How to Become a Good Theoretical Physicist

Re:How to Become a Good Theoretical Physicist by dchapp on Thursday December 10, 2015 @06:22PM (#10714378)

I agree that use of "good" is questionable here. One would think that without the skills mentioned, one wouldn't be a theoretical physicist at all. (Is every person who lacks these skills a "bad theoretical physicist"? Only in a vacuous sense.)

That said, I think we should interpret "how to become a good theoretical physicist" as "how to gain the competencies that are expected of s theoretical physicist."

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Re:How to Become a Good Theoretical Physicist by Retra on Friday December 11, 2015 @12:38PM (#10718462)

That's is what he means by good: one with enough competence in the field to do actually useful work. If you manage to do useful work in physics, that work could translate into a Nobel Prize just as easily as any other useful work.

A bad theoretical physicist is one who only understands enough to sound smart to their friends. AKA, a crank.

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