Science Spoofs, Physics Pranks and Astronomical Antics

TL;DR

This paper reviews humorous examples in physics and astronomy, exploring how jokes and parodies relate to scientific creativity and offering a lighthearted perspective on scientific culture.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of science-related humor, highlighting its role in fostering creativity and community within physics and astronomy.

Findings

Humor is prevalent in physics and astronomy communities.

Humorous works include practical jokes and parody papers.

Humor may enhance creativity in scientific research.

Abstract

Some scientists take themselves and their work very seriously. However, there are plenty of cases of humour being combined with science. Here I review some examples from the broad fields of physics and astronomy, particularly focusing on practical jokes and paper parodies. This is a mostly serious overview of a non-serious subject, but I'd like to claim that there is in fact some connection between humour and creativity in the physical sciences.