Siamese cat credited as physics co-author in 1975

In 1975, a Siamese cat named Chester became a published co-author in the prestigious scientific journal Physical Review Letters. The unusual occurrence was the result of a workaround by physicist Jack H. Hetherington, a professor at Michigan State University.

Hetherington had authored a paper on low-temperature physics regarding exchange effects in helium-3 atoms. However, the manuscript used first-person plural pronouns such as ‘we’ and ‘our,’ which violated the journal's editorial policy for single-author papers. Because the article had been composed on a typewriter, Hetherington sought to avoid the laborious task of retyping the entire document.

To resolve the issue, he added his cat as a second author under the academic pseudonym F. D. C. Willard. The initials were a reference to ‘Felis domesticus,’ the scientific name for domestic cats, and Chester. The surname Willard was taken from the name of the cat's father.