Particles for Justice: Statement on a Recent Talk at CERN

State­ment on a Recent Talk at CERN

The state­ment here is based upon widely repor­ted events, publicly avai­la­ble slides, and eyewit­ness accounts. All authors and signa­to­ries repre­sent them­sel­ves and not their insti­tu­ti­ons.

On Friday, Septem­ber 28th, 2018, a talk was given at CERN by Ales­san­dro Stru­mia, a well-known parti­cle theo­rist who is a Profes­sor of Physics at the Univer­sity of Pisa and a current asso­ci­ate of the theory depart­ment at CERN. In this talk he argued that the primary expla­na­tion for the discre­pan­cies between men and women in theo­re­ti­cal physics is that women are inhe­rently less capa­ble. As parti­cle physi­cists, we are appa­lled by Stru­mi­a’s acti­ons and his stated views on women in high energy physics.

We write here first to state, in the stron­gest possi­ble terms, that the huma­nity of any person, regard­less of ascri­bed iden­ti­ties such as race, ethni­city, gender iden­tity, reli­gion, disa­bi­lity, gender presen­ta­tion, or sexual iden­tity is not up for debate. Physics and science are part of the shared inhe­ri­tance of all people, as much as art, music, and lite­ra­ture, and we should strive to ensure that everyone has a fair oppor­tu­nity to become a scien­tist. The ques­tion of discri­mi­na­tion based on ascri­bed iden­tity is a moral one, and we write to affirm that discri­mi­na­tion is not a welcome feature of our field, howe­ver perva­sive it may be. It is clear that our social envi­ron­ment dispa­ra­tely affects the parti­ci­pa­tion of people with ascri­bed iden­ti­ties that have been tradi­ti­o­nally margi­na­li­zed, and the fields of women’s and gender studies, science and soci­ety studies, physics educa­tion rese­arch, anth­ro­po­logy, soci­o­logy, philo­sophy, and Black studies have had much to say over the years about how this margi­na­li­za­tion opera­tes. The thin veneer of scien­ti­fic rigor with which Stru­mi­a’s talk began was follo­wed by open discri­mi­na­tion and perso­nal attacks, which we condemn uncon­di­ti­o­nally.

Secondly, we write to strongly express our view that the science case presen­ted by Stru­mia was funda­men­tally unsound. It is clear to all of us that Stru­mia is not an expert on these topics and is misu­sing his physics creden­ti­als to put himself forward as one. Further­more, those among us who are fami­liar with the rele­vant lite­ra­ture know that Stru­mi­a’s conclu­si­ons are in stark disa­gre­e­ment with those of experts. He frequently made the basic error of confla­ting corre­la­tion with causa­tion, and while Stru­mia clai­med to be proving that there is no discri­mi­na­tion against women, his argu­ments were rooted in a circums­cri­bed, biased reading of the data avai­la­ble, to the point of promo­ting a pers­pec­tive that is biased against women. The origin and vali­dity of the data he presen­ted have not yet been corro­bo­ra­ted, but even if we take it at face value in all cases there are obvi­ous alter­na­tive expla­na­ti­ons that have been deve­lo­ped in the afore­men­ti­o­ned social science disci­pli­nes that were not contro­lled for, and that are directly in contra­dic­tion with his conclu­si­ons. Here are some exam­ples, in the order they appear in the presen­ta­tion:

Stru­mia argues that the larger frac­tion of women in the huma­ni­ties compa­red to the scien­ces is evidence against discri­mi­na­tion in the scien­ces, purpor­tedly because the distinc­tion between right and wrong is “less clear” in the huma­ni­ties, and thus it would be easier to discri­mi­nate there if people wanted to. In addi­tion to the acade­mic arro­gance of this argu­ment, it makes no attempt to control for the obvi­ous alter­na­tive that there are fewer women in the scien­ces because of syste­mic discou­ra­ge­ment and discri­mi­na­tion. And indeed the presence of such discou­ra­ge­ment and discri­mi­na­tion has been well-docu­men­ted in many places, for exam­ple see e.g. Hodari et al. (1), John­son et al. (2), and the recent NASEM report (3) on sexual harass­ment in acade­mic scien­ces, engi­ne­e­ring and medi­cine.

