Racial disparities remain in U.S. physics graduates: report

NEW YORK, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Racial discrimination and inequality remain in physics graduates in the United States, U.S. space and astronomy news website Space.com has reported.

Though the number of U.S. undergraduate physics degrees awarded tripled between 1999 and 2020, the share of Black graduates has droped from 4.8 percent in 1999 to 3.1 percent in 2020, said the report on Friday.

Many colleges and universities even did not issue a single physics degree to a Black graduate during this period, and only 0.5 percent of students in U.S. doctoral physics programs are Black, according to the report.

"The overwhelming whiteness of many physics departments allows faculty to turn a blind eye to racial inequity," some scholars were quoted as saying.