Yoram Alhassid asked the question at the end of my Yale Quantum Institute colloquium last February. I knew two facts about Yoram: (1) He belongs to Yale’s theoretical-physics faculty. (2) His PhD thesis’s title—“On the Information Theoretic Approach to Nuclear Reactions”—ranks … Continue reading
You would hardly think that a quantum channel could have any sort of thermodynamic behavior. We were surprised, too. Continue reading
On my right sat a quantum engineer. She was facing a melanoma specialist who works at a medical school. Leftward of us sat a networks expert, a flatworm enthusiast, and a condensed-matter theorist. Farther down sat a woman who slices … Continue reading
A year ago, the “I’m a little teapot” song kept playing in my head. I was finishing a collaboration with David Limmer, a theoretical chemist at the University of California Berkeley. David studies quantum and classical systems far from equilibrium, including … Continue reading
Every spring, a portal opens between Waltham, Massachusetts and another universe. The other universe has a Watch City dual to Waltham, known for its watch factories. The cities throw a festival to which explorers, inventors, and tourists flock. Top hats, goggles, … Continue reading
Barcelona refused to stay indoors this May. Merchandise spilled outside shops onto the streets, restaurateurs parked diners under trees, and ice-cream cones begged to be eaten on park benches. People thronged the streets, markets filled public squares, and the scents … Continue reading
Call me morbid, but, the moment I arrived at Yale, I couldn’t wait to visit the graveyard. I visited campus last February, to present the Yale Quantum Institute (YQI) Colloquium. The YQI occupies a building whose stone exterior honors Yale’s Gothic … Continue reading
I was surprised to learn, last week, that my profession has gone to the dogs. I’d introduced myself to a nonscientist as a theoretical physicist. “I think,” he said, “that theoretical physics has lost its way in symmetry and beauty … Continue reading
The air conditioning in Caltech’s Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology broke this July. Pasadena reached 87°F on the fourth, but my office missed the memo. The thermostat read 62°. Hyperactive air conditioning suits a thermodynamicist’s office as jittery … Continue reading
The archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s burial site in 1922. No other Egyptian pharaoh’s tomb had survived mostly intact until the modern era. Gold and glass and faience, statues and pendants and chariots, had evaded looting. The discovery would revolutionize … Continue reading
