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The OP seems to know something, but I wouldn't go as far as taking the comment above as coming from an "expert"... the fact they feel confident to make recommen
by brabel 5y ago
The OP seems to know something, but I wouldn't go as far as taking the comment above as coming from an "expert"... the fact they feel confident to make recommendations about improvements on the chamber without even reading the paper actually tells me they are just armchair expert.
- a_e_k 5y agoI don't know about that. At least for myself, when I say that I've read a paper I mean that I've read it thoroughly from end-to-end and thought deeply about it, not unlike what I do when I'm doing a peer review. (I.e., "grokking" the paper.) There are way too many papers to do that for every one that comes out in my field, though, so I've gotten pretty good at skimming a paper quickly and making a snap assessment. I might say I'm aware of or acquainted with said paper, but I'd never say I'd really _read_ it. So charitably speaking, I'd interpret the top-level commenter (avsteele) as meaning that they've only skimmed the paper and these are off-the-cuff comments, rather than that they haven't looked at the paper at all.
- avsteele 5y agoI am an expert. I have a PhD in experimental atomic physics. My work thesis work was on laser cooled atoms and ions. I have multiple publications in this topic area^. I started and run a company that is making the first commercial instruments that rely on laser-cooled atoms.^^ There is nothing wrong with making few conversational comments without being aware of the details in a particular paper. This is how scientists talk to each other BTW. If I was at a conference with the authors I'd say something similar to the OP above, then they'd agree or disagree. ^https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mBN1xwcAAAAJ&hl=en https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mBN1xwcAAAAJ&hl=en ^^https://www.zerok.com https://www.zerok.com