Stru­mia argues that since women are more well-repre­sen­ted in theo­re­ti­cal physics in coun­tries where discri­mi­na­tion is more brazenly insti­tu­ti­o­na­li­zed, this shows that their low repre­sen­ta­tion in physics has nothing to do with discri­mi­na­tion. This claim igno­res cultu­ral diffe­ren­ces, and also the possi­bi­lity that women in such coun­tries have fewer career opti­ons outside of acade­mia. Without contro­lling for such effects, any attempt to draw conclu­si­ons is meanin­gless.

Stru­mia argues that since men and women more or less cite the same papers at the same rate, men are not discri­mi­na­ting against women. Howe­ver, choice of refe­ren­ces is subject to uncons­ci­ous bias in addi­tion to cons­ci­ous discri­mi­na­tion. Such uncons­ci­ous bias is often found at simi­lar levels (4) in both men and women. Even without this possi­ble effect, the equal cita­tion rate at most only suggests that male and female scien­tists are equally capa­ble of iden­tifying the most cited papers in their field, and as we discuss below cita­tion count is not a subs­ti­tute for quality.

Stru­mia argues that since the most cited papers are dispro­por­ti­o­na­tely by men, this gives evidence that men are intrin­si­cally better at physics. In between intrin­sic ability and cita­tion coun­ting howe­ver, there is the huge and compli­ca­ted process of how physi­cists are raised, trai­ned, hired, and percei­ved. Even at the profes­so­rial level, discri­mi­na­tion can still play an impor­tant role (such as e.g. the imba­lance in teles­cope time awar­ded to female rese­ar­chers (5)). Without a thorough unders­tan­ding of these proces­ses, it is impos­si­ble to conclude anyt­hing about people’s innate abili­ties.

Stru­mia complains that he perso­nally was not hired for a posi­tion that a woman was hired for, despite having a larger number of cita­ti­ons than her. He even compa­res his cita­tion number to that of a (female) member of the search commit­tee for this job. This infor­ma­tion is surely useful for unders­tan­ding the psycho­logy of why Stru­mia would give such a talk, but it is no indi­ca­tion of injus­tice in the hiring process. Indeed cita­ti­ons accrue for all kinds of reasons, some lauda­ble and some not, and using them as a subs­ti­tute for scien­ti­fic quality is very proble­ma­tic; any respon­si­ble hiring process will take much more into account than mere cita­ti­ons, espe­ci­ally for a manage­ment role, as in the case of the posi­tion in ques­tion. As an exam­ple of the inap­pro­pri­a­te­ness of cita­ti­ons as a metric, almost 1/3 of Stru­mi­a’s cita­ti­ons come from being one of thou­sands of authors on the CMS Higgs disco­very paper, to which we can safely conclude that his contri­bu­tion (as a theo­re­ti­cal asso­ci­ate in an expe­ri­men­tal colla­bo­ra­tion) was modest. Hundreds more cita­ti­ons come from papers about the statis­ti­cally insig­ni­fi­cant 750 GeV fluc­tu­a­tion at CERN, which disap­pe­a­red with more data. As physi­cists, we are used to vigo­rous and often heated debate over ideas and theo­ries, but the fact that Stru­mia took the oppor­tu­nity to perso­nally attack scien­tists who have been active in efforts to improve the situ­a­tion for mino­ri­ties and white women in physics, out of appa­rent jealousy that at some point they were offe­red jobs that he applied for, is deplo­ra­ble and unac­cep­ta­ble.

Stru­mia uses as evidence for his case a claim that the number of cita­ti­ons for women incre­a­ses more slowly than for men as their care­ers progress. His numbers howe­ver do not control for many factors, inclu­ding social expec­ta­ti­ons that may result in women taking on more primary care­gi­ver roles at home, or more depart­men­tal roles earlier in their care­ers. These in fact might fit his data better than assu­ming women are infe­rior since the decline he claims does not begin until after the post­doc level.

