| American Institute of Physics | |
| Size: | 120 |
| Abbreviation: | AIP |
| Formation: | 1931 |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership corporation |
| Purpose: | Promoting the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare. |
| Headquarters: | American Center for Physics (ACP) |
| Location: | College Park, Maryland |
| Membership: | 120,000 scientists, engineers, educators, and students |
| Leader Title: | CEO |
| Leader Name: | Michael H. Moloney |
| Budget: | 75 million USD[1] |
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corporate headquarters are at the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland, but the institute also has offices in Melville, New York, and Beijing.[2]
The AIP was founded in 1931 as a response to lack of funding for the sciences during the Great Depression.[3] The AIP was founded in 1931 at a joint meeting between four physics societies: the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of America, and the Society of Rheology. These were soon joined by the American Association of Physics Teachers, for a total of five societies.[4] It formally incorporated in 1932 consisting of five original "member societies", and a total of four thousand members. As soon as the AIP was established it began publishing scientific journals.[5] By 1943, the AIP published eight journals: Physical Review, Reviews of Modern Physics, Journal of the Optical Society of America, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, American Journal of Physics, Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal of Applied Physics, and Journal of Chemical Physics.
A new set of member societies was added beginning in the mid-1960s.
The organization restructured in 2013, creating a new subsidiary, AIP Publishing LLC, to manage physical publications of its journals with a smaller board.[6]
See main article: List of AIP Publishing academic journals.
The AIP has a subsidiary called AIP Publishing (wholly owned non-profit) dedicated to scholarly publishing by the AIP and its member societies, as well on behalf of other partners.[7]
See main article: AIP style. AIP created a manual of style first introduced in 1951, called AIP style, which also includes the AIP citation format.[8] It is the most commonly used style and citation format in physics publications.[9] [10] [11]