What you need to be a physicist:
- An interest in physics
- A desire & ability to learn math & physics
- The grit to get through difficult times in your career
What you don't need:
- To be a genius
- A large ego
- Unwavering belief that you are "cut out to be a physicist"
@Quasilocal
@WKCosmo
I really hate the "wow you must be so smart." I know it's supposed to be a compliment, but the "genius" in STEM trope is a big reason I doubted myself so much in undergrad and I think it keeps people from going into science if they don't consider themselves a genius
What is the most beautiful
#University
campus in the world? (beauty not defined - maybe architecture, location, design, features, history etc). fire away. if u can attach a pic thats a bonus!
#AcademicChatter
Gave my first class (grad cosmology)
@DukePhysics
this morning! Thank you for the great reference
@DD_Baumann
! I first learned cosmology in part thanks to your lecture notes so it’s a treat to use your book to teach!
I'm excited to say I'll be joining the faculty at
@DukePhysics
in July 2024 as an assistant professor! Enormous thanks to everyone who has gotten me here, especially to
@michaelniemack
for the years of mentorship, and thank you for everyone at Duke for making me feel so welcome.
@Quasilocal
@WKCosmo
I really hate the "wow you must be so smart." I know it's supposed to be a compliment, but the "genius" in STEM trope is a big reason I doubted myself so much in undergrad and I think it keeps people from going into science if they don't consider themselves a genius
I am so excited to finally share "I'm a Neutrino"! Featuring modern physics experiments beautifully illustrated by my mother, Ilze Lemesis. She inspired me to pursue my
#STEM
dreams growing up, now I aspire to encourage kids to do the same. Cute neutrino story time, here we come!
Before you finish reading this sentence, trillions of neutrinos will have passed through your body. I'M A NEUTRINO by
@EveVavagiakis
and Ilze Lemesis uses rhyming text and watercolor art to explain these tiny particles to small readers! Coming spring 2022.
I’m due a Twitter announcement! I’m thrilled to say I’ll be continuing my research and educational activities as an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at
@Cornell
and
@Princeton
, starting in August. Beyond excited to keep pursuing
#NSFfunded
science! 🌌
When I heard this q, my first instinct was "our galaxy has ~10¹¹ stars so obvs it wins". Then I stopped thinking HANG ON THERE ARE LOTS OF TREES. Rightly so: there are ~10¹² trees on Earth. That's an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE MORE TREES ON EARTH THAN STARS IN OUR GALAXY. Happy Thursday!
Today is publication day!! Enjoy this video of me being speechless while opening my author copies. Should have thought about saying something useful, but was too excited to open the box.
I once received a scathing message from a reddit user who declared me "everything that's wrong with physics education" for oversimplifying quantum field theory in an "Explain Like I'm 5" post
Simple, cost-effective
#physics
of bubbles demos: A thread
1) Explore differences in surface tensions by “popping” a dish of milk marbled with food coloring with a cotton swab soaked in bubble blowing solution (or dish soap). This was one of the favorites!
#scicomm
#sciengage
If space weren't a vacuum, we'd hear our Sun constantly roaring at about 125 dB, which is like being first row at a rock concert and on the edge of physical pain.
Thanks, space.
My days this week will be spent curled up in a heated blanket in front of this view, working on a paper with some tea, and I dare say this is the nicest paper-working I have done in a long while. Sending coziness to you all
On 7/13, my last day in Ithaca before completing my move to Durham, I finished the 584 miles of the main branch of the Finger Lakes Trail, becoming FLT End-to-Ender 556! What a journey it has been. More stats to come!
Happy Pub Day to the next book in my Meet the Universe series, “I’m a Black Hole”!!
With beautiful, immersive illustrations by
@jalanan
, “I’m a Black Hole” teaches the basics in approachable rhyming text, w/a deep dive in the back for curious kids (and adults!)
@MITKidsPress
Grad school
#HauntedHouse
:
Room 1: A talk you didn't really want to go to. There is no food left.
Room 2: Teaching assignments are decided. You've been given 8am sections.
Room 3: Oral qualifying exam with your committee. They give you no feedback while you speak. You fail.
Going from full time thesis and defense work to champagne and late nights is making me feel like an academic rock star, this is what it’s like 24/7 when you have a PhD right? No work party only?🍾
#IAmAPhysicist
in experimental cosmology and I'm taking over the social media for
@SimonsObs
this week! I'm working on instrumentation and data analysis for three observatories in the Atacama Desert in Chile to study the oldest light in the universe.
#WomenInScience
#WomenInSTEM
I talk a lot about dilution refrigerators, or “DRs” on here. But okay, what the heck is a DR? They’re the workhorses of our lab, and they’re literally one of the coolest things in our universe.
