- #1
Pinewater234
- 3
- 0
Reopen thread request: "What's it like to be a theoretical physicist?"
Hello,
I'm not sure how to go about asking for a thread to be re-opened, but after searching I found other such requests had been posted as new threads. Please let me know if there is a person I should PM in the future to request this.
I have something to add to the mentioned thread. It is years old, but since it has a lot of views (7,653) I think it's worthwhile to add this information. I've checked through the "similar thread" links at the bottom of the thread, and did not find any other appropriate thread to which to add it: the information directly answers one of the questions in the thread "What's it like to be a theoretical physicist?", and provides new information.
Here is what I'd like to add:
"
For current readers of this thread, I wanted to add the following.
In my Master's in Theoretical Physics, many people are doing pen-and-paper calculation for their mini-thesis project. This project involves original research, which leads to publication if the calculation is successful. In our courses, too, we do most of our work with pen-and-paper, and use Mathematica and other programs only sparingly. Of course, in coursework the point is to learn the physics, not to learn how to use the computer.
The thesis projects of which I speak were in the fields of particle physics, quantum foundations, and a few others which I can not remember (sorry about that).
So, in theoretical physics people do still use pen-and-paper calculations for research purposes.
The computer is still used, for these pen-and-paper projects, to research what others have done, communicate with other physicists, and write up results.
"
Thank you.
Hello,
I'm not sure how to go about asking for a thread to be re-opened, but after searching I found other such requests had been posted as new threads. Please let me know if there is a person I should PM in the future to request this.
I have something to add to the mentioned thread. It is years old, but since it has a lot of views (7,653) I think it's worthwhile to add this information. I've checked through the "similar thread" links at the bottom of the thread, and did not find any other appropriate thread to which to add it: the information directly answers one of the questions in the thread "What's it like to be a theoretical physicist?", and provides new information.
Here is what I'd like to add:
"
For current readers of this thread, I wanted to add the following.
In my Master's in Theoretical Physics, many people are doing pen-and-paper calculation for their mini-thesis project. This project involves original research, which leads to publication if the calculation is successful. In our courses, too, we do most of our work with pen-and-paper, and use Mathematica and other programs only sparingly. Of course, in coursework the point is to learn the physics, not to learn how to use the computer.
The thesis projects of which I speak were in the fields of particle physics, quantum foundations, and a few others which I can not remember (sorry about that).
So, in theoretical physics people do still use pen-and-paper calculations for research purposes.
The computer is still used, for these pen-and-paper projects, to research what others have done, communicate with other physicists, and write up results.
"
Thank you.