Robert R. Davis and Physics Today

Abstract

This is the last issue for which Robert R. Davis serves as editor of Physics Today. This factual statement says much, but leaves unsaid a great deal more. Bob took the helm of PT in November 1950 during very unsettled times. There was reason to ask, “Could Physics Today survive?” It was slim in size. A few physicists resented openly the action of the American Institute of Physics in initiating a physics journal which they thought must necessarily be beneath their dignity to read. Financial difficulties intensified their misgivings. Advertising was slow in coming, experiments in obtaining subscription income were not always successful, and the wolf was often at the door. Yet the AIP officers and Governing Board had staunch faith. They knew that if the AIP were to be more than a paper organization, some medium of communication among all physicists had to be kept alive.