[caddybox]

Brown (university) physicist. No reference to his race.

[genocidicbunny]

I can't help but wonder if this headline was A/B tested and was found to be more 'engaging' specifically because of the same sort of reaction GP demonstrated.

Edit: Interesting that the headline was changed from the original to no longer refer to Brown university at all. I genuinely wonder what prompted that.

[silisili]

Absolutely not. Americans don't call people 'brown.' We generally have white, black, and hispanic/latino. Anyone else we refer to by nationality, even incorrectly at times. If he were say, Indian, it would say Indian, not Brown.