ADAPT: A tool for quantifying diversity in physics textbooks

An often cited factor for the continued under-representation of people of color and women in physics is the lack of representational diversity present in the field. In this work, we develop an automated, Python-based tool that is capable of quantitatively analyzing the names and demographics of scientists mentioned in the chapters and indices of physics textbooks, thus enabling publishers, authors, and users to quickly identify the demographic composition of these texts. This tool is then used to determine whose work is mentioned in the set of textbooks utilized in a representative four-year undergraduate physics major curriculum, as well as a collection of ten commonly used introductory physics textbooks. The aforementioned sample analyses reveal that the examined texts display an overwhelming focus on work attributed to White men of European, British, and North American descent. These results indicate an urgent need for physics educators, as well as textbook publishers, authors, and adopters, to work in tandem to better reflect the broad diversity of scientists working in this field within physics texts.