Physics
Overview
Welcome to the Library’s pages for Physics. Use the tabs to navigate to the different resources we have to support your study.
Resources for Physics
Books
- Print books: most titles relevant to Physics can be found on the second floor of the Library
- Electronic books: accessible via Summon
Other materials
- See the Databases tab for guidance on where to search for e-journal articles and other electronic content
Finding resources
- For guidance on sourcing relevant information sources for your research, try our Finding Resources pages
Depending on your particular area of study, you may also find it useful to consult other subject pages, e.g:
Some useful shelfmarks:
|
Subject |
Shelfmark |
|---|---|
| Mathematics | QA... |
| Astrophysics | QB460-QB466 |
| Quantum theory | QC174 |
| Optics & sound | QC220.5-QC246 |
| Electromagnetic theory | QC670 |
| Elementary particle physics | QC793-QC793.5 |
Shazia Arif
Subject Liaison Librarian
School of Engineering and Design
Tel: +44(0)1895 266145
Email Shazia
Databases
For a general search across multiple databases, search Summon.
Individual databases offer a more detailed comprehensive search. Those most relevant to your subject area have been selected below. For guidance on more specific types of information, such as Market Research, Raw Data, Standards and Patents, please see the links on our Research page.
Access to these e-resources is restricted to the students and staff of Brunel University for licensing and technical reasons. Some licence agreements may exclude access to databases and their contents from certain countries. It is your responsibility to comply with the terms and conditions of the relevant licence agreements - for more information see the copyright web page on databases - contact copyright@brunel.ac.uk if you have any questions.
Academic Search Complete
Contains full text articles from over 5,000 journals, covering many subjects, including anthropology, politics, political science, psychology, psychiatry, sociology and social work.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
IEEE/IET Electronic Library
Provides access to all IEEE and IET transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings published since 1988, plus IEEE standards. The database and journal collection are updated weekly.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Institute of Physics
Provides access to the full text of 32 IoP journals, from 1874 to date. Also includes the IoP historical archive, giving access to the full text of all IoP journals from 1874-1996.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is an etymological dictionary which is widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive record of the English language, tracing the evolution and use of more than 600,000 words through 3 million quotations. OED Online gives access to latest text of the full Oxford English Dictionary, the Historical Thesaurus of the OED and enable users new ways to explore the English language:
Search for new words by year, decade, or any date range. Set language in context: search by place, language type, and date to discover the impact of world events. OED Online is revised and updated at regular intervals and covers British, American, and other varieties of English, and all types of use, from formal to slang.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Scopus
Scopus is the largest ever bibliographic database and indexes over 20,000 titles from science, technology, medicine and the social sciences. This abstract only database is updated daily. Use Article Linker (AL - link to full text) to check for full text online sources.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Springer Link
Full text of most of the journals published by Springer-Verlag and Kluwer. For a short while you may also access the "old SpringerLink" from the new Springer Link via the link under the Brunel logo.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Web of Knowledge
Indexes journals and conference proceedings in the arts and humanities, social science and science and technology, providing abstracts to the majority, from 1970 to date. This abstract only database is updated weekly. Use Article Linker (AL) to check for full text online sources.
Alternative link (if above doesn't work)
Web Resources
General Guidance - read more
Gateways
The following links are created by people with specialist subject knowledge, usually information professionals, with the explicit aim of providing access to high quality information on the Internet. Every website included in a gateway has been carefully evaluated for quality and relevance. Sites are described in detail and grouped by subject to help you find exactly the information you want.
Intute: Physics
Provides easy access to quality Internet resources in physics as part of the Resource Discovery Network.
Online particle physics information
A guide to particle physics resources, maintained by staff from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
Portals and directories
The following links will provide access to a large amount of information within your subject area. However, not all the information may be relevant, and they do not discriminate between sites in terms of quality.
Google directory: Maths
A listing by category of resources found by the Google search engine.
Science research portal
A free, publicly available Internet web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases. Covers both comercial and free journal sources. DO NOT PAY for commercial sources - you may already have free access to it from the E-Journals Gateway.
Yahoo: mathematics section
A comprehensive directory of mathematics resources aimed at all levels.
News, newsgroups and mailing lists
Newsgroups are global discussion lists that enable you to read messages and pick up on discussions that are of interest to you and which you might wish to join in. Mailing lists allow e-mail messages to be sent to groups of people.
JISCmail: Physics
JISCmail is the national academic mailing list service sponsored by the Joint Information Systems Committee, for the UK Higher and Further Education communities, enabling members to stay in touch and share information by e-mail or via the web.
