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Premiership Final Results and Classification of Honours

Posted in Education, Football with tags , on May 25, 2025 by telescoper

Now all the final results are in and validated, the Board can now proceed to the classification of Honours for the 2024/25 English Premier League.

There were 20 candidates, no absences, and no extenuating circumstances recorded.

As Chair, I will remind you of the regulations as we go through. Fortunately, as was the case last year, matters are relatively straightforward.

Looking at the last column we can see straight away that the top three all get first-class honours, the same as last year although the performance of the top candidates was not as impressive. Liverpool finished top of the class, followed by Arsenal and Manchester City. Chelsea finish with the top 2.1, the External Examiner having decided not to recommend they be rounded up. They may however still win a prize if they pass a special test next week in the form of the Europa Conference Legue final. Despite a disappointing last paper, Newcastle United finish in 5th place. They also collected a prize in the form of the Caribou Cabibbo Calabi-Yau League Cup. The top five all go on to further study in the UEFA Champions League next year.

I must draw your attention to the peculiar case of Tottenham Hotspur, who finished in 17th place, on 38. This is technically a fail, but the rules allow a pass by compensation in such a situation. Moreover, after their success in the Europa Conference League final over Manchester United, Tottenham also qualify for the Champions League next year.

Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Actually also get upper second-class honours. Villa go into the Europa Cup along with Crystal Palace who only got a 2.2 (lower-second, with 53%) but go through by virtue of winning the FA Cup. Nottingham Forest, in 7th place, have to go into the Europa Conference League playoffs.

Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham are also in the range for a 2.2 but failed to secure places in Europe for next season.

Everton, West Ham, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers all get third-class degrees.

The bottom three (Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton) all fail outright and must take at least a year out before trying again.

(I think may have been spending too long recently marking examinations…)

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Physics & Theoretical Physics Undergraduate Final Examinations from 1985

Posted in Biographical, Education with tags , , on May 22, 2025 by telescoper

It is May 22nd 2025, so it’s 40 years to the day since started my final examinations in Physics and Theoretical Physics in the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge University. These examinations concluded what was called Part II, the third and last year of a course which started out with four subjects (Part IA), then three (Part IB) I did double-physics and mathematics for IB.

The first paper of Part II was actually Paper Zero, an essay paper which I have already posted here. The five other papers are below; all six (including Paper Zero) were of three hours’ duration. You will see that Paper 4 is a very big one, because it contains questions pertaining to many options but each student did only a few. Unlike most of the theoretical physics students in my year I offered a theoretical project in lieu of part of Paper V, which means I was spared another three-hour paper. My project, incidentally, was on the computer simulation of a laser. My “prepared essay” was also on lasers Kilohertz and picoseconds in laser physics.

Looking at the papers I find a few things are different from what we do nowadays.

One is that Paper I was a general paper, with questions about random bits of physics. Most university physics courses these days do not have such papers (although I know of at least one that does…).

Another is that the course was not really modular. Each paper covered several different topics: Paper 2 for example covers Solid State Physics, Statistical and Thermal Physics and Electromagnetism; Paper 3 is Quantum Physics, Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics. In most modern university courses each of these would have a separate examination.

Other than that, some of the content (e.g. electromagnetism) is close to what you would find nowadays but in some areas (particle physics, for example) the 1985 paper is extremely dated.

As for the level difficulty, I can’t really comment. Take a look a the papers and decide for yourself!

(There is supposed to be a PDF preview, but it seems not to work on many web browsers, so You may hev to download the paper to view it.)

Paper_1_1985Download
Paper_2_1985Download
Paper_3_1985Download
Paper_4_1985Download
Paper_5_1985Download

Comments are welcome through the box below.

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Operation Marking Garden

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , on May 21, 2025 by telescoper

Posts will be a little thin for the next ten days or so here as I am preoccupied with correcting examinations and other assessments. I am spending most of the time doing that at home to avoid interruptions. I’ve also taken the opportunity afforded by this fine spell to do some laundry which I can peg out to dry outdoors. I think this is called multi-tasking. Fortunately (barring yesterday’s thunderstorms), the weather has been nice enough to do the marking outside, in my little garden.

Yesterday evening’s thunderstorms

A few years ago I posted an item about red valerian which grows in profusion around here on verges and embankments. Red valerian (aka spur valerian, kiss-me-quick, fox’s brush, devil’s beard & Jupiter’s beard among other names) is not to be confused with True Valerian, which has white (or very pale pink flowers). I mentioned in that post It’s red valerian (aka spur valerian, kiss-me-quick, fox’s brush, devil’s beard & Jupiter’s beard among other names). I mentioned in that post that I’d like to have some in my garden. Well, it seems that the seeds I planted have grown, perhaps spurred on by the rain yesterday evening:

red valerian

It’s not exactly a profusion, but it’s a start.

UPDATE: 31/05/25 On my way into Dublin by train I saw Red Valerian and True Valerian together by the railway tracks.

