Hello,
My name is Louis. I am currently an undergrad majoring in physics and minoring in computer science at polytechnic institute of NYU.
I am interested in a diverse set of topics in physics, but right now my greatest interest has been chaos and dynamical systems. Physics is easily my greatest passion. I would even go so far as to say that I love physics. I'm sure to a great many of you, the idea of even liking physics seems foreign. Explaining why it is that I like physics in an environment where so many seem averse to it is difficult. I would like to try and explain with an anecdote.
In the photo that I have presented on this site, I am leaning against the RHIC, a particle accelerator in Long Island. At that facility, gold ions are accelerated to relativistic speeds before being collided into each other for purposes of investigating Quarks and Gluons. That means these specks of mass are flying around that tube I'm leaning on at close to the speed of light and are guided very carefully by super conducting magnets. Do note the machine wasn't on while I was against the tube, otherwise I'd be irradiated. The scale and complexity of the facility is truly awe inspiring. The pure engineering of the facility is a grand testament to human ingenuity in itself.
What is further inspiring is that the physicists working there are merely the logical extension of a long scientific tradition. They are, as Newton said, standing on the shoulders of giants. Every instrument in that facility is the result of centuries of physics. Before that machine could be built relativistic mechanics had to be discovered, and magnetism had to be understood, and superconductors had to be found, and a standard model of particle physics based on quantum physics had to be developed. And to develop these theories a scientist had to sit down in a room and examine a problem that no one had ever been able to solve and then solve it. You too can contribute to this grand endeavor of humanity to understand the universe. To solve a grand problem in physics requires only that you can think, and I fundamentally believe that every person is capable of thinking.
In a way, we are like mathematicians. But there is a difference; mathematicians don't run experiments. One of the high points of physics is when you have an idea and you test it and you can see the results come back. It is an inexplicable thrill to look at something no one else has never seen, and try and make sense of it with physics. I don't want to just teach you physics, I want you to understand it. If you want to understand physics then come join me and let us reason together.
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