Want To Read Stephen Hawking's Thesis?

I saw a news report that Cambridge is finally making Stephen Hawking's thesis available online. So I clicked the link to look at it, and nothing happened. Went back a few minutes later, clicked on it again, and nothing happened.

Turned out that all the news announcements on this has crashed the Cambridge's website due to the overwhelming request to want to see this! :)

In honor of Open Access Week, the University of Cambridge on Monday put the 1966 PhD thesis, "Properties of Expanding Universes," on its open access repository. Shortly after it went live, requests to view the research crashed the website.

As of Monday afternoon, the main research page was reachable after several minutes, but nothing on the page was.

So if you are planning on checking it out, good luck!

Zz.

Why She Won't Be Studying Physics At The A-Level

This is an essay by a very articulate young lady in the UK (assuming that what was written is true) on why she won't continue to study physics for her A-Level exams.. While it may be towards the UK educational system, I can't help thinking that this is more common than we think.

To me, GCSE physics seemed out of touch compared with the stem cells and glucoregulation we were studying in biology. I could see the practical reasons for studying biology, but I found physics hard to relate to my everyday life.

All too often, the link from theory to human application was missing from the physics syllabus, making me wonder when I would ever need to calculate the half-life of a radioactive sample or describe the retrograde motion of Mars outside of the exam hall.

When I used to teach intro physics, at almost every new topics that we were about to start, I spend a few minutes just giving the students an overall picture of what it is, what we will be doing, where such knowledge is applied, and why we are going to study it. It isn't very long, but I know a few students had commented that they like being given the "big picture" and were able to know how things fit in. As physicists, and educators, we often  forget that students do not usually get the big picture, and that it is difficult for them to see how trying to find the electric field inside a conducting sphere would matter, or finding the exact angle of a projectile to hit a monkey when it jumped off a tree. We should spend some time explaining and justifying to the students why they are being made to learn these things, and what are the potential benefits of doing such exercises. It may not always get them to enjoy doing it, but at the very least, they understand that we do not ask them to do this for no rational reason.

Teaching someone to use a screw driver, or a drill, without telling that person what that screw driver and that drill can be used for, or that the skill in being able to efficiently used a screw driver and a drill might be of some benefit, will diminish the interest in learning how to use those tools. And obviously, in this case, it might even turn some student off from learning it entirely. I just wish that this student would have opened more advanced text in physics where many relevant applications and connections have been made to real-world issues. Even the infamous Halliday/Resnick text now devotes ample space to such description. And certain, Muller's text "Physics for Future Presidents" amplifies the importance of having a population that is knowledgeable in basic physics and can make analytical decisions on many important issues.

There are things we can do, as educators, to rectify the problem stated in this article. We do not have to wait for some school board, or examination board, to wake up and realize the shortcoming of the education system.

Zz.

Why Do Physicists Gravitate Towards Jobs In Finance?

This is a take on why physicists gravitate towards a job in the finance world.

Then again, perhaps it is not surprising that so many physicists wind up working in finance. After all, they are good at using mathematics to solve real-world problems and the money is good. There is more to it than that though. There are mathematical links between physics and finance that go back at least to 1900, when Frenchman Louis Bachelier wrote his Theory of Speculation, in which he used the mathematics of a random walk to analyse fluctuations on the Paris stock exchange. Five years later, the same ideas were used by a young Albert Einstein to explain why pollen grains zigzag when they are suspended in water. His explanation invoked the idea that very large numbers of tiny molecules, much smaller than the pollen grains, are responsible for kicking the grains around. This was a crucial insight and provided one of the earliest convincing confirmations of the existence of atoms. To make the parallel with the financial markets, we might say that stock prices are kicked around by myriad unknown factors in the marketplace. Today, these ideas have been developed into a means of computing the value of sophisticated financial instruments and the management of risk.

Now, I'm skeptical with the first assumption that there are physicists who "gravitate" towards a job in finance. I am not sure to what extent these people AIMED for such a job, or rather if they took it due to other circumstances. Would they have taken it if they had other jobs in physics that pay close to what they would be making? Did they graduate with the intention of take such jobs in finance?

Furthermore, I've mentioned a few articles in which these theoretical model in finance and areas dealing with social and human interactions and activities (what is often called as psychophysics) are being called into question.

