Nobel Prize
by John at 10/05/2004 03:40:00 PM
The big news today is, of course, the Nobel Prize for Physics, awarded to David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczeck. They won for their work on the "strong" nuclear force that bind quarks together in nuclear particles. But you can read about that just about anywhere on the web.
Here at Goose the Blog, however, we have an exclusive. Dr. Politzer was my sophomore physics professor at Caltech. He tried to teach us all about quantum mechanics (well, as much QM as a sophomore needs to know). Sophomore physics has just about all the Caltech sophomores in it (about 200 students) so it is held in a large lecture hall.
Here are some stories (tending toward the sensational, of course):
1) Politzer once verbally chastized three girls (names withheld for privacy reasons) because they were giggling in class. Giggling in class, in his estimation, was worse than sleeping in class, because sleepers were at least only wasting their own time. I had been asleep up to the point his tirade began.*
2) He said (regarding a quiz or midterm), "I bet you think I pulled those questions out of my asshole!" and then went on to explain to us that it was OK to use the word asshole in this context, because he was using it anatomically, not as a pejorative.
3) He said, "Don't look at it, 'cause it's a fucking bright light!" just before peforming an experiment in front of the class. I have no recollection of what the experiment was.
4) In another experiment (well, it *might* be the same experiment as above) he made Helium-4 superfluid, the mysterious state of helium that forms at very low temperatures, when helium atoms stop acting like fermions and start acting like bosons. Cool! Note that I probably have the physics wrong.
5) Once I walked into class and Dr. Politzer was sitting cross-legged on the massive, soapstone topped lab table at the front of the room, playing a flute or a piccolo or panpipes. My memory is fuzzy - maybe it was a ukelele or a banjo.
6) It was the rumor that Dr. Politzer did all the chalk board equations for the movie "Fat Man and Little Boy" which was about the development of the A-bomb during WWII.
Congratulations to David Politzer and the other two guys I didn't know for their award!
______
*Update: I just remembered this part. The girls were sitting just next to me - when I awoke from my semi-stupor, I thought he was yelling at me! I almost had a heart attack.
Here at Goose the Blog, however, we have an exclusive. Dr. Politzer was my sophomore physics professor at Caltech. He tried to teach us all about quantum mechanics (well, as much QM as a sophomore needs to know). Sophomore physics has just about all the Caltech sophomores in it (about 200 students) so it is held in a large lecture hall.
Here are some stories (tending toward the sensational, of course):
1) Politzer once verbally chastized three girls (names withheld for privacy reasons) because they were giggling in class. Giggling in class, in his estimation, was worse than sleeping in class, because sleepers were at least only wasting their own time. I had been asleep up to the point his tirade began.*
2) He said (regarding a quiz or midterm), "I bet you think I pulled those questions out of my asshole!" and then went on to explain to us that it was OK to use the word asshole in this context, because he was using it anatomically, not as a pejorative.
3) He said, "Don't look at it, 'cause it's a fucking bright light!" just before peforming an experiment in front of the class. I have no recollection of what the experiment was.
4) In another experiment (well, it *might* be the same experiment as above) he made Helium-4 superfluid, the mysterious state of helium that forms at very low temperatures, when helium atoms stop acting like fermions and start acting like bosons. Cool! Note that I probably have the physics wrong.
5) Once I walked into class and Dr. Politzer was sitting cross-legged on the massive, soapstone topped lab table at the front of the room, playing a flute or a piccolo or panpipes. My memory is fuzzy - maybe it was a ukelele or a banjo.
6) It was the rumor that Dr. Politzer did all the chalk board equations for the movie "Fat Man and Little Boy" which was about the development of the A-bomb during WWII.
Congratulations to David Politzer and the other two guys I didn't know for their award!
______
*Update: I just remembered this part. The girls were sitting just next to me - when I awoke from my semi-stupor, I thought he was yelling at me! I almost had a heart attack.
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