| Topic: |
Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Siah" |
| Date: |
26 Jan 2006 11:45:47 PM |
| Object: |
What does it take to be a physicist? |
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
.
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| User: "Bob the Builder" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
27 Jan 2006 04:00:24 AM |
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"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
If you are a Graduate engineer then there is no need to become a Physicist.
Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
Bob
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 02:10:09 PM |
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Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
Bob,
I don't see a competition here. I'd argue though that engineers can't
always 'make work' all the new physics findings, thus physicist are
usually a few steps ahead.
Just an opinion,
Sia
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| User: "Michael Varney" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
27 Jan 2006 07:42:35 AM |
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Bob the Builder wrote:
"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
If you are a Graduate engineer then there is no need to become a Physicist.
Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
To Siah: And you will have to put up with people like BTB saying stupid,
ignorant things. Don't worry. You see, in university, physicists looked
down on engineers, which instilled an inferiority complex in the psyches
of the engineers.
So throughout life as a physicist, you will get this sort of thing from
engineers pretty much continuously.
Now, a good experimental physicist can build just about anything.
However, there are times where a good engineer can do a better and more
elegant job of building what is needed. That is a skill they are trained
in. The problem comes when the same engineer trys to unify branches of
physics. After their frustrated attempts they usually go mad and are
branded a crackpot.
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 03:14:15 PM |
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To Siah: And you will have to put up with people like BTB saying stupid,
ignorant things. Don't worry. You see, in university, physicists looked
down on engineers, which instilled an inferiority complex in the psyches
of the engineers.
So throughout life as a physicist, you will get this sort of thing from
engineers pretty much continuously.
Now, a good experimental physicist can build just about anything.
However, there are times where a good engineer can do a better and more
elegant job of building what is needed. That is a skill they are trained
in. The problem comes when the same engineer trys to unify branches of
physics. After their frustrated attempts they usually go mad and are
branded a crackpot.
Intresting insights. Thanks Michael.
Sia
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 07:54:16 AM |
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In article <drd7sj$fqn$1@peabody.colorado.edu>,
Michael Varney <varney@collorado.edu> wrote:
Bob the Builder wrote:
"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
If you are a Graduate engineer then there is no need to become a Physicist.
Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
To Siah: And you will have to put up with people like BTB saying stupid,
ignorant things. Don't worry. You see, in university, physicists looked
down on engineers, which instilled an inferiority complex in the psyches
of the engineers.
So throughout life as a physicist, you will get this sort of thing from
engineers pretty much continuously.
So a good plan is to be in science in college, then get a job
as an engineer. Then one can look down on oneself.
Now, a good experimental physicist can build just about anything.
Their job is to do the onefers. If it works, then the task is
handed to an engineer to eliminate rough edges, put it into
production so the improvement gets into the infrastructure. Once
this platform is in place, then the scientists tread up onto
the step of this stair to find out if the next stair step can
be made, and, if so, develop a rough plan.
However, there are times where a good engineer can do a better and more
elegant job of building what is needed. That is a skill they are trained
in. The problem comes when the same engineer trys to unify branches of
physics. After their frustrated attempts they usually go mad and are
branded a crackpot.
I don't think these crackpots are mad. Some of them are very
serious about destroying existing work.
/BAH
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| User: "Eric Gisse" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 04:26:19 PM |
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wrote:
[snip]
I don't think these crackpots are mad. Some of them are very
serious about destroying existing work.
When I say Androcles seeks to destroy what cannot understand, I am not
kidding.
/BAH
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| User: "Schoenfeld" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 02:38:36 AM |
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Michael Varney wrote:
Bob the Builder wrote:
"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
If you are a Graduate engineer then there is no need to become a Physicist.
Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
To Siah: And you will have to put up with people like BTB saying stupid,
ignorant things. Don't worry. You see, in university, physicists looked
down on engineers, which instilled an inferiority complex in the psyches
of the engineers.
Don't worry, in university, mathematicians looked down on physicists,
which instilled an inferiority complex in the psyches of physicists.
This would follow from the transitive property of your own statement
since physics is necessarily mathematical engineering.
hint: physics is too hard for physicists
hint2: nature does not and will never submit to naive notions of
number.
So throughout life as a physicist, you will get this sort of thing from
engineers pretty much continuously.
Now, a good experimental physicist can build just about anything.
However, there are times where a good engineer can do a better and more
elegant job of building what is needed. That is a skill they are trained
in. The problem comes when the same engineer trys to unify branches of
physics. After their frustrated attempts they usually go mad and are
branded a crackpot.
.
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| User: "JMA" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
29 Jan 2006 06:53:08 PM |
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"Schoenfeld" <schoenfeld1@gmail.com> escreveu na mensagem
news:1138437516.811403.207470@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
hint: physics is too hard for physicists
Physics is hard for everybody.
