Scientists (and Bloggers) in Love

The cat's been out of the bag about Jennifer Ouellette (of Cocktail Party Physics) and Sean Carroll (of Cosmic Variance) being engaged, and now a feature story on the two of them is on Nature news today. Specifically, she's asking advice from other scientists about how to keep a relationship together when the significant others both have demanding science careers. Jennifer is a science writer, and is relocating to California to be with Sean, although she says:

Alas, scientists who marry scientists can't always get it together quite so easily. There is a daunting obstacle to be overcome: they must find jobs not just for themselves, but for their spouses. This is the 'two-body' problem: a reference to the challenge of calculating the paths of two objects interacting with each other. Mathematics solved the two-body problem long ago, but married scientists still struggle with it.

Scientists are often attracted to, and date, other scientists. It is, after all, who we come in contact with most often in our professional and social lives. What to do then about the "two body problem"? Its true that universities are sometimes understanding about the issue, and often try to rearrange job offers so both recruited faculty member and spouse can find an academic home. This is hit or miss sometimes, and seems to take a more heavy toll on female scientists, and in Jennifer's case, female physicists.

Besides being a minority in their field, female physicists struggle with the two-body problem more often than their male counterparts. A 1998 survey by the American Physical Society found that although only about 6% of its members are women, 43% of these are married to other physicists. In contrast, only 6% of married male physicists have a physicist spouse. Other studies have found that almost twice as many women chemists are married to or partnered with another chemist as compared to their male colleagues, and 80% of women mathematicians are married to other scientists.

The best case scenario is two tenure-track positions in the same university, although I wonder how often that really happens. Whether one or the other is subtly forced to relinquish their best ambitions in order to stay together.

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This happens in the humanities, too; a frequent part of recruiting is figuring out an offer for the spouse as well.

By Leslie in CA (not verified) on 14 Feb 2007 #permalink

I think you know my story that, while I was well-established, I made the move to be supportive of my younger wife's career and family issues thinking that my track record would make me more mobile and marketable.

SciMom at Doubleloop has had a couple of dual-career move experiences and great advice, followed by subsequent posts from her husband.