my official record labels my undergraduate program of study as "engineering physics". without delving into uninteresting details, essentially, this was one of those interdisciplinary programs created for independent-minded (read: flailing) learners that do not really know what they want. practically, the choices i made in my program turned it into a physics degree with no lab experience, sprinkled with chemistry, electrical engineering, and computer science. for the present and near future the only aspect that has provided me with any commonly recognizable utility, as far as my career goes, is computer science.
recently, i cannot help but think that this is a shame. after all, i learned a lot of cool things about electromagnetism, optics, solid-state physics, and quantum mechanics. and for about a month or two after my last physics course, i actually remembered something. i once had grand delusions of being a theoretical physicist - of being able to look at a white board of equations and elicit within myself that fleeting awe that comes when one temporarily internalizes the beauty and symmetry of the pithy scaffolding that underlies existence.
but that path is not meant for me. the mathematical virtuosity that is required to perform in that venue eludes me. all i have now are bits and pieces that are recalled when i stumble across a complex idea in a physics article or signal processing paper.
but i do remember the feeling i had when i experienced one mesmerizing derivation during one of my last days in a physics course. it came from the rock star of a physicist dung-hai lee, who itamar and i had the fortune of taking our second semester of quantum mechanics with.
i consider it the pinnacle of my life as a mediocre physics student - deriving electromagnetism from the non-relativistic schrรถdinger equation of a particle moving in empty space.
the author of the linked text does an admirable job of recapturing the awe i felt at the time. somehow, by starting with the most basic equation in quantum mechanics - one that communicates no information about electromagnetism - and applying a physically meaningless (allowable) transformation (known as a gauge transformation) using purely mathematical logic, one ends up implying the existence of electromagnetism! what?!
the universe is crazy beautiful, and i suppose having the opportunity to truly experience that weirdness on some personal level is something - even though it is also nothing.
right there with you my friend. my original idea was to study theoretical physics and math, but that didn't exactly work out.
ReplyDeleteseems like it might have been wise to invest in more cs, but at the same time, I'm glad I did my math degree. Even as I find myself frustrated at forgetting so many cool things (from lack of use), I feel pretty lucky to have been exposed to so much mind-expanding stuff. it definitely feeds creativity, and it's nice to be able to read a math article on wikipedia and be able to piece out what's going on :)
Awesome! This is the kind of passion and love for simplicity and elegance and logic that will get you far. I think you will find, like many before you, that computer science is a very easy subject to deal with. Particularly if you have spent times contemplating some of the deepest truths that physics and math have to offer us.
ReplyDeleteIt is not nothing!
thanks for the encouragement! i know its not nothing, but sometimes i wonder where such abstract thinking get me...
ReplyDelete