Studying the why behind the everyday, like coffee stains

Quanta Magazine interviewed physicist Sidney Nagel, who is known for his research in everyday occurrences and capturing the processes in images.

Some pushback came because a few people did not consider certain subjects I studied to be “serious.” Others were upset because I was emphasizing what seemed to them unscientific aspects. We could have captured the same physics without working nearly as hard as we did to perfect the photography, and this made people upset. They said, “You’re a scientist, you’re not supposed to care about things like that.” But it matters to me that you appeal to as many aspects of the human endeavor as you can.

That’s why, for me, the idea of having tenure is such a meaningful thing. Most places wouldn’t have encouraged this stuff, but Chicago has been very good to me. I mean, would you give tenure to someone who’s studying coffee stains?