#physics
#scicomm
#coolforprogress
I got to visit the 15 ft bubble chamber
@Fermilab
, commissioned in 1973. Filled with liquid hydrogen, the chamber enabled scientists to photograph tracks of tiny particles from the NAL Main Accelerator and learn about subatomic physics. Today, its job is to look super steampunk.
This gif illustrates how a CMB power spectrum gives the intensity of hot & cold spots at different angular scales in a map. As we pass through the first peak in the power spectrum, the spots are degree-scale and most intense. Credit: Wayne Hu
#cosmology
The trope of the sleep-deprived, ramen-eating grad student automatically excludes people with chronic conditions that rely on rest, nutrition and exercise to function.
You can succeed in grad school without sacrificing your health.
#phdchat
@AcademicChatter
#AcademicChatter
I was once asked by a former classmate if I planned on "taking some time away from work to focus on finding a partner." I found the suggestion interesting. What would this look like? A cross-country road trip with stops at many bars? Or an AT thru-hike but like, a love thru-hike?
Catching up with a classmate X from high school.
X: What are you doing now?
P: PhD
X: Are you married?
P: Not yet.
X: Why? Isn’t it getting late?
P: Not for me. I’ll marry when I can. Are you married?
X: Yes, last year.
P: Congratulations!
#phdchat
@AcademicChatter
I finished Map 18 of the Finger Lakes Trail today! I covered the 22.9 mi of trail in eight segments, for a total of 32.7 mi/5972 ft of hiking and 29.5 mi/1057 ft of biking.
Before giving a talk, try delivering your main message in 60 seconds, then 30, 15, and then just 8 seconds. By the end, you'll have honed in on exactly the point you're trying to convey. Great advice from
@RELATEatUM
@StephHamy820
#COMM5660
#scicomm
@EstOdek
Hi! I’m Eve, and I’m working on huge cryogenic cameras to take images of the oldest light in the universe! Here’s me & a 3D printed (1:20 scale) model of the one we’re designing
@Cornell
. Fun facts: I love powerlifting & cooking, and I can stand on my head for a very long time.
I am so honored to have been awarded a Provost Diversity Fellowship. I am overwhelmed by the warmth, talent and promise of this exceptional group of scholars, and the support
@CornellOISE
has shown us. Congratulations everyone!
Our
@PhysicsToday
Quick Study (accessible to an undergraduate audience) on the electric Aharonov–Bohm effect has been published in the August issue:
#scicomm
I love the part of a good friend's thesis defense when they lose you completely, and you finally understand the depth of their knowledge in their field and how hard they've worked to get to there
#phdchat
For my talk on Friday, I'm supposed to touch on the value of a
#physics
education. Can you share something a your physics or astronomy education gave you, beyond the expected quantitative reasoning skills?
#phdchat
#academicchatter
#astrotwitter
Very glad to hear that
@Cornell
departments like Math, STS, NBB, MBG, EEB, and Entomology have granted their TAs the opportunity to choose their teaching modality this fall without being questioned or needing to submit health documentation. I hope other departments follow suit
I unplugged for the weekend and spent it backpacking the tallest mountains in the Catskills with two badass
#WomenInSTEM
who pushed my physical limits and motivated me every step of the way. My heart is full.
The formation of large-scale structure in the universe. The box is expanding with the universe, and one side is 140 million light years long (~1400x the diameter of the Milky Way).
Visualization: Andrey Kravtsov
I'm a physics PhD student.
Skills people think I have:
- Intuitive understanding of the physical world
Skills I actually have:
- Unplugging it and plugging it back in again
#phdchat
#TuesdayThoughts
for anyone dealing with
#ImposterSyndrome
:
Do you think you're exceptional?
Yes? Then nothing to worry about!
No?
Then why would you be exceptionally good at tricking everyone into thinking you're good at your job? Probably you're just good at your job.🤷♀️
It's easy to feel like physical hobbies have little carryover to academic pursuits, but I've learned many lessons through outdoor recreation that directly apply to my work experience: a 🧵
In an underground lab in Italy, the CUORE collaboration has created the coldest known cubic meter in the universe.
This massive dilution refrigerator will cool detectors to study
#neutrino
physics.
#LTDMilano
#LTD18
✅ Black holes
🚫 Misleading headlines
✅ Celebrating the work of incredible people, esp. those less represented in their fields
🚫 Falsely representing a person’s work
✅ Checking w/scientists before writing articles
🚫 Tearing down people based on media portrayal
I'm a mysterious particle in the universe...
Told in rhyme from the neutrino’s POV and full of illustrations that swirl and splash the cosmos to life, I'M A NEUTRINO is perfect for young minds. March 2022!
#MITKidsPress
#sciencebooks
@EveVavagiakis
2h
Belated BashFest tweets!
@sanjanacurtis
gave a wonderful talk on heavy element nucleosynthesis from compact object mergers. I learned a lot about nuclear astrophysics from this talk! Sanjana is an excellent science communicator ✨