Scientists around the world have turned their attention to COVID-19 Among the projects physicists are working on are apps for proximity tracing, mobile care deployment, and supply-chain simplification;ventilators from easily sourced parts;numerical simulations of ways to reopen civic life and reboot the economy;and molecular simulations to search for therapeutics and vaccines Besides creativity and handiness with electronics and computers, physicists have expertise in managing big data and large teams And approximating is part of every physicist's training, notes John Langford, a researcher at Microsoft who helped design protocols for contact-tracing apps Some scientists are working on contact-tracing apps to help identify and notify people who may have become infected from being near someone who tests positive for COVID-19
Stuck at home, physicists pivot to combat COVID-19