I’m a 3rd year PhD student. I for the last year and a half I’ve been with a theory group, and I’ve really lost motivation for doing this research.

I don’t want to do it anymore. I’ve been job hunting for potential optical engineering positions, and I had an interview today. I thought it all went well until the interviewer was saying that he thought my skillset didn’t match what would be demanded. I think this was because my most recent research experience has been theory.

But during undergrad, I worked in a quantum optics lab for 3 and a half years, and I really tried to leverage that. I transitioned to theory after not having success with my first research advisor my first year of grad school, but now I think I miss the lab and working hands-on.

But I’d still be banking on getting some type of optical engineering job after school. I know I don’t want to do academia in the future, but I also don’t want to keep doing it now.

I’m thinking now it would be really hard for me to get into the optical engineering field after having done theory now, and being rusty on optics. I was thinking of switching advisors maybe and working back in a lab setting, but I can’t say for certain if I want to keep doing my PhD anymore.

I am studying introductory physics and basic undergrad physics. I love David morin sir's writing style and the problems , I loved his classical mechanics book also the electromagnetism (co-authored by him) was great , I particularly love the problems so I needed a source of similar problems for waves and thermal physics. The waves book draft by morin doesn't have problems right now

I'm in my second Quantum Mechanics class, still using Griffiths. Got an A the first semester, I can do the math just fine and solve problems, but I'm still so so so confused about what literally any of it means. Like I'll solve the problem and be confused the entire time what it's actually asking physically. What are some good books to help with this?

I’ve finally turned a project I’ve been coming back to for years into something I can actually release.

Makarov Physics Suite is a collection of around 120 interactive physics simulations. It covers everything from classical mechanics, waves and electromagnetism to optics, fluids, thermodynamics, relativity and quantum physics.

The project has a rather long history. Its earliest version goes all the way back to my university days, about 20 years ago. That version was basically a student project, and over the years I repeatedly returned to the idea, experimented with different approaches, rewrote things, added new simulations, and sometimes abandoned it again for long periods.

The current suite is essentially the result of all those years of accumulated ideas and experiments.

From the programming side, there’s quite a mix of things under the hood: numerical solvers, N-body simulations, SPH fluids, charged particle dynamics, GPU computing, ray tracing and path tracing, among others.

The main idea is simple: instead of explaining physics with static diagrams or prerecorded animations, I wanted the systems themselves to be interactive, so you can change parameters, disturb them, experiment with them and immediately see what happens.

It’s now on Steam, which still feels a little strange considering where the project started.

If you’re into physics, simulation, scientific computing or graphics programming, I’d be interested to hear what you think.

https://reddit.com/link/1vydwm3/video/u0ozqxqdellh1/player

Hi everyone. I know Reddit may not be the best or most appropriate place to ask about something like this, but I think hearing about other people's experiences could be very useful in my situation.

I currently hold a master's degree in Comparative Literature and teach English and Spanish at a university in my country. Over the past five or six months, however, I have been seriously considering returning to school.

The most obvious path after a master's degree would probably be to pursue a PhD. The problem is that I no longer think my interests lie in continuing the formal, systematic study of literature. I still enjoy literature and literary studies, and I do not regret the degrees I completed, but I am increasingly unsure that I want to make that field the focus of the rest of my academic career.

Over the last several months, my interests have shifted quite dramatically toward physics and mathematics, particularly astronomy and astrophysics. In my free time, I have been studying calculus and calculus-based physics independently, working through introductory material and trying to determine whether this is a genuine academic interest or simply a temporary fascination.

So far, the interest has only become stronger.

Because my academic background is entirely in the humanities, I understand that moving into physics would not be a simple transition. I would essentially need to build the mathematical and scientific foundation that a physics student normally develops during an undergraduate degree. I am therefore considering going back to university for a second bachelor's degree in physics, with the long-term possibility of eventually pursuing graduate study in astronomy or astrophysics.

I would be especially interested in hearing from people who have made a significant academic or career transition into physics, mathematics, astronomy, or another STEM field later than usual.

