Where Would We Be Without Industrial Physics: The Impact of Industrial Physics on the Economy of the United States*

The American Physical Society, with support from the American Institute of Physics, recently sponsored an in-depth analysis of the impact of industrial physics on the U.S. economy. This report attempts to provide quantitative answers to the specific question: How does industrial physics impact the economy of the United States? Posing the question this way allows us to consider the four major ways that physics contributes to the economy: (1) The direct hire of college-trained physicists of all degrees; (2) Physics as an essential element in the training of scientists and engineers who work in industry; (3) The use of physical principles in the technology that creates products and services; and (4) The emergence of new physics that drives disruptive changes to the economy. The study shows that in 2016 an estimated 12.6% of the U.S. economy (2.3 trillion dollars) with direct employment of about 11,500,000 people can be ascribed directly to the practice of industrial physics.  The complete results are presented with a discussion of economic analysis methodology and the assumptions made. We provide concrete data on the creation of jobs, investments in the future, and the impact on tax receipts in the period from after World War II to the present day (2016). We present evidence of the creativity that physics brings to industry and the economy, as well as draw conclusions on why this has happened. The data confirm what we inherently know from our knowledge of modern physics – that since the end of World War II, physics discoveries of the twentieth century have been transformed by industrial physicists into incredible products and services. We provide recommendations for academia, industry, government funding agencies and APS itself about how they can support industrial physics in the future.