Anyway, I spent this morning marking until I remembered a couple of things I had to do on campus. That’s only 20 minutes’ walk for me so I went there at lunchtime, getting a haircut on the way. I stayed for lunch in Pugin Hall and then came back to continue with my correcting duties.

When I took a break for tea I suddenly remembered (for some reason) that the debit card on my UK bank account was about to expire and I hadn’t updated the address since I sold my house in Cardiff. Strangely, I couldn’t update my details online but instead had to use the telephone banking service. One can change to another address in the UK using the online banking app, but can’t do that if you’re moving abroad. Although it took longer to do than I had anticipated it might, the person I spoke to was very helpful. Fortunately they hadn’t yet despatched a replacement card and/or PIN so all was well.

So there you are. Another exciting day in the life of an academic has passed.

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After Lectures and before Examinations

Posted in Education, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on May 15, 2025 by telescoper

This morning I did my last teaching session of the Academic Year 2024-5, a revision lecture/tutorial on Computational Physics. It was optional, as this is officially a study break, and was at 9am, but I had about 30% attendance which wasn’t bad in the circumstances. As is often the case with optional sessions, I think the students who came were the keenest and probably therefore those who least needed last-minute tips for the examination, but that’s always the way.

The Examination Period starts tomorrow morning, but most of the students who turned up this morning have their first examination on Monday 19th May which happens to be Computational Physics.

Anyway, now that my teaching is over I thought I’d take the opportunity to wish all students the best for their examinations:

You shouldn’t really be relying on luck of course, so here are some tips (especially for physics students, but applicable elsewhere).

  1. Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. Spending all night cramming is unlikely to help you do well.
  2. Prepare well in advance so you’re relaxed when the time comes.
  3. Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
  4. Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves. You’re under no obligation to answer the questions in the order they are asked.
  5. Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. In particular, check all your working out, including numerical results obtained your calculator, at least twice
  6. Please remember the units!
  7. Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.

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Marking Time

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on May 12, 2025 by telescoper

So here we are, then, with only a few days before examinations start (next Friday, 16th May). The examinations for my two modules take place on Monday 19th and Tuesday 27th May, and after that I’ll be busy with marking for a while.

 

Marking doesn’t just mean written examinations. I have been teaching a module on Computational Physics to 3rd Year students here in Maynooth, and 40% of the assessment for that is a mini-project (usually done in groups of two or three). Early on the term, I put up a list of  16  projects and asked them to pick first second and third choices so I could form groups in such a way that most students get to work on a project they have actively chosen.

Anyway, the deadline for projects to be handed in passed last week so I’ve got a stack of those to mark which, you will realise, why I am indulging in a displacement activity by writing this blog post. My plan is to mark these during this week so that they’re done before the written examinations come in, which means by next Monday (19th). This year we have had a bigger class than usual, so this I have quite a lot of marking to do.

Last week also saw the deadline for the last assignment in Particle Physics to be handed in. I want to mark those as soon as possible, but I’m not sure I’ll have time this week, but I should be able to do them before the exam on the 27th.

Incidentally, one of the submissions of the last assignment came with a note that this was the last assignment the student had done in Maynooth and that the first one he had done, when he was in his first year, was also set by me.

 

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Last Remarks

Posted in Biographical, Education, Euclid, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff, Uncategorized with tags , , on May 11, 2025 by telescoper

On Friday (9th May), the last day of undergraduate teaching at Maynooth, I gave the last lecture in my module on Particle Physics. I actually finished the syllabus on Tuesday (6th) so the final one was more a revision class than a lecture. I used it to go through some past examination questions and (try to) answer some general points raised by the class.

What surprised me about this lecture was that, as has usually been the case, there was more-or-less a full attendance. Examinations in Maynooth start on Friday (May 16th), but the Particle Physics examination is not until May 27th, near the end of the examination period. I therefore expected that many students would be concentrating on their revision for their other modules, which have exams earlier in the season or finishing their projects (which are due in before the exams start). There were one or two absences, but most came anyway. In fact there was even an extra student, one of our MSc students. When I saw him at the back of the lecture hall I asked, jokingly, why he had come. He replied “I haven’t got anything better to do”. I wasn’t sure how to interpret that!

That lecture was at 11am. Later that day, at 3pm, I gave a Departmental colloquium (which had quite a big audience). The title was Euclid: The Story So Far and the abstract was

The European Space Agency’s Euclid satellite was launched on 1st July 2023 and, after instrument calibration and performance verification, the main cosmological survey is now well under way. In this talk I will explain the main science goals of Euclid, give a brief summary of progress so far, showcase some of the science results already obtained, and set out the time line for future developments, including the main data releases and cosmological analysis.

The audience for these talks is very mixed: experimental and theoretical physics staff, postgraduates and even some undergraduate students (including some who were in my lecture earlier) so it was quite a general talk rather than one I might give to an specialist astrophysics audience. If you’re interested you can find the slides here.