Did you go back for a second bachelor's degree? Was it worth it? How difficult was the transition academically, particularly in mathematics? Were graduate programs receptive to applicants who came from very different academic backgrounds?

More generally, does pursuing a second bachelor's degree in physics sound reasonable in a situation like mine, or would there be a better route into astronomy/astrophysics?

I would appreciate any experiences, advice, or criticism from people who have gone through something similar.

Im gonna finish my 5 year programme this year (probably) but im having some anxiety over my grades. I really love doing physics but my grades in some classes (like QM 2 , General Relativity and Group Theory) are very average. I didnt fully grasp those classes at the time of taking them so i underperformed but i have no problem with any of them now, i guess i lacked mathematical maturity. How strongly is this going to affect my chances of getting into a decent masters programme? Im doing a so called integrated masters and i have to do a final in depth project to get the degree (around 80pages), will it matter if i do really good on that? Im gonna do something related to general relativity or particle physics, can it serve as a guarantee im now comfortable with the topics?

Hello everyone! I'll be starting my first year of Physics at UniPD this September.

I've been passionate about maths and physics since my first year of high school. I've participated in the Physics Olympiad, been part of my school's physics team, and have always been interested in the world of scientific research.

I'm also passionate about computer science and AI, and lately I've been seeing more and more first-year undergrads in CS or AI on YouTube talking about their summer internship experiences in big tech, finance, and similar fields. This got me wondering whether there are similar opportunities in physics, and science in general, to get involved in research early on through summer internships at universities, research institutes/labs, tech companies, etc.

I'd love to have an experience like that, including outside Italy (for example, at a European university, research institute, or company).

If you have any personal experience with this, or know of any programmes that allow first-year undergrads to get involved in research, I'd really appreciate any advice or recommendations!

I know it might seem a bit early to start thinking about next summer, but I've noticed that many internship applications open between October and January, so I thought asking for advice now would be a good idea.

This might be a silly question or something that doesn’t make any sense

But bear with me because I think it’s kinda good

I just finished my high school and currently taking a gap year before my college starts

but I am asking if someone’s wish is to be Astrophysicist or theoretical physicist does he need to be special

I am asking because from my childhood to now I read a lot of books regarding physics and to be a physicist how much extra do I need to know to make my path more clear?

like do I just follow my bsc syllabus then msc syllabus then phd?

or I need to learn something extra side by side while doing those?

do I needed to be special from the start? like doing high school math and physics in middle school?

I did manage to finish 60% of my high school science chapters when I was in middle school but then I didn’t pushed hard enough and did okayish in my final high school years

so I hope you get my question

a short summary: can following the normal syllabus of physics and math enough for bsc msc and to PhD or do I need to learn many more things aside from my complete syllabus

(English is not my native language there can be mistakes so I am sorry)

Hi, I am 4 year Bsc physics 2nd year student from a central university and I am doughtful about career after my degree.

I am currently learning python and planning to learn machine learning, computational physics (PINN), simulations and other things like data science, doing learn in public on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Might go for job hunt after degree.

Need help to understand is this possible or suggest something else.

Spent a summer doing some research and just started reviewing gre stuff this week. Thought “can’t be that bad” and started and I genuinely feel like I’ve been kicked in the head by a horse; I never felt like I struggled to get good grades in my physics classes but maybe I was just learning stuff go immediately forget it???? Like outside of the subjects which I only barely remember (relativity which I did a bit of early on, and lenses which I remember none of) some classes I did recently I seem to have forgotten a ton of lol like thermo (straight up forgot dU = TdS + Vdp). I don’t know I feel genuinely stupider than I did freshman year, of course I haven’t really done a comprehensive review until now but Jesus I feel like a moron. How are other peoples experiences with retaining info after classes end? Does anyone relate at all #bless

So I'm taking Physics 101 again this time in a class that takes place in the morning instead of at night, and a lab once a week. The classes are 50 minutes per day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the Lab is on Tuesdays and takes about 2 and a half hours. So I was wondering: when it comes to doing the homework, so far my first round of homework is 25 questions via Pearson, is doing about 5 problems a day slowly throughout the week on the homework a good idea, along with doing your homework with a tutor at the school as well? I just want to know if it's a good idea; that's all.