Stru­mia argues that Marie Curie’s Nobel prize is evidence against discri­mi­na­tion. Lauding one outs­tan­ding indi­vi­dual does not excul­pate anyone from oppres­sing thou­sands of others. Further, it should be noted that Marie Curie faced both xenop­ho­bic and sexist resis­tance to her work both during her rese­arch and during the process of recei­ving the Nobel Prize. Her success, in spite of this resis­tance, is heroic and admi­ra­ble, and not an exam­ple of being welco­med with open arms by the commu­nity as Stru­mia suggests. More­o­ver there are at least four women whose work is rele­vant for parti­cle physics who are widely viewed as having deser­ved the Nobel prize but who did not receive it, in some cases even though their male colle­a­gues did: Chien-Shiung Wu, Vera Rubin, Lise Meit­ner, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell. While we are plea­sed to see Prof. Strick­land’s accom­plish­ments recog­ni­zed this year, a gap of 55 years since the last woman won the Nobel Prize in Physics does not suggest that women in our field face no exter­nal obsta­cles to success. Such well-known cases where accom­plish­ments of women were not formally acknow­led­ged suggest that simi­lar omis­si­ons may be occur­ring at all levels, and raise anot­her possi­ble reason for the diffe­ren­tial in cita­ti­ons discus­sed previ­ously.

Stru­mia argues that it is actu­ally men who expe­ri­ence discri­mi­na­tion, since they are more likely to serve in wars and be used as forced labor. While many talen­ted people of all genders still face barri­ers due to war and conflict, these concerns are not part of the expe­ri­ence of the majo­rity of white male physi­cists born and raised in Europe or North America in the current era. He also misquo­tes the Istan­bul conven­tion as saying that men cannot be discri­mi­na­ted against, when the actual text is that «special measu­res that are neces­sary to prevent and protect women from gender‐­ba­sed violence shall not be consi­de­red discri­mi­na­tion under the terms of this Conven­tion.» (Istan­bul Conven­tion, Chap­ter 1, Arti­cle 4.4 (6))

Ulti­ma­tely, answe­ring ques­ti­ons of cause and effect is subtle and requi­res care­fully desig­ned studies. Mining data post facto to answer these ques­ti­ons is fraught with faulty conclu­si­ons based on misun­ders­tood corre­la­ti­ons in the data.

In addi­tion to these scien­ti­fic short­co­mings, we reite­rate that Stru­mi­a’s argu­ments are morally repre­hen­si­ble. Belitt­ling the ability and legi­ti­macy of scien­tists of color and white women scien­tists using such flimsy pretexts is disgra­ce­ful, and it reve­als a deep contempt for more than half of huma­nity that clearly comes from some source other than scien­ti­fic logic. It will add to the obsta­cles that women and gender mino­ri­ties, as well as men from tradi­ti­o­nally under­re­pre­sen­ted commu­ni­ties, strug­gle with on a daily basis. This applies espe­ci­ally to mino­ri­ti­zed people over whom Stru­mia has a profes­si­o­nal influ­ence, for exam­ple through writing letters of recom­men­da­tion and making hiring deci­si­ons.

Finally, we would also like to under­line how grossly unet­hi­cal it is to misre­pre­sent the topic of one’s talk to works­hop orga­ni­zers to promote an agenda which is antit­he­ti­cal to the works­hop itself. To perso­nally attack one of the orga­ni­zers during said talk is even worse. We hope that Stru­mi­a’s profes­si­o­nal colle­a­gues and supe­ri­ors will take all these points into care­ful consi­de­ra­tion in all future deci­si­ons invol­ving him. We also hope that the entire commu­nity has lear­ned from this inci­dent that spea­kers for works­hops on gender—or other ascri­bed iden­ti­ti­es—in physics should include recog­ni­zed experts, with a track record of spea­king and publis­hing in an appro­pri­ate manner on the topic at hand, and more­o­ver that orga­ni­zers should seek guidance from such experts. In addi­tion to other disci­pli­nes, physics and astro­nomy are home to many in-house experts on the soci­o­logy and philo­sophy of physics (e.g. (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16)). This moment reminds us to pay atten­tion to their work.

