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October 15, 2010, 4:53 PM
At Bronx Science, a Nobel Homecoming
By KERRI MACDONALD &
Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
David Politzer, a Nobel laureate in physics and a graduate of Bronx High School of Science, spent time with the Advanced Placement physics class on Friday.
David Politzer donned a pair of safety goggles Friday morning and smiled as two soccer-playing robots whizzed around the floor of a classroom at the Bronx High School of Science.
The robots — products of the school’s robotics teams, the Sciborgs and the Fe Maidens (after the elemental symbol for iron) — had a tough crowd. Dr. Politzer, a Bronx Science alumnus, was a 2004 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
The school has not one, but seven Nobel Prize winners in physics among its alumni – more than any other high school in America. Dr. Politzer’s visit was part of a ceremony designating the school a “Historic Physics Site,” an honor bestowed by the American Physical Society.
Dr. Politzer, Bronx Science class of 1966, won the Nobel along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek for work in quantum chromodynamics. The researchers found that the closer quarks — subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons – come to each other, the weaker their interaction.
In his address to the students Friday, Dr. Politzer described quantum mechanics as “monkey business” and “mumbo jumbo.”
The physical society, which has honored several sites a year since 2004, has recognized the California laboratory where the first working laser was constructed, the site in Shelter Island, N.Y. of a 1946 conference on quantum mechanics, and many research universities, but never a high school.
“It struck us as being extraordinary,” said Ben Bederson, chairman of the society’s historic sites committee.
Bronx Science’s other Nobel winners are Leon N. Cooper, class of 1947, Nobel in 1972; Sheldon L. Glashow and Steven Weinberg, who won in 1979; Melvin Schwartz, who won in 1988; Roy G. Glauber, who won in 2005; and Russell A. Hulse, a classmate of Dr. Politzer’s who won the Nobel in 1993 — 11 years before he did.
“He built a telescope while he was in high school,” Dr. Politzer said. “I built a banjo.”
Despite photographs of Dr. Politzer staring down from the walls of the first-floor physics wing, many Bronx Science students said they didn’t know much about his work.
Adam Rodriguez, 17, said he wasn’t as familiar with Dr. Politzer’s theories as he’d like to have been because he hadn’t read string theory since he was younger. (He got into it at age 10.) But Adam, who is working on a research project that combines computer programming, robotics and environmental science, said he was both inspired and intimidated by the school’s seven laureates.
“I’m sort of having the same opportunities as they have,” he said.
Eugenie Dubin, a senior, said it was encouraging to hear somewhat self-deprecating comments from a Nobel Prize winner.
“It’s really inspiring to me that he wasn’t the best kid in his class,” she said.
At Bronx Science, a Nobel Homecoming
By KERRI MACDONALD &
Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
David Politzer, a Nobel laureate in physics and a graduate of Bronx High School of Science, spent time with the Advanced Placement physics class on Friday.
David Politzer donned a pair of safety goggles Friday morning and smiled as two soccer-playing robots whizzed around the floor of a classroom at the Bronx High School of Science.
The robots — products of the school’s robotics teams, the Sciborgs and the Fe Maidens (after the elemental symbol for iron) — had a tough crowd. Dr. Politzer, a Bronx Science alumnus, was a 2004 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
The school has not one, but seven Nobel Prize winners in physics among its alumni – more than any other high school in America. Dr. Politzer’s visit was part of a ceremony designating the school a “Historic Physics Site,” an honor bestowed by the American Physical Society.
Dr. Politzer, Bronx Science class of 1966, won the Nobel along with David Gross and Frank Wilczek for work in quantum chromodynamics. The researchers found that the closer quarks — subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons – come to each other, the weaker their interaction.
In his address to the students Friday, Dr. Politzer described quantum mechanics as “monkey business” and “mumbo jumbo.”
The physical society, which has honored several sites a year since 2004, has recognized the California laboratory where the first working laser was constructed, the site in Shelter Island, N.Y. of a 1946 conference on quantum mechanics, and many research universities, but never a high school.
“It struck us as being extraordinary,” said Ben Bederson, chairman of the society’s historic sites committee.
Bronx Science’s other Nobel winners are Leon N. Cooper, class of 1947, Nobel in 1972; Sheldon L. Glashow and Steven Weinberg, who won in 1979; Melvin Schwartz, who won in 1988; Roy G. Glauber, who won in 2005; and Russell A. Hulse, a classmate of Dr. Politzer’s who won the Nobel in 1993 — 11 years before he did.
“He built a telescope while he was in high school,” Dr. Politzer said. “I built a banjo.”
Despite photographs of Dr. Politzer staring down from the walls of the first-floor physics wing, many Bronx Science students said they didn’t know much about his work.
Adam Rodriguez, 17, said he wasn’t as familiar with Dr. Politzer’s theories as he’d like to have been because he hadn’t read string theory since he was younger. (He got into it at age 10.) But Adam, who is working on a research project that combines computer programming, robotics and environmental science, said he was both inspired and intimidated by the school’s seven laureates.
“I’m sort of having the same opportunities as they have,” he said.
Eugenie Dubin, a senior, said it was encouraging to hear somewhat self-deprecating comments from a Nobel Prize winner.
“It’s really inspiring to me that he wasn’t the best kid in his class,” she said.
