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The physics of data

Nature Physics volume 13, pages 718–719 (2017)Cite this article

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Physicists are accustomed to dealing with large datasets, yet they are fortunate in that the quality of their experimental data is very good. The onset of big data has led to an explosion of datasets with a far more complex structure — a development that requires new tools and a different mindset.

Ernest Rutherford is said to have famously declared that “If you need statistics then you should have done a better experiment.” This observation still strikes a chord with most physicists today: complex, messy experiments tend to be viewed as bad experiments, and poor data quality is, often correctly, attributed to poor experimental design.

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  1. Jeff Byers is at the Machine Learning and Data Analytics Center for Computational Materials Science, US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 20375, USA,

    Jeff Byers

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  1. Jeff Byers
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Correspondence to Jeff Byers.

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Byers, J. The physics of data. Nature Phys 13, 718–719 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4202

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