Dear Physics Community,

Fall is beginning to define itself.  This week, we had a lunch discussion with Janet Rankin about low-stakes assignments, slides here, TLL resources here, and my letter to instructors here. On a related theme, I’ve just finished David Kaiser’s book, “Quantum Legacies” and there is an interesting essay, “Training Quantum Mechanics” about the different approaches to teaching the subject.  David kindly sent me a pdf of the essay for our inspiration.

MIT has developed policies for returning students: undergraduates here and graduate students here.  Just in case, faculty/staff concerns can be reported here and student concerns here.

Announcements and opportunities

• Looking for another course?  Biology is offering a course in COVID-19.
• AAPT Virtual Coffee hour on remote learning
• Apply for a MathWorks
• Do you have a grant from the NSF?  New disclosure requirements here

Physics

• I have always wondered how knives get dull cutting tomatoes or a razor get dull shaving.  Now we know MIT News story, Science article.
• Last year, a definition based on the meter and second replaced the kilogram artifact kept at BIPM outside Paris.  I thought we were all set, but no – the radian is becoming an issue. Currently defined as a dimensionless derived quantity, advocates want 1 rad=1 m.m.

Los Endos

Back by popular demand: email guidelines.

Peter