Physicist Definition and 662 Threads

I am a plasma physicist in training and I am looking for book recommendations for plasma instabilities. If there is one book that I should buy, what is it? What is the bible for plasma instabilities?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bjorken Remembering theoretical physicist James D. “BJ” Bjorken, 90, who played a crucial role in discovering quarks https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2024-08-14-remembering-theoretical-physicist-james-d-bj-bjorken-90-who-played-crucial-role...

Hi. Well, I'm a civilian physicist. I have no PHD or Bachelors degree in anything. I've been studying religion & physics through YouTube videos, ancient texts, documents, podcasts, and books. I've found a very strong correlation between the two. In fact, in my opinion, they're the same; only...

Hi all, I'm a theoretical physicist (by training) who now works on machine learning projects (mostly) but also app and 3D development. I go back to physics whenever I have the chance!

I am talking about university level. There is lots of genius physicist/engineers who were bad in math. If mathematics is the language of physics how this is even possible? Do math and physics need different type of "intuition" or "solving methods" of how to explain this paradox?

Peter Higgs died on Monday. One of the most well-known physicists because the Higgs boson was named after him - the only fundamental particle named after a person. He proposed the existence of the particle in the 1960s together with other theorists, then watched 50 years of searches for it and...

B.Sc., M.Sc. Physics, Universite d'Ottawa, 1983, 1985 Ph.D. Physics, McGill University, 1989. worked at CERN, 1986-1996 I have ~200 articles in the 1980s and 1990's, just a few after that. I am interested in Physics applications of Elliptic functions, elliptic integrals, and math concepts in...

I am a transfer student in the states, I am considering pursuing a BS in computational applied physics. I do not want a PHD in physics, but I do love the subject. For you computational physicists in industry, do you like your job? Are there future opportunities for someone pursuing a BS in...

Hey all, glad to find and join this community. I'm 28 years old, excelled in math and science in high school but because of mental health and life circumstances took a 10 year hiatus from education to focus on healing, primarily using art a means to understand the "self". This sent me down a...

So I plan on defending my PhD in the summer. I want to continue my career as a physicist, however I have not applied for any postdocs yet, the reason being I technically have not gotten any published yet, however, I should be getting published within the next month. My question is what are my...

I've been a long-standing member of PF a few decades ago, and now I take up things again after more than 10 years of absence. I'm into nuclear scientific instrumentation, with a special interest in theoretical physics (but not as theoretical as in my younger years). I've a degree in electrical...

Arno Penzias, who along with physicist Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation and was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics, has died on Jan 22, 2024, age 90. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arno_Allan_Penzias#cite_note-:0-3...

The premise is straight forward: A physicist from 100 years in the future grants a serious Q&A with physicists of today by issuing tickets whereby the questioners had to choose to attend one of three consecutive one hour sessions, A, B, or C. The physicist from the future tells everyone that he...

I am a physicist from Romania, working as laboratory technician and interested to discuss physics with better physicists. I am over 50, male.

Hi, I have heard all this hype about a Physicist named Ed Witten and how instrumental he is to something called “String Theory”. I tried listening to one of his lectures on YouTube and reading one of his papers and I couldn’t follow anything. I was hoping to figure out the prerequisite...

I came across an article about a particle physicist who made a custom case for his calipers, radius gauges, and screw pitch gauges. The project, available here, turned out nice. The article had me wondering, do physicists rely on calipers that much in the laboratory? I'm curious, what other hand...

Once upon a time long, long ago, I was a physicist. More precisely, I received my PhD from the University of North Carolina for my work in Feynman Path Integrals, circa 1970. Subsequently, I became HoD at a South African university in computer science. I have been retired for some 20 years. I...

Started a Physics Degree at QMC in London 1 in 1978 but swapped to an English Degree in Canterbury in 1979. Mostly an accountant these days but been a mini video-producer, hairdresser, worked at BT. I have my Raspberry Pi but not yet into programming. What *IS* a computer? A logic machine? And...

There's a some things I've been wanting to look into for a while now I just don't know where to access that kind of information. 1. I'm interested in any information/journals concerning Physicist Norma G. Sanchez (I might be wrong on her title, please correct me if I am) work on a unifying...

How much statistical mechanics do I need to know to study QFT, astrophysics, black hole thermodynamics, and other advanced topics? And where should I study it in your opinion? So far I have only read Tong's notes however I don't think it is enough. Some quantum statistical mechanics is also...

First, please excuse my english first, Does anyone know who already had invented or built such a machine ?, which it can float in air by gravitation change (It can also be move up and down and move back and forth by manipulate and changes gravity force inside the machine. I have an idea but...

Hi everyone! I am also very new to this PhysicsForm site, hopefully I am not interrupting any conversation with this question. I have been thinking about switching from biomedical engineering to bio-physics as an undergrad degree with aspirations of eventually becoming a medical physicist. I do...

Hi, I'm a recently graduated medical physicist (currently also working as a medical physicist) and I still have a thirst for physics, especially astronomy and astrophysics which are my hobbies. The problem is that we were only taught pure physics and mathematics during the first 2 years of our...

Maybe this question belongs in Career Guidance board? As prompted in https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/how-to-become-a-successful-physicist.1045728/post-6803003 I ask my question as new topic: How or what do successful scientists or engineers do BEFORE ever reaching university? I would...

An interesting article has appeared in Physics Today, Vol. 75, Issue 9 (2022), p. 46., "How to become a successful physicist," by Carl Wieman of Stanford.

