3 ms·
For an idea of how far the average US physics education has been dumbed-down in the past three decades, I doubt a 3rd year US-educated physics graduate student
by xqcgrek2 1y ago
For an idea of how far the average US physics education has been dumbed-down in the past three decades, I doubt a 3rd year US-educated physics graduate student could pass a test on any of the chapters.
- slyfox125 1y agoWe are victims of our success.
- TimorousBestie 1y agoI don’t think this is very accurate. Classical fluid dynamics is a dying art, yes, but classical mechanics and electromagnetics are still a huge part of the curriculum.
- kurthr 1y agoWith or without a LLM "partner"?
- momoschili 1y agoThe vast majority of US grad students already pass tests on chapters 1-9 (the ones that are taught) before they even begin their "true" graduate career (aka their "masters"). Most graduate E&M (Jackson) and Thermo/Stat (Landau) mech classes cover their individual topics to an even greater level of detail than these materials. As for the uncovered subjects, it turns out quantum mechanics occupies a large space of the "new physics" that graduate students are trained to do. There are definitely an incredible amount of utility and knowledge to be gained from the classical field theories, and obviously many outstanding and new problems that I think need more attention as well. At the same time let's not understate the utility of quantum mechanics that most grad students are specializing in. You are speaking out of turn.
- xqcgrek2 1y agosounds like you haven't visited a top-ranked physics department in a while
- dawnofdusk 1y agoNot really dumbed down, just that it prioritizes quantum physics instead of classical. One can debate whether this is a good set of priorities but it's flippant to say a curriculum focused on quantum mechanics is dumber than one focused on fluids and elasticity/continuum mechanics.
- AIPedant 1y agoA lot of modern research in classical mechanics is typically covered by applied math and/or mechanical engineering departments, sometimes also applied physics or engineering science. Magnetohydrodynamics is relevant for a lot of proper academic physicists, but by no means all of them. Just a consequence of how academia specialized, for better or worse.