Problem is that physicists want us to believe they know the answers,
but reality shows otherwise.
hint2: nature does not and will never submit to naive notions of
number.
Right.
There are so many answers lacking in Physics.
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 03:45:19 PM |
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Schoenfeld,
Intresting insights.
Thanks,
Sia
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| User: "Rock Brentwood" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
30 Jan 2006 03:43:50 PM |
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Bob the Builder wrote:
If you are a Graduate engineer then there is no need to become a Physicist.
Engineering is providing solutions to real world problems. Even if
Physicists find the key to time-travel it will be Engineers who make it
work.
The nature of this world is that unless you're both, you're not fit to
be either. They are not only *not* dichotomous, but are *essential*
aspects of one another (and of mathematics, computer science, and vice
versa). This is how it is, for instance, that I can (and have) do a hit
and run, coming into a company, making them a product that provides
their introduction into a new market or market segment, and completely
trashes the competition and runs circles around anything they have,
while doing it with smaller, vastly simpler programming and design,
without the need for extensive "testing" (the classical crutch of the
nimble-minded who call themselves "engineers") for having been
mathematically verified; and with a perfect 100% record free of bugs or
other flaws for anything going out the door; doubling the size of
planned sales in the process, finishing a working product in less time
than it even took to write up a specification or sign a contract (the
final documentation being one and the same as the specification),
vastly exceeding anything required of it, giving the company its own
positive sales revenue month in the middle of a recession; and then
leaving at the top of my game, with the product(s) not only still being
in use, but actually applied to a much more extensive range of markets
and applications than anyone ever envisioned.
In our company, the synonym for competitors' products and other
inferior technology was "(derisive laughter) yet another kludge made by
'engineers' (meaning: purported engineers who, because they are not
also experts in computer science, mathematics, physics, are therefore
none of the above and are easily surpassed, along with any of the
inferior work (which is being redundant) engendered by them).
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| User: "FrediFizzx" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 02:01:14 AM |
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"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Hi,
|
| My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
| entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission
in
| life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
| become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
|
| You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Get a job as one? You may be about half-way there. Keep studying and
maybe one day you will get a job as a physicist. What is it that most
interests you about physics? It covers a lot of ground.
FrediFizzx
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.pdf
or postscript
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.ps
http://www.vacuum-physics.com
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 03:44:20 PM |
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Get a job as one? You may be about half-way there. Keep studying and
FrediFizzx,
I responded to that previously. I really don't want to waste my time
working for someone else, but you maybe right that it might provide me
with the proper arena for my education.
Thanks,
Sia
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| User: "FrediFizzx" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 04:29:53 PM |
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"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138484660.940458.167140@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
| > Get a job as one? You may be about half-way there. Keep studying
and
|
| FrediFizzx,
|
| I responded to that previously. I really don't want to waste my time
| working for someone else, but you maybe right that it might provide me
| with the proper arena for my education.
Well, you can certainly work on fundamental physics without being a
physicist. That is what I am doing when I stumbled upon the concept of
"Quantum Vacuum Charge". But I did hire a physicist as a tutor to help
develop the concept and learn more about particle physics. We ended up
doing some collaboration on the concepts. If particle physics rocks
your boat and you want to learn more, you could certainly take that kind
of route. Teach yourself with the help of a tutor.
FrediFizzx
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.pdf
or postscript
http://www.vacuum-physics.com/QVC/quantum_vacuum_charge.ps
http://www.vacuum-physics.com
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| User: "cyanb" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
27 Jan 2006 08:31:35 PM |
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"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in news:1138340747.590557.143940
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
.
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 03:42:07 PM |
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I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
haha... I am determined to become a physicist. Let us engineers show
physicist how it's done?
5 years for Ph.D. sounds fair enough.
Sia
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| User: "Charles Francis" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
29 Jan 2006 02:02:53 PM |
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Thus spake Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com>
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
haha... I am determined to become a physicist. Let us engineers show
physicist how it's done?
You hardly need to. Dirac was a failed electrically engineer before
becoming, in my view, one of the four greatest mathematical physicists
of all time.
Regards
--
Charles Francis
Please reply by name
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| User: "Hexenmeister" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
29 Jan 2006 07:24:42 PM |
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"Charles Francis" <charles@CF.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:QCicbK5t9R3DFw9z@charlesfrancis.wanadoo.co.uk...
Thus spake Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com>
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to
graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and
laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
haha... I am determined to become a physicist. Let us engineers show
physicist how it's done?
You hardly need to. Dirac was a failed electrically engineer before
becoming, in my view, one of the four greatest mathematical physicists
of all time.
Thank goodness it is only in yourly mentally failly viewly Charlie.