Having a quick cup of tea after the end of the talk and before I headed off to catch the train, I talked briefly with a student who is taking his final examinations at Maynooth this year. He told me that I had actually given the first lecture he attended when he had just started his first year and the colloquium was the last talk he would attend at Maynooth. That would be the case for quite a few students in the audience, I suppose, but it won’t be true for any in future: I am no longer teaching any modules taken by first year students, and I’ll be retired when the current first year students graduate…

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After the Lectures

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth, Music with tags , , on May 9, 2025 by telescoper

Today has been such a busy day that I’ve only got time for a quick post. This morning was spent preparing and delivering a revision lecture, and this afternoon preparing and delivering a Departmental Colloquium.  That done I headed straight for the railway station to get the train into Dublin and thence by foot to the National Concert Hall.

So here I am, sipping a glass of nicely chilled white wine as I wait for tonight’s performance. I’ll post a review tomorrow but, until then, Cheers!

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Guiding Lights

Posted in Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on May 8, 2025 by telescoper

Just a quick post to mention that this afternoon the Physics Department held a nice event about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Although today is the penultimate day of teaching, so many undergraduate students will have been busy finishing off their final assignments, it was well attended. I had to miss the first hour as I was involved in the Computational Physics lab until 4pm, so I missed the two presentations, but I took part in the panel discussion (that was largely about the results of a recent student survey held in the Department) and (of course) stayed for a glass of wine at the end. Well, done to the organizers (James, Emma and Graham) for organizing this event, which I hope will be the first of many!

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Examinations in May

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on May 5, 2025 by telescoper

In the Irish language, the month of May is called Bealtaine after the old Celtic festival that marks the mid-point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. May Day is Lá Bealtaine, one of the so-called Cross-Quarter Days that lie halfway between the equinoxes and solstices. The Bank Holiday associated with this day is not May 1st, as it is throughout Europe, but the first Monday of May, which this year means today. I’m therefore officially off work, though I have quite a few things to do so will be working from home for most of today.

This Bank Holiday offers a bit of a breather before the end of teaching term (Friday May 9th) and the start of the Examination period (Friday May 16th). There are just four more days of teaching, and I have just a couple more lectures to do. In a normal week I would have a Particle Physics tutorial this Monday afternoon, but instead I have offered to do one next Monday (12th) to go through the last assignment which is due in on Friday. The examination for Particle Physics is on 27th May, which is one of the last of the year; this is a final-year module so for many students it will be their last examination at Maynooth.

My Computational Physics students are working on their projects which are due in on Friday 9th; that gives me about a week to grade them before the examinations start. The Computational Physics written examination is on Monday May 19th and if all goes to plan I will have the projects marked before I embark on the examination scripts. Instead of formal teaching sessions, the computing lab, together with demonstrator assistance, is at the disposal of the students for their projects during this time. I anticipate plenty of last-minute acitivity in Thursday’s session!

Anyway, on Friday I have to give a Departmental Colloquium as well as my final Particle Physics lecture. Then, to mark the end of teaching, I’m going to the National Concert Hall to listen to some music. The next morning I’ll have to get up very early for the Darkness Into Light, which involves a 5km walk ending at sunrise.

After next week attention will turn to examinations. For me that’s not only in Maynooth. I haven’t mentiond it on here before but I have agreed to act as External Examiner for undergraduate Physics programmes at Imperial College, London, for the next few years. The meeting of the Examination Board there is not until July, which is long after ours in Maynooth so there will be no clash, but I have been doing some work (vetting papers, etc) alongside my own work. The examinations at Imperial take place roughly alongside ours, but there are so many more students there than at Maynooth that a longer time is needed for grading the scripts so the end of the process is much later.

In the past, I’ve been External Examiner in a number of UK universities. The last was Cambridge, in fact, where my term ended in 2017 while I was still working in Cardiff. I haven’t done any since moving to Ireland: being Head of Department, especially during lockdown, did not allow me the time. My term as External at Imperial will last until I retire, so this is the last such job I’ll be doing.

There’s quite a lot of work involved with being an External Examiner, but I always find it interesting to see how other institutions run their programmes. As well as providing feedback and, if necessary, advice to the Institution I always pick up interesting ideas from them too. Imperial’s Physics programmes are much broader than ours, so there’s a huge difference in scale, but I’m sure there will be things to learn. I mean in general terms, of course. All the details are confidential, for obvious reasons.

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Wyn Evans for Chancellor of Cambridge University!

Posted in Biographical, Education, Harassment Bullying etc with tags , , , , on May 4, 2025 by telescoper

I thought I’d post a quick follow-up to this post about the campaign by Prof. Wyn Evans to be the next Chancellor of Cambridge University. When I posted that item, Wyn was seeking enough nominations to stand for election. I’m very glad to pass on the news that he got over 100 nominations, more than twice the number required to stand for election. He is therefore an official candidate for the election that will take place in July. I am a graduate of Cambridge University and have registered to vote in the forthcoming election.

P.S. This all reminds me that a mere 40 years ago I was preparing for my finals at Cambridge. I still have the papers I sat then and will share them on the anniversary for old times’ sake. The first papers were on Wednesday 22nd May 1985.

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