Phys. Status Solidi C 6, No. 11, 2253–2259 (2009) / DOI 10.1002/pssc.200982051 c solidi pssstatus www.pss-c.com physica current topics in solid state physics John A. Wheeler’s lessons to an undergraduate student Allen P. Mills, Jr.* University of California, Riverside, 92521, USA Received 15 January 2009, accepted 6 February 2009 Published online 16 October 2009 PACS 01.60.+q, 01.65.+g * e-mail
[email protected] The author had the good fortune to write his May 1961 Junior ing the paper were preserved and are exhibited here. While research paper “Determination of the Curvature Tensor” un- not valuable scientifically, this material is presented to illus- der the guidance of Professor John Archibald Wheeler (July trate the teaching lavished on an undergraduate and some- 9, 1911 – April 13, 2008). By a series of miraculous mishaps thing about the character and philosophy of the teacher. several of Wheeler’s note sheets as well as his letter critiqu- © 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 1 Private lessons I attended Princeton University Hall, upon whose roof Prof. Robert H. Dicke would later and graduated in the Class of 1962. I had the good fortune mount his microwave apparatus for detecting the Big Bang to write my May 1961 Junior research paper “Determina- [4] and his telescope for measuring the oblateness of the tion of the Curvature Tensor” under the guidance of Pro- sun as a test of the Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor gravity the- fessor John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911 – April 13, ory [5].