/v/irgin here, this may be strange and I'm not even sure it's topical for the board but I have a question.
I have a cousin who has just graduated from college and has become a physicist. He's fucking awesome so I want to get him a Christmas gift but I need opinions on what a physicist would like. Any ideas?
>>7640020
You should get him some dark matter.
>>7640020
>just graduated from college
Booze. He's a recently graduated student. Get him a normal gift like all people his age. You shouldn't buy gifts like books, hobbyshit or novelty items unless you know that person really really well. Get consumables for people who aren't your girlfriend/close friend.
...unless you can afford to buy him a cyclotron or something. Then get him that.
>>7640020
That's a tough question, anon, but I can tell you about something he'll definitely NOT like: popsci books. Non-science people will tend to think we'll love those while nothing could be further from the truth.
pic related, received it years ago, still haven't opened it
>>7640029
Ye, if you really want to buy him a book get him something by Dirac (Quantum Mechanics/General Relativity) or some shit like that. Or you can just get him booze like the guy above said.
>>7640022
>>7640026
>>7640039
I'd get him booze, but he doesn't drink.
>>7640020
I don't know if I'm speaking for the majority of physicsfags here, but I really love ancient measuring instruments. My parents once offered me barometer from the early 19th century (looks a bit like pic related). It's quite big and has a value was around 1000€, but you can certainly find something smaller and less expansive.
But then again, maybe it's just me.
>>7640020
Get him a copy of Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (in english)
>>7640047
Teetotaller eh?
See now the problem with books is that you don't know what modern textbooks he already has (something like Lancaster's QFT book would be a great gift for a recent physics grad, but you don't know if he already has it or not) on the other hand significant classical textbooks are available on the internet for free (while specially printed hard copies are abysmally expensive). Like the other anon said pop-sci is garbage and we fucking hate it.
You can't really get him fiction or a popular history book because you probably don't know him well enough or you wouldn't have made this thread.
Most cheap science gimmick things are meant for kids and not appropriate. Quality telescopes etc. are to expensive.
hmm.
>>7640049
>mfw my family used to own that exact same one
It was is much worse condition but it was the exact same fucking thing, and you just reminded me of it. I wonder where it went.
>>7640049
>a value was around 1000€
That can't be right...
>>7640066
I was considering pic related, would that count as science gimmick?
>>7640080
No I meant like crappy science experiments (chemistry sets etc).
Everything in that pic is pretty cool. I would appreciate gifts like that.
>>7640020
a blowjob
>>7640083
Ah. I see.
>>7640066
I'm seconding a telescope. But if you're gonna do that you should pitch in with other family members to get a really nice one. Then you could all use it together. Sharing is caring, Christmas spirit, etc.. What kind of physics did he study?
>>7640080
>Dinosaur skin
wat
>>7640085
Cool, guess that settles it then. Thanks, /sci/guys.
>>7640096
Fossilized, I assume.
>>7640104
I didn't know that even existed.
>>7640111
It's less common but it happens.
>>7640096
>>7640104
there are occasional skin impressions, and there are even some mummies, in which a dino died in an arid environment and was dried out and buried by windblown sand. the skin, without sufficient moisture to support decomposition, ended up being preserved until it could be remineralized during diagenesis
extremely rare though
>>7640057
great idea.
