In 2016, I joined Natalie, Siobhan Roberts and Emily Singer in profiling four master science and math teachers as part of an education series that included video vignettes produced by my former New York Times colleague Lisa Iaboni, an interactive survey of readers’ experiences with math and science built by Emily Fuhrman, my interview with the theoretical particle physicist and science education reformer Helen Quinn, and Kevin Hartnett’s smart analysis of the Common Core math standards.
In 2017, we launched a completely redesigned magazine site, which won a Webby People’s Voice Award for best science website a few years later. Since 2017, I’ve enjoyed revisiting high school math concepts and gaining a better appreciation for their connection to modern research while editing Patrick Honner’s entertaining Quantized Academy columns. In 2018, I had the privilege of editing two collections of Quanta articles that were published by the MIT Press. To promote the books, I moderated a wide-ranging panel discussion featuring Natalie, Kevin, deputy editor John Rennie and the mathematical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf (then the director of the Institute for Advanced Study, and now the minister of education, culture and science in the Netherlands), and got to meet a few hundred of you in person.
In early 2020, Kevin and deputy editor Michael Moyer led the development of our expansive and enticing interactive map of mathematics. Later that year, I relished the collaborative fusion of mathematical, visual and editorial ideas that the number theorist Alex Kontorovich, senior video editor Emily Buder and I brought to our Riemann hypothesis video. I remember the excitement when Quanta won a National Magazine Award for general excellence during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic (when we needed something to be excited about), and how over the moon we were to learn that the magazine had won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2022 for the standout package on the James Webb Space Telescope by Natalie and her colleagues. Also in 2022, I traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, to interview Maryna Viazovska, the second woman to win a Fields Medal, and had the pleasure of co-writing the profile with longtime collaborator Erica Klarreich.
Over the last few years, one of my great joys has been working with Steve Strogatz, John, art director Samuel Velasco and senior engagement editor Matt Carlstrom — and this past year with co-host Janna Levin — on the Joy of Why podcast. And it’s been an absolute blast designing and building our Hyperjumps math game with Samuel and interactive developer Paul Chaikin based on a concept by puzzle columnist Pradeep Mutalik.
These memories, and so many more, have reinforced an obvious fact about the world that has nonetheless been marvelous to experience — that when the right people get together at the right time, good things happen. It all started with Marilyn and Jim Simons, who took a chance on my unconventional ideas and whose steadfast support made Quanta possible. I’m grateful to current foundation president David Spergel for his enthusiastic commitment to the journalism we do. I can’t thank our distinguished advisory board members enough for their generous advice over the years. And none of this is possible without the many talented reporters, editors, designers and producers that I’ve been lucky enough to call my fellow “Quanta’s mechanics.”
Looking ahead, I’m encouraged by the outstanding journalists who write for the magazine, headlined by our staff writers Jordana Cepelewicz (who wrote this brilliant profile of 2022 Fields medalist Jun Huh), Charlie Wood (our first writing intern in 2018), Yasemin Saplakoglu and Ben Brubaker.
I’d like to leave you and the team with one word that defines what Quanta means to me: service. By that I mean both public service — the beating heart that drives what we do and why we do it — and service to each other. Journalism is a team sport. As satisfying as it’s been to produce the kind of journalism I thought the world needed, I’m just as proud of the newsroom culture we’ve established, one of service to the public and to each other, of journalistic integrity and open collaboration. (I’m also proud that of the 169 Q&A interviews we’ve published, more than 50% feature women scientists and mathematicians. It meant the world to me when, at a public event with Steve Strogatz, a high school student told me how much those interviews have inspired her as a budding scientist.)
Why am I leaving now? In my memo to the staff, I said that the magazine is all grown up, and I pointed to the “spirit of learning more and seeking out new challenges.” Indeed, my initial vision for Quanta has been realized, and our exceptional team is well equipped to carry on our journalistic mission without this editor-, cheerleader- and worrier-in-chief. I also believe in change, in fresh ideas, and in making room for a new generation of leaders to rise to the challenge.
Not that I’m going very far. My new challenge is to build a science book imprint here at the Simons Foundation. Simply put, the goal is to do for book publishing what Quanta has done for science journalism. Some important details are still in development, so stay tuned for the official announcement. In the meantime, if you have a popular science book proposal you’d like us to consider, please send it to [email protected].
I hope Quanta has tickled your brain as much as it has mine, and that it will continue to do so for many earthly orbits to come.
Yours,
Thomas Lin