A passion for physics

Albert Einstein said ‘I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious’ [1]. It’s hard to read the first sentence without smiling! But the second explains very believably what drove Einstein into such uncharted intellectual territories – passionate curiosity about the physical world. As we take stock of the 6^th volume of our journal, Einstein’s passion for physics is an inspiration. I do hope that a glance through the titles (and graphical abstracts) of the 32 articles published by the time of writing provokes a curiosity which is only unsatisfied by the insufficiency of time doubtless available to read them all. The range of topics also provides a status report of where we are in the development of the journal. About a third of the volume covers the realm of condensed matter, or quantum matter as people now say, which continues to reinvent itself with new discoveries and new materials. Another third addresses the burgeoning field of photonics, rich in discovery, innovation, integration and application. The final third is a diverse mixture of topics – neuromorphics, metamaterials, plasma, nuclear, catalysis, cell and biomaterials. Amongst these fields we have begun strategically to grow the physics, materials science and applications of neuromorphic architectures, which are underpinned like so many of our topics by advances in nanotechnology. And we have identified, and are implementing, biological physics as another fascinating area that merits expansion in the journal. At the same time we are delighted to feature, from time to time, articles at the foundation of physics that touch upon the great challenges of gravitational and particle physics, and astronomy. Uniting all the articles we commission is the passion of the editors, authors and readers for physics, its intellectual cross-connections both within and beyond the traditional boundaries of the field, and its profound impact upon society. I hope that your curiosity is provoked and – in some small measure – also satisfied.