5 ways I use code as an astrophysicist

00:00 - Introduction
00:41 - What is coding?
02:48 - 1. Image Processing
04:26 - 2. Data Analysis
06:05 - 3. Model Fitting
08:07 - 4. Data Visualisation
08:51 - 5. Simulations
15:11 - Learn to code with Brilliant
16:51 - Bloopers

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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.

[LeonoraTindall]

As a software engineer who uses a lot of code written by medical researchers - please don't just learn the basics! If you're going to publish your code, it's just as important as the text and figures of your paper. Comments, modularity, good variable and procedure names, and most importantly documentation of how to use the code is critical.

Dr. Smethurst, I think this is a great intro to how important software can be. A lot of engineers don't think of it this way, but I definitely think we should be making computers easy for everyone to program - so that writing good code is easy and you can focus on the interesting parts of your science!

[Pablo-Herrero]

This is the kind of channel I like to watch to distract me from my day job: coding...

[SylviusTheMad]

When I was an Astrophysics student, we were told the most likely career for someone with an undergraduate astrophysics degree was computer programmer. There was even a local engineering company that specifically recruited physics and astrophysics students as programmers because they approached problems differently from comp-sci students.

[RJRJ]

The amount of time I've spent on stack exchange for work is unreal. The best thing about coding is that 99.9% of anything you need to code has been coded before and shared online.

[ariochiv]

"Learn to code" is pretty good advice for anyone doing anything even remotely technical.

[kiarajacob]

Thank you so much for this! I was confused between pursuing astrophysics and comp sci.(leaning more towards astro ofc) until I watched your day in the life vlog and I realised I could pursue astrophysics and get the best of both worlds! I would have never been able to make the decision if it wasnt for the videos you make! Your such an inspiration!! I hope I can study at oxford one day.(I like cambridge a lil more though😂)

[theironherder]

I coined a nearly relevant saying: "Computers will always do exactly what you tell them to do, and if you're lucky, they'll also do what you want them to do."

[condorboss]

4:18 "Messy, fresh off the telescope images like this:" _Shows fuzzy blob_
4:23 "Into useful scientific images like this:" _Shows Eye of Sauron_

[xjohnny]

I wish more scientists shared how much of their work life is coding. A lot of people think coding is for making apps and that's it.

[Emily-flfs]

This is perfectly timed, I started learning python about a week ago because I want to study physics/astrophysics at uni (I’m year 12 rn) 😊

[KevinLyda]

As a CS coder person, your description of code was brilliant, "a language that both you and the computer understand."

This is perfect. You're writing something that has two very different audiences. A very dumb, pedantic but very fast savant - the compiler. Most people know that, but the other audience for code, and arguably the most important, are other people. Be it you six months later or someone else tomorrow. You have to communicate ideas to them. Comments are a crutch to that, but the code itself should do that.

Really well done video. Love it.

[brianlhughes]

At my first programming job I got to code in Assembler on the mainframe! I'm retired now but I still code, I find it relaxing.

[anwyl]

I love seeing stuff from real astrophysicists working on simulations. I'm a programmer self-teaching astrophysics to make a live simulator, and these kinds of things keep me going.

[trevinbeattie]

About ten years ago a friend asked me to help tutor him in FORTRAN as he was studying climatology in college. As a general computer programmer I’m quite rusty in that language, but we muddled through it. In principle so long as you understand what the capabilities of any computer language are, the rest is just making sure you are using the correct syntax to express your instructions.

[corriedotdev]

Doing a PhD in CS and really looking forward to learning to code. Been doing it for a solid 10 years now.. look forward to figuring it out anyday now 😌

[bonkonthetronk]

I was using python and LaTeX for school as this notification popped up, really interesting topic!

[paulmillcamp]

It's great to see that giant book, Feynman's Lectures on Physics, being put to good use as a laptop stand haha :D

Keep on coding and sciencing, Dr. Becky!

[xonikkiecal]

Thank you I needed this. I’m applying for PhD positions for Astrophysics and Cosmology rn, and other than my research looking for candidate ultra faint dwarf galaxies using Jupyter Notebooks, I’m super intimidated by code. I’ve heard from people in the field that we tend to take bits and pieces from other code to build our own… it’s just scary when we focus on classes in undergrad and are expected to teach ourselves how to code at the same time.

[bimblinghill]

Thanks for this! Just the inspiration I need for another day learning Python. I did the Brilliant course & it was a good start, but only takes you so far. I followed with the excellent 'Python Crash Course' book by Eric Matthes. Now working through 'Automate the Boring Stuff in Python' by Al Sweigart which is also very good. Oh, the hours I could've saved over the years if I'd known this stuff before.

[Sheds]

Yay, my area of experience! Well coding in FORTRAN but haven't yet learnt Python. I first learnt FORTRAN at school back in the 1970s and my first job was going to be a simulation engineer in aerospace, but I ended up writing real-time code in assembler instead. PS love the use of "Feynman Lectures on Physics, boxed set" as a laptop riser!