Last week we hosted Maddy, our final work experience student for 2022. Maddy had already told us that she was interested in quantum physics but when she arrived, we had a discussion and decided together that she would do some research into black holes.

Maddy spent the whole week reading not only about black holes, but about special relativity and general relativity as well. She even encountered some very hypothetical concepts such as ‘white holes’.

Maddy’s report that she wrote us is too long to post on our blog, but here’s what she had to say about her week of work experience with us:

“As well as learning about the nature and theories surrounding black holes, I have also gained an insight into the research process, where many sources can provide information that is unreliable. In addition, I have improved my understanding into some of the complex mathematics that goes into concepts such as general relativity, which contains complicated solutions which required the knowledge of high-level ideas in mathematics to grasp.

Throughout the course of this week, I was treated as a research student, which involved being given large amounts of independence surrounding what project I could choose to undertake, as well as how I would manage my time when carrying out this research. I greatly enjoyed this freedom as it allowed me to explore a rich topic that I had not yet seen in such a level of depth. I had not expected to have been able to carry out a project of my choosing, which came as a welcome surprise.

Before starting this work experience, I was interested in a career as a physics researcher, and this week has helped to reinforce this career path as highly interesting, engaging and something I would want to do in the future. This week has helped to further my curiosity surrounding the mathematics found in high level physics as it is intricate and something I had not yet fully encountered before this week.”