PDE Class Rumor Creates Excitement?

Oooh.... a rumor on a possible creation of a Partial Differential Equation class! This is a damn, fine gossip! :)

OK, I read this news report, and then scratched my head, and then read it again, and then said to myself "OK, what did I miss here?" :)

It seems that the rumor that the Physics Dept. at McGill University in Canada might create a class in Partial Differential Equation is causing an excitement not seen since "... they put a flat screen in the foyer has Rutherford Physics .... " Oh my! That's is an excitement!

“PDEs is one of those things that if you want to do physics, it pretty much puts up a wall if you don’t have it,” says McGill Society of Physics Students VP Academic Nina Kudryashova. “It’s so omnipresent.”

Although it’s been brought up, it is unlikely that PDEs will become a requirement anytime soon. “To even give it rumour status is going a little far” Physics Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Chairman Professor Kenneth Ragan says, “and for current [physics] students lacking PDEs, it’s not fatal.”

Physics professors often include higher-level math, like PDEs, in their curriculum on a need-to-know basis: if a particular tool from a math course which is not required for physics majors is needed, the professor will explain it in class.

Er... Hum. When I was an undergraduate student, I took a class on PDE from the Math dept. There wasn't ANY question on whether it was needed or not, since we ALL know that a physics undergraduate NEEDS to know PDE. Nowadays, many physics dept. have courses in "mathematical physics", in which PDEs are covered. I think teaching it on a "need-to-know" basis is highly inefficient, especially when it is taught during the actual physics class where PDE is needed. You are trying to learn both the physics, and the mathematics, at the same time. I've mentioned in my "So You Want To Be A Physicist" essay why this is not the best way to learn physics (read the chapter of mathematical preparation).

It is interesting that, a "rumor" that most of us don't consider to be anything significant, is creating quite an "excitement" among McGill's physics students. Could it be that they are really indicating that there is a need for such a class? Even if it isn't just a course in PDE alone, a mathematical physics class using a text like Mary Boas' "Mathematical Methods in the Physical Science" could fulfill the same needs.

Zz.

A Triumph for TRIUMF

More update on the issue of a severe shortage of medical isotopes, something that I've mentioned before. It appears that the TRIUMF facility in Canada will get its funding to build an accelerator that will, among other things, generate these needed medical isotopes.

A $63-million accelerator, billed as one of the most powerful in the world, will get the go-ahead Tuesday morning at TRIUMF, the national physics lab based in Vancouver.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is set to announce $30.7 million for the project, which could help alleviate future medical-isotope shortages. The Canada Foundation for Innovation has committed $18 million and the remaining $14 million is to come from core federal funding for TRIUMF.

Pay attention to the fact that this is a clear non-high energy physics use of a particle accelerator.

The news report did say something rather puzzling, though, right in the very first sentence.

Canadian scientists hope to beam the country to the forefront of nuclear and isotope research with intense, high-powered light.

Er... I thought they do this by slamming protons or electrons into a target? Where did the "high-powered light" come from?

Zz.

Is Canada Losing The Lab-Rat Race?

This is a news article examining how well Canada sells a career in science. Unfortunately, the report doesn't think that Canada has done well in encouraging students to go into this field. This includes institutions and scientists themselves who have been selling themselves short in promoting and advertising their accomplishments.

Last year, Dr. Miller's research team made an important discovery about what happens to matter at extremely high temperatures. “The closest way I can describe it to is we stuck our hand into the sun, grabbed a chunk and took a look at it.”

The popular German newsweekly Der Spiegel wrote about it; in the U.S., Wired magazine featured his research. In Canada, his work passed without a murmur.

“We don't celebrate Canadian accomplishments,” he says. “If Canadian science was portrayed in a more winning way, you would see a lot more people get the fever.”
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U.S. institutions lobby on behalf of their researchers in a way that Canadian universities often do not, suggests Alan Bernstein, former president of Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the granting agency that funds medical research at Canadian universities and now the executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise in New York.

Success breeds success, he says. “As a nation, we expect our hockey teams to win because they always have. If you are good as a nation at something, there are role models for young people coming through.”

Scientists themselves accept some of the blame. Samuel Weiss, who won a prestigious Gairdner Award last year for his discovery that the adult brain can produce new cells, says Canadian scientists have to get better at thumping their chests.

“As scientists, we are way too reticent to tell the story and engage the community the way scientists engage the community in other countries. … We'll point to government, but I don't know if we have made the case about how important science is.”

This is really rather puzzling. With the presence of the Parameter Institute and all the well-known physicists in residence, one would think that science, and physics in particular, would have gained significant "fame" and popularity among the public. Add to that the fact that various Canadian institutions have managed to attract well-known physicists, even with joint appointments (see Carl Weiman and Tony Leggett), it is difficult to think that such publicity does not inspire more interest in the field.

Zz.

Hawking 'Open' to a Move to Ontario

Hum... it seems that everyone is moving to Canada! :)

Stephen Hawking is leaving open the possibility of him leaving Cambridge and moving to the Perimeter Institute in Ontario, CA. This would be the biggest coup for PI since getting Neil Turok.

It certainly appears that several institutions in Canada are aggressively recruiting some of the world's most prominent physicists. George Sawatzky, a prominent condensed matter physicist, went to UBC several years ago. And recently, UBC even managed to snag Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman.

All I can say is, good for them! Obviously, they have the resources to get these people, and they know the importance of having them there. UBC certainly has elevated their stature in condensed matter many folds in recent years to become one of the most respected programs in the world.

Zz.

Anthony Leggett to Join the Faculty of University of Waterloo

There seems to be a trend in the migration towards Canada of top physicists. It has been announced that Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett will be Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Distinguished Research Chair at the University of Waterloo. He follows the footsteps of another Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, who earlier bolted Colorado University for University of British Columbia. However, unlike Wieman, Leggett still retains his position at the University of Illinois. It appears that he's having a joint appointment with Waterloo, spending 2 months a year there.

Hey, I guess if you're a Nobel Laureate, you can probably write your own ticket. Still, it certainly appears that universities in Canada are in a very aggressive period of recruiting well-known physicists for their institutions.

Zz.

As reported here earlier, Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman is leaving Colorado University for University of British Columbia. This news report provides a brief interview of Wieman's reason for leaving Colorado. If I were CU's administrator, I'd would be truly unhappy with the state of my university for a Nobel Laureate to leave under such circumstances. It is a devastating public relations image.

Zz.

UBC Lands Wieman

Wow! UBC certainly caught a big one. Carl Wieman, Nobel Laureate from U. of Colorado, is moving to the University of British Columbia, Canada. This is certainly a big coup.

It appears that UBC is aggressively recruiting prominent physicists from around the world to raise their stature. They got George Sawatzky a few years ago, and now this. They already have a very well-known optical spectroscopy/transport group there that's doing a fabulous job. This will add a lot more prestigue to their name.

Zz.