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Theoretical - Research Assistant/Associate in Mechanics of Multilattices - Cambridge

A position exists, for a Research Assistant/Associate in the Department of Engineering, to conduct research into the mechanics of lattice materials. The post holder will be located in Central Cambridge Cambridgeshire, UK.

Fred Sansoz's picture

PhD Position in Nanomaterials Science at the University of Vermont

An excellent student with research expertise and interest in molecular dynamics simulation and theory of mechanical and/or thermal transport properties in nanomaterials such as nanowires, bulk nanotwinned metals and graphene, is sought to fill a new PhD opening in my group starting in Fall 2012. Interested students should send me a detailed CV with a description of past research achievements and the names of references to frederic.sansoz@uvm.edu.

Idle thoughts on the role of theory in mechanics

As scientists, we like to think our theories are built on a large body of directly observed phenomena, but we can directly observe only a few, primitive things, like the relative position of two objects -- and even that is called into question by modern physics! Instruments that measure abstract quantities like force and temperature depend on the validity of an underlying theory. For example, a scale provides a useful measurement of weight only if we accept a certain definition of weight. Such definitions are objectively arbitrary, because they can only be ranked in terms of usefulness.

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