Mid-Atlantic (MAS) * New England (NES) * New York State (NYSS) * Northwest (NWS) * Prairie Section (PSAPS) * Southeastern (SESAPS) * Texas (TSAPS)

Topical groups

APS has the following topical groups: * Data Science (GDS) * Energy Research and Applications (GERA) * Few-Body Systems (GFB) * Hadronic Physics (GHP) * Instrument and Measurement Science (GIMS) * Magnetism (GMAG) * Medical Physics (GMED) * Physics Education Research (GPER) * Physics of Climate (GPC) * Plasma Astrophysics (GPAP) * Precision Measurement & Fundamental Constants (GPMFC) * Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (

SHOCK Shock may refer to: Common uses Healthcare * Acute stress reaction, also known as psychological or mental shock ** Shell shock, soldiers' reaction to battle trauma * Circulatory shock, a medical emergency ** Cardiogenic shock, resulting from ...

) * Statistical and Nonlinear Physics (GSNP)

Programs

Physics Teacher Education Coalition

The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) is a joint project of the American Physical Society and the ''

American Association of Physics Teachers The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was founded in 1930 for the purpose of "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." There are more than 10,000 members in over 30 countries. AAPT publications includ ...

'', which helps universities transform their physics teacher education programs into national models. PhysTEC-supported sites develop their physics teacher preparation programs by implementing a set of key components that project leaders have identified as critical to success in physics teacher preparation. The broader coalition is a national network of institutions committed to developing and promoting excellence in physics and physical science teacher preparation.

Bridge program

The APS Bridge Program aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students that earn doctoral degrees in physics. The program names doctoral and master's degree-granting institutions as Bridge Sites and awards them

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

funding to prepare post-baccalaureate students for doctoral studies through additional coursework, mentoring, research, application coaching, and GRE preparation.

Scholarship for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors

Formerly called the APS Corporate Sponsored Scholarship Program for Minority Undergraduate Students Who Major in Physics, this scholarship was established in 1980 with the goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minorities receiving bachelor's degrees in physics. The program provides funding and mentoring to talented students.

Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics

APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics are three-day regional conferences for undergraduate physics majors. The conferences aim to help undergraduate women continue in physics by providing them with the opportunity to experience a professional conference, information about graduate school and professions in physics, and access to other women in physics of all ages with whom they can share experiences, advice, and ideas.

Career center

The ''APS Careers in Physics'' website is a gateway for physicists, students, and physics enthusiasts to obtain information about physics jobs and careers. APS Careers in Physics has an award-winning job board, offers professional development advice through its website and blog, and provides links to workshops, grants, and career resources.

New faculty workshop

APS co-sponsors a set of workshops for new physics and astronomy faculty with the

and the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

. These workshops reach nearly half of all new physics and astronomy faculty, and introduce them to current pedagogical practices, results of physics education research, and time management skills to help them begin and improve their academic careers.

CSWP/COM site visits

The APS has had a long-standing interest in improving the climate in physics departments for underrepresented minorities and women. The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) and the Committee on Minorities (COM) both sponsor site visit programs to universities as well as national labs.

Education conferences

APS is a leading voice for physics education and the society sponsors a variety of conferences dedicating to helping physics education leaders stay on top of the trends in the field. Conferences include the annual Physics Department Chair Conference, a Graduate Education in Physics Conference, and a Distance Education & Online Learning in Physics Workshop.

Physics outreach

The APS physics outreach program focuses on "Communicating the excitement and importance of physics to everyone." As part of this effort, it maintains an educational website, PhysicsCentral; offers grants to help APS members develop educational programs; and runs the Historic Physics Sites Initiative, which identifies and commemorates important historic physics sites in the United States.

Prizes and awards

The American Physical Society gives out a number of awards for research excellence and conduct; topics include outstanding leadership,

lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

, and more.

References

External links

*
Bulletin of the American Physical Society
— freely available scientific abstracts presented at general meetings and various unit meetings of APS Physics.

Archival collections

American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics Archives
, 1946–1991, Special Collections, Linderman Library,

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society, University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections

Niels Bohr Library & Archives