In any case, this is an article that covers what is going on in the UK, and it doesn't look to be that much different than what is happening here in the US.

Zz.

The "Brian Cox Effect" In The UK

I've heard about this from last year where the enrollment in physics degrees in the UK has seen a significant surge, but this one kinda reinforce it.

Manchester University is the first in the country to require students to gain two elite A* grades – alongside an A – at A-level to get onto its physics degrees.

It represents the highest entry threshold for any physics course in Britain, including those run by Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Imperial College London. It is among only a handful of degrees in any subject nationally to demand two A*s.

Manchester has always been a popular choice for physics but the university admitted that a recent rise in applications had been partially driven by the attraction of Prof Cox, one of the department’s academics and presenter of television series such as Stargazing Live and Wonders of the Universe.

The news report went on to also include the LHC/search for the Higgs as also being partly responsible for the sudden popularity of physics.

I hope this is all good. Like I have said before, physics is too difficult to do for the wrong reasons. I hope that the LHC and Brian Cox are providing inspiration and new pathways that many students just simply didn't think of before, rather than just being enamored by the "celebrity" and "sexy news of the day".

Zz.

Not Enough Science Classes In The UK?

Brian Cox bemoans the shortage of sufficient science classes in the UK.

"The problem is that there are so many wanting to do science now that we don't have university places for them, and you can see that as evidenced by the entry grades they need to do science, which are going up and up.

"That's not an example of rising standards -- what it's really an example of is the fact that there are too many people chasing too few university places, in an area that we recognize as being nationally important."

He called up the UK government to put their money where their mouths are:

 "My challenge to government is, you've been saying for years you want more scientists and engineers in the economy -- what are you going to do about it?" he said.

"Although [science] looks expensive, we actually spend sod all on it. The entire science budget, depending on how you define it, is about five to five and a half billion pounds a year, on a government spend of 620 [billion pounds, or $968 billion).

I think there is a slight increase in enrollment in physics here in the US as well, but I am not aware of any shortage of classes that are preventing students from enrolling in the courses that they need.

Zz.

Teaching "Science"

A very interesting article from The Independent about teaching physics in UK's high schools, especially at the A-level. It describe how, if you're a physics teacher, you are lumped into a more general specialization called "Science". Thus, you might be asked to also teach a biology and chemistry (but not mathematics) as a second subject, something many physics specialists may have very little interest (or knowledge) in.

The shortage of specialists may partly be because they’re forced to generalise. Prospective physics teachers also have to learn how to teach one of the other disciplines that come under the catch-all umbrella of “science”.

It was with laudable aims, including increasing uptake at A-level, that this one subject was formed out of three separate areas more than 20 years ago – but it had this unintended consequence, too. “Both schools and teacher-trainers were thinking in terms of a subject called ‘science’,” explains the Institute of Physics’ director of education and science, Peter Main. “So if you wanted to teach physics, you were a science teacher.” 

It can lead to subjects being taught by, essentially, the wrong teacher even where there is a specialist available. “There is this paradoxical situation where in some schools you’ve got physics specialists teaching biology, and in the same school you’ll have biology specialists teaching physics,” adds the institute’s head of pre-19 education Charles Tracy, a former physics teacher. “It’s often just slackness in timetabling, where it’s easier to say there’s a subject called ‘science’ and it doesn’t matter who teaches it, rather than trying to allocate specialists to teach their topics.”

They are trying to address this by initiating a program where a physics teacher can also specialize in mathematics and teach mathematics. This make a lot more sense, because a physics teacher should have quite a bit of mathematics skill and knowledge to be able to teach that subject at the A-level. Certainly, the physics specialist would not be so adverse to teaching mathematics, something more familiar to him or her than chemistry or biology.

It would be interesting to see if this is the same situation with teaching in US high schools. How many physics teachers have to teach other science subjects, just because he/she has been tagged with a "science teacher" label? Are you a science teacher having to teach a science topic that you did not specialize in?

Zz.

Physics Is Cool Again?

This article reports on the increase in enrollment in physics classes in the United Kingdom and presents the case that maybe studying physics is "cool" again.

The total number of students entered for physics A-level has increased by 6.1%, from 30,976 in 2010 to 32,860 in 2011. Applications for physics courses at university are also up by more than 17% on last year and astronomy is up by a whopping 40%.

