Summer Reading Poll!

Summer is almost here.  What will you be reading this summer?  Take our quick Summer Reading Poll and let us know.

Watch for summer reading lists!  We'd love to hear what you're reading, even if you aren't up for writing a review.

Quantum Physics, Academia, and Things That Never Change

"I strongly advise you not to do your thesis work on such topics."

"And why not?"

"You should work on something solid first, that the community endorses. Until you have a solid reputation as a physicist, no one will listen to what you have to say about the foundations of quantum mechanics."

And so Marcelo Gleiser summarizes his his first, and only, meeting with John Bell in the 1980s. Sound sadly familiar? Gleiser, at that point in his life, had just passed his qualifying exams and was "trying to nail down my topic." 

His recent article on NPR.org gives insight into what his formative years were like in his PhD program at Kings College. Ferrying between supersymmetric theories and the foundations of quantum physics, Gleiser makes some very interesting points about the underpinnings of quantum physics that should echo far beyond those interested in physics!

Gleiser also gives a few recommendations (links below):

"Here are some books on quantum mechanics that I recommend: David Kaiser's How the Hippies Saved Physics; David Albert's Quantum Mechanics and Experience; Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner's Quantum Enigma; Louise Gilder's The Age of Entanglement. An excellent new one is: Quantum Physics for Poets, by Christopher Hill and Leon Lederman.)"

*Remember that if you are a UW student or faculty member and the book is checked out on the Madison campus, you can have it delivered from another UW-System library--click on "View physical copies at other campuses" on the right side of the page.*

• Kaiser, D. (2011). How the hippies saved physics : science, counterculture, and the quantum revival. New York: W.W. Norton.

• Albert, D. Z. (1992). Quantum mechanics and experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

•   Rosenblum, B., & Kuttner, F. (2011). Quantum enigma : physics encounters consciousness. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• This is also available as an e-book for UW-Madison faculty and students here!

• Gilder, L. (2008). The age of entanglement : when quantum physics was reborn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

•  Lederman, L. M, & Hill, C. T. (2011). Quantum physics for poets. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.

Careers for Physicists

Interested in an academic career in physics? Consider attending a presentation titled "Careers for Physicists: Becoming a Professor" tomorrow afternoon.

Finding a job in academia has become a job--and part of your education. Learning how to market yourself and your research has become a must. The Astronomy Department is currently running a semester-long seminar, taught by post-doc Ben Brown,called "Being a Professional Scientist" that deals with similar issues.

For advice on how to plan a course of study that will lead to teaching your own courses, look into these books!


A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science
Peter J. Feibelman, 2011
(review)










How to Succeed as a Scientist: From Postdoc to Professor --also available electronically here.
Barbara J. Gabrys and Jane A. Langdale, 2012












The Academic Job Search Handbook
Julia Miller Vick and Jennifer S. Furlong, 2008










Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times
Marc J. Kuchner, 2012
(review)

Read Up on Women in Physics

Last week we had a post regarding an article that discussed the lack of women in physics. To follow that post, below are a few books dealing with great women in the history of the science. Though, according the article in Symmetry, there is a disparity between men and women in physics today, that doesn't mean there haven't been great female physicists that have come before!

Strohmaier, B., Rosner, R. W, & Dvorak, P. F. (2006). Marietta Blau, Stars of Disintegration: Biography of a Pioneer of Particle Physics. English ed. Riverside, Calif.: Ariadne Press.

"She was considered extraordinarily gifted by Albert Einstein and was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Physics, twice by Erwin Schrodinger. On the other hand, no obituary was ever published on her. The biographical part of the book which includes personal recollections by friends, describes Marietta Blau's life in Vienna before 1938, her emigration to Mexico, her move to the USA in 1944, her work at leading research centers in the US, her return to Vienna in 1960, and the last decade of her life in her hometown, where she continued to work at the Radium Institute for four years."

Rife, P. (1999). Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. Boston: Birkhäuser.

"Lise Meitner, a contemporary of Einstein's, was a remarkable nuclear physicist whose discovery of nuclear fission paved the way for the Manhattan project, although she was unaware of the project itself. She did not share in the credit for that discovery, in any case, having been passed up by the Nobel Prize committee, while her collaborator, Otto Hahn, did receive the prize in 1945. How these circumstances came about, and how they fit into the evolution of her social conscience and her abhorrence of war are some of the fascinating subjects discussed in the biography by Patricia Rife."

-Gary R. Goldstein, Tufts University

(Full review)

Byers, N., & Williams, G. A. (2006). Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

"The strength of this book is, of course, the compelling nature of the stories themselves. We learn about the critical contributions made by these physicists and astronomers, many of whom are unknown to most of us, told by people who are able to fully appreciate what these women achieved...This book should be a source of encouragement to female students interested in physics and astronomy and it should be on a bookshelf in the office of every physics and astronomy professor or teacher or anyone else who is in a position to give career guidance to young students."

-Marty Epstein , California State University, Los Angeles

(Full review)









Kiernan, D. (2013). The Girls of Atomic City: the Untold Story of the Women who Helped win World War II. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

"Kiernan’s concentration on the women’s role provides a necessary focus to her account, and as a historical glimpse, “The Girls of Atomic City” is fascinating."

-Star Tribune

"With her book, Kiernan preserves these rich stories for future generations."

-Boston Globe