Notes on the Ph.D. thesis Intraband studies of negatively charged self-assembled quantum dots by me, Ben Carpenter, submitted December 2008.

A case of a lapsed theorist

Physics... The fundamental science. The science of matter and its motion, as well as space and time. Physics is the study of the world and the universe around us. The trouble with physics, one might say, is that a lot has already been done!

Thus¹, to study for a Doctorate in Physics requires a narrowing of the field such that one can become an authority on it. In a geeky way, this cartoon from PHD Comics says it all:

PhD Comic: What you know vs. How much you know about it - a graph showing how a little knowledge of everything as an undergraduate leads to a lot of knowledge about almost nothing as a PhD student.

This microsite provides an introduction to and an overview of the Ph.D. thesis of a student who was taught theoretical physics, continued in research in experimental physics, but is now a web designer.

From this course of events, I will forever be a lapsed theorist².

[1] The starting word of almost every sentence of a favoured undergraduate lecturer at Sheffield, a small tribute to the late Colin Stoddart
[2] I was asked, by Gillian Gehring, whether now I had moved on from an undergraduate theoretical physics degree I considered myself a lapsed theorist. An appropriate label, I feel.