Horgan Seminar Blog

Rahim Salhi Some concepts are simply difficult to comprehend, even with a smartphone and Google at my disposal. Consider the unlikely notion that energy is emitted in quanta, or discrete packets, rather than continually flowing. Or the depressing hypothesis that the universe as a whole, which spans 93 billion light-years, may only be one of many parallel worlds. Throughout his final years, Einstein searched for a "theory of everything" that would link his theories of general relativity with quantum mechanics. Within the confines of what I know and read about physics today, these two hypotheses are not entirely consistent. As physicists have continued where Einstein left off, one solution is the string theory. By supposing that there are more worlds and dimensions in addition to the ones we are aware of, string theory merges the two theories. String theory has existed for almost 50 years. It has long been considered the front-runner in the contest to reconcile the two physics ...

Nicholas Forcellati Tuesday, September 20th, I was sitting in class, feeling a bit under the weather and trying to stay focused with a cloudy head. I will admit, it was tough to be present for the first hour of class. Then, a man named Chris Search crossed the threshold of the doorway, and his energy was contagious. Well versed in the realm of quantum theory and physics as a whole, Search spoke with such confidence that it felt as if I had to believe every word that came out of his mouth. When my classmates asked him questions, no matter how simple, Search’s answers to the questions weren’t clear and concise, rather, they were clear and never-ending. He could spend fifteen minutes answering a question as simple as, “what’s your favorite color?”. What makes Chris Search such a fascinating physicist is his balance of science and religion throughout his life. Growing up as the son of a pastor, theology dominated his adolescence, however, as he progressed into his twenties, his rebelli...

Instead of being known as that harmless “toy” you use to drive your cat crazy for hours, lasers should be known for what they actually represent today – the future of scientific research. From being used in surgeries, data transmission, precision tools, computers, and many more use cases, the laser has been shown to be extremely practical over the years. But why exactly is such a concentrated beam of light so useful, and what does this technology entail for the future of physics?  The idea of a laser was first conceptualized by Albert Einstein, who coined the term stimulated emission to describe the way in which light photons can collide with atoms to create even more photons and generate a focused beam of light. It was not until 1960 that physicist Theodore Maiman was able to create and test the first working laser. However, Maiman was famously quoted as saying “a laser is a solution seeking a problem,” so was the laser all that it was meant to be? Indeed, one of the most interest...

Dhihan Ahmed      There is something that makes up 95% of the universe but physics will never be able to see or touch it. Physics will never get the chance at making a direct measurement of it. It’s present around every form of matter that ever exists, and yet it remains hidden, almost as if the universe is teasing us. Something so substantial to our existence is shrouded in endless mystery. What might this ominous presence be? It is none other than the collection of 2 things: dark matter and dark energy. These postulated forms of matter and energy are considered to be major governors in the way our universe functions.       To start off, approximately 27% of the 95% is the aforementioned dark matter. According to Dark Energy and Dark Matter, published by Harvard & Smithsonian, dark matter is an invisible material whose mass affects ordinary matter – stars, galaxies, etc. – by moving it in ways that would not be possible if it was only the mass of ...

Like most other science fanboys, at some point I went through an aggressive atheist phase. It is easy to become caught up in the allure of science and reject all which is not grounded in empirical evidence, and in the past I have looked down on religion for this very reason. As of somewhat recently, however, my views on this subject have drastically changed.  Out of the countless exotic, earth-shattering phenomena within the world of physics, it is ironic that my mind always gravitates towards one of the most trivial of principles. Newton’s second law frequently dumbfounds me–specifically, why exactly does force equal mass times acceleration? The simple, albeit rather unsatisfying, answer is that Newton’s laws are axiomatic–they are mere assumptions drawn from intuition that just so happen to model our perception of reality. The rest of the theory is then logically deduced from such postulates, and then, following the scientific method, we must test the theory against reality...

  Katie Bloomer  Chris Search, a physics professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, began his personal introduction with a bang by announcing that, while he might be unorthodox, he is certainly not a crackhead. This statement was reflective of his quirky personality as a physicist with strong opinions on physics and the field of science as a whole.  Growing up, Search’s father was a Catholic priest and Search was raised as a member of the church. As a psychologist who was especially well versed in science, his father influenced Searches' love for science. However, parental influence only lasts so long and Search admits that the commonality of atheism within the physics community contributed to his later rebellion against the church, declaration of being an atheist, and attendance of a technical school. This rebellion was only temporary and Search now connects his belief in God with his knowledge of physics. Search explained that many physicists and other scientists oft...

