/sci/ - Science & Math

Was in a rut after graduation, wasn't doing anything with my life.

Turned things around, started a second BS in physics, I'm starting my second year next week and I'm already working with a faculty member on a research project and was awarded a $1100 grant for a project I'm working on with a few people from my class (spectral analysis of main belt asteroids).

I plan to go to grad school and then into either teaching, research, or advocacy.

My research group spent the spring helping our university install a spectrograph on the telescope we run at Winer. We've got a bunch of projects in progress using the new setup, and my group just got a $1500 grant to study spectra of different types of asteroid, looking at how composition changes over a body's surface.

>>3098964
[br]I'm not concerned with 'why'
[br]But merely 'how' I came to be.
[br]How the laws of nature govern
[br]Observations that we see.
[br]Whether there is purpose
[br]I do not dare decree.
[br]Instead I leave such matters
[br]Up to philosophy.

Hope everyone's having a nice Saturday

>How do you deal with infinity?
By remembering that nothing in the physical universe is truly infinite.

>How can you ignore the inexplicable nature of your own existence and live normally?
Well, my existence isn't inexplicable at all so... it's really not that hard.

>Do you ever stop and take the time to think about the impossibility of it all?
Yep

>Does it scare you?
Nope

Avoid philosophy courses, just read literature on your own.

Plato, Descarte, Mill, Locke, Rousseau, etc. Read as much as you can and make up your own mind about whether any of it is useful.

Pic related

Postulate - There is an infinite number of universes existing in a 'multiverse'

Consequence - If ANY forces or information at all are transmitted between universes, than the cumulative force acting on any single universe must therefore also be infinite, any 'mutliverse' would instantaneously collapse/rip itself apart.

Therefore, there must either not be an infinite number of universes, or else there is absolutely no transmission of forces or information whatsoever between universes. The latter is not falsifiable.

>>2882485
Your 'godzilla egg' is a crappy prop from an upcoming micro-budget B-movie called "The Bournemouth Incident". So either you're too stupid to check your sources or you're one of the retards who signed on to this Birdemic of a film project trying to stir up viral attention.

Frankly I don't know which is more pathetic.

ITT: Talk about your favorite college professors.


My Phys II professor, Dr. Rodgers. The class was meant to be a first-year introduction to fields and electricity. He taught it as a second or third year level course covering everything from field theory to E&M to relativity, diff eq and calc 3, and even threw in a bit of quantum mech. The class was hard as fuck but I loved every lecture and discussion. He was the kind of professor that genuinely inspires a class.

A farmer needs to build a new fence for his sheep and goes to a physicist, an engineer, and a mathematician for help.

The physicist deduces that a circular fence will guarantee the largest area given the amount of fencing available. The engineer disagrees, suggesting a more rectangular fence which takes advantage of the geography of the farmer's property. The two debate the issue for some time but eventually reach a consensus and start working on the fence.

Meanwhile, the mathematicians sets up a tiny fence around himself and triumphantly proclaims, "I define myself to be outside the fence!"

Physics (considering adding Astronomy)
University of Iowa

>>2552676
I'll check that one out.

>>2551873
Got an email from one of the guys on our project this morning, he put together a list of telescopes that could work, so we'll be contacting them over the next week. Liverpool JMU operates a 2 meter on La Palma that looks promising.

>>2550952
What you're suggesting isn't ambition, it's delusion.

>You know, that LHC is nice, but I bet you could make a better one with scrap metal and a couple indentured freshmen.

>>2550588
Rigel is one of the best robotic telescopes in the country, it took years of work and thousands of dollars to make.

So please, explain to me where you're getting this idea that a couple of undergrads are going to build a larger, more sophisticated telescope at almost no cost and using engineering students with nothing better to do than work on a project for no pay as our sole source of labor?

>>2550334
Yeeeeah... I don't see us getting grant money to build a new telescope any time soon.

>>2550252
We've been talking with our Astro I professor for advice on our project idea, but we only just found out about the issue with Rigel today, so we might not able to meet with him about it until Monday. In the meantime we're trying to come up with some alternatives.

Can anyone recommend a robotic telescope with spectroscopy equipment that takes observation requests?

A couple of classmates and I are thinking of doing a research project over the summer. We're at Iowa so normally we'd just use the Rigel down in Arizona, but they're having some problems this semester so it's not clear whether they'll be an option.

I just found out my university is offering a summer internship for undergrads with NASA at GSFC in DC. This is my second semester in the physics and astronomy program, I don't have any real research experience outside of class (yet, I'm doing some independent observations and also working to get a job helping with one of the projects run by the faculty this semester), my grades last semester were kind of meh, and my first degree was a BA whose major I hesitate to say out of fear of shunning... that said I'm wondering if I shouldn't just apply anyways, even if I don't expect to be selected.

I dunno, what do you guys think?

*sigh*

Iowa is overcast... just like it has been for every decent astronomical event for the last two years.

Every partial and total eclipse, every meteor shower peak, everything.

Bullshit!

>>2216462
... kay

>>2216408
Always nice to meet a fellow Iowan

>>2216369
UIowa, yeah.

>>2216289
Like for example, trying to find angular velocity when initial moment of inertia, initial angular velocity, initial mass, final mass, and final moment of inertia all end up being fractions that can't be simplified.

>>2216273
Here's hoping.

The thing that sucks most is most of us were having a pretty good week up till now. I felt great about my calc and astro finals, one of the guys nailed his calc ii final, another did great on russian, etc etc.