Androcles
Regards
--
Charles Francis
Please reply by name
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| User: "Bob Cain" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
30 Jan 2006 08:07:43 PM |
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Hexenmeister wrote:
Thank goodness it is only in yourly mentally failly viewly Charlie.
Androcles
Dunce.
Bob
--
"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no simpler."
A. Einstein
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| User: "Bob Cain" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
30 Jan 2006 08:06:52 PM |
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Charles Francis wrote:
Thus spake Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com>
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
haha... I am determined to become a physicist. Let us engineers show
physicist how it's done?
You hardly need to. Dirac was a failed electrically engineer before
becoming, in my view, one of the four greatest mathematical physicists
of all time.
Failed? I don't think so. He simply found mathematical physics more
interesting and more fun. I don't know for sure whether or not he took
any more formal education beyond electrical engineering but I don't
think so. I think he just started reading and publishing.
Bob
--
"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no simpler."
A. Einstein
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| User: "Charles Francis" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
31 Jan 2006 12:51:14 AM |
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Thus spake Bob Cain <arcane@arcanemethods.com>
Charles Francis wrote:
Thus spake Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com>
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
haha... I am determined to become a physicist. Let us engineers show
physicist how it's done?
You hardly need to. Dirac was a failed electrically engineer before
becoming, in my view, one of the four greatest mathematical physicists
of all time.
Failed? I don't think so. He simply found mathematical physics more
interesting and more fun. I don't know for sure whether or not he took
any more formal education beyond electrical engineering but I don't
think so. I think he just started reading and publishing.
He was pushed into doing an electrical engineering degree by his father,
on the ground that there was more money in it, and did not want to be a
teacher. When he failed to get a permanent job he decided to pursue his
passion for mathematics. Although he had a scholarship to Cambridge he
could not get LEA support, so went to Bristol where they waived the
fees. Two years later he got a grant to do research in Cambridge.
Regards
--
Charles Francis
Please reply by name
.
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| User: "Y.Porat" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
31 Jan 2006 04:29:10 AM |
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now you see again that the real physicists come firstly from
physics and technical scinces
2 about the thread question
what takes it to be a physicist:
my answer is
1 not to come just from mathematics
2 to be honest!!
ATB
Y.Porat
-------------------------
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| User: "Michael Varney" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
31 Jan 2006 09:44:29 PM |
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Y.Porat wrote:
now you see again that the real physicists come firstly from
physics and technical scinces
2 about the thread question
what takes it to be a physicist:
my answer is
1 not to come just from mathematics
2 to be honest!!
And not be insane and stupid, like Porat.
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| User: "srp" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 07:11:44 AM |
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cyanb a écrit :
"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in news:1138340747.590557.143940
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
Would you elaborate on the "frustration" aspect ?
What exactly did you find so frustrating ?
André Michaud
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 01:12:52 AM |
|
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cyanb wrote:
"Siah" <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote in news:1138340747.590557.143940
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
I am you five years from now. I am an engineer who returned to graduate
school to get my Ph.D. in physics. I would like to encourage you to do
this since physics needs more people who are in touch with reality. But
*realistically* all I can tell you is be prepared for the constant
frustration. Eventually, if you begin to enjoy the frustration and laugh
it off, you will succeed in becoming a physicist.
I've got to ask. What branch of engineering? Did you take the PE
exam? Why didn't you go for the Ph.D in engineering?
And, most importantly, are you happier having gone for the Ph.D?
.
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| User: "Bruce Scott TOK" |
|
| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
30 Jan 2006 06:11:27 AM |
|
|
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
You have to really commit to it. Don't treat it like a job or you'll be
wondering in a few years (or sooner) why you're there when everyone else
seems to make more money. You have to really like physics to do it for
a living. One thing to be realistic about: the mentality that makes a
good entrepreneur is _not_ the same thing that makes a good physicist.
Besides that, you have to be lucky. I don't know how to say it better,
but to get any sort of post you are either (1) in the right place at the
right time, or (2) the plaything of someone's mafia. I landed my post
by basically having no local competition, and I didn't realise that
until later. I was very naive and very lucky. I filled a post someone
left to go to industry at a time there was a hiring freeze. Had there
been any competition, with non-foreigners or with people who could
"posture" I don't think I would have been hired. Trouble is,
increasingly so, the sort of people who impress selection committees
(and in both Germany and the US the corporate sort of "personal
impression" plays way too large a role) are not always the ones who end
up doing the best job. The PR culture invasion is a problem.
Now, if all that doesn't put you off, or especially if you want to go
for it in spite of those things, then you might be the right sort. But
it is an unfortunate fact that at least some stage you have to be lucky.