So a friend who works in physics told a story at a party the other day I find very interesting that now I just got to find a place with other physicists to ask if he's telling the truth or maybe downed one too many shots. He told a story where a tribe extremely smart monkeys one day finds a...

Some quotes from the book from the PhysicsToday book review. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.3034185 Many would not be out of place today.

An IQ of 120 is plenty good, but the average IQ of Physics and Astronomy majors is higher. It's even higher for brilliant theoretical physicists and Physics PhD holders. So is it possible, with enough hard work and dedication, that someone with a 120 IQ could become a theoretical physicist? Or...

I am on my first year of my master's degree in nuclear and particle physics, and right now i am ending my first semester, where i decided to take a course in physics of semiconductors. As i end this semester i start to wonder if there was any use in learning about this subject, as it seems like...

Is there any former astronaut who is now doing research in theoretical physics (like e.g string theory)?

I am starting my Master's Degree in Nuclear and Particle Physics, should i invest in taking a course in Parallel Computation? I know the role that Parallel Computation has in particle physics, but is there any use in a particle physicst learning about parallel computation, or could it be...

Hi, I'm a recently graduated software engineer. During my time at university I had initially planned to double major in both physics and computer science but eventually dropped physics since I didn't expect that I would pursue a PhD for monetary reasons. I really enjoyed physics during my time...

Well, I have a bit of a complicated situation and I'd love some advice. I'm a US/UK citizen living and working in London, UK at the moment. My husband and I are currently looking at moving back to the US in 2-3 years. My background is in physics/astrophysics - B.S. Physics (Maths minor) from a...

Hello everyone. I am an international student going for my undergraduate studies in physics. I want to go to the University of Toronto and the University of Manchester, but I am unable to choose between the two. Which of the two universities is best to study physics, can give me a better chance...

Hello everyone, I am currently a master student working on physics and neural networks. I have already started producing neural network results (I use tensorflow and keras) so I know how to program the basic things that I am required to do, the problem is that I do not understand them well. I...

I've wanted to become a mathematical physicist for as long as I can remember. Hailing from a rather small place in India , I usually found myself smarter than the people around me .This gave me confidence that I'm going to make a great physicist one day . But now as a 12th grader who has moved...

I am a person who likes to think deep and can't keep himself from delving deeper into concepts. Even though math is the subject in which I outshine my counterparts, it is physics that I find more fascinating. Also I feel that physics gives math a sense of direction to work upon. But I am a...

I am a 16 years old boy who have adream to become quantum physicist but IAM also aboy who doesn't know the beginningof the road so I thought maybe some comments will be helpful so tell me where shall I start?

Who, in your opinion was or is the most influential physicist. Was it Feynman and his diagrams and lectures. Was it Dirac with his work on positrons. Was it Einstein and his general relativity. Who do you think and why.

How did you find PF?: Searching for "high school and college physics teachers discussion forums" I am a "kiddo" in Physics, like Dr. Jill Biden ;-) and following a highly anti-recommended circuitous path have ended up doing data seance. That should tell you everything you need to know about my...

Who are the people that work on the ground breaking theories and the major discoveries, the big stuff! Why aren't most physicists the next Einstein or "Insert famous scientist here" and what do they work on for their day to day work? I wonder this because a lot of people who don't know much...

There are plenty of physics apps around already but most seem to just be words and pictures. I haven't found many that offer good simulators for proper textbook physics. So I made one. Pure Physicist - Google Play The underlying physics 'engine' uses the as yet incomplete University Physics...

Hi All Got an interesting audiobook I am listening to right now - The Physicist and The Philosopher - a debate between Henri Bergson and Einstein - on relativity. It is conceded Einstein won. But the thing I find strange is Einstein did not bring out the best argument of all - it's basis on...

Hello! I’m currently in the process of earning my bachelors of science in radiation therapy. I plan to get my masters in dosimetry, but I was wondering if anyone know if it was possible for a medical dosimetrist to advance their career by earning their PhD in medical physics. Essentially, I’m...

Hello there! I am currently studying Astrophysics (3rd year) in Scotland and would like to shift my premature career path into medical physics. Now, I have few questions that I cannot answer online so I though it would be better to do it here. Here we go.. My question is how to actually...

Hi - I'm a 13 year old and I am incredibly interested in theoretical physics. I have studied physics since the first grade. I love math and physics to possibly a fault. However, I'm scared that I do not have what it takes to become a theoretical physicist. I have studied my way up to vector...

So I made a previous post regarding developing sufficient quantitative background to go into a field that's effectively applied physics (or "theoretical biophysics" but that just sounds a bit ridiculous).I think I can rephrase my issue as not one of choosing a better major, but lacking a certain...

I'm working on a PhD in condensed matter computational physics, particularly with method development. My plan is to go into industry afterwards, and out of curiosity I've been looking at job listings. It doesn't look good to be honest. Listings for physicists mainly require some type of lab...

Hi, I am new here and I am pursuing a BS in radiation therapy and I am planning on becoming a Dosimetrist hopefully sometime in the future and I am wondering if a dosimetrist can become a medical physicist? has it been done before and how would the process look like? hard/easy? any alternative...

I wanted to dedicate my life to physics but I've come to a point in my life where it seems that my dreams are shattering... I'll not go into many details, I just wanted to share somewhere my concerns and perhaps get some advice. I always had an interest in science and when I was a kid I even...