Physics news
AIP bulletin of physics news
Physics newsgroups
Introduction to the USENET hierarchy of newsgroups.
Organisational and Government - read more
Research and Open Access - read more
Resources
The particle detector briefbook
A condensed handbook covering subjects around particle detectors, the underlying physics and the analysis of their data. It is aimed at both newcomers and physicists working in the filed. it has been prepared by R.K.Bock at CERN, Geneva, and A.Vasilescu at IFA, Bucuresti.
The photonics dictionary
Contains more than 5800 photonics-related terms, along with acronyms, abbreviations and illustrations.
WWW virtual library: physics
A collection of physics-related resources, part of the oldest catalogue of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee.
Journals and preprints
You should use the E-journals gateway and the Catalogue to find the journals that Brunel Library subscribes to. Our collection of physics journals includes 32 journals published by the IoP.
arXiv.org
Directory and archive of preprint and e-print papers in physics. This archive is based upon activities supported by the US National Science Foundation with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and by the US Department of Energy.
Directory of open access journals
Provides a directory of free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. Of the 1612 journals in the directory, 450 are searchable at article level.
E-print network: research communcations for scientists and engineers
Front-engine tool to search across e-print and preprint repositories.
New journal of physics
Free full text of this peer-reviewed all-electronic journal publishing origional research in all areas of physics. It is a journal of the Institute of Physics and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center e-prints
Full text of all SLAC publications and reports.
This month's IoP papers
Free access to all papers published in Institute of Physics journals in the last 30 days.
Subject Specific - read more
Data
Fundamentals of physical constants
The values of the constants provided at this site are recommended for international use by CODATA and are the latest available. It is a service of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Physics Laboratory.
Review of particle physics
Data from an international collaboration that reviews particle physics and related areas of Astrophysics, and compiles/analyzes data on particle properties. This site mirrors the print equivelent - which is the most cited publication in particle physics in the last 10 years.
Table of Nuclides
A graphical interface to identify half-life, abundance, decay modes, spin, parity, and mass excess for known nuclides and their isomeric states. It is maintained by the Nuclear Data Evaluation Laboratory of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.
WebElements
A source of reference data relating to the elements of the periodic table, including electronic properties, physical properties, crystallography, and nuclear properties.
Computing resources
JISC UK mirror
A UK held collection of freely available, electronically stored material including software for several platforms, textual and numerical data, audio material, static and moving pictures and Web-based information.
Educational resources
The basics of MRI
Interactive multimedia tutorial created by Joseph Hornak, a Professor of Chemistry and Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The basics of NMR
Interactive multimedia tutorial created by Joseph Hornak, a Professor of Chemistry and Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Introduction to laser and electro-optics technology
Developed by the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) in 1970-1974 for technicians who build, modify, install, operate, troubleshoot, and repair lasers.
The particle adventure
Introduces the theory of fundamental particles and forces called the standard model.
Physical sciences centre
Education resouces for teachers of physics from the Higher Education Academy.
Physics 2000
A selective tour through twentieth century physics and its technological applications.
Polymers and liquid crstals
A virtual, interactive texbook, plus 'virtual lab' from Case Western Reserve University, in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials (ALCOM) at Kent State University.
Using Other Libraries
When conducting specialist research, Brunel Library may not always stock everything you need. If this happens, you have a number of options:
- Join SCONUL. This scheme will give you access to print resources in other university libraries in the UK and Ireland. More information…
- Find out which university has the book you need. More information…
- Apply for an InterLibrary Loan. More information…
Before you visit another library
If you do plan to visit another library, please check first of all that we do not have the item you need. Advice on using the library can be found on our Finding Resources page. Alternatively, please ask a member of staff at the Helpdesk or contact the Subject Liaison Librarian for your School.
Remember, if the item you need is on a reading list, we will make every effort to purchase this for the Library, so please let us know the details.
Where there are specific libraries of interest for your subject, these will be listed below.
Imperial College Central Library
Access: A member of SCONUL Access (restricted to staff and researchers only)
Address: South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ
Tel:
University College London
Access: Member of the SCONUL Access scheme (research students and staff only).
Address: Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 2000
Research
As well as the resources listed under the Databases and Web Resources tabs of this subject page, we have a number of other resources that could be of relevance to your research, such as:
Additionally, you may wish to refer our general Research page which comprehensively lists all of our Research Resources.
If you need help with using any of these resources, please contact the Subject Liaison Librarian for your School, details of which can be found from the Overview tab.
