Recent content by tarnhelm

Exactly. I'd imagine, though they don't reveal it anywhere on their website, that Part III is technically 60 ECTS credits. You can get a Physics Masters at ETH Zurich worth 90 ECTS credits. UK Masters courses manage to do this in one year by using a calendar year rather than an academic year...

Because it is the best place in Europe. Einstein went to Zurich ETH, which is admittedly also up there, and Feynman didn't study in Europe. However, when I look at lists of professors at top universities, Imperial included, it's pretty amazing how many of them got their PhDs in Cambridge...

Hi, I've received offers for both of the above courses and I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of both, bearing in mind that whatever I choose will be preparation for a Theoretical Physics PhD in the UK or Europe. I'd just love to spend the year at Cambridge, if only to be able to say I've...

I think, as in so many areas, there's a convergence between physics and philosophy. Philosophers in the past have argued that unless there is some uncaused cause external to the universe, then the universe must be causa sui and have persisted through infinite time up to now. The notion of an...

Thanks for that. I think there's a lot of stuff out there about viscous flow past a square cylinder. However, inviscid flow presents a problem because it may be the case that vortices are produced at the corners, which I don't think should be the case in inviscid flow. At the very least, finite...

The flow of an inviscid incompressible fluid around a circular cylinder is commonly studied in fluid dynamics courses. There's a wikipedia article about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_flow_around_a_circular_cylinder. However, what about a square cylinder? There seem to be...

Hi, I'm doing a Physics undergrad and this semester I have the following courses: Thermodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Numerical Methods, an Astrophysics course, and a Computational Lab. I've also taken Abstract Algebra which has twice as many lectures as any of these. Add to this the fact that I...

I've just been thinking about moments of inertia in n dimensions and I just want to establish if this makes any sense: I'm considering doing a Monte Carlo evaluation of the moment of inertia of any n-ball - a solid sphere in n dimensions. Now I think you can say that the moment of inertia of a...

Actually I asked advice about different matters. I don't require advice about whether or not I'm eligible to apply because I'm pretty sure I am.

Well I can always apply and give it a go. I've seen an FAQ relating to another REU program which states that you can apply during a second degree as long as the first was in an area unrelated to Physics, so obviously it's not forbidden by the rules of the REU program on a national level. Also...

This REU is the only one I've found that's available to non-US citizens, so that's not an issue. I'm not sure how the system works in the US, but I got a degree years ago, decided it was useless, so enrolled as a Physics undergrad. I would, therefore, be classified as an undergraduate in the UK.

Hello, I'm intending to apply for an REU internship at Caltech for next summer, and I have a question that somebody American might be able to help me with. The application is an online application which asks for your name, address, programming languages etc. It seems like the application is...

Well of course I know that QM is important - but frankly looking at the course outlines, even the more advanced undergraduate courses don't go beyond what's in Griffiths' book, and I've pretty much worked through that already in preparation for summer research I'm doing. I suppose my point...

What do you think of the following courses in my last two years, if I intend to apply for a good PhD in a more Theoretical area of Physics: In the Physics dept: Mathematical Methods 1 Waves & Diffraction Quantum Mechanics Thermal Physics Electromagnetic Theory 1 Solid State Physics...

I did something similar to this - I studied Philosophy and English and I went back to do Physics at age 27 in the UK. Here it's definitely not a problem, maybe you could considering studying here!:) I have a question people might help me with. Someone above said US universities discourage...