29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedBased on the qualitative and quantitative evidence that you have provided on this site, you need to stick to physics.
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
29 Jan 08
If writing comes easily to you, look for a way to write about the stuff you love. Think about sports writers, travel writers, science writers, movie scriptwriters - it doesn't have to be The Great American Novel.
Check this guy out - he's one of the most interesting radio personalities in Australia's ABC Science Unit:
http://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/brspeaker_bio.asp?Speaker_Index_Text=246
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedWriting is something which can be performed at one's leisure. It is often satisfying but seldom remunerative.
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
THEREFORE:
(1) Obtain a reliable and satisfactory income.
(2) Pursue dreams of writing on the side; should you become the next John Grisham (god forbid), you can always quit your day job.
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by TyrannosauruschexThis is an honest assessment of his blatant lack of mad english skillz. I'd rather read a cereal box than most of his boring drivel. What do you want be to do, back flips over his mundane literary triumphs? Does this help him out?
Dont listen to him ramned - he is trying to be 'The Man'.
Even physics is a waste of time unless you have a doctorate. Take up mechanical engineering or better yet law. Use that literary talent to draft some legal BS and use your aptitude in physics to pursue technical/industrial law.
Plonkers.
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedDo you plan to get married and have kids ?
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
No ? -- Do whatever makes you happy .... go write.
Yes? -- Head to NASA
There is a financial committment that comes with having a family that your writing alone may not be able to satisfy .. (I doubt you want to have disadvantaged kids).
As already pointed out by several posters you can do both .... no need to give up any.
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedIf you want to make physics pay the bills you've typically got to get VERY highly educated in the field. Unless you are pretty passionate about physics and mathematics I would recommend you take up a field where you can get a job with a bachelor's degree. Without that passion I would expect you to burn out before finishing.
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
OLD joke (but with a lot of truth....)
A guy finishes up his master's degree in physics, and try as he might he just CANNOT find a job anywhere. Finally he's desperate. He's got to find SOMETHING to pay the bills. So he goes into a McDonalds and applies for a McJob.
He does well in the interview, and afterwards asks, "So do I get the job?"
"Well... ...you interviewed very well, but the truth is that you are really under-qualified for the job," replies the hiring manager.
"UNDER-QUALIFIED! I've got a MASTER'S DEGREE in physics!"
"Yes, BUT... ...All of OUR physicists have Ph.D.s!
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedYour puzzle thread was wonderful - one of the best threads ever in RHP. You write well and you know your physics too.
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
You have received some good advice in this thread already. You don't need to pick between them.
Your situation reminds me of architects. Their field requires both the creative mind and the engineer mind.
My advice (which would generally be very good to ignore): keep going and don't think that you have to make a choice. Write and study physics.
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedGo for your passion, dude, it's always more satisfying to be a struggler
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
in a field you love, than an achiever in a field you don't.
Take me as an example. I'm a sex machine, but I chose to be a
lawyer because I love it. Yeah, yeah, I could have been a porn
star, but I would be sad, thinking all the time about those exciting
law books while going at it with dozens of Swedish hotties.
😛
29 Jan 08
Originally posted by RamnedI'm in phyics too so I'll be biased.
I'm stuck between 2 choices as the decision comes. For my life work.
Whilst I am interested and like physics, and see the possibility for working as an astrophysicst, then possibly as a specialist on a space mission. Very cool I think. In Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the physics professor was/is a ranked chess player. However physics and chemisty ...[text shortened]... de. WHICH PATH MUST I TAKE??
Seriously, I need good advice, not biased. I'm kinda split.
My passion, and this is the correct word, with physics started when I had something like 14 years. At that time I always said that I wanted to be an archeologist, blame it on Indiana Jones, but then on my 8th year I had a new discipline: Físico-Química. In that we studied chemistry and physics and I liked that discipline but nothing clicked. Then in the 9th year we had our second year of that same discipline and at that time sometime just went on my brain. Maybe it was the teacher - she was extremely competent and fun; maybe it was the new themes that werebeing studied but something just clicked. Till this day I remember one time I was solving a problem and I solved it in two different ways and the answer was the same. And this to me was something like a revelation. Physics really made sense. Today of course I know that it is obvious that the same problem can be solved in different ways but what still amazes me today is this possibility of real world democracy: normally you can look at a problem from two points and still you'll have the same conclusion.
