Physics Department Newsletter SEPTEMBER 2007 ON-CAMPUS EDITION Gates Rydell Professorship a Rousing Success Fall Semester 2007 This past spring, under the auspices of the Einstein’s long, Robert E. and Susan T. Rydell Professor- ultimately un- Dates to Remember ship, Dr. Sylvester James Gates, Jr. spent successful quest • Sept. 4 Classes Begin the semester at Gustavus. Along for what he with Dr. Steve Mellema of the Gustavus called a “unified • Oct. 2-3 Nobel Conference physics department, he taught a course field theory.” • Oct. 20-23 Reading Days entitled “Superstring/M-Theory: The But while string DNA of Reality?” Gates, who is the John theory is cur- • Oct. 29—Nov 1 January S. Toll Professor of Physics at the Univer- rently a very Term Registration sity of Maryland and a world-renowned hot topic of expert in string theory, first spoke to a interest in both • Nov. 4-15 Spring Registration Gustavus audience as an invited speaker at the scientific • Nov. 21-25 Thanksgiving our 2005 Nobel Conference on “The Leg- and popular acy of Einstein.” arenas, it has Professor Gates enjoys an early winter snow- Recess been consid- The title of the course, especially the sig- storm in St. Peter ered controver- • Dec. 17-20 Final Exams nificant question mark with which it ends, sial by some because it has yet to make any stems from the fact that string theory is an prediction that can be directly tested ex- attempt to answer the question, “What is perimentally. the most fundamental entity underlying all matter and energy in the universe?” Such a (Continued on page 2) Inside this issue: “theory of everything” was the essence of Paul Saulnier Speaks on 3 Honors Day Gustavus’ Physics Ph.D. Production Outstanding 2007 Physics Graduates 5 The most recent 5-year data from the Na- Ph.D.’s). Other Minnesota liberal arts col- Annual Student Awards 8 tional Science Foundation tracking the leges with substantial physics Ph.D. pro- Guest Speakers 9 baccalaureate origins of Ph.D.’s in physics duction in the same time period included have put Gustavus among the top colleges Carleton (12) and St. Olaf (8). Student Summer Intern- 10 and universities across the nation. In the To compare with other kinds of institu- ships period from 2001-2005, 17 former Gusta- tions, if these numbers are divided by the Physics Alums win Na- 12 vus graduates obtained Ph.D. degrees in total undergraduate enrollment to calculate tional Awards physics. Among liberal arts colleges, Gus- Physics Faculty News 13 tavus was second only to Reed College (25 (Continued on page 3) PAGE 2 PHYSICS DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER Spring 2007 Course on Superstring Theory (Continued from page 1) are testable. And, by studying a history of the ideas of physics from the ancient Greeks to the 21st century, they came to an understanding of how string theory fits into the realm of science. Along the way, they ex- plored themes and connections among science and mathematics, religion, philosophy and culture. Originally envisioned as a course strictly for students with majors outside the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines, the actual class composition ended up being almost half physics majors. This changed the character of the course, and led to an interesting synergy whereby the physics ma- jors were sometimes placed in mentoring roles. All in all, it was a very successful semester. Here are some Superstring theory predicts the existence of a comments from some of the students’ final papers: heretofore undetected set of particles known as “As a physics major, I tend to think of science only in “superpartners”. terms of the results: theories, laws, and equations, but Since science, and physics in particular, deals with this string theory class opened my eyes to the broader ideas that are falsifiable through experimental observa- meaning of science, as knowledge of our reality and tions, Dr. Gates readily admits that this means that the processes by which it is obtained.” “string theory is not yet physics.” However, Profes- “I was not sure that an English major like myself sors Gates and Mellema agreed that string theory would be able to understand theoretical physics. To made the perfect vehicle to teach a general-education my surprise, however, I found that I was more quali- course about the nature of the scientific enterprise. fied than I had known, and that I could understand Introduced into the public imagination recently most of the concepts presented in class.” through popular books and television programs like “Although I have taken many science courses and am Brian Greene’s “The Elegant Universe,” the topic of currently planning on majoring in biology, I never string theory attracted an eager audience of students