The Perimeter Institute Video Inclusion

The Perimeter Institute is the Black Pearl on the theoretical physics ocean. Among its’ crew are some of the leading researchers in particle physics, string theory, cosmology, condensed matter and quantum physics. So, when the Perimeter Institute do lectures or seminars, you expect them to be pretty good ones. Amazingly, you can make this decision for yourself as you can access every single recorded lecture and seminar from their website for free. And they record everything!

The PIRSA website is where the action happens. PIRSA stands for “Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive” - which is rather self explanatory. On this website, you can browse through the entire archive of videos. Some of these videos are public outreach, some are colloquium, but the majority are from their masters courses in theoretical physics. So it's applicable to all levels. Splice the mainbrace! (Apparently that mean to give the crew a drink.)

The masters course is really intense, but you’re able to just stroll through the lectures in your own leisurely time. There are 4 parts to the course:

1. "Mathematical Review" - reviewing mathematics such as group theory and complex analysis. A man who goes by the name of Tibra Ali does the complex analysis course and he does a really good job of it.

1. "Core" - essential physics that’s needed for understanding heavier topics, such as string theory.

1. "Review" - this is pretty much a review of the areas of research at Perimeter. This is where you get to see courses on string theory and cosmology and all the others.

1. "Explorations" - again, this is to do with the areas of research at Perimeter, but the focus is now on current research.

Here’s the lecture list from the 2011/2012 academic year. Although they go on every year, I found the 11/12 ones the best - the most recently completed.

The non-course videos are also really good. One of my favourites is by Cliff Burgess, a particle physics researcher who, on his homepage, describes himself as "one helluva guy", and he is! In this VT, he essentially “gases” about why particle physics is the best research area.

The main piece of advice from the above VT is to, when it comes to physics, "follow your nose". Sniff. Sniff.

PIRSA website:

http://pirsa.org/

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The Academy Renamed

It's finally happened! mmxi Academy has been renamed to:

muon Academy

a name that breathes a refreshing hint of physics without being stupidly obvious.

The muon bit

Of course, a muon is a fundamental particle. At the time of it's discovery around the 1930s-40s, the Nobel laurette, Isidor Rabi, made a catty comment about the muon:

"Who ordered that?".

Me-ow. Well, the reason that he said this was because the muon seemed obsolete. It wasn't necessary in any nuclear interactions that they knew about at the time. But right now, the role of the muon has changed a lot. The celebrity particle accelerator, the LHC, has a large involvement with muons. One of it's main detectors is called the compact muon solenoid, which was heavily involved with the discovery of the Higgs boson. This is just a small taste of what the muon involves itself in. It's amusing how much physics has changed, and continues to change. (Entry 10 of the Skull List - Evolution of physics - shoots at these changes.)

At the end of it all...

... times change and people change with them. And as a result, I didn't like the old name, so a I got a muon - it's physics, savvy?

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