How to read 1/137? One slash 137?

Context:

A fundamental physical constant akin to the charge of the electron or the speed of light may depend on where in the universe you are, a team of astronomers reports. If true, that observation would overturn scientists' basic assumption that the laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe. Other researchers are skeptical, however.

The constant in question is the so-called fine-structure constant. A number with a value of about 1/137, the constant dictates the strength of the electromagnetic force and, hence, determines the exact wavelengths of light an atom will absorb. The idea that the constant may have changed over the age of the universe isn't new. Astrophysicist John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues first rang that bell in 1998, using data from the 10-meter telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, which peers into the Northern Hemisp
More:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/11/fundamental-constant-may-depend-.html