Giving students a taste of research
Michael Thoennessen · Physics World · 2008
When I was studying physics at the University of Cologne, Germany – admittedly a fairly long time ago – I once carried out an experiment that involved counting hundreds of pendulum oscillations. Using just a stopwatch to roughly measure the period of the oscillation we determined g, the gravitational acceleration on Earth. It was rote, tedious and only roughly accurate work. It was not an experience that inspired me to pursue a career in physics.