DOWN­LOAD A PDF OF THIS STATE­MENT HERE

We welcome signa­tu­res and support from other high energy physics rese­ar­chers, physi­cists and astro­no­mers outside of high energy physics, as well as acade­mics in other disci­pli­nes. Your name and affi­li­a­tion will be listed on the site below. Please submit a request here. 

Addi­ti­o­nal signa­tu­res can now be seen here

Authors (in alpha­be­ti­cal order)

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Matt­hew Buck­ley (Rutgers, the State Univer­sity of New Jersey)

Sean Carroll (Cali­for­nia Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Kyle Cran­mer (New York Univer­sity)

Djuna Croon (TRIUMF)

Sonia El Hedri (Ecole Poly­te­ch­ni­que)

Daniel Harlow (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Seyda Ipek (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

David J. E. Marsh (Univer­sity of Göttin­gen)

Sam McDer­mott (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Chanda Pres­cod-Weins­tein (Univer­sity of Washing­ton & Univer­sity of New Hamps­hire)

Matt­hew Reece (Harvard Univer­sity)

Pearl Sandick (Univer­sity of Utah)

Naus­heen R Shah (Wayne State Univer­sity)

Brian Shuve (Harvey Mudd College)

Tracy Slatyer (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Tim M.P. Tait (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

Graham White (TRIUMF)

Tien-Tien Yu (Univer­sity of Oregon)

Signa­to­ries From High Energy Physics

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Peter Adshead (Univer­sity of Illi­nois, Urbana-Cham­paign)

Prateek Agra­wal (Harvard Univer­sity)

Anthony Aguirre (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Sujay K. Ashok (Insti­tute of Mathe­ma­ti­cal Scien­ces, Chen­nai)

Peter Athron (Monash Univer­sity)

Chris­top­her Aubin (Ford­ham Univer­sity)

Howie Baer (Univer­sity of Okla­homa)

Ibra­hima Bah (Johns Hopkins Univer­sity)

Michael J. Baker (Univer­sity of Zurich)

Csaba Balazs (Monash Univer­sity)

Karen Barad (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Jacob Baran­des (Harvard Univer­sity)

Gabri­ela Baren­boim (Univer­sity of Valen­cia)

Brian Batell (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

Daniel Baumann (Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

Matt­hew Baum­gart (Arizona State Univer­sity)

James Beacham (Duke Univer­sity)

Brian Beck­ford (Univer­sity of Michi­gan)

Alexan­der Belyaev (Univer­sity of Sout­hamp­ton)

Joshua Berger (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

Per Berglund (Univer­sity of New Hamps­hire)

Claude Bernard (Washing­ton Univer­sity)

Mary Bishai (Broo­kha­ven Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Jolyon Bloom­field (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Celine Boehm (Univer­sity of Sydney)

Daniel Bowring (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Radja Boug­he­zal (Argonne Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Joseph Bramante (Queen’s Univer­sity)

Robert Bran­den­ber­ger (McGill Univer­sity)

Helen Brooks (Monash Univer­sity)

Ethan Brown (Rens­se­laer Poly­te­ch­nic Insti­tute)

Patri­cia Burchat (Stan­ford Univer­sity)

Robert Cald­well (Dart­mouth Univer­sity)

Marcela Carena (Univer­sity of Chicago)

Linda M. Carpen­ter (The Ohio State Univer­sity)

Floren­cia Cane­lli (Univer­sity of Zurich)

Mu-Chun Chen (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

Yangyang Cheng (Cornell Univer­sity)

Sehkar Chivu­kula (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, San Diego)

David Cina­bro (Wayne State Univer­sity)

Tim Cohen (Univer­sity of Oregon)

John Conway (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Davis)

Natha­niel Craig (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Barbara)

Sera Cremo­nini (Lehigh Univer­sity)

David Curtin (Univer­sity of Toronto)

Pris­ci­lla Cush­man (Univer­sity of Minne­sota)

