Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Science and Fiction ((SCIFICT))

  • 748 Accesses

Abstract

On the 1st of April every year, otherwise reputable media all round the world carry fabricated reports on every topic under the sun. Physics is no exception, and April Fools have appeared everywhere from the CERN website to Scientific American—and even in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Nature. In recent years, however, physics-related April Fools have found their real home in the web-based arXiv preprint repository. The dozens of spoofs there can be read on any day of the year—which creates a problem for certain killjoys, who want to outlaw scientific April Fools because they’re too easily mistaken for serious research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 32.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. S. Lee, S. Ditko, I come from the Black Void. reprinted in Creatures on the Loose #27 (January 1974)

    Google Scholar 

  2. BBC On This Day, 1957: BBC fools the nation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm

  3. Editorial criteria and processes. Nature. https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/editorial-criteria-and-processes

  4. A.J. Hamilton, R.M. May, E.K. Waters, Here be dragons. Nature 520, 42–43 (April 2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. J. Rennie, Okay, we give up. Scientific American (April 2005). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/okay-we-give-up/

  6. P. Yam, Unscientific Unamerican. Scientific American (April 2014). https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/unscientific-unamerican-and-other-april-fools-jokes-in-sa-history/

  7. T. Folger, The Bigon. Discover (April 1996). http://discovermagazine.com/1996/apr/thebigon756

  8. A. Boese, The black-hole diode. Museum of Hoaxes. http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/the_black-hole_diode

  9. Apollo Bacteria Spur Lunar Erosion. Nature Website (1 April 2005). http://www.bioedonline.org/news/nature-news/apollo-bacteria-spur-lunar-erosion/

  10. C. O’Luanaigh, CERN researchers confirm existence of the force. CERN Website (1 April 2015). https://home.cern/news/news/cern/cern-researchers-confirm-existence-force

  11. Wikipedia article on “April Fools” day request for comments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day_Request_for_Comments

  12. D. Waitzman, A standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on Avian Carriers. Network Working Group RFC 1149 (April 1990). http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1149.html

  13. R. Hinden, Design considerations for faster-than-light communication. Check Point Software RFC 6921 (1 April 2013). https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6921

  14. D. Zaslavsky, Joke papers. arXiv. https://www.ellipsix.net/arxiv-joke-papers.html

  15. S.R. Kane, F. Selsis, A Necro-biological explanation for the Fermi Paradox. arXiv (31 March 2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.8146

  16. D. Scott, A farewell to falsifiability. arXiv (1 April 2015). https://arxiv.org/abs/1504.00108

  17. J. Zuntz, et al., Non-standard morphological relic patterns in the cosmic microwave background. arXiv (31 March 2011). https://arxiv.org/abs/1103.6262

  18. R. Fisher, R. Courtland, Found: Hawking’s initials written into the universe. New Scientist, (7 February 2010). https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18489-found-hawkings-initials-written-into-the-universe/

  19. D. Scott, Pi in the sky. arXiv (31 March 2016). https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.09703

  20. R.J. Scherrer, Time variation of a fundamental dimensionless constant. arXiv (30 March 2009). https://arxiv.org/abs/0903.5321

  21. Snopes Fact Check, Alabama’s slice of Pi. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alabamas-slice-of-pi/

  22. R.A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (New English Library, London, 1978), p. 292

    Google Scholar 

  23. S.E. Kuhn, Observation of a new type of super-symmetry. arXiv (31 March 2015). https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.09109

  24. Tom Banks, Schrodinger’s cat and world history. arXiv (30 March 2017). https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10470

  25. G. Svetlichny, The April first phenomenon. arXiv (28 March 2014). https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.8010

  26. A. Boese, Atmospheric energy harnessed. Museum of Hoaxes. http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/atmospheric_energy_harnessed

  27. M. Ronagh, L. Souder, The ethics of ironic science in its search for spoof. Sci. Eng. Ethics 21, 1537–1549 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. R. Eveleth, The ethics of sarcastic science. The Atlantic (December 2014). https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/the-ethics-of-sarcastic-science/383988/

  29. L. Billings, Against April fools in science journalism. Scientific American Website (1 April 2015). https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/against-april-fools-in-science-journalism/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

May, A. (2019). April Fool. In: Fake Physics: Spoofs, Hoaxes and Fictitious Science. Science and Fiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13314-6_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics