Physics after Engineering

I got shortlisted for the interview at CESSI, IISER Kolkata for the MS Program in Space Physics. I attended my interview and got selected for the program. Now I'm currently studying here at CESSI. Requirements: Eligibility criteria is to qualify national level entrance exams like GATE (any field not necessarily physics), JEST. There is no such thing as cut off. You need to pass in any one of them with a valid score. Good aggregate in respective Btech curriculum and a good SOP that's submitted during the application. Basic knowledge of physics in Electromagnetic Theory, Quantum Mechanics, Mathematical Physics, Classical Mechanics and others. My Interview experience: This was the first ever interview that I gave. So the first question they asked me was the reason for my transition from Aerospace Engineering to Physics. Then they asked me which subject I was comfortable with, to which I answered EMT. My first question was on Maxwell's equations. One of them asked me t...

              Hello, fellow Astro-enthusiasts. In this blog, I will tell you about how I was able to enter into the field of astronomy/astrophysics despite my engineering background. I hope my experiences can be of some help to you.  Let's get started.  (If you are short on time, skip to Section 4) 1. Background I did my B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIIT Jabalpur. Although it is an institute of national importance, still it lacks the kind of courses or infrastructure IITs have. In my first year, I joined a research lab in our institute and experienced research in mechanical engineering. Though it was an important project, the work I was doing there lacked a certain gravity *no pun intended* to me.  I later got exposure to Astronomy through the Astronomy and Physics Society of our institute. A couple of my seniors were into astronomy and they told me about vast arrays of online courses available on platforms like ...

This post is for those passionate about research in Astronomy & Astrophysics. I will try to answer the following questions that usually arise in such an undergraduate student's mind: What type of work is done in  Space Science ? What background is required for research in  this field ? How do I get into this field? Do I really want to do research in Astrophysics/Astronomy or I should do something else? Which books should I read as a beginner in this field?         F irst of all, let's talk about what is Astrophysics & Astronomy and what do we really do in this field? In Astrophysics & Astronomy (let me call it Astro) we study the universe outside our earth. To do that we make use of information that reaches us from outer space. This information comes in the form of light (when I say light it means all electromagnetic waves) mostly and some other forms like gravitational waves, neutrinos etc. So light is an electromagnetic wa...