Commentators believe that this increase is partly due to students thinking more about their future employment prospects - but some suggest that the surge in interest is that physics has become "cool" again.

The article offers several reasons for this increase, among which is the "Cox Factor", attributed to Brian Cox and his "geek chic" image. But essentially, no one knows why.

Still, this statistics is consistent with the latest statistics in the US as well that shows an increase in physics enrollment. Maybe we're on to something. Or maybe it's in the water....

Zz.

Closure and Fire?

This article wouldn't have caught my eye if it weren't for my ability to remember things that often are utterly useless. This article is reporting a fire at one of the physics laboratory at Reading University in the UK. By itself it isn't a significant news (well, it isn't because hopefully, no one was injured). But then I remember a while back of report that the physics program at this very same university was about to be closed.

So I wonder if (i) the two incidents are related (ii) the program still running (iii) this simply what's left of the program after closure (iv) I am hallucinating.

Zz.

1 In 6 Secondary Schools In England Offers No A-Level Physics

The education woes in the UK continues with the Royal Society condemning the A-Levels at "not fit for purpose". This follows reports on the drop of the number of students studying math and sciences at the A-Levels and the number of science/math degrees awarded.

Of last year’s 300,000 graduates, just 10,000 studied chemistry, physics, biology or maths, according to the Royal Society.

The celebrated research institution also said that one in six secondary schools had not entered a single candidate for A-level physics.

It said the A-level system was unfit for purpose and should be scrapped in favour of European-style baccalaureates.

It is disheartening to see that this problem, which had been recognized for many years already, doesn't seem to be handled and tackled appropriately. Here in the US, there are clearly politicians who distrust science, put very little importance to science, or simply ignores science. Some of them are put into position to determine science policies and funding. So one should expect that support for science to have some impact. Do we know the root cause for such a disarray in the UK/England, beyond just the tough economic times?

Zz.

Physics Brainteaser Posters

It appears that the Institute of Physics has produced "physics brainteaser" posters that are now up in various public transportation in several cities in N. Ireland.

The poster campaign, Transport Yourself with Physics, was all about getting the public to engage with the subject, said Alison Hackett, policy officer with the institute.

The institute, with the support of the Government’s Discover Science and Engineering programme, organised the campaign, which was launched to coincide with Science Week Ireland.

The posters are now visible on buses and trains in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. In Dublin they are installed along Dart and Arrow train services and on Dublin Bus. About 200 buses in Northern Ireland have posters in place, Ms Hackett said.

If I recall correctly, a similar campaign was also done somewhere in Massachusetts a while back, where physics posters were on buses.

While I certainly like such a thing, I would also like to see posters linking specific discovery or advancement in physics that led to things like the iPhone, MRI, etc.. etc.. i.e. linking physics to things that the public use everyday. Most people do not realize how they use discoveries in physics. Rather than make some general statement about its usefulness, it would be even more fascinating if one could simply show the "chain of events" that led from one thing all the way to its application and device.

Zz.

"I would rather have a physics graduate from Oxbridge without a PGCE teaching in a school than a physics graduate from one of the rubbish universities

It looks like Britain's new education minister is already in hot water 3 days into the new job by uttering those words.

Gibb is reported to have told officials in the Department for Education on Friday, the day after his appointment: "I would rather have a physics graduate from Oxbridge without a PGCE teaching in a school than a physics graduate from one of the rubbish universities with a PGCE."

The remark, which has already attracted a flurry of posts on Twitter, accusing the Tory MP of elitism and a failing to understand what makes a good teacher, will doubtless have rubbed a few people in higher education up the wrong way too.

Of course, we all know very well that someone who knows a lot about a subject matter need not also be a good communicator and educator. So that is a highly ignorant comment. But it is interesting that, of all the subject areas, he would use physics as the example. :)

Zz.

Brian Cox Deserts Labour Party

You have to be a really popular physicist when the possibility that you will vote for a different political party made the news. This is the case for Brian Cox, who has indicated that he will no longer support the current UK's Labour Party and will vote for Liberal Democrat instead.

He said that the Labour government’s investment in research and development was worse in real terms than it had been under Margaret Thatcher. In Cox’s view, the 2007 funding crisis that struck the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which supports research into physics and space technology, had been a “cock-up, the biggest screw-up in science policy in the past decade”.

