Definition of Physicist by the War Policy Committee of the American Institute of Physics (4)

"A. A physicist is one whose training and experience lie in the study and applications of the interactions between matter and energy in the fields of mechanics, acoustics, optics, heat, electricity, magnetism, radiation, atomic structure, and nuclear phenomena.

"B. To qualify as a professional physicist one must have had at least 8 years of training and experience in physics. Toward this experience 4 years of formal collegiate education with major emphasis on physics may be credited, year for year, if it leads to a bachelor's degree, 5 years if it leads to a master's degree, and 7 years if it leads to a doctor's degree, from a recognized institution. Years of teaching of physics in a recognized institution may be credited as years of experience in physics. By a recognized institution is meant one which appears in the list of institutions approved by the Association of American Universities."

Occupational Summary of the Profession of Physicist by the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel (43)

"Physics is the science that deals with matter, motion, and energy. Recognized areas of specialization within this field are mechanics, heat, sound, light, electricity and magnetism, electronics and ionics, radio, atomic and nuclear physics, properties of materials, theoretical physics and biophysics. Other specialties relate to the application of the fundamental principles of the science to industrial problems, especially with highly precise and delicate measuring instruments, radio design and manufacture, optical instruments, and physical testing of materials."

6-X

THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN PHYSICS

Recent research in nuclear physics and its wartime applications to the atomic bomb have brought unusual prominence to the 12,000 men and women physicists of the United States (41). Their work in fundamental scientific research also made possible the recent and, from the point of view of wartime strategy, the equally important developments in radar and electronics. In these fields, as well as in others less popularly known, the contributions of some 500 American women trained in physics have not gone unrecognized, although they form only 4 percent of all physicists (47).

Prewar Distribution

The number of physicists in the United States before the war varied from an estimated 4,000 to 6,000, depending upon how physicists were defined (29). The more conservative defined the profession rigidly and usually included graduate training or its equivalent as a criterion. Most of the physicists were employed in university and college teaching, in industrial research and development, or in fundamental research in Government agencies or research foundations.

By far the largest number, some 3,000, were in universities and colleges, engaged in teaching, and sometimes in research, as time and facilities permitted (12). Qualifications set for physics faculties were very high; probably more than half had the Ph. D. (42). That teaching was the principal prewar outlet for physicists is further indicated by the fact that, in 1940, more than 60 percent of the 1,100 persons who had received the doctorate in physics in the previous decade were employed in institutions of higher education (21).

The number of women physicists engaged in college teaching before the war is not known, but the proportion in teaching was possibly as high as or higher than that of the men. For example, of the 12 women graduated with a degree in physics by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose 1940 employment is known, half were teaching. Two of the women were serving as full professors, two as assistant professors, one as a teaching assistant, and one was a teacher part time in addition to her work as an astronomer. About three-fourths of the 42 women physicists listed in the 1938 directory of American Men of Science were teaching. Twenty-nine of these women held the doctorate and 11 the master's degree (33).

Physics teachers in secondary schools usually cannot be classified as physicists, since most of them do not have even undergraduate de

grees in physics. A survey made of physics teachers in Pennsylvania high schools before the war revealed that more than 40 percent had less than 12 semester hours in physics, whereas double that number would ordinarily be the minimum required for a college major in physics. Most of these physics teachers also taught other high-school subjects, usually chemistry or mathematics; many of the men served as athletic coaches or as administrators (35).

In 1940, 2,030 physicists were engaged in industrial research (51). They were employed in such industries as the manufacture of electrical, radio, and communications equipment; professional and scientific instruments; automobiles and airplanes; glass; iron and steel and machinery; and petroleum and chemicals (41). But opportunities for women physicists in industrial research laboratories were very limited. Of the 12 women physicists graduated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose prewar employment is known, only 2 secured jobs in industry; 1 was employed as a technician, and the other was working in a chemical laboratory. Of the 78 firms having industrial research laboratories surveyed by the Women's Bureau in 1945-46, only 4 reported that they employed women trained in physics before the war.

With rare exceptions, the few women found in industry were engaged in fairly routine duties, involving some knowledge of physics, or mathematics and physics. For example, in an engineering and physical testing laboratory a woman with a major in physics divided her time between working in the technical library and assisting a theoretical physicist with computations. Another young woman with an M. S. in physics was working as an assistant spectroscopist with a company manufacturing chemicals and chemical products.