--
ciao,
Bruce
drift wave turbulence: http://www.rzg.mpg.de/~bds/
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| User: "Gregory L. Hansen" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
27 Jan 2006 06:00:35 PM |
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In article <1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
Some people in physics go on to develop things like magnetic media, vacuum
deposition techniques, semiconductor devices, optical devices, and so on.
Some electrical engineers also go on to develop things like magnetic
media, vacuum deposition techniques, semiconductor devices, optical
devices, and so on.
What do you want to do that would be physics and not engineering?
It would be a good next step to browse professional physics journals,
learn about their standards for error analysis, and learn enough about
some part of it that you can identify an unanswered question that you
think you can answer.
Anyone can be a physicist in their own time. To be employable as a
physicist is a little trickier.
--
"'No user-serviceable parts inside.' I'll be the judge of that!"
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| User: "Siah" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 03:38:55 PM |
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What do you want to do that would be physics and not engineering?
String Theory, Time, Space, Black holes, etc.
It would be a good next step to browse professional physics journals,
learn about their standards for error analysis, and learn enough about
some part of it that you can identify an unanswered question that you
think you can answer.
Great suggestion. Thank you.
Anyone can be a physicist in their own time. To be employable as a
physicist is a little trickier.
No interest to work for another company. University setting sounds
about where I envision myself :)
Sia
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| User: "Gregory L. Hansen" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 05:32:22 PM |
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In article <1138484335.830782.199120@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Siah <siasookhteh@gmail.com> wrote:
What do you want to do that would be physics and not engineering?
String Theory, Time, Space, Black holes, etc.
I was thinking more in terms of experimental physics. And being an
electrical engineer, you would have a good foundation for being able to
design and build the things you need. For instance, physics could be done
with a precision pendulum, and it would be within many people's personal
budgets. If you have more intensive equipment needs you might be able to
attract the collaboration of a professor at a university. It's even
concievable that he would write up a proposal and get some funding. The
guy asking for the funding might, for practical purposes, need a PhD, but
he can collaborate with anyone he wants to collaborate with.
Starting out as a principle researcher might be a little ambitious. If
you have spare time to donate, then look up the professors on the web
pages of the local university, find someone doing research that interests
you, and offer your assistance. Someone doing "small science", without
the budget to hire an engineer, might be particular grateful. Ask a lot
of "why" questions that go beyond "What are we going to do today?"--
understand the questions that the research is trying to answer, related
work that others have done, and the new contribution that the new research
is trying to make.
I think engineers don't put a lot of emphasis on error budgets, but in
experimental physics it is of supreme importance. Any proposed experiment
includes an error budget that shows an expected precision of the result
and the important contributions to the uncertainty. An experiment usually
isn't considered worth doing unless it improves on the precision of
earlier measurements or tests a theory in a new way. The first person to
do something new can get pretty much any precision and it will still be
publishable.
If you have a theoretical bent, get some textbooks and start reading them
with paper and pencil at hand. Theory might not be easier, but at least
it's cheaper. The experimentalists needs to know enough theory to
motivate his work and find measurements worth doing. But it's not
unusual, for instance, for an experimentalist to bring a theorist into the
collaboration to help interpret the results. No one person has to be able
to do it all.
--
"Out of the way, you swine, a physicist is coming!"
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| User: "The Ghost In The Machine" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
28 Jan 2006 02:00:13 PM |
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In sci.physics, Siah
<siasookhteh@gmail.com>
wrote
on 26 Jan 2006 21:45:47 -0800
<1138340747.590557.143940@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists.
Debatable. :-) I for one am a software engineer who dabbles
a bit in theory. However, there are (and were) a few here
who posted from physics labs and/or were involved in some
interesting experiments -- the one that comes to mind was
Frodo Morris, who is apparently no longer posting as he's
too busy or something. (A pity, but this place is a weird
mix of competence and idiocy anyway, not unlike the rest
of Usenet.)
What does it take to be one?
Probably lots of hard work and knowing the right people.
I can't really say. :-) In any event, good luck.
Thanks,
Sia
--
#191,
It's still legal to go .sigless.
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| User: "srp" |
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| Title: Re: What does it take to be a physicist? |
27 Jan 2006 12:02:11 PM |
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Siah a écrit :
Hi,
My name is Siah. I just graduated as an electrical engineer. I am an
entrepreneur and good computer scientist as well. I have one mission in
life (after I made some good money in a year or two), and that is to
become a physicist and devote my life to physics.
You guys are physicists. What does it take to be one?
Thanks,
Sia
If you really push forward in this avenue, prepare yourself to
devote your life to the main activity in the physics community:
maintaining the flow of grants at any cost while appearing to
competently doing valuable research, but without ever endangering
the goose that lays the golden eggs (you will never be allowed
by peers to publish anything that may cause the flow of grants
to dry out for lines of research that would be come obsolete as
a result of publication of one of your papers).
André Michaud
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