Mirjam Cvetic (Univer­sity of Pennsyl­va­nia)

Fran­cis-Yan Cyr-Racine (Harvard Univer­sity)

Anne-Chris­tine Davis (Univer­sity of Cambridge)

Anto­nio Delgado (Univer­sity of Notre Dame)

Eleo­nora Dell’A­quila (Ph.D., currently unaf­fi­li­a­ted)

Sarah Demers (Yale Univer­sity)

Carle­ton DeTar (Univer­sity of Utah)

Will Detmold (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Pasquale Di Bari (Univer­sity of Sout­hamp­ton)

Michael Dine (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Peter Doe (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Cate­rina Dogli­oni (Lund Univer­sity)

Patrick Draper (Univer­sity of Illi­nois, Urbana-Cham­paign)

John Ellis (Kings College London)

Step­hen Ellis (Univer­sity of Washing­ton) (Emeri­tus)

Aida X. El-Khadra (Univer­sity of Illi­nois, Urbana-Cham­paign)

Gilly Elor (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Netta Engel­hardt (Prin­ce­ton Univer­sity)

Kari Enqvist (Univer­sity of Helsinki)

Robin Erba­cher (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Davis)

Rouven Essig (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Jared A. Evans (Univer­sity of Cincin­nati)

Malcolm Fair­bairn (Kings College London)

JiJi Fan (Brown Univer­sity)

Glennys Farrar (New York Univer­sity)

Martin Fertl (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Melissa Fran­klin (Harvard Univer­sity)

Eliza­beth Free­land (The School of the Art Insti­tute of Chicago)

Kathe­rine Freese (Univer­sity of Michi­gan and Stoc­kholm Univer­sity)

Ayres Frei­tas (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

Elina Fuchs (The Weiz­mann Insti­tute of Science)

Mary K Gaillard (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley)

Carlos Peña Garay (Labo­ra­to­rio Subterrá­neo de Canfranc)

Belen Gavela (Madrid, IFT)

Howard Georgi (Harvard Univer­sity)

Shohini Ghose (Wilfrid Laurier Univer­sity)

Joel Giedt (Rens­se­laer Poly­te­ch­nic Insti­tute)

Marcelo Glei­ser (Dart­mouth Univer­sity)

Concha Gonza­lez-Garcia (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook & ICREA, Univer­sity of Barce­lona)

Sowja­nya Golla­pinni (Univer­sity of Tennes­see, Knox­vi­lle)

Anna Gous­siou (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Heat­her Gray (Lawrence Berke­ley Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

David Gross (Kavli Insti­tute for Theo­re­ti­cal Physics)

Howie Haber (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Tao Han (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

Robb Harr (Wayne State Univer­sity)

Roni Harnik (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Anna Hasen­fratz (Univer­sity of Colo­rado)

Andrew Hearin (Argonne Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Blayne Heckel (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Beate Heine­mann (Deuts­ches Elek­tro­nen-Synch­ro­tron)

Ulrich Heintz (Brown Univer­sity)

Simeon Heller­man (Kavli Insti­tute for the Physics and Mathe­ma­tics of the Universe)

Pilar Hernan­dez (Univer­sity of Valen­cia)

David Hert­zog (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Chris­top­her Hirata (The Ohio State Univer­sity)

Renée Hložek (Univer­sity of Toronto)

Dan Hooper (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Shih-Chieh Hsu (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Ciaran Hughes (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Ahmed Ismail (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

Robert L. Jaffe (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Tesla Jeltema (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Clif­ford V. John­son (Univer­sity of Sout­hern Cali­for­nia)

Chul­woo Jung (Broo­kha­ven Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Shamit Kachru (Stan­ford Univer­sity)

David Kaiser (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Peter Kammel (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

David B. Kaplan (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Andreas Karch (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Brad­ley J. Kava­nagh (GRAPPA, Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

Cindy Keeler (Arizona State Univer­sity)

Chris Kelso (Univer­sity of North Florida)

Can Kilic (Univer­sity of Texas at Austin)

Joachim Kopp (CERN)

