Robert P. Crease

2 weeks ago | physicsworld.com | Robert P. Crease

Robert P Crease believes the Trump administration isn’t just punishing US science – it’s destroying it The Heisenberg uncertainty principle holds things together. Articulated by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg almost a century ago, it remains the foundation of the physical world. Its name suggests the rule of the vague and temporary. But the principle is quantitative. A high uncertainty about the position of, say, an electron is compensated by a low uncertainty in its momentum. The...

1 month ago | physicsworld.com | Robert P. Crease

Robert P Crease reports on how his grant was axed because it appeared to threaten the priorities of US President Donald Trump Late on Friday 18 April, the provost of Stony Brook University, where I teach, received a standard letter from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the body that funds much academic research in the US. “Termination of certain awards is necessary,” the e-mail ran, “because they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities”. The e-mail mentioned “NSF Award Id...

2 months ago | physicsworld.com | Robert P. Crease

A quarter of a century after he started writing his “Critical Point” column, Robert P Crease reveals his underlying message A quarter of a century ago, in May 2000, I published an article entitled “Why science thrives on criticism”. The article, which ran to slightly over a page in Physics World magazine, was the first in a series of columns called Critical Point. Periodicals, I said, have art and music critics as well as sports and political commentators, and book and theatre reviewers too....

Mar 25, 2025 | physicsworld.com | Robert P. Crease

Robert P Crease visits the High Energy Photon Source near Beijing, which will be – when it opens later this year – the most advanced fourth-generation synchrotron-light source I’m standing next to Yang Fugui in front of the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) in Beijing’s Huairou District about 50 km north of the centre of the Chinese capital. The HEPS isn’t just another synchrotron light source. It will, when it opens later this year, be the world’s most advanced facility of its type....

Mar 10, 2025 | physicsworld.com | Robert P. Crease

Robert P Crease reports from the Stand Up for Science demonstration in New York on 7 March 2025 The Stand Up for Science demonstration at Washington Square Park in New York City on Friday 7 March 2025 had the most qualified speakers, angriest participants and wickedest signs of any protest I can remember. Raucous, diverse and loud, it was held in the shadow of looming massive cuts to key US scientific agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation...