Jeff Schmidt

His book Disciplined Minds described methods that students
and professional workers can use to preserve their personalities
and independent thought amidst societal pressure.

Jeff Schmidt was an editor at Physics Today magazine for 19 years, until he was fired for writing his provocative book Disciplined Minds, the book “describes how professionals are made; the methods of professional and graduate schools that turn eager entering students into disciplined managerial and intellectual workers that correctly perceive and apply the employer’s doctrine and outlook.” The book also explored the role that professionals play in maintaining the status quo and analyzing the selection and training of said professionals, gave some methods by which professionals and students could continue to think independently in spite of these pressures.

He has a PhD in physics from the University of California, Irvine, and he has taught in the United States, Central America and Africa. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he now lives in Washington, D.C.