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“What is the best license plate (vanity plate) you've ever seen?”There are two that come to mind.I live in the city of Waterloo, Ontario. I happened to see someone drive by me with plates that read “H2O LOO”. It took me a second, then I almost went off the road laughing.The other one was one for the books.I followed this car for about 10 minutes; it was a Honda Civic, all tricked out, custom spoiler, the whole works. It also had a very small Star Wars sticker in the back window. The license plate read “STH LRD”.I laughed so hard. “OH MY GOD, WHAT A NERD! IT SAYS ‘SITH LORD’!!!”Then I stopped laughing. I got it right away…

He stayed away from the front line, not so much because it was prudent to do so when you are not only the mastermind genius behind the whole operation, but also the Emperor of France, but because it would be impossible to command his enormous army against an equally numerous opponent .The battle of Waterloo was fought with over 140,000 soldiers, from seven nations each with their own commanders.Napoleon had access to the French system ofuniversal conscription. He formed enormous armies by drafting military aged males from across France. Prior to this, armies were formed from volunteers, mercenaries, and from impressment.The War of 1812, which started just three years before Waterloo, had as one of its principle causes the practice of the British Navy of forcibly removing sailors that were suspected of being British deserters from American vessels. At home in Great Britain, "press gangs" would raid districts of cities and grab able bodied men, often poor unlucky drunks, and these captives would be the manpower for the British fleet. (Next time you watch Master & Commander, remember that the officers and the ship's surgeon are likely the only ones that are on that ship voluntarily.)Napoleon simply conscripted the men he needed from all over the country. Soon after, other nations adopted the practice in order to combat his massive armies.This practice led to the development of the large national armies we are familiar with in the modern era.In our times, it is difficult to understand the scope of an enormous battle like Waterloo, largely because we are understanding warfare of that time from depictions in modern movies and documentaries. The biggest battles we see are ones like in the D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan, or the battles in Braveheart, which appear epic in size, and compared to some other battle scenes, they are, but consider that they only filmed for Braveheart with about 3,000 extras. For comparison, during one phase of the Waterloo battle, the French attacked with 9,000 cavalrymen.Consider the cost and logistical and cinematic nightmare of hiring even 10% of the 140,000 men that fought at Waterloo to film your epic war movie.How in the world would you even film that? How would you show that on the screen? I suppose helicopters and drones would have to do the job. Assuming you only had the extras simply march straight at each other like in those scenes from Braveheart or Gladiator, you would only get a small number of men in the shot anyway.For the sake of brevity, I am going to use some contemporary paintings of the battle from Wikipedia to give you an idea of why none of the commanders of the respective armies were fighting hand to hand or standing in a column trading musket ball volleys with the opposing infantry.​​​​​​​​​Note the scale of the map in the lower right. This thing is BIG!Napoleon had a tower built so he could see what was going on.​​​​​​​​​And there was a great deal of maneuvering. You will need to pay close attention to a map of the battle if you ever read a book written about it. Here is a simplified one about one phase of the main battle.​​​​​​​​The names in all-caps are the names of various commanders leading several large corps.A corps looks something like what's shown in this painting of another phase of the battle. Note the columns of French infantrymen extending to the right horizon.​​​​​​​ Here is some perspective on the great French cavalry charge:​​​​​​ Be sure to zoom in the pic to see some of the enormous quantity of cavalry that are attacking. See also the clouds of smoke rising from the hills from the hundreds of cannons firing at the British.What good would Napoleon do his army by fighting hand to hand in these two scenes?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Very few of his men in his immediate vicinity would even be aware of his presence on the front line to inspire them.He needed to be back at the tower to coordinate and lead the battle. The junior generals leading the brigades needed to be close to the front in order to do their job and carry out the orders issued to them from the senior commanders. The generals getting killed in battle from this period in warfare are largely drawn from this group.Next time you watch, "Gettysburg", notice the senior generals like Lee and Longstreet never get closer than telescope range to the front. Even the division commanders like Pickett kept a "healthy" distance. The generals getting killed are the brigade leaders (junior field grade officers) maneuvering the assault units.The incidents of Napoleon fighting from the front are from his time when he was a junior officer, not L'Empereur.I hope this gives a fuller picture of what was going on with generalship at this time in history.You should find a good book about the battle and about Napoleon and also the Duke of Wellington (Napoleon's adversary at Waterloo)! Truly an epic time in history filled with amazing personalities.EDIT: If you are having trouble seeing the paintings in this post, you can see them in the Wikipedia article on the Battle of Waterloo. I don't know how to post links to the images without the Quora app simply putting a duplicate picture underneath the original. If anyone knows how to do it, please feel free to let me know!If you like this answer, please upvote it! Thanks!