Britain’s international reputation for science had been damaged, he said. Overall, Labour’s record on science funding was “not as good as it should have been”.

It's one of the more interesting scenario for the UK, where it seems to go the opposite way of the US, France, Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, etc. during this tight economic times. All of those countries significantly increased spending in the sciences during the past year with the hope that this is a future investment that will invigorate the economy in the long run.

Zz.

A Vision For UK Researech

The United Kingdom's Council for Science and Technology (CST) has released its report about the future of UK's scientific endeavor. In it, the council made several recommendations, among which to focus on the researcher, not just the research. This includes training Ph.D candidates on skills, such as management, that can be used in the private sectors.

There certainly is a lot to read in here.

Zz.

UK Funding For Homeopathy Should Be Cut

I seldom make reference to another blog, but this is one of the few times I will, because it is such an excellently-written blog article.

This blog entry reports on the recent recommendation, in the UK, to cut public money from being spend on research on homeopathy. The recommendation is contained in the report titled "Evidence Check 2 - Homeopathy". It was produced by the House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee. I'm guessing it is a recommendation for the MPs over there to stop such funding.

As the blogger has said, for once, the politicians are getting it right, and getting the right advice. To fund something that, for such a long time still cannot clearly established its existence, is futile. It is not the sign of a valid phenomenon. Yet, people buy into it based entirely on anecdotal evidence.

Zz.

Martin Rees Tackles Space, Politics and Scientific Advice

Lord Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and the UK's Astronomer Royal, tackles several issues on space, politics, and science advice in this video interview.



Zz.

UK Physics Hit With "Savage" Cuts

Rather depressing news coming out of the United Kingdom and their science funding in general. Severe cuts in the physics funding will cause UK to withdraw from several prominent research programs.

Savage cuts have been made to the UK's physics research programme that will see the country withdraw from over 25 leading international projects in astronomy, nuclear physics, particle physics and space science. The cuts were announced today by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which is facing a £40m shortfall in funding. The cash crisis will see the UK pull out of the ALICE experiment at CERN, axe funding for the Boulby Mine in Yorkshire, which is searching for dark matter, and withdraw from the European X-ray Free Electron Laser project at the DESY lab in Hamburg.

This sounds rather devastating. The bad news coming out of the UK doesn't seem to let up these past few years, including the state of A-level education over there. One can only speculate the ramifications on UK science from this act.

Zz.

Newton Voted Greatest Cambridge Student

Students at Cambridge voted Newton as the greatest Cambridge student of all time. He was followed closely by Charles Darwin, which isn't a slouch himself in the history of science.

The physicist and mathematician, who went to Trinity College, won 23.6 per cent of the vote in the poll by student newspaper Varsity.

Charles Darwin, who attended Christ's College, came a close second with 20.6 per cent and poet Lord Byron, who was a student at Trinity College, came third with 10.8 per cent.

Zz.

Michael Green Replaces Hawking As Lucasian Professor

One of the co-founder of string theory, Michael Green has been slated to replace Stephen Hawking as Cambridge's Lucasian Professor.

Green, who works in the same department as Hawking, played a major role in developing a form of string theory that describes all of the different types of particles in the universe and how they interact with each other.

Zz.

Tough Funding Environment in the UK

Physics funding in the UK is facing very challenging times ahead as the STFC evaluates its funding priorities. This Physics Today summary of the funding woes highlights all of the current and previous issues regarding the funding shortage.

It has been a number of years now it seems that physics funding in the UK has been in the dumps. I can't believe that this isn't doing considerable harm not only to ongoing projects, but also in attracting more people into the profession. The US physics funding is slowly recovering after the influx of funding this past year, but it will take a sustained effort to really get it going after such a long period of barely surviving. So the effect of reduced funding isn't that easy to recover from.

Zz.

Hawking Steps Down From Cambridge Post

Stephen Hawking is stepping down from his post as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. And no, not because they asked him to.

Hawking, famous for his research on black holes and theoretical physics, steps down Wednesday but will continue to work for the university as before.

Tradition dictates that professors retire from the post the year they turn 67 and Hawking celebrated his 67th birthday in January.

So now there's an empty, prestigious position at Cambridge! :)

Zz.