An indication of the growing shift of physics research into the Midwest, a recent report ranked the University of Wisconsin among the top 20 institutes for physics research in the nation.

Nature’s Scientific Reports, which ranks the top cities for physics research worldwide, has measured “citation patterns” of papers published in American Physical Society since 1995 and ranked UW at the number 19 spot. The statistics show a trend of physics research moving from the coasts and concentrating more in the Midwest.

Physics Department Associate Chair and professor Mark Rzchowski said UW’s physics department is involved in a diverse range of research areas.

In the College of Letters and Science, the physics department brings in the most external research dollars “by far” and, excluding the Medical School, brings in the most research dollars university-wide, Rzchowski said.

“We have an outstanding group of faculty researching areas covering all different aspects of physics and its many different subfields,” Rzchowski said. “It’s not that common for a physics department to play such a key role in so many important advances and research areas.”

UW researchers have been the leaders in all sorts of cutting-edge discoveries, Rzchowski said, citing involvement in the research and discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle believed to be responsible for giving everything absolute mass. Rzchowski said UW researchers were leaders in the experiment to find this particle.

He said UW researchers have also found ways to monitor fetal heartbeats in a noncontact way, using magnetic field detection. 

The Madison Symmetric Torus, a unique experiment to UW, explains how fusion power works and has been in place on campus for at least 20 years, Rzchowski said. 

Although Rzchowski said not too many places in the country are still involved in fusion research, plasma physics researchers at UW are still working to understand and harness this alternative and clean source of power. 

Rzchowski also referenced UW’s research involvement in work with neutrinos, particles that interact very weakly and therefore can travel incredible distances without being stopped. Rzchowski said in the South Pole, UW is leading research with these particles, using extensive equipment stored in ice to detect and track these neutrinos. 

“There are a lot of amazing things going on here,” Rzchowski said. “We are really only scratching the surface.”

Rzchowski said having faculty so closely involved in such forefront research is beneficial for students as well, speaking to the unique in-classroom perspective it provides.

UW Physics Department Professor Thad Walker said he is not surprised by Madison’s high-ranking position for physics research.

“One of the things UW provides is an atmosphere where we can pursue knowledge for knowledge’s sake,” Walker said. “And it’s great to be at a place where that’s encouraged and flourishes. We try to hire the best people who attract the best students so we can continue to improve these sorts of rankings.”