> As crucial as software like FORM is for physics, the effort to develop it is often undervalued. Vermaseren was lucky in that he had a permanent position at th

> As crucial as software like FORM is for physics, the effort to develop it is often undervalued. Vermaseren was lucky in that he had a permanent position at the National Institute for Subatomic Physics in the Netherlands, and a boss who appreciated the project. > But such luck is hard to come by. Stefano Laporta, an Italian physicist who developed a crucial simplification algorithm for the field, has spent most of his career without funding for students or equipment. > Universities tend to track scientists’ publication records, which means those who work on critical infrastructure are often passed over for hiring or tenure. > “I have seen over the years, consistently, that people who spend a lot of time on computers don’t get a tenure job in physics,” said Vermaseren.