About Us
About Us
PHYSOC is the Physics Student Society at the University of New South Wales.
2014 Executives:
- President: Denis Khoshaba
- Secretary: Bradley Lewis
- Treasurer: Jamie Priest
- Arc delegate: Jamie Priest
- Events coordinators: Amy Geddes and Oanh Lam
- Publicity officer: Deedee Lee
- IT officer: Denis Khoshaba
- Postgraduate representative: Ben Roberts
Resources
Resources for Physics Students
- UNSW Physics
- Physics Friend
- First Year Physics Website
- Information for First Years Enrolling Into Second Year
- UNSW Physclips
- Physics Course Webpages
- Lab Resources
- Textbooks
- Physics Servers
- Software
- Forums
- LaTeX
UNSW Physics
UNSW Physics home pagePhysics Friend
Students wanting to discuss their choice of courses, progression, who are having difficulties or need to request special consideration should contact the Physics Friend Sue Hagon.
First Years
Information for First Years Enrolling Into Second Year
Slides from our first year info session detailing enrolment information, course list and some general advice.
Download here
Note: Information presented is accurate for students following the 2014 plan, which is subject to change each year.
Slides from A/Prof Adam Micolich's talk on careers and pathways after a physics major.
UNSW Physclips
UNSW Physclips is a multimedia introduction to areas of physics.
Physics Course Webpages
Some physics courses do not use services such as Blackboard and Moodle.
Courses by Gary Morriss (PHYS3021/3510/2050)
PHYS2160 Astronomy by Chris Tinney
PHYS3610 Computational Physics
PHYS3710 Cosmology and the Interstellar Medium
Lab Resources
General linear plot with errors
Textbooks
The PHYSOC room holds a collection of physics and maths books, including past exams.
Physics Servers
Students have access to physics servers with SSH or NX. The addresses of the servers are:
If you're on Windows, you can use the SSH client PuTTY. Linux users should have the OpenSSH client installed by default.
Software
Sage
Sage is a free open source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab.
Maxima
Maxima is a free open source alternative to Maple and Mathematica.
http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
Mathematica
https://www.it.unsw.edu.au/downloads/uauth/software/mathematica/mathematica_licence_codes.html
You'll need to enter your student ID and UniPass to get through. You can download the software for your OS and activate it by using the network licence (licence server: wolfram.lic.unsw.edu.au); but you must be on UNSW's network for it to activate. You can also use UNSW's VPN (vpn.unsw.edu.au) if you're at home. Alternatively, you can request a home use license for 12 months (using your unsw email address, via link above), but that might take a bit of time for the request to be approved.
MATLAB
https://www.it.unsw.edu.au/downloads/uauth/software/matlab/matlab_licence_codes.html
You'll need to enter your student ID and zPass to access the standalone activation.
Forums
The school of physics hosts a forum here for all physics students. Registration is required.
\(\LaTeX\)
LaTeX is a markup language similar to html that is specifically designed for typesetting equations and page layouts for scientific essays. It also has the advantage of being completely free to download and use.
Installation
Windows:The easiest way to install is to download MiKTeX, an all inclusive package with an editor and LaTeX code compiler.
Linux: Most Linux distributions include LaTeX as part of their repositories, a simple search is usually able to find it. For example, Ubuntu's LaTeX package is called texlive. If you are using emacs, installing auctex adds LaTeX support.
Mac: Similarly to windows, a package called MacTeX is avaliable for download
Texmaker is another great universal LaTeX editor. It's (gratis and libre) free and cross-platform.Kile is also an good integrated LaTeX environment for linux (KDE).
There are also free online LaTeX services, WriteLaTeX and ShareLaTeX.
For managing bibliographies (BibTeX) JabRef ought to be useful.
Resources for \(\LaTeX\)
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX (PDF) is an excellent guide, and probably the best place to start learning.
LaTeX Wikibook is an excellent reference for LaTeX commands
Ben Roberts has also written a quick beginners guide to LaTeX that is avaliable in the Docs section of the PHYSOC Facebook upage, or by clicking here.
Austin Kong has written some macros to make typing up some common maths and physics objects easier. Also includes a few handy equations as demos. Download here.
Past Exams
UNSW physics past exams database.Tutoring
Private Tutoring
PHYSOC offers free listings for UNSW students who want to tutor. If you are a PHYSOC member and want to list your tutoring service here and increase your exposure, fill out this form.
History
Archived PHYSOC Webpages
Contact Us
Contact Us
Via Email:
Suggestions/Comments
PHYSOC suggestions and comments form.
Via Facebook:
All of the executives can be contacted through the PHYSOC Facebook group. If you're not already a member, click here.
In Person:
Alternately, if none of that works (or if you just prefer face-to-face interaction), come and find us in the PHYSOC room, located in Народная Республика физики (The People's Republic of Physics), formally known as the Dept. of Dense and Doesn't Matter Physics. Physics students from second year to postgrads will have swipe card access to the room, Monday-Friday 7am-7pm. See below for a map.
Amenities include:
- Fridge
- Drinks ($1 honor system)
- Microwave
- Kettle
- Toaster
- Sandwich Press
- Whiteboard
- Chess board
- Five iMacs
- Physics textbooks
- Past assignments and exams
- Sofa bed