In 1939, the American Physical Society reported that more than 100 of its members were employed in the Federal Government, over half of them in the National Bureau of Standards. The others were employed in the Naval Research Laboratory, the Department of Agriculture, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Mines, the Smithsonian Institution, the Washington Navy Yard, the Public Health Service, or the Geological Survey (13). The small number of women physicists in the Federal Government before the war is indicated by a Women's Bureau study of 1938, which reported only 25 women, excluding chemists and mathematicians, classified as geologists and physical scientists, and most of these 25 women were probably geologists (48). Reports from college placement bureaus suggest that the few employed as physicists were hired by the Navy Department or the National Bureau of Standards.

On the whole, the prewar employment of women physicists tended to be similar to that of men. A report from five colleges on the initial

placements of 19 women graduated with a degree in physics just before the war indicated that: 5 went into teaching, 4 into Government, 3 into industry, 2 continued with further graduate work, 2 had no occupation, and 3 were engaged in miscellaneous pursuits.

Annual Addition to the Supply

Before the war, the universities and colleges produced annually about 400 physicists with advanced degrees, of whom about 160 men and women were Ph. D.'s (42) (52). Probably less than 4 percent of these degrees were awarded to women, essentially the same proportion that women formed of all physicists.

The interest of women science students in undergraduate courses in physics was low. In the midthirties, the ratio of women majoring in physics to those majoring in chemistry was 1 to 6, and to those majoring in biology it was 1 to 10, according to a survey of women's colleges (14). The prevailing attitude was that physics was very difficult, and girls were advised not to attempt it. The college woman who wished to major in physics was sometimes discouraged by being told that there would be no opportunities to use it professionally. In 1940, in spite of efforts to make courses in physics more attractive because of their growing importance in national defense, there was little increase in the interest of women students (2). The small number of women inajoring in physics before the war was reflected later in a survey made by the National Roster, which found that only 125 women seniors were expected to graduate with bachelor's degrees in physics in 1942-43 (40).

Wartime Changes

Early in the war, the supply of persons trained in physics was found to be far short of the needs of the country's wartime program. At a time when industry, Government, and the armed services were clamoring for more physicists, the universities and colleges were struggling to get along with diminishing faculties and a depleted student body. By 1942, the shortage of manpower in physics, especially that available for teaching, had reached the proportions of a national emergency, according to the War Policy Committee of the American Institute of Physics (31).

In 1942, only 1,000 graduate students in physics, 95 of whom were women, were enrolled in universities and colleges throughout the country. There were 7,000 undergraduates, including about 630 college women enrolled as physics majors (40).

As a result of the concentration of physics teachers in schools devoted largely to the training of Army and Navy Reserves, women physics majors found themselves in a peculiar position. On the one

hand, their instructors were being drawn away to teach military personnel or to engage in war research; on the other hand, they were urged to continue their training by taking graduate work. And in the meantime, well-paying jobs in industry became available to women with even limited training in physics.

Consequently in 1944 the number of women students declined along with the decrease in male civilian enrollments. In January 1944 there were only 2,260 undergraduate students enrolled as physics majors, and although women composed 20 percent of this group, their number had dropped to 457. On the graduate level, there were only 386 students, of whom women numbered 28 (45). As the war continued, the number of Ph. D.'s awarded annually, which had reached an all-time high of 191 in 1941, continued to decrease until in 1945 only 39 such degrees were granted (34).

During the war, colleges and universities all over the country aided in the tremendous task of training persons in the newer fields of electronics and radar. Hundreds of schools cooperated in publicizing the training available through the federally financed Engineering. Science, and Management War Training program. During 1940-45, some 870 courses in physics were given, usually for evening students, many of whom were employed in related technical fields in which new scientific developments made further training essential. More than 32,000 men and women attended these physics courses, which included subjects ranging from the fundamentals of physics to highly specialized courses in ultra-high-frequency techniques. About two-thirds of the students were enrolled in physics courses dealing with electricity and magnetism, so important in the development of electrical and communications equipment for military use. Courses in electronics were given as part of the electrical engineering program and were attended by almost 60,000 students, many of whom were trained primarily in physics (49).

The number of women taking courses in physics under the program is not known. Although women formed approximately one-sixth of the trainees in all Engineering, Science, and Management War Training courses, their proportion in physics and electronics was undoubtedly much smaller (49).

World War II has frequently been referred to as a "war of physics," just as the First World War was called a "war of chemistry." There were two or three essential jobs waiting for every newly trained physicist as he became available, and persons trained at all levels from high-school graduates to doctors of philosophy were urgently needed (18) (5). In universities and colleges, in industry and Government, the demand for men and women trained in physics far exceeded the supply.