PhysicsOverflow: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:10, 6 February 2025

Latest revision as of 18:37, 1 May 2025

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==History==

PhysicsOverflow was started in April 2014 as a physics-equivalent of [[MathOverflow]] by Rahel Knöpfel, a physics PhD at the [[University of Rostock]], high-school student Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir, and Roger Cattin, a retired professor of computer science at the [[Fachhochschule|University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland]].<ref name="faq"/> The site was initially a mere question-and-answer forum, as it was started by users dissatisfied by the policies of the [[Stack Exchange|Physics Stack Exchange]], but it was eventually expanded to include a ''Reviews'' section in October 2014.<ref>{{citeNeeds web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/24235|title=The reviews section is out of beta!|last1=dimension10|first2=Ron|last2=Maimoncitation|date=5May October 2014|website=PhysicsOverflow|access-date=19 March 2017|archive-date=23 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223124107/http://physicsoverflow.org/24235|url-status=live2025}}</ref>

==Moderation practices==

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==Usage==

[[Quantcast]] records around 3000 monthly visitors and between 20,000 and 50,000 global page views to PhysicsOverflow every month, over half of whom are located in four countries: the United States (26.8%), India (9.2%), the United Kingdom (8.5%), and Germany (6.4%).<ref>{{citeNeeds webcitation|urldate=https://www.quantcast.com/user/login?forward=/physicsoverflow.org|title=Login|website=www.quantcast.comMay 2025}}</ref> However, according to PhysicsOverflow's own data, only around 1500 users actually contribute content to the site, and 440 are active at a given point in time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/statistics|title=PhysicsOverflow|website=physicsoverflow.org|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052926/https://physicsoverflow.org/statistics|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Recognition==

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* Arnold Neumaier, a professor at the University of Vienna, employs PhysicsOverflow as the platform for discussion about his Theoretical Physics FAQ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/physics-faq.html|title=A theoretical physics FAQ|website=www.mat.univie.ac.at|access-date=2023-06-10|archive-date=2023-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526045935/https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/physics-faq.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

* String theorist [[Lubos Motl]] referred to the website as a "very promising competition [to Physics Stack Exchange]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://motls.blogspot.com/2014/05/physics-overflow-is-live.html|title=Physics Overflow is live|access-date=2023-06-10|archive-date=2021-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019075656/https://motls.blogspot.com/2014/05/physics-overflow-is-live.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

* The [[University of Stavanger]]'s cosmology department commented that PhysicsOverflow "seems to implement some interesting ideas", and that "it makes some sense the {{sic}} review the reviewing process".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/uiscosmology/posts/1228470267242602|title=UiS Cosmology|website=www.facebook.com}}</ref>

* [[Urs Schreiber]] publicised the site, claiming it could act as a catalyst to make physics academia more open like mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://plus.google.com/+UrsSchreiber/posts/SoWhSAqmUJ1?loc=us|title=New PhysicsOverflow forum for research-level physics discussion A new site...|date=2 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202090712/https://plus.google.com/+UrsSchreiber/posts/SoWhSAqmUJ1?loc=us|archive-date=2019-02-02}}</ref>