First Post

Hello all! Welcome to a new physics-oriented blog, written, directed by and starring myself (Thomas S.).

I admit I have no clear blueprint for the amazing new literary work I’m starting here. For that matter, I have no clear motive in reaching out to an audience at all, except perhaps for the egotism of it. I doubt the blogospheres are interested in seeing the world of theoretical physics… from the perspective of an undergraduate student! (Are they?) Perhaps I can bring new insight to the academic world on the struggles and confusions of the physics-student universe. Perhaps the research community will enjoy looking back on the high drama they once went through; or maybe a much wider audience will come to appreciate the strange and little-studied sociology of protoresearchers. Or maybe it’ll be a huge comic farce. Who knows?

So then – how should I introduce myself to the blog world? Let’s see; I’m an undergraduate, a third-year student at a large American public research school (Univ. of ***). I study physics and math, perhaps for going into research in quantum computation and quantum information theory. I love mathematical physics, late Beethoven sonatas, and broccoli. I have great passion for Banach spaces and for bananas. My favorite chalkboard type is the floor-to-ceiling green board, with multicolored “dust-less” chalk; I love lecturers who intersperse monologues with well-timed puns and silly anecdotes. My least-favorite textbook color is yellow – GTM editors must be colorblind or something.

My course-menu in the current semester (entering its third week now), an all-graduate course selection:

• Physics – Electrodynamics 2, Jackson
• Physics – Quantum Mechanics 2, Sakurai
• Physics – Statistical Mechanics 1, Pathria
• Mathematics – Algebra 2 (rings & modules), Dummit & Foote
• Mathematics – Analysis 4 (topics in Banach Space geometry)
• Mathematics – Matrix Analysis 2, Lax; Horn & Johnson (not anymore! hehehehe…)
  

And for lack of any serious content to post about, I’ll conclude with a well-composed photograph of fruits and vegetables, for your viewing pleasure.

Yours,

Thomas S.