really understood the nature of science until I took this spring. The enrollment was eventually capped at this course. ” 24 because of limited sets of equipment with which laboratory experiments could be performed. “Before I had the opportunity in this class, I thought of science in a way that many non-STEM people think The thread of the course was based around a series of of it—as something for people who like memorizing Professor Gates’ lectures developed on DVD for The facts and formulas, and people who like solving prob- Teaching Company (www.teach12.com). It involved lems, but not for people who like thinking critically. the search for a physical theory that can consistently After seeing the inner-workings of how science moves and correctly describe all of the fundamental forces from one topic to another, though, I can see how and particles in the universe. In string theory, the un- similar the STEM and non-STEM disciplines really derpinnings of all matter and energy in the universe are.” are tiny objects called “strings,” which may be open– ended or closed. In so doing, superstring theory pre- dicts the existence of a heretofore undetected set of particles known as “superpartners.” While string the- In string theory, the underpinnings of all matter ory itself cannot yet be tested directly, students in the and energy in the universe are tiny objects called course were exposed to other aspects of physics that “strings,” which may be open ended or closed. SEPTEMBER 2007 PAGE 3 Gustavus Nationally Ranked for Physics Ph.D. Production (Continued from page 1) of the quality of an un- dergraduate physics pro- Ph.D.’s in five years per 1000 students enrolled, then gram. the top five schools in the nation are: Harvey Mudd All of the data reported College (37.5), California Institute of Technology in this article are avail- (23.5), Reed College (14.9), Massachusetts Institute of able from the NSF’s Technology (8.3) and Gustavus Adolphus College WebCASPAR database, (6.6). http:// While the mission of our department is not solely to webcaspar.nsf.gov. prepare students for graduate studies in physics, bac- calaureate origins of Ph.D.’s is certainly one indication Gustavus ranks 5th in the nation (per 1000 stu- dents enrolled) for the period 2001-2005 as the baccalaureate origin of physics Ph.D.’s. Paul Saulnier Addresses the College on Honors Day Physics Professor Paul Saulnier was the 2006-2007 to know.’ There, we have it. Truth winner of Gustavus’ Edgar M. Carlson Award for and beauty are, in the parlance of Distinguished Teaching. The Carlson award is pre- science, positively correlated.” sented annually to one member of the faculty who has “There is another poet who lived a demonstrated exceptional skill and effectiveness as an few years earlier than Keats, well ac- instructor. tually some 2300 years earlier, the A highlight of the year is the annual address by the Chinese poet named Lao Tzu. And Carlson Professor on Honors Day. On Saturday, May this is what he had to say on the sub- 5 in Christ Chapel, Dr. Saulnier gave his talk, entitled ject, ‘Truthful words are not beauti- Paul Saulnier “Tradition,” to a capacity audience of faculty, students ful. Beautiful words are not truthful.’ Here too we and their families. Here are some excerpts from that can readily embrace this point of view, for today, in address: our world, we can all think of truthful words that rep- resent anything but beauty.” “We do have traditions at Gustavus, and here today, on Honors Day; the most important of these is ac- “So, what are we to make of these two distinct per- knowledging and celebrating the accomplishments of spectives? How can both of these notions be correct? our students... But today I would like to focus on the These two conflicting viewpoints remind me of a ‘why’ behind these accomplishments.” principle from physics…specifically the principle of complementarity. This principle refers to a situation in “I refer to the ‘intrinsic why’; namely, the pursuit of which two diametrically opposed perspectives are truth in its purest form.” both correct, just never at the same time.” “Indeed, it is the pursuit of truth that forms the well “Perhaps this is what these two poems separated by into which the mind dips to find true beauty. Beauty thousands of years are trying to tell us --- that truth and truth have often been linked throughout time... has a dual nature.” Today I would like to consider what the poets have to say on the subject. The first of these and perhaps I hope that the students we honor here today, have most famously, are these lines penned by John Keats during their time at Gustavus, been touched by the some two-hundred years ago, ‘Beauty is truth, truth Keats’ notion of the nature of truth and beauty.