Administratium: A 20th-Anniversary Update

Perhaps the readers of The Physics Teacher have come across a humorous little story on the Internet about the discovery of an element called “Administratium”¹ (or one of its variants “Governmentium,” “Bureaucratium,” etc.), which behaved like college administrations. Some of these readers might recall seeing it in print many years ago. In fact, it first appeared 20 years ago in the January 1989 issue of The Physics Teacher under the heading “Farcical Physics” and I was the author. I came up with the idea in February of 1988 while giving a physics exam at Middlesex County College in Edison, NJ. I was reading a memo from the college administration about the latest reorganization, with its usual increase in vice presidents, assistants to the vice presidents, etc., looked over at a large periodic chart on the wall, and it all came together. I originally posted the “Administratium” story on a bulletin board at the college and the faculty found it funny. I then decided to send it to The Physics Teacher. I was concerned about offending Middlesex College, so I asked that my name be omitted from the article. It turned out that this was unnecessary—the college administration was a good sport about it. What was surprising to me was how this little story spread. What was even more surprising was how many people took credit for it. I guess I invited this by not using my name in the original publication. If you Google “Administratium,” you will get over 10,000 hits in different languages, with many people taking credit. I heard it read on The Osgood File and the discovery of “Administratium” was awarded an Ignoble Prize. A humorous story like this seems more appropriate for the Journal of Irreproducible Results. In fact, it was published in the January–February 1990 issue. Needless to say, I was getting a bit irritated by seeing so many people taking credit for my story. I contacted Norman Sperling, the editor of the JIR, about this and he suggested I write about the whole experience. I wrote an article that was published in the May 2005 issue and I extended the “Administratium” story to include newly discovered chemical properties. At the 20th anniversary of its publication, I feel it is important to clear up any question about the authorship in the magazine that first published the story.