Into the Gloria Lubkin papers: A behind-the-scenes look at her reporting in China for Physics Today

In 2023, AIP acquired the records of the long-time editor for Physics Today (PT), Gloria Lubkin. Prior to AIP, Lubkin’s papers were housed at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), as Lubkin was a Visiting Research Scholar in the physics department. After her passing, her daughter, Sharon, arranged for her papers at UMD and some records from their homes to be transported to AIP to make the collection we have at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives (NBLA) today. The collection is currently being processed by NBLA archives assistants Zoe Adams and Genesis Boykin, under the supervision of archivist Benjamin Henry.

As the archives fellow, I’m part of AIP’s larger efforts to improve the documentation and contributions of women in the physical sciences . While going through the Lubkin papers, I was particularly drawn to documentation of her international physics reporting and wanted to understand the making-of. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Lubkin traveled to and reported on physics research developing in Russia, France, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, and China. In my preliminary search, I came across an AIP memo about how Lubkin was one of the first American scientists invited to report in China post-Cultural Revolution. I wanted to understand the relationship between PT and Chinese physics institutions during the 1970s, how Lubkin made her trip to China happen, and what the impact of her reporting was.

Lubkin started at PT in 1963 as an associate editor and stayed at the magazine for 46 years. She served as PT’s editor-in-chief from 1985 to 1994, before becoming editorial director from 1995 to 2000. Prior to working at PT, she got her master’s in physics from Boston University and worked as a nuclear physicist at TRG Inc. Lubkin also briefly taught at Long Island University Post (formerly known as C.W. Post) and served as the acting physics chair at Sarah Lawrence College. Lubkin did not have a formal journalism education and was trained by PT editor Robert R. Davis when she was first hired. During her tenure, Lubkin served the international physics audience by bringing high quality and in-depth reporting on physics research happening globally.

In November of 1979, Lubkin traveled to the People’s Republic of China and spent three weeks visiting universities and conducting interviews with physicists in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai.

Physics Today in China

By 1979, AIP had some presence in China, as then-AIP director, Herman William “Bill” Koch, had taken a trip in spring of that year with other scientific and technical publishers such as the American Chemical Society, American Mathematical Society, and Harvard Press to visit publishers in China. AIP was interested in translating AIP journals for a Chinese audience as well as receiving English translations of Chinese physics journals. Lubkin’s reporting trip was part of AIP’s larger goal of improving communication between American and Chinese scientific institutions. Part of this effort involved providing Chinese-language application forms for AIP’s Member Societies , entering contracts with the Chinese Physical Society for translations of Chinese physics publications, and formalizing agreements to be able to reprint Chinese articles in PT.

Getting to China

In October of 1978, Lubkin reported on Hsieh Chia-Lin’s accelerator project in Beijing, China. Hsieh was a professor at the Institute of High-Energy Physics of Academia Sinica (currently known as the Chinese Academy of Sciences) and led the five-year project to build a proton synchrotron. Through her reporting, Lubkin built a connection with Hsieh and sent him copies of her PT article. She also made known her desire to visit China and report on emerging physics research. Throughout the spring and summer of 1979, Lubkin repeatedly tried to establish a route to China but each time, she was met with an obstacle.

In February of 1979, Lubkin wrote to the Vice President of Academia Sinica, Chou Pei-Yuan, and proposed a visit to China to see their research facilities and interview Chinese scientists for the purpose of producing a series on the state of Chinese physics research, education, and scientific policy for the PT reader base. She also outlined the institutions she wanted to visit. In May 1979, Chou responded to let her know that it was unlikely they could have her visit because their schedule for outside visitors was full for the year.

Throughout the summer, Lubkin cast a wide net and reached out to various Chinese department heads and American scientific groups traveling to China to make her travels happen. There are hundreds of pages of correspondence in her files that show how Lubkin worked out the logistics of her China trip. Here is a very abridged timeline:

• June 1979: Lubkin meets with Hsu She Chuan, the Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the United Nations (UN), and Miss Chen from the Chinese Mission to the UN. Academia Sinica had asked Hsu to speak to Lubkin about a potential visit.
• July 1979: Lubkin tries an alternate path to get to China—applying to join a group of computer scientists scheduled to visit China in October of 1979. The tour was hosted by Special Tours for Special People, but Lubkin would eventually withdraw from this trip once she secured her trip through Academia Sinica. Lubkin also reaches out to Chang Wen Yu, the Director of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Academia Sinica, to ask for assistance in arranging the visit by the end of the year.
• August 1979: Lubkin finally receives and accepts a formal invitation to visit China in November from Feng Yin Fu, the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs at Academia Sinica.

