Om Gupta

Background

About Om Gupta

I'm a third year physics undergraduate at the University of Oxford primarily interested in theoretical physics. What interests me most about theory is the idea of using mathematics to create a framework in which to study physics and subsequently attempt to explain and model the world around us in terms of this framework. What I find particularly exciting, however, is the act of creation - the process of forming new physics through extensive research and collaboration. Over the summer, I had the opportunity of working with the plasma physics group here in Oxford under the supervision of Prof Michael Barnes investigating the nature of instabilities in 2D curvature ITGs in the short-wavelength limit. My work involved a combination of analytical physics making quantitative predictions based off existing literature, and computational physics where I made use of, and built, simulations and numerical tools to test these predictions (and which built on top of my earlier programming experience with OpenBB the previous summer) I found the work extremely rewarding which has strengthened my convictions of pursuing theoretical physics research in academia. Naturally, I'm looking forward to any other opportunities to gain more experience doing research in any field in theoretical physics. The intensive physics course here at Oxford and my experience winning gold in the International Physics Olympiad has ingrained in me strong problem-solving skills and provided a very thorough foundation in physics and mathematics that should serve me well in academia. I further intend to do the MMathPhys - Oxford's joint master's course in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics. In my free time, I organise events for the Indian community in Oxford serving on the committee of the Oxford India Society alongside playing the piano and cricket.