Interview with Robert Schoelkopf, Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale, and director of the Yale Quantum Institute. Schoelkopf describes the origins of the Quantum Institute and the longer history of quantum research at Yale, and he recounts his childhood in Manhattan and then in Chappaqua as the son of art dealers. He describes his early interests in science and tinkering, and his undergraduate education at Princeton where he worked with Steve Boughn and Jeff Kuhn in the gravity group. Schoelkopf discusses his job at the Goddard Space Flight Center before beginning graduate work at Caltech. He describes his research under the direction of Tom Phillips in detector development for astrophysical applications and Josephson junctions, and he explains his ambition to focus on developing devices. Schoelkopf discusses his postdoctoral research at Yale to work with Dan Prober on mesascopic physics, and he explains his involvement in microwave research for quantum information and his explorations into the limits of electrometry. He discusses the opportunities that led to his faculty appointment at Yale, his involvement in building qubits and what this would portend for the future of quantum information. Schoelkopf describes the formative influence of Michel Devoret and Steve Girvin and he explains how these collaborations contributed to upending some aspects of theoretical quantum information. He describes how qubit research has matured over the past twenty years and how this research has contributed to industry and commercial ventures, but why he remains focused on basic science within a university setting. At the end of the interview, Schoelkopf predicts some of the practical contributions that true quantum computing can offer society and why he is excited about the next generation of quantum information scientists.
Interview with Surjeet Rajendran, Associate Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University. He provides an overview of his current research activities with David Kaplan in black hole physics, new short distance forces, and modifications of quantum mechanics, and he shares his reaction on the recent g-2 muon anomaly at Fermilab. Rajendran explains why he identifies as a “speculator” in physics, he recounts his childhood in Chennai, India, and he discusses his grandparents’ communist activism, his Jesuit schooling, and how science offered a refuge for rebellion from these influences. He explains his decision to transfer from the Indian Institute of Technology to Caltech as an undergraduate, where he worked with Alan Weinstein on LIGO. Rajendran discusses his graduate research at Stanford, where KIPAC had just started, and where Savas Dimopoulos supervised his work on PPN parameters and solving the seismic noise problem on atom interferometers for LIGO. He describes his postdoctoral work, first at MIT and then at Johns Hopkins, when he began to collaborate with Kaplan on axion detection and the electroweak hierarchy problem. Rajendran explains the rise and fall of the BICEP project, and his Simons Foundation supported work on CASPEr. He discusses his interest in bouncing cosmology and firewalls in general relativity, and he conveys optimism that LIGO will advance our understanding of black hole information. At the end of the interview, Rajendran reviews his current interests in the Mössbauer effect, and explains how nice it was to win the New Horizons in Physics prize, and he prognosticates on how the interplay between observational and theoretical cosmology will continue to evolve and perhaps resolve fundamental and outstanding questions in the field.
Interview with Randolph Kirk, Scientist Emeritus at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Kirk discusses pursuing his PhD in planetary science, his interest in remote sensing and his thesis work on developing time photoclinometry. He describes in detail many of the changes that have taken place in planetary mapping over the years, as the field has shifted from analog techniques to digital. Kirk talks about the process of working with a software vendor to develop mapping software needed for USGS. He discusses his work on mapping Venus using radar altimetry, as well as the creation of the Venus globe, one of his favorite projects. Kirk describes the workflows of planetary mapping within USGS and the collaboration between draftsmen, geologists, airbrush artists, and other technicians. He talks about the process of deciding on landing sites for new rovers or landers, and he recalls the differences between mapping the landing sites for Mars Pathfinder versus Viking. Other projects mentioned include the Mars Exploration Rover, Curiosity and Cassini. The interview concludes with Kirk explaining the importance of planetary mapping in ensuring that data collected from space missions is synthesized into useable products.
Interview with Ken Herkenhoff, a research geologist at the U. S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center. Herkenhoff begins by sharing how he first became interested in Mars polar research while a student at Caltech. He recalls studying images from Mariner 9 with Larry Soderblom and explains his focus on layer deposits in polar ice. Herkenhoff reflects on the changes in technology which have influenced his work and discusses the different image qualities across Viking and Mariner missions over the years. He explains the process of creating maps and discusses the transition from hand-drawn maps to GIS maps. Herkenhoff recalls his move from the Jet Propulsion Lab to USGS and discusses his current work using images from the Curiosity rover. The interview concludes with Herkenhoff sharing the differences between mapping different regions, and he encourages young people to pursue planetary mapping.
Interview with Alvin Trivelpiece, American physicist who served as Director of the Office of Energy Research in the United States Department of Energy from 1981-1987. Trivelpiece provides an overview of his graduate studies at Caltech and his background in plasma physics. He discusses in detail his involvement in the beginnings of the SSC (Superconducting Super Collider), including cost estimations, funding requests, site selection, and attempts to secure international collaboration. Trivelpiece shares stories involving many key players who were supporters of the SSC, as well as some who were opposed. He also touches on the creation of other DOE projects such as Fermilab and CEBAF (Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility).
The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].
Interview with Savas Dimopoulos, Professor of Physics at Stanford University. The interview begins with Dimopoulos reflecting on how the pandemic has affected his research, and he gives his initial impressions on the g-2 muon anomaly experiment at Fermilab. He discusses the push and pull between theory and experimentation when searching for physics beyond the Standard Model. Dimopoulos then recounts his early childhood in Turkey, where his family was part of the Greek minority. Due to ethnic tensions, he fled with his family to Athens as refugees. Dimopoulos remembers his early exposure to math and physics and being torn between the two. He describes moving to the US at age 18 for his undergraduate studies at University of Houston. Dimopoulos then recounts his inclination toward theory and his acceptance at University of Chicago to pursue his graduate studies under Yoichiro Nambu. He discusses his post-doctoral appointment at Columbia which then led to an offer from Stanford. He explains his research in baryogenesis and technicolor, as well as his brief time at Harvard with Howard Georgi. Dimopoulos talks about his return to Stanford, his work at CERN, and his research on large extra dimensions with Dvali and Arkani-Hamed. He concludes the interview with predictions for the future of physics beyond the Standard Model.
The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].
The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].
The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].
