What makes a good choice of physicist?

This project is aiming to highlight contemporary and/or underrepresented physicists producing high-impact research that can help facilitate teaching physics topics in the classroom. The best type of physicists to choose is someone you are inspired by.

For example, if there is someone in your field doing high-impact research that you think deserves more recognition in the community, or has the potential to inspire students in the classroom, this is a good physicists to feature.

It is important to keep in mind that the slides you create should be aimed at undergraduate physics students or lower, and therefore should reflect that level of knowledge. The physicist's research should compliment a teaching concept that is typically taught in this level of classroom.

What makes a good set of slides?

Effective slides, in this context, present a physics concept simply with multiple modes of communication.

For example, effective slides demonstrate a concept visually, through writing and/or mathematics, and clearly link the concept to the relevant research. For more complex concepts, it's good practice to create several slides introducing the more fundamental concepts.

How do I go about researching a scientist?

Good places to start are Wikipedia, their personal website, and their university website (if they're affiliated with a university). After getting an idea of what the research entails, a useful practice is to find a public lecture online given by the researcher. Public lectures are great for getting both a general overview of their research and a detailed explanation of what they do.

For more in-depth information, you can read scientific articles published by the researcher. If you are an undergraduate working on making slides, this may be time-consuming and overwhelming, but reading the abstract and conclusion, as well as looking at figures, is usually sufficient to get the gist of a paper.

What types of things should I include in the slides?

To start, choose which particular aspects of research you wish to present (it is usually not possible to present all aspects of a physicist's research). Then, break up this aspect into fundamental concepts required to understand the research. With these fundamental concepts, decide on how they link to concepts that might be taught in the context of a physics classroom. The slides should make a clear link between classroom physics and the research, and present a clear teaching moment. One slide per concept is customary.

Using the template:

Download it here:

Or preview it here:

Introduction slide:

The first slide should be a simple introduction to the researcher, including a photograph of the physicist and a brief description of their work. It's nice to include a picture which shows the physicist either in their workplace or doing science. Other images that compliment the description can be added in as well; PNGs look particularly good in this format. Key words in the description can be marked in bold.

Science slides:

This is where the meat of the content will be presented. These slides are meant to teach physics concepts in the context of contemporary research. It's best to order the slides in increasing complexity, such that earlier slides introduce more basic concepts and later slides use those concepts to introduce more complex areas of research. Each slides should be focused on teaching one core concept, and should include both text describing the concept and some type of image or plot to supplement. Examples of suitable images include plots from the publication being discussed, labelled and simplified diagrams, images of research applications, etc.

It is sometimes helpful to first find an important figure you would like to present, and then design the slides around that.

Legacy and societal relevance slides:

Slides can also be included outlining the legacy of said researcher in other scientific fields and in society. For example, Chien Shiung Wu is featured on this website and the last slides discuss how her research went on to impact other fields such as Cosmology and Material Science. We also include a slide discussing the Nobel Prize awarded to Wu's colleagues and how many people believe that she was equally worthy of recognition, but that biases in the scientific community meant that she was overlooked.

These types of slides are meant to introduce a wider context to the work of the researcher, both in the scientific world and in everyday life.

I've created the slides: what now?

Deciding on topics and classes

Once you have a set of slides made, we need to integrate them into the website and make them searchable. There are two main databases for searching: Search by Physics Topic, and Search by McGill Course. In order to feature your slides and researcher in these databases, you must decide on relevant topics to be featured in, and relevant McGill classes to be featured in.

To decide on a topic, first take a look at what topics are already featured in the database and decide if any of those topics fit the area of research you are featuring. If none are relevant, you can suggest a new topic, but be aware that it should not be so narrow that only this researcher will ever be listed under it on this website.

To decide on relevant classes, visit the McGill Physics website to view class names and syllabi (links available on Search by McGill Course page) and try to find classes that will introduce the concepts you are aiming to teach with your slides.

Editing and reviewing

Send in your slides and class/topic choices to classroomphysicists@physics.mcgill.ca .

If you are making slides for a research course, under the supervision of a professor, and by recommendation of a professor, run the slides by the professor first to check for science mistakes. We can them review the slides to make sure they fit the context of the website, and may ask to adjust certain aspects. If all is good, your slides will then be featured permanently on this website. Congratulations!

Need help? Contact us!