Reporting in China

Academia Sinica was Lubkin’s home base for the duration of her three-week stay. The bulk of her interviews with Chinese physicists and observations of their research facilities conducted during this period were published in March 1980 as an 8-page feature titled, “Physics Today in China. ”

Her feature covered how the Cultural Revolution affected physics research, the work needed to rebuild physics departments, and how institutions were training the next generation of scientists. She also detailed the progress she observed regarding lasers, large-scale integrated circuits, heavy-ion accelerators, and more. Lubkin interviewed scientists at leading institutes, such as Tsinghua University and University of Nanking, about the projects they were working on and the hopes they had for the future of their field. Check out her March 1980 PT feature article to get the full details of her findings .

Lubkin also reported in greater detail on solid-state physics , laser research , and the heavy-ion facility at the Institute of Modern Physics in Langchow . While going through Lubkin’s papers, I was also looking for documentation of her writing process or notes mapping out her thought process for pulling together narratives based on the myriad observations she made during her trip. I briefly worked in independent broadcast journalism, so any insight into journalists’ research, writing, and editing processes really appeals to me.

I got a sense of what her days were like and who she met with based on her itinerary.

I was excited to come across handwritten notes Lubkin had taken during her trip, which she cut up, rearranged, and taped back together to make an outline for her feature.

Based on these notes, Lubkin seemed like an extremely efficient writer. Her published feature faithfully follows the structure of the outline, and most of the observations made in her notes are accounted for in the final piece.

Lastly, I leave you with some unpublished photos I found of Lubkin meeting Vice-Premier Fang in the Great Hall of the People in Peking.

Impact of Lubkin’s Reporting

Lubkin’s travels to China helped her make connections that would yield future articles about physics in China, which served the international PT reader base’s growing interest in the Chinese scientific community. Lubkin gave PT readers insight into how the Cultural Revolution and its enduring effects impacted physics education and research in China.

When Lubkin returned to the U.S. and published a series of articles on her findings in China, she sent back complimentary copies to the scientists she met and interviewed, such as Han Jian-Kuo of the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica and Teng Hsi-Ming, of the Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Academia Sinica. Lubkin’s writing and networking was integral to AIP’s efforts to maintain long-lasting relationships with the Chinese scientific community and foster information exchange. AIP would eventually open an office in Beijing in spring of 2010.

As an example of the friendships she formed during her trip, Han Jian-Kuo sent her a letter in April 1980 to thank her for sending the PT March 1980 issue and share that he and his wife recently celebrated the birth of their first son. I found it quite sweet that he shared the meaning of their son’s name:

In the following year, Lubkin leveraged her network to help connect other American physicists to Chinese physicists and institutions. Correspondence with chemist Michael T.H. Liu of the University of Prince Edward Island indicates that he reached out to Lubkin for help connecting with physicists at Peking University. Other scientists such as Alfred Sommer of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health asked for her support in planning their own trips to China.

In spring of 1980, Executive Director of AIP Bill Koch sent a letter to Chou Pei-Yuan, the President of the Scientific and Technical Association of the Chinese Academy of Science. Koch was in the process of establishing a new AIP-published journal called “Chinese Physics,” which translated six Chinese physics journals for English-speaking audiences. By summer of 1980, Chou endorsed this plan and directed Koch to create the formal agreement with the China Association for Science and Technology.

This publication was made possible through Koch and Lubkin’s visits in 1979 and the establishing of relationships with Chinese organizations. Lubkin’s thorough reporting helped showcase the interesting scientific innovation happening in China and locate the work in its historical context, highlighting the political and social forces that shaped Chinese physics at the time. Her reporting also helped to give Chinese scientists international recognition for their research and introduce their work to the growing AIP and PT reader base.

Further reading

Gloria Lubkin’s scientific reporting in China in 1980

Physics Today in China
Solid-state physics in China
China emphasizes laser research
Langchow plans heavy-ion facility

Life and impact on the physics community

Gloria Becker Lubkin Obituary
Remembering Lubkin