The biggest challenges in physics and how this might affect society in the coming decades are captured in a new open access ebook from the European Physical Society.

The book, Physics for Society in the Horizon 2050, explores some of the most pressing and promising aspects of modern science in support of better living standards: from the smallest objects we observe such as particles, atoms, and cells, to the large scientific enquiries on stars, galaxies, and the mysteries of the universe.

The encyclopaedia-like work is part of the European Physical Society’s project ‘Grand Challenges: Physics for Society at the Horizon 2050’. The project explores our ability to imagine and shape the future by assessing how physics can help us understand nature and how physics can help tackle major issues affecting the lives of citizens by 2050 making recommendations of actions to policy makers.

Carlos Hidalgo, editor of Physics for Society in the Horizon 2050, says: “This book explores some of the most pressing questions in physics and supports EPS’s Horizon strategy. The interesting thing about the perspective of this work is the human ability to imagine and shape the future by making use of the scientific method and how interdisciplinarity enables connections to be established across various fields of knowledge to address some of the grand scientific and societal challenges that lie ahead us.”

The book is available in full for anyone to read on the IOPscience platform and is aimed at professionals involved in advancing the scientific method, and those with an interest in how science can shape society.

The survey was addressed to physicists in Europe, asking as many as possible to express their views on 'Open Science and Career Development'. It was formulated by the European Physical Society (EPS) in collaboration with the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc). It was launched in December 2017 and ran essentially during the first quarter of 2018. Information of the survey went through the usual channels of EPS to its Divisions, Groups and Individual Members, hoping also for the support of its member national societies.

The purpose of this survey is to help define European policy on open science and to improve the career development of researchers. In particular it was to help EPS to provide specific advice and solutions related to needs and expectations of the European community of physicists.

Open science aims to make scientific data and research accessible to all levels of an inquiring society and includes practices such as:

• open data = open sharing of research data
• open source = open sharing of research software/code
• open notebook = open sharing of research notebooks
• open access = open publishing of research results in journals/textbooks and/or depositing them in repositories/archives
• open peer review = open sharing of research peer reviews
• open education = open sharing of education and resources
• citizen science = involving the general public in scientific research.

The expectation for a large number of respondents was unfortunately not reached. In total 329 persons responded to the survey. If this number is not really enough to achieve a statistical significance the results can nevertheless be used as a trend on the actual information level of the community of physicists.

Christophe Rossel
European Physical Society

More info

• Report on the EPS survey on Open Science
• Data of the EPS survey on Open Science