One other thing that is pretty interesting is the universality of some methods. Ways to get a solution in one problem are used to reach a solution in another problem that apparentely has nothing to do with it. And in this day and age were things are getting more and more specific this truely amasing if you ask me.
I too like literature a lot. When I was younger I wrote a lot of poetry and read a lot of non-technical books but these days I only seem to have time to read the technical stuff. I don't mind it that much cause I love to learn but I think that if I were more organised I could still do both things. So if you are an organised person I don't think you should fear not having time to write.
Now my two advices: if I were you I would strongly reconsider NASA. Yeah I know it is glamorous and I when I came to my university I too wanted to be an astrophysicist, cause that's the stuff I used to read about - making propaganda abut the science of stars is and particles phyisics is very easy but those fields are very dodgy if you ask me - but while at university I found out about other fields of Physics that were much more appealing and not so easy to be popularised. Things on condensed matter physics, on laser physics are very exciting and on those fields a lot of experimental work is being done so the theories can always be tested against the real world and what's more important is the the experiments results are unambigous. And people that work on high energy physics can´t say that if they are truely honest. But there was a time when General Relativity was at this same foot and nowadyas it is a certified Physsical theory so what I'm saying now may not be true in some years time.
My second advice is for you to get some good and serious work done right away. Please don't read too much pop-science books if you plan to make a living as a research scientist. They are great to keep you informed but they are very bad in terms of your formation. Those books intill in people a very wrong mindset. The most important thing is a research student is a critical mind. To his results and to evrybody elses results. But on those books a lot of things that aren't so certain are presented in that way. One other thing is that most of the times just give the conclusion and the the steps that were made to reach that conclusion aren't presented. And this is not good at all. You have to get used to think and examine your thoughts and examine everybody elses thoughts. So if I were you and if you choose that physics is the way to go I would start to see some serious books on it. Better still if you want to know if physics is the way to go check some books now to see if you like it really. Feynman books are always nice to read and the Feynman lectures physics are good because they have the physical and mathematical tools you'll need to get started. And please note this: to get started. Physics is a highly technical field and you need a very good knowledge of its tools. How they work, why they work and what you should do for them to work for you.
And these days physics is really expanding. There are lots of fields apperaring and growing and most of the hot ones are connected to dynamical systems and complex system in one way or the other. So there are out there a lot of carrer opportunities that I'm sure you don't even dream of.
Good luck in your decision and id you feel that physics after all isn't your thing, even if you told a lot of people that you were going to major in physics, don't be afraid to change your mind. It's your life and you are the one that should be happy about it.
Here are some links from the center I work on some not so popular physical areas but with a lot of work to be done and with a lot of work being done.
http://cftc.cii.fc.ul.pt/intro/intro_nonlinear_dynamics.htm
http://cftc.cii.fc.ul.pt/intro/intro_complex_systems.htm
http://cftc.cii.fc.ul.pt/intro/intro_condensed_matter.htm
01 Feb 08
Alot of this advice was useful. The repetitive idea was to mesh both of them.
AW - your post was especially informing. However, I do not enjoy particle / theoretical physics as much as the physics you see more (i.e. why one gets the intoxicated feeling through sitting in a hot tub for hours). This is why astrophysics interests me: It explains phenomena of the universe. I already am studying up the natural physics of the earth, i.e. gravity; thermodynamics, sound, light, relativity (which is applied more in space I would think)...Additionally, the idea of going on a space walk / mission to be a specialist would be exciting which would be why I would take engineering as a minor. Then again, I have little knowledge of particle physics - it is probably closer related to chemistry...possibly at studying the big bang theory?
Anyways, thanks for the advice all. For senior seminar perhaps I can demonstrate my writing somehow....