dr. Marko Marinček
Fotona d.d.
I’ve been connected to physics in my professional life since I graduated. My way of thinking and my approach to situations is similar to tackling a physics problem. It helps me with organisation and leadership in my work. As I learnt in the course of my studies, physics students become particularly good at discerning important factors from less important ones and can behave accordingly.
Igor Verstovšek, univ. dipl. fiz. (Physics graduate)
Cosylab Ltd.
We had an exceptionally good physics teacher at my school (Gimnazija Bežigrad): Andrej Lobnik. He was very inspiring and 6 of 23 people in my physics class decided to study physics at university. My personal decision was also motivated by some other things: the reputation of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics as a serious and challenging institution; by my brother, who had successfully finished his physics degree course there; and by my own successes in physics competitions in high school.
Studying physics proved to be difficult, but most of the professors were fair. There is no easy way to get a degree in physics. In my experience, good grades were always a reflection of knowledge and understanding. Two professors stand out in my memory: Alojz Kodre and Janez Strnad. In his lectures, Strnad covered the basics of physics. He gave us a firm foundation for further studies and provided a basis for understanding a lot of the physics encountered in everyday life. The course given by Alojz Kodre taught us how to analyse and implement mathematical models in physics. It gave us the tools and the courage needed to solve the computational problems encountered by physicists in their professional lives.
As a group of fresh physics graduates, we started a company called Cosylab. As it turned out, we successfully applied the knowledge gained at university: in a short period of time, we became the world’s leading company in control systems for particle accelerators and we are now able to expand our sphere of activities. We learnt that physics graduates can thrive in the business world.
dr. Tomaž Katrašnik (PhD Physics)
Laboratory for Internal Combustion Engines, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
In the course of my physics studies, I acquired a broad spectrum of knowledge that has proved to be very useful in my work at the Laboratory for Internal Combustion Engines at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. What I learnt from lectures and my own personal studies helped me to quickly and thoroughly cover the new area of research. At the same time, I was able to bring my own fresh ideas into the new environment. An understanding of physics also helps me to assess the new trends in science swiftly yet critically. It makes my work easier and more interesting and is a source of great joy.
Metod Koželj, univ. dipl. meteorol. (Meteorology graduate)
Mobitel d.d.
I’ve liked physics since I first started studying it. My first physics teacher showed us that the subject was very exciting. At university I chose to study meteorology. I never planned an academic career. Instead I was expecting a suitable education for my chosen profession. I studied to be a meteorologist and also worked as one for a while.
Studying meteorology is very ‘homely’ as there are very few students. We all knew each other very well, students and professors. This had many advantages, such as flexibility with lectures, tutorials and exams, which were all of a high standard. There were also a few disadvantages, though. In the last two years, we hardly had any common lectures with the other physics students, so we drifted apart from them a bit; I missed spending time with them.
It is the analytical way of thinking that is probably the most important thing I learnt at university. It is impossible to get a degree in physics purely by memorising. I suppose most jobs in the modern world require very specific skills and one cannot get all of them at university. One gains these skills at a workplace, but a degree can be a good foundation. I’ve been given that broad and solid foundation at the Department of Physics. Being able to think analytically is crucial to my current work at Mobitel d.d., where I’m involved in the optimisation and troubleshooting of GSM and UMTS networks.
