89695 nsh For Institute of Physics Undergraduate Bursary.... Write a succinct personal statement making the case for why you should be considered for an award: In René Daumal’s allegorical novel Mount Analogue, the protagonists, having attained through grand deduction the well-hidden island whereon rises (literally) unto heaven the eponymous mountain, are straightways besieged by diversions - economic and intellectual - which threaten to distract them from their intended purpose of ascent. Their leader counsels against pursuit of these trifles, warning of the ease with which such minutiae can devour the greater intent. Daumal’s mountain stands in beautiful counterpoint to the “great ocean of undiscovered truth”, by which it pleased Newton to amuse himself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell. Of his seminal contributions -- from which we mortgage the calculus and universal gravitation -- he noted, “All this was in the two plague years of 1665 and 1666, for in those days I was in my prime of age for invention, and minded mathematics and philosophy more than at any time since.” Newton’s age in 1666 is my own this year, and while I entertain no pretension to future Master of the Mint, I hold to my credit that the great climber of shoulders minded well his pebbles, rather than peddling mint ice-cream from a stand on the promenade – and I am of no mind to climb his broad shoulders minding other than mathematics and philosophy. 3466181851 #swhack None TRUE