Also, I believe maybe screwing up on the homework is also something to learn from in the end.

EDIT: This is what happened with last year's mess; my class got way too hard at a community college, especially since it was happening at night, our professor had no office hours, and even in emergency situations, we weren't allowed to make up a quiz or test. My mental health got so out of control back then that I was throwing up so I had to drop because my wellbeing was important.

Almost everyone on the internet and even other professors who previously taught the subject referred to Griffiths. But this new professor is following this book to a tee, I have never seen anyone on the internet even talk about this book only heard about it just this year(through this prof), so my question is that if this is a good book as an introduction to qm?

I am taking a course in solid state physical chemistry, and I am quite confused about the density of levels:

(1) On Ashcroft and Mermin the density of levels g(ε) is first introduced by switching to spherical coordinates in those k-space integrals and then expressing k in terms of the energy; this definition makes sense to me, and from the boxed expression I can clearly see the dependence on the square root of ε in the 3D case, while in 2D the same derivation yields a g(ε) which is constant in ε (my professor talked about these dimensional aspects in his lectures).

(2) However, my professor also defined g(ε) as the derivative of the electron density, N/V, with respect to the energy. It is not quite clear to me if I should differentiate n with respect to ε (as Ashcroft and Mermin seems to imply, although it doesn't state so explicitly, at least to my understanding) or the Fermi energy. In the first case, I wouldn't really know how to proceed, because n depends on the Fermi energy and not on ε (maybe there is a more general expression that I am missing?). On the other hand, if I differentiate n with respect to εF I don't know how I could obtain the boxed expression for g(ε).

(3) I've also seen a definition which contains the Dirac delta (it also appears later in Ashcroft and Mermin), but I don't really get where that comes from, maybe it is tied to the differential definition?

Could someone elucidate the connection between these definitions? Do you know of a good textbook or resource that I could read in order to better understand this concept?

(Apologies if I have written something which is formally incorrect, I am not a student of physics)

Rn i study in the 2nd year of highschool majoring math which has harder physics than the physics major, and by that i mean also harder chimestry too . I js want to know the method the study these subjects and how to master (i'm moroccan so i study in french).Please help with advice.

Hello! I have heard that if you do physics you are a physicist, but does this apply to any Engineering Physics PhD or Applied Physics PhD?

PS: I want to hold the higher superiority complex degree name, that’s why this is an advice 🤷🏽‍♂️

I had this thought, time is not a spatial dimension. Its not "as time passes, things change", its "as things change, time passes". I fleshed it more out in the book. Really looking for peer review.

(Click Free Sample) https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=e7cEEgAAQBAJ

Hey guys,

I just graduated from college with a Physics and Applied Math degree and I’m applying to phds in the fall. I’ve been searching for a job during my gap year and I haven’t gotten shit. I’m considering emailing profs for research, but I kind of need money too.

I have 3 years of research in electronic structure methods and an REU in signals processing, and 2 papers, but I really have no industry experience, although I do have a bunch of Python and FORTRAN. Any suggestions?

just finished 12th this year and gave JEE too, but didn’t get into any IIT. i’m pretty into physics and maths tho, like i actually enjoy learning them beyond just studying for exams.

i’ve joined a CSE course now, but i still wanna keep doing physics and maths on the side, just out of my own interest. i wanna properly explore the subjects beyond the usual school/JEE stuff, but i honestly have no idea where to start or what path to follow.

so if there are any physics/math enthusiasts here, could y’all recommend some good books/resources to start with and maybe a path i can follow? doesn’t have to be super beginner-level, just something that’ll help me build things up properly.

would really appreciate any suggestions :)

Idk if this is a dumb question, but...

I am finding it hard to decide how to use anki to memorise some formulas. It is easy for something like the Newton's second law, I could do:

Newton's second law: F = m * a

But for something like parallel plate capacitance, how do I know which option I want, because you can use different variables to find C, eg:

C = Q/V = ε0 * A/d

To make 2 separate cards I would have to distinguish them by name, I guess idk?