#phd in physics

[prokopetz]

The problem with Victor Frankenstein isn't that he's not as smart as he thinks he is. The problem with Victor Frankenstein is that he's exactly as smart as he thinks he is in one very specific area, and he just expects that to automatically translate to every other area of his life and is taken completely by surprise every single time it doesn't.

[srmuniversityap]

SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh, offers a PHD In Physics is a 3-year doctorate program that is considered an ideal degree for students who want to pursue a full-time period of independent research, which equips students with research skills and specialist knowledge. Visit our official website for more information about Ph.D. In Physics.

[utilitycaster]

The thing about Ludinus is that yes, he does have a very high INT score but he is in fact stupid. He is a particular brand of stupid that I like to call Wizard Stupid, which is related to but not identical to Wizard Hubris. Wizard Hubris is the vision; Wizard Stupid is the realization.

Wizard Hubris is excessive confidence that is derived from the fact that one is a wizard, and therefore obviously knows everything, probably even more than the gods. Wizard Stupid is then carrying out the plans derived from Wizard Hubris without any kind of safety net. Where Wizard Hubris says "There is nothing beyond my capabilities"; Wizard Stupid says "No consequences can touch me." Wizard Hubris is building the Tower of Babel; Wizard Stupid is leaning one ladder on top of another ladder to do so. Wizard Hubris is the belief that you can, and indeed, are entitled, to fuck around. Wizard Stupid is the unshakeable belief that you will not be subjected to finding out.

So: let's look at Caleb. Caleb is FULL of Wizard Hubris for most of Campaign 2, given that he desires to reconfigure the time-space continuum, but except for a few relatively rare occasions, he is not terribly Wizard Stupid. He actually tends to be extremely cautious, and the cases in which he indulges the Wizard Stupidity are relatively self-contained (eg: the emerald).

Yussa, meanwhile, has few grand designs and mostly wants to hang out and fuck with the gentrification and political cronyism of Nicodranas, and honestly, good for him, seems totally reasonable. However, he does think that the Archmage's Bane is not referring to him (archmage) and that Astral Projection, a totally standard high level wizard's spell well within his abilities without any need for hubris, will carry no risk if he then decides to check out a little place called Cognouza.

Of course, many wizards have both. It's actually pretty rare to be mostly one or the other (which is why Caleb and Yussa are used for illustrative purposes). It's also pretty rare to have neither; Allura is the closest, and even she has her moments. Some degree of Wizard Hubris and Stupid do come packaged with the act of being a wizard.

Ludinus, obviously has both; he is, basically, building the Tower of Babel and he is, canonically, violating a list of safety protocols that rivals the length of a CVS receipt. And so: the hubris is "I can, should, must, and will blow up the moon that imprisons a god-eating abomination"; the stupid is sticking his fucking arm in the machine to power it.

[wizardnuke]

can't stop thinking about a shadowgast "i'm not looking to fuck do you have a screwdriver my bathroom is flooding" grindr au

[valtsv]

finished reading the irl james fitzjames biography. i enjoyed it but i'm unsure how i feel about the author's choice to write it like an essay length effort to convince me to agree to go on a date with his friend who he's wingmanning for.

[gendercrystal]

PhDay 30: one month as a PhD student done

Wow a lot of stuff has been going on. I've made friends already. I've been on an experiment already. Got a vague plan for the future and a list of potential directions to go in for my project.

Things I've learnt:

Higher year PhD students are very nice and welcoming

Parties are great for making friends even if you're socially awkward

Travelling for research is cool and not as bad as pre-travel anxiety makes you fear

Being trans in a physics department/research environment is fine. The research centre abroad didn't mind I had a different name on my passport

You can actually dive right in and be respected as a part of academia as a total newbie if you will yourself to have confidence

No one knows fully what they are doing, they only know some bits of what they're doing. You learn one bit at a time.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

:-P

[bidoofenergy]

to @riceofthepuffedvariety who requested jimmy/tango and magical realism AU. for @mcyt-drabble-exchange

Don't tell Grian, but Jimmy's favorite part of the day is when a certain customer sweeps into their cafe. He never shows up at the same time but always in the same way: disheveled, squinting against the sunlight, redstone smudged into his clothes, heavy gloves tucked into his back pocket.

Tango stares up at the menu. Jimmy desperately tries not to seem nervous. He fails miserably, wings smacking into Grian despite his attempts to settle them against his back.

Tango steps up to the register and grins up at Jimmy, all sharp teeth and candlelight hair, and says, “Hi Rancher,”

[fishareglorious]

smug ass thing

[abiwaif]

Sad but true...

[miss-biophys]

Work on a scientific article

What it actuallly entails:

Come up with an idea, define an interesting problem

Do thorough literature research. Maybe similar stuff was already done. Define the knowledge gap well.