  Kevin Mamo Professor Horgan HST - 401 A September 25th, 2022 All matter matters Everything in our universe is made up of matter, but at the birth of our universe it wasn’t just matter that came to be; antimatter was also released into the void. Antimatter is one of the biggest mysteries in physics since it was first realized in the year 1928 by one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, Paul Dirac. The perplexing thing about antiparticles is that they are identical to regular subatomic particles. This can be easily explained through the simple math equation x squared equals four as the solution is two and negative two. Hence, the electron has the same mass as the “positron” or antielectron, and the proton has the same mass as the antiproton. Neutrons are the exception as a normal neutron and an antineutron both have no charge but their baryon number differs (antineutron is -1 and neutron is 1). Anything made up of antimatter would be the same as anything that we have in our uni...

Christian Szablewski-Paz HST 401 Professor Horgan 27 September 2022 Less Diversity, Less Thinking There are a multitude of underlying problems within the field of physics.  Some are directly questions relating to physics itself that have just been yet to be answered.  Others include the lack of racial and gender diversity within the field, with a physicist even backing this up with a claim that women’s brains make them worse at physics!  Despite the backlash this received from many experts, it still supports an idea that it is difficult to diversify a field dominated by established, older white men.  Claims like these are made by the few, and are supported by more than one would think.  They are also discouraging to women and minorities and could possibly even be a contributing factor as to why the field’s racial and gender gap is among the highest in science. There are many questions in physics that we do not yet have the answer to.  One of these, put ...

               When you live in a big city, there’s a chance that you will grow up with a big sports team right near where you are. In today’s day and age, football has become the big sport that everyone thinks of as their favorite. Football has been around for a very long time all the way to 1920, but there is one sport that has been around since 1876 and has rightfully been given the nickname “America’s Favorite Pastime”, and that is baseball.               When you think of baseball you may think of a slow sport that isn’t as popular as it once was, but when I look at baseball, I see a sport that has stood the test of time and has pushed people to some of the biggest names in the world, and it all relies on physics.                 As a pitcher throws a ball, they are using physics based on fluid dynamics. When a pitcher throws a fastball, with the way of the grip o...

        Imagine someone walks up to you and simply says “string theory” and walks away. You’d be confused, maybe even intrigued. A simple Google search would tell you that string theory is something in physics that would explain the origins of the universe. But as the name states, it is a theory. Science is based upon the idea that everything we believe is true can be proven, yet so many scientists dedicate their time to studying string theory. Is there ever a point when scientists will stop to ask if it is worth spending their lives trying to figure out whether or not the universe started from a bunch of little strings moving around?           Well, according to Chris Search, a current physics professor working at Stevens Institute of Technology, string theory is just that—a theory. When Dr. Search was asked if he believed in string theory, he scoffed and stated that without testable evidence, there was no reason to spend time lear...

Christopher Search is a Professor of Physics at Stevens Institute of Technology. He was interviewed on his views on certain aspects of physics and shared his strong opinions with the class.  As a teenager, Christopher Search went through an atheist phase, where he rejected the presence of a divine being. However, in the present day, Search considers himself to be religious, claiming that “the atheist world is overly naive and simplistic.” This 180-degree shift in his views was due to his interest in The Creation Problem - how the world came to be - and the sciences. Search’s interest as well as his experiences while attending a school of technology, ignited his passion for the sciences - more specifically, physics - and he ultimately ended up as an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Stevens Institute of Technology. Many may believe that religion has no place in science, and can only result in clouded, biased views of the world. These views consider God as the expla...

Rahim Salhi, Sept 15, 2022      I grew up having a great interest in tinkering with gadgets around the home, breaking into electronics just for the sake of knowing how they function. What causes birds to fly, how do people breathe, how do plants develop, and where do wind and rain originate? Science has provided answers to every one of the existential issues I frequently raised as a child. And this interest grew further during high school when I was a member of our STEM club. It was those experiences that nurtured in me a love for science and boosted my interest later when I started doing research in the lab using the scientific method steps.      All was great till I come across “Science Isn’t Broken” And “Science is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck”, by Christie Aschwanden, and Patrick Collison and Michael Nielsen respectively. Both articles dive into the replication crisis that is facing Science and academic research. Aschwanden discusses how "p-hacking" b...

 The Rising Bar Recall the content which outlines a kindergarten curriculum. What comes to mind is: basic arithmetic like addition and subtraction, learning how to read, and the basic principles of nature such as weather patterns and seasons. While this information seems rudimentary to all those that are just a couple years ahead of it, these early lessons in language and science are the foundational blocks to an ever-expanding skyscraper of human intelligence. Modern scientists and those concerned with its progress (both financially and practically) are making the case for how science is peaking in certain areas and the current revelations and discoveries do not hold a candle to that which was discovered one hundred years ago. However, the seemingly stagnated standard must be seen as a bar that challenges passionate scientists to push the limits, ask the most unanswerable questions, and deduce even more specific estimations of the truth that help humanity reach its full potentia...