I'm not taking as much heat as the other two amateur taxonomists on ScienceBlogs, but I'll also throw the topic open for suggestions. So, if I left your favorite sub-field of physics out of my Geek Taxonomy, drop me a comment suggesting a field that I left out, and what I ought to say about it. ( They needn't be serious.) If I get any good suggestions, I'll post an updated Taxonomy of Physics incorporating the suggestions.
If you have strong opinions about sub-fields of biology or anthropology, be sure to weigh in over at the Daily Transcript or Afarensis.
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If you could sit down for lunch, or coffee, one-on-one, with a Very Very Big Name in your field (think Nobel Laureate or, for the CS crowd, Turing Award winner, or similar), what questions would you ask her/him?
When we start looking at fields, there are a collection
of properties that are interesting. The simplest one - and
the one which explains the property of the nimbers that
makes them so strange - is called the
characteristic of the field. (In fact, the
The Female Science Professor turns over the rocks and brings the real clash of cultures into the bright light of reason...
A month ago, Eric Schwitzgebel wrote a post critical of meta-analysis, suggesting that studies finding null results don't tend to get published, thus skewing meta-analysis results.
Condensed Matter Physics:
This may be the largest single field of physics, and it's probably the most important in everyday terms.
And you call elementary particle physicists arrogant? puh-leez. FermiLab roxors.
All kidding aside, I think you hit the nail on the head for the most part. You could add on the relatively minor branches like non-linear dynamics, geophysics, and even physics education research (i.e. Carl Wieman).
*ahem*
The plural of "taxon" is "taxa".
Sincerely,
An uptight taxonomist
And you call elementary particle physicists arrogant? puh-leez. FermiLab roxors.
Well considering the fact that Chad's an AMO physicist, it's hardly arrogant for him to be promoting condensed matter as the most important...
Taxon.
Taxoff.
Now you try...