The IoP’s literature

PHYSICS is a glorious exploration of how the universe works that can equip students with practical skills to solve problems in everyday life.

But let’s leave all that to the nerdy egghead mega-geeks in white coats – our boffins! – right? Hmmm.

One of the country’s most respected scientific societies are on media offensive this with a campaign aimed at bringing the curtain down on a decades-old stereotype.

The Institute of Physics in Islington wrote to tabloid editors pleading for an end to the use of the term boffin – and to show greater respect to researchers and experts. The red tops hit back in traditional fashion with the Daily Star running a defiant front page story about how the “mega brainiacs” at the IoP have got it wrong and that – to their journalists – the word boffins still commanded the utmost respect.

The IoP says there is a serious issue at stake with young people being put off studying physics due to “outdated portrayals” connected to the word.

As part of a “Bin the Boffin” campaign it commissioned a survey of 2,500 people who said the word conjured-up a deeply stereotypical image: a posh, male, often bald and almost certainly wearing a long white coat and thick rimmed specs. In the survey 80 per cent of young people said they saw boffin as an insult.

The IoP – which has 21,000 members – called on supporters to publicly challenge newspapers that use the word with “polite” tweets with hashtags and by putting “Bin the Boffin” stickers on their profiles.

Its campaign literature said: “This is not about censorship or demanding that politicians force the editors of The Sun, The Star and The Mirror, to scrap the word boffin. We are asking them – politely – to remove it voluntarily, because it mocks and disrespects scientists.

“The media is a huge influence on young people’s lives, and by improving the accuracy and accessibility of the reporting of physics and physicists, like avoiding terms such as boffin, more of them can see and feel that physics is for them.”

Mea culpa! The Extra has used the word in past articles. Don’t you be calling us journalists “hacks” though.