Plan in detail, how we can solve the problem, design experiments

Reach out to potential collaborators, agree with them on a plan

Buy necessary equipment, chemicals

Do pilot experiment, optimize the conditions to get reliable data

Perform experiments, calculations, make everything multiple times so it's reliable

Analyze the data

Urge collaborators to deliver their parts

Coordinate your progress with the collaborators

Manage the collaborations, organize meetings

Be diplomatic, you don't want to make enemies in academia

Agree with direct colleagues, who worked on it, what will be the message of the article. Will it be a long story and we need to add some more data? Or will it be short and right to the point and we write a short "letter"?

Do literature research again. Maybe new stuff appeared, and for sure your data must be confronted and discussed with already known facts.

Write the first draft of the article

Send it around for feedback, first only to direct colleagues from your lab

Incorporate the feedback, maybe do more experiments and more analysis

Rewrite the manuscript

Send it around the second, third, fourth, fifth... time

Incorporate the feedback

Send the manuscript to all collaborators.

Wait for the feedback, urge everyone to give it, maybe you don't have all data from all the collaborators yet

Incorporate feedback

Prepare the manuscript for journal submission

Get approval from all co-authors

Submit the manuscript

Wait for editor response, hopefully they send it to reviewers. If not, you need to rewrite a bit the article to adhere to the new journal's format and send somewhere else.

Get reviewers' reports, deal with them, reply truthfully, make effort to explain everything even if you know that the reviewer's suggestion is just impossible or irrelevant. Be diplomatic.

Maybe you need to do an additional experiment, analysis, or rewrite a major part fo the manuscript. This can take months.

Submit revised manuscript with all the changes

Wait for editor's nad reviewers' comments in the second round. You can get many rounds of review and still get rejected.

Finally get a "Congratulations, your manuscript has been accepted for publication"

Pop a shampagne! You deserve it!

What part of this do you usually do in different career stages:

BSc. and MSc. students: Perform experiments and analyze data

PhD students: Do all the experimental and analysis parts, write the manuscript, discuss with their supervisor and direct colleagues, incorporate feedback. But does not have to come up with their own idea and manage collaborations and diplomacy.

Postdocs: Do literally everything on the list

Group leader/Professor: Do the thinking and managing parts, help with writing and feedback, provide discussions and insight. Do not perform actual experiments and analysis.

Being a postdoc is the transformation between the student and the group leader.

As such, we just have to do all these tasks. It's stressful. It's challenging. It's definitely not boring. I am taking every opportunity to get a student, who can help with the experimental repetitions so I have time for all the other stuff.

[acespeon]

I love both Stan twins but fandom really takes the Filbrick way of thinking wrt how smart Stanley is

[family-discord-server]

You were the center of my universe

ever expanding towards entropy

and I was foolish enough

to think the gaps between your particles

was where I could make my home.

That you created space for me

to exist, slowly surrounded and engulfed

to forever watch you change

in fascinating and intricate ways.

That you slowed in your acceleration

to spend more time

close to me.

So that you did not drift away

too quickly

but enjoyed the process

of spreading out

and slowing down

and cooling off.

So that your temperatures

would not burn me

but kept me warm.

But I cannot breathe

in the vacuum of space.

You cannot control

your descent towards chaos.

You are no longer burning hot

but a cold fire.

Your heat death

will leave me isolated

and frozen.

I am adrift

and cannot make sense

of the closest parts of you.

I cannot see the forest

for the trees are too far apart.

You were my universe

all your unknowns just waiting

to be discovered.

And now, the motes of dust

that were stars

are foreign and contextless.

I can no longer

guide myself by your constellations.

Your stars have burnt out

and scattered across this

empty vacuum.

I cannot tell where I am

except that I am cold and

alone.

I am waiting for the day

or night

or fragment of time

where you will realize

you are unrecognizable

even to yourself.

I pray that when you condense

all your particles will

come crashing towards

the center where I lay

waiting.

And crush us both.

[deconstructthesoup]

I know that the overlap is probably razor thin, but I need those in the overlap to imagine the insane potential that a DBD Midnight Burger AU could bring

[valyrfia]

from a physics major...how did you choose what to specialise in in grad school? also what were your favourite classes in your bachelor's (i'm doing statistical mechanics right now and i want to kill myself :) )

statistical mechanics and wanting to kill yourself....that sounds familiar...

I actually did very well in stat mech but I retain absolutely NONE of it. I think it's used a lot more in solid state and particle physics but I can exclusively reveal I did NEITHER of those.

My favourite subject at undergrad was by far and away GR. The maths is just so beautiful, the Schutz book which is the bible is also SO easy to follow and I'm lucky that tensors click quite well for me and make mathematical and physical sense. MTW is also forever on my Christmas list (and yet no one has been thoughtful enough to get it for me yet....heartbreaking). I also did a course in quantum information in my final year which I only took because my girlfriend was doing it and I almost failed that exam but I found the theory of it super interesting, especially quantum encryption! I also loved the course that ended up being what my PhD is adjacent to, but not sure I really want to share that information on the open internet because god knows my field is quite small in the grand scheme of things.

[gendercrystal]

PhDay 8: more training, more reading (feat. an ""inspirational"" poster in the postgrad office)

My supervisor is actually here now and interesting physics things should be picking up soon.

I want to find a helium from the jumbled periodic table box and put it above my desk, my pronoun element (He)