Feli­cia Krauss (Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

Graham Kribs (Univer­sity of Oregon)

Andreas Kron­feld (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Ursula Laa (Monash Univer­sity)

Andrew Larkoski (Reed College)

Adam Keith Leibo­vich (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

W. Hugh Lippin­cott (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Tongyan Lin (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, San Diego)

Mari­an­gela Lisanti (Prin­ce­ton Univer­sity)

Heat­her Logan (Carle­ton Univer­sity)

Elena Long (Univer­sity of New Hamps­hire)

Mari­lena Loverde (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Henry Lubatti (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Kathe­rine J. Mack (North Caro­lina State Univer­sity)

Natá­lia Tenó­rio Maia (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

John March-Russell (Univer­sity of Oxford)

Sera Markoff (Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

David Marsh (Univer­sity of Cambridge)

David Mattingly (Univer­sity of New Hamps­hire)

Mike McCrac­ken (Washing­ton & Jeffer­son College)

Clark McGrew (State Univer­sity of New York, Stony Brook)

David McKeen (TRIUMF)

Patrick Meade (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Samuel Meehan (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Olga Mena (Univer­sity of Valen­cia)

Benja­min Monreal (Case Western Reserve Univer­sity)

Michael Morgan (Monash Univer­sity)

David Morris­sey (TRIUMF)

Edward Moyse (Univer­sity of Massa­chu­setts, Amherst)

Julián B. Munoz (Harvard Univer­sity)

Simona Murgia (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

Meenakshi Narain (Brown Univer­sity)

Raja­mani Naraya­nan (Florida Inter­na­ti­o­nal Univer­sity)

Priya Nata­ra­jan (Yale Univer­sity)

John Negele (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Ann Nelson (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Samaya Nissanke (GRAPPA, Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

Brian Nord (Fermi Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory & Univer­sity of Chicago)

Elise Novitski (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Peter Onyisi (Univer­sity of Texas at Austin)

Hirosi Ooguri (Cali­for­nia Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy & Kavli Insti­tute for the Physics and Mathe­ma­tics of the Universe)

Sonia Paban (Univer­sity of Texas at Austin)

Diana Parno (Carne­gie Mellon Univer­sity)

A.W. Peet (Univer­sity of Toronto)

Annika Peter (The Ohio State Univer­sity)

Alexey Petrov (Wayne State Univer­sity)

Hira­nya Peiris (Univer­sity College London)

Malcolm Perry (Univer­sity of Cambridge)

Tilman Plehn (Heidel­berg Univer­sity)

Tomis­lav Proko­pec (Utre­cht Univer­sity)

Brian Quinn (Carne­gie Mellon Univer­sity)

Stuart Raby (The Ohio State Univer­sity)

Krishna Raja­go­pal (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Pierre Ramond (Univer­sity of Florida)

Michael Ramsey-Musolf (Univer­sity of Massa­chu­setts, Amherst)

Lisa Randall (Harvard Univer­sity)

Sanjay Reddy (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Mary Hall Reno (Univer­sity of Iowa)

Tom Rizzo (SLAC Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Labo­ra­tory)

Martin Rocek (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Vincent Rodgers (Univer­sity of Iowa)

Maria Rodri­guez (Utah State Univer­sity and Max Planck Insti­tute for Gravi­ta­ti­o­nal Physics)

Leslie Rosen­berg (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Carlo Rove­lli (Centre de Physi­que Théo­ri­que de Luminy)

Tuhin S. Roy (Tata Insti­tute)

Benja­min Safdi (Univer­sity of Michi­gan)

Vero­nica Sanz (Sussex Univer­sity)

Jana Scha­ars­ch­midt (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

David Schaich (Univer­sity of Bern)

Kate Schol­berg (Duke Univer­sity)

Pedro Schwa­ller (Johan­nes Guten­berg Univer­sity Mainz)

Neelima Sehgal (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Yael Shadmi (Tech­nion)

Phiala Shana­han (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Jessie Shel­ton (Univer­sity of Illi­nois, Urba­na–­Cham­paign)

Marc Sher (The College of William and Mary)