Studying at Perimeter Institute is an awesome experience! It's also very different than studying anywhere else in the world. But let's start with...1. What is Perimeter Institute?Perimeter Institute (PI for short) is not a university, nor is it part of any university. It's an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific research, training and outreach and focusing on theoretical physics.The main research areas at PI are:Cosmology,Condensed Matter,Mathematical Physics,Particle Physics,String Theory (including Quantum Field Theory),Foundations of Quantum Mechanics,Quantum Gravity,Quantum Information,Strong Gravity.This is not just a random list of topics; each one corresponds to a separate research group, and each group has its own seminars, meetings and so on. However, there is also a lot of collaboration between the different groups, and many of the researchers at PI belong to two or more groups.2. AcademicsNext, let's talk about what exactly "studying at Perimeter Institute" means. Since it is not an academic institution, PI does not grant degrees. However, it does offer two programs for graduate students.The Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) program is a one-year master's program. Students take a minimum of 12 theoretical physics courses during a period of 8 months; each course is 3 weeks long, but contains roughly the same material as the corresponding full-semester course in most universities. Students also undertake a research project with a PI faculty member and write a thesis. In the end, they receive an MSc degree from the University of Waterloo. The program is very challenging, but also very rewarding.PI also offers a PhD program. All PhD students are enrolled in the university to which their supervisor is affiliated (not necessarily the University of Waterloo). They receive the PhD degree from that university, and are also subject to the individual degree requirements of that university. However, physically they work at PI itself and enjoy all of the benefits it has to offer. In almost all cases, students must first complete the PSI program before they can be enrolled in the PhD program.3. The LocationPI is located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It's a relatively small city (population of about 100,000) in Southern Ontario, about 100 km from Toronto. Waterloo is also home to the University of Waterloo, with over 30,000 students.Since it is a small city, there isn't really much to "do" in Waterloo itself. This can be a problem for some people. However, for people (like me) whose idea of fun is playing board games and maybe catching a movie every once in a while, and who like peace and quiet, the location is ideal. PI itself also offers many activities for those who like to keep busy (as I'll expand on below).4. The Building & FacilitiesIt's hard not to be inspired when you do your research in a building that looks like this:This picture was taken in August; it looks very different in November, when the snow starts falling:Here's the front of the building:Here's the other side (now we're back to August):And here's the sunset as seen from there: (Honestly, I just included this picture because it looks cool...)I've taken many pictures of the inside of the building, but I won't upload all of them to Quora. If you're curious you're welcome to check my (public) Facebook album here: Inside PI.So what's inside? Here's an incomplete list:A few classrooms that also double as seminar rooms.The famous Black Hole Bistro, where students, faculty and staff eat throughout the day.The Mike Lazaridis Theater of Ideas, a huge auditorium where, in particular, PI public lectures take place. (I'll talk about the public lectures below.)The George Liebbrandt Library, hosting an extensive collection of physics and math books available for loan to all PI researchers.Lots and lots of blackboards. There are blackboards in every room and office, as well as in public areas and along the walls of every corridor. The public blackboards are a great place for researchers to exchange ideas and for students to work on problems together. On a busy day you will not be able to find a single blank blackboard.Things to do when you're not working: there is a room with a piano if you want to play some music; a pool table and a foosball table to play with friends; a surprisingly large gym to exercise in; A squash court; showers (complete with a sauna); or you could just sit next to the fireplace in one of the many lounges and read a book.In short, although it's only one building, it's quite self-contained; it has most of what a student or researcher will ever need.5. ResearchPI is a very prolific research institute with around 200 researchers (from grad students to full-time faculty) working on almost every known research area in theoretical physics.It's also an international convergence point for theoretical physicists from around the world to meet and share ideas. In any given week there are several seminars and colloquiums given by researchers visiting from various universities. All of them are recorded and available online for free at Perimeter Institute Recorded Seminar Archive (PIRSA).PI is also famous - or maybe "infamous" - for promoting "non-mainstream" theories and ideas. For example, it's one of the few places in the world where you'll find a large and prolific research group in Quantum Gravity. People in this group (which I am a member of) work on many different approaches to Quantum Gravity that are less "popular" than the "mainstream" approach, String Theory.To be clear, there is also a research group dedicated to String Theory; the nice thing is that both mainstream and non-mainstream approaches are given equal importance.6. Scientific OutreachAs mentioned above, PI is dedicated to scientific research, training and outreach. So far I've mostly talked about research and training. Outreach is no less important, and it's yet another feature that makes PI a special place to study or work at. There are many Outreach Programs at PI, and participating in them is very rewarding if you like explaining physics to the general public (as I do).First, there are the monthly public lectures. They are given by distinguished scientists from around the world, and are aimed at the general public, with no prior knowledge necessary. Tickets to physically attend the lectures are always sold out very quickly, but the lectures are also broadcast live online. Any student or researcher can volunteer to answer questions from the public, both at PI itself - before and after the lecture - and in the live chat during the lecture. I myself do it every month and it's a lot of fun. Check out the website here and the trailer below:There are also activities aimed at high-school students. In addition to the International Summer School for Young Physicists (ISSYP), researchers at PI (including myself) often give lectures about physics or math to high-school students, either at PI itself or at the schools.This year, PI also participated in the MegaMenger Project, which had quite impressive results, as can be seen in this video:Many other outreach activities are listed on the Outreach Website.7. Leisure ActivitiesPI keeps its students, researchers and staff busy with many activities throughout the year. There's a weekly movie night at the Theater. There's yoga, massage therapy and some sports-related activities. There are activities suitable for your kids (if you have any) such as family night at the Bistro and holiday-related activities such as pumpkin carving for Halloween.What else? There are musical activities such as concerts by famous musicians, or open mic nights if you want to play the music yourself. And of course there are parties and other fun stuff. So if you're looking for things to do, you don't even need to get out of PI.8. ConclusionPerimeter Institute is, in my opinion, one of the best places in the world for anyone interested in study and research in theoretical physics. I hope I managed to convey that in my answer :)