Brad Marston on science, democracy, and the hard work ahead

“My older brother introduced me to backyard astronomy,” says Brad Marston, the 2026 president of APS. “So at first I thought I would be an astronomer.” But then, in high school, his father’s friend handed him a copy of Richard Feynman’s “The Character of Physical Law,” a series of lectures on the laws of physics.

“That really changed my direction,” says Marston. As a result, he set his sights on Caltech for his bachelor’s, in part, he says, because “that’s where Feynman was,” but also to learn more about modern astronomy. Marston was even able to spend an “unforgettable night” at the Palomar Observatory, home to a 200-inch telescope — at the time, one of the largest in the world.

Since then, Marston has changed direction multiple times in his career. Starting graduate school at Princeton University, he initially thought he would pursue high energy physics. But high-temperature superconductors, just discovered, drew his attention to condensed matter physics. Years later, his research advisor’s relocation to another university brought Marston in touch with Michael Oppenheimer, an atmospheric chemist.

“We were looking at correlations between carbon dioxide and temperature — not the greenhouse effect but rather the natural fluctuations from year to year, mainly due to the El Niño Oscillation,” says Marston. The team’s observations showed a relationship between these factors. “That wetted my taste for climate research,” he says.

Completing a postdoc at Cornell University, Marston continued working on condensed matter topics, like the theories of quantum magnetism and strongly correlated electron systems. In 1991, Marston carried that focus to a faculty appointment in Brown University’s physics department. Since then, “I continue to be interested in fluid dynamics, turbulence, and climate,” he says — one reason why he jumped at the chance to co-author a recent report on atmospheric carbon dioxide removal, published by the APS Panel on Public Affairs in January 2025.

APS News spoke with Marston about his journey as a physicist, his goals for APS in the coming year, and where he finds optimism in challenging times, like those faced by the scientific community over the past year. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was your early engagement with APS like?

I’d been attending March Meetings — including the famous ‘Woodstock’ March Meeting in New York City, when the discovery of the YBCO superconductor was announced — and giving contributed talks, but I hadn’t really engaged beyond that until there was a push to form what became the Topical Group on the Physics of Climate. That push emerged out of a collision between some senior physicists who were unhappy with the APS climate statement and younger people like me who were thinking about how mainstream physics could contribute to a better understanding of the climate system.

Eventually, I became chair of the topical group, and it’s been thriving.

It feels like a challenging time to take the helm of a major scientific organization like APS. What’s on your mind?

I was just looking back on the statement I wrote when I ran for election. A couple of years have passed, and it already looks out of date because so much has happened. Each president has a theme for their year, and I was going to focus on climate change and sustainability, but I’ve decided a broader approach is needed now.

I really want to emphasize the interconnections between democracy and science, so I’ve been going back and reading about the Age of Enlightenment, the American Revolution. Looking at how some of the founders of the United States, such as Thomas Jefferson, were so interested in science, and saw strong connections between science and democracy — both rely on facts and a similar approach to addressing uncertainties — that’s something I feel we need to emphasize now more than ever.

There is also a scientist from the 19th century that I’ve found very motivating. Her name is Eunice Newton Foote. She was a distant relative to Isaac Newton. To me, she combines both the scientific mind and advocacy, especially for women’s rights. For example, she made some important discoveries, the most famous of which is that carbon dioxide and water vapor heat up when exposed to sunlight. She was the first person to notice this. Additionally, she attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the U.S.’s first women’s rights convention. She’s been an inspiration for me in thinking about this connection between science and democracy.

What major advocacy issues do you think APS should prioritize as a result of this past year?

I’m really concerned about some recent news. The present administration wants to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is one of our premier national laboratories, and its mission is purely scientific. I see that as a direct attack on science, and I expect more along those lines will occur. I want to make sure we’re in a position to respond and to speak up for science and the scientific process, to ensure that the federal government continues to support good science.

Also, science is international and benefits greatly from the involvement of people from overseas coming to the United States — students, researchers. The international dialogue of science is extremely important, and we want to ensure that it continues.

One other important goal for 2026 is to focus on K-12 physics education, especially including support for high school teachers of physics. The number of teachers who have specialized in teaching physics is rapidly declining, and other science teachers often must teach physics classes as well. We will be looking for new ways for APS to support these teachers.

In trying times, where do you find balance and optimism?

I’ve nearly completed the Pacific Crest Trail. This last August, I hiked most of the way across the state of Washington on the trail. I find that it’s very helpful to disconnect from the Internet for a long period of time every so often and recharge. For me, that’s being in nature. I’ll probably be too busy to go on a month-long excursion this coming year, but I’m planning some shorter trips, filling in some gaps in the Pacific Crest Trail that I haven’t finished yet.

I also like finding connections between different areas of science. Recently, working with my French collaborators, I found a connection between topology and certain waves in the atmosphere and ocean, known as Kelvin waves. These waves were first found by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, back in 1879. Quantum physicists ended up rediscovering them in the context of the integer quantum Hall effect. This shows that the siloing of different fields — in this case, fluid dynamics and quantum physics — has had a detrimental effect on the progress of science. I would like to see APS encourage the weakening of these barriers between different fields.

That’s something I think our new Global Physics Summit has a possibility of doing — bringing together so many different fields of physics and physics-related fields. Especially with younger scientists, I hope they will venture out of their own discipline, go to talks in completely different areas, and expose themselves to ideas that might trigger new discoveries. That kind of thing really excites me.