Eva Silvers­tein (Stan­ford Univer­sity)

David Simmons-Duffin (Cali­for­nia Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Peter Skands (Monash Univer­sity)

E. H. Simmons (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, San Diego)

Kuver Sinha (Univer­sity of Okla­homa)

Davi­son Soper (Univer­sity of Oregon)

Iain Stewart (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Jim Stewart (Broo­kha­ven Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Shufang Su (Univer­sity of Arizona)

Yuji Tachi­kawa (Kavli Insti­tute for the Physics and Mathe­ma­tics of the Universe)

Flip Tanedo (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, River­side)

Washing­ton Taylor (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Jesse Thaler (Massa­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Brooks Thomas (Lafayette College)

Arbin Timil­sina (Broo­kha­ven Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Lauren Tomp­kins (Stan­ford Univer­sity)

Doug Tous­sa­int (Univer­sity of Arizona)

Daniel Trewar­tha (Thomas Jeffer­son Nati­o­nal Acce­le­ra­tor Faci­lity)

Yuhsin Tsai (Univer­sity of Mary­land)

David Tucker-Smith (Williams College)

Alexan­der Tuna (Harvard Univer­sity)

James Unwin (Univer­sity of Illi­nois, Chicago)

German Valen­cia (Monash Univer­sity)

Oscar Varela (Utah State Univer­sity and IFT Madrid)

Aaron Vincent (Queen’s Univer­sity)

Carlos Wagner (Univer­sity of Chicago & Argonne Nati­o­nal Lab)

Scott Watson (Syra­cuse Univer­sity)

Risa Wechs­ler (Stan­ford Univer­sity)

Cedric Weiland (Univer­sity of Pitts­burgh)

David Weir (Univer­sity of Helsinki)

Chris­toph Weni­ger (Univer­sity of Amster­dam)

Amanda Welt­man (Univer­sity of Cape Town)

Mark Wise (Cali­for­nia Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy)

Kevin Wood (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Eliza­beth Worces­ter (Broo­kha­ven Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

Laurence G. Yaffe (Univer­sity of Washing­ton)

Masa­hito Yama­zaki (Kavli Insti­tute for the Physics and Mathe­ma­tics of the Universe)

Guang Yang (The State Univer­sity of New York at Stony Brook)

Hai-Bo Yu (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, River­side)

Gabri­jela Zaha­ri­jas (Univer­sity of Nova Gorica)

Seth Zenz (Queen Mary Univer­sity of London)

Yue Zhao (Univer­sity of Utah)

Kathryn Zurek (Lawrence Berke­ley Nati­o­nal Labo­ra­tory)

José Zurita (Karls­ru­her Insti­tut für Tech­no­lo­gie)

Signa­to­ries From Affi­li­a­ted Fields

Joshua Bloom (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley)

James Botte (Carle­ton Univer­sity)

James Bullock (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

Alison Coil (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, San Diego)

Douglas Fink­bei­ner (Harvard Univer­sity)

Bryan Gaens­ler (Univer­sity of Toronto)

Alson J. Gonsal­ves (McGill Univer­sity)

Daryl Haggard (McGill Univer­sity)

Daniel Mort­lock (Impe­rial College London, Stoc­kholm Univer­sity)

Henry Ngo (NRC Herz­berg Astro­nomy & Astrophy­sics)

John O’Me­ara (Saint Micha­el’s College)

J. Xavier Prochaska (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz)

Laurie Rous­seau-Nepton (Canada-France-Hawaii Teles­cope Corpo­ra­tion)

Kris­tine Spek­kens (Royal Mili­tary College of Canada)

Michael Stei­nitz (St Fran­cis Xavier Univer­sity) (Emeri­tus)

Michael Strauss (Prin­ce­ton Univer­sity)

Chao­kang Tai (Univer­sity of Amster­dam & Utre­cht Univer­sity)

Vivian U (Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Irvine)

Luci­anne Walko­wicz (The Adler Plane­ta­rium)

Andrew White (Univer­sity of Queens­land)

For Addi­ti­o­nal Signa­tu­res, See This Page