Content
The paper this semester will consist of a scientific biography of a
physicist. By a scientific biography, I mean that the main emphasis
should be on the scientific accomplishments of the physicist in the
context of his or her time. Thus, you need to dig into the
``zeitgeist'' of the era as well as learning about the subject of your
paper. Please include a list of the references you consulted, with a
minimum of three being non-web references. Visit the library. A good
place to start is the ``Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. Aim for
about 10 pages. We will again have draft versions which will be
peer-reviewed by your classmates. Please hand in two copies for your
draft version.
Please read (and abide by) these recommendations
when writing your paper.
Schedule
-
Approval of topics by me: 2 September 2011.
-
Draft version of paper due: 31 October 2011.
-
Reviews due: 7 November 2011.
-
Final version of paper due: 5 December 2011.
Suggestions for possible subjects
-
Niels Bohr -- Avery Ngo
-
Ernest Rutherford
-
Enrico Fermi -- Alex Hernandez
-
J. Willard Gibbs
-
Ludwig Boltzmann
-
James Clerk Maxwell -- Christina Nevarez
-
Joseph Henry
-
Lise Meitner
-
Richard Feynman -- Cameron Hay
-
Erwin Schroedinger -- Austin DeHart
-
Werner Heisenberg -- Zak Nelson
-
Louis de Broglie -- Shannon Tunney
-
Hidekei Yukawa
-
Marie and/or Pierre Curie
-
Sadi Carnot
-
Michael Faraday -- Beth Haines
-
J. J. Thomson -- Pat Mulligan
-
S. N. Bose -- Logan Yetts
-
Henry Cavendish
-
William Thomson -- Nathaniel Miller
-
Paul Dirac -- Casey Gomez
-
C. S. Wu
-
Steven Weinberg -- Ben Burnett
-
Abdus Salam
-
James Jeans
-
Arthur Eddington -- Veronica Pierce
-
Albert Michelson
-
Edwin Hubble -- Tiffany Guthrie
-
Carl Fredrich Gauss -- Michael Apers
-
Murray Gell-Mann
-
Max Planck -- Bhavik Bhakta
-
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
-
Robert Oppenheimer -- Thomas Peoples
-
C. N. Yang -- Angie Vargas
-
T. D. Lee
-
N. Tesla -- Luis Torres
-
E. Teller -- Laura Freeman
-
P. Ramond -- Carol Wilson
-
Johannes Kepler -- Ethan Risley
There will be one person per topic --- first come, first served on
``hot'' topics! Let me know what you want to do before the deadline.