Using such tools as analyzers of nuclear decay, lasers, and powerful microscopes that operate on the atomic scale, the physics department at Trinity shows students that, in the words of Professor of Physics Mark P. Silverman, "the universe is comprehensible and worth comprehending."

Small department, big opportunities
The physics department’s faculty and students both note that the program’s small size has its advantages. Says Professor of Physics Harvey S. Picker, who is acting chair of the department, "At a large research university you may find more physics majors and more equipment, but at Trinity there is a level of personal involvement that you won’t find at big schools."

For physics majors in particular, that personal involvement includes key opportunities to gain undergraduate research experience — sometimes even coauthoring professional papers — by working closely with faculty members on research projects. Dedicated teachers, physics faculty members are also eager researchers, a combination that provides ideal mentoring conditions for student scientists. In addition to operating four instructional laboratories — three for introductory physics courses and one senior-level lab — the department also supports three faculty research laboratories. This environment offers opportunities for students to work side by side with their professors on real-world problems. For example, Jarvis Professor of Physics Albert J. Howard, Jr. has included several students as coresearchers in his 10-year study that measures the presence of radon in various campus locations, using an electron-counting technique he developed. In the words of his colleague Professor Picker, Howard has "trained several generations of experimental nuclear scientists," both in his Trinity laboratory and at the nation’s top labs, such as the one at Yale University where he is currently on sabbatical.

Professor Silverman, whose research interests include optics and quantum mechanics, is currently collaborating with Christopher Koning on a research project in the field of thermal physics. Their experiments involve blocks of ice, a set of weights, and a wire that passes through the ice without splitting it (thanks to a phenomenon called regelation). Silverman hopes the result will be a mathematical formula that may help explain how and why glaciers move. Koning, who expects to enroll in graduate school to study mathematical physics, says that learning good lab practices has been a key part of his education. Also important, he notes, is learning to think in an organized fashion, to "break things down into necessary and unnecessary information."

Serving students from other departments
Professor Picker notes that the physics department has never had a narrow view of its role. While Trinity’s physics alumni have had remarkable success in top-notch graduate programs and afterwards in distinguished research and teaching careers, some have also put their skills in disciplined thinking to use in careers ranging from law to managing a symphony orchestra. Moreover, the department offers an assortment of courses that are accessible and meaningful to nonmajors.

Katie A. Lafleur ’02, a chemistry major, is taking the "Electricity and Magnetism and Waves" physics course, in part to fulfill the requirements of her major. She has found the laboratory component of the course to be a great way to put the theories learned in class into practice. In her favorite lab thus far, she and her classmates created an electron beam, enabling them to see with their own eyes that "the electrons were behaving the way they are supposed to." Lafleur praises physics faculty members for their willingness to make material accessible to all students. "I have a lot of questions, not being a physics major," says Lafleur. "And they explain things really well."

Such courses as "Energy and Society" and two introductory-level offerings in astronomy are geared toward a wide audience, but they are not the only way the physics department has engaged nonmajors. In recent years, Associate Professor of Physics Barbara Walden has devised a lab on the physics of sound for a linguistics course taught by Associate Professor of Modern Languages Katherine Lahti. Walden also conducted a lab for students in Associate Professor of Modern Languages Dario Del Puppo’s first-year seminar on The Divine Comedy. Dante’s famous work is full of astronomical references, and according to Del Puppo, Professor Walden "explained them in terms of the science of Dante’s time and the science of our time, pointing out when the author was right and when he was wrong." Ultimately, says Del Puppo, the scientific perspective enriched his students’ understanding of the text and its author’s view of the world.

Such connections between physics and other disciplines in the liberal arts are not so far-fetched as they might seem, observes Professor Silverman. The printing of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, he notes, helped promote ways of thinking that were characteristic of the Enlightenment. Thus, he says, "Newton and physics played an important role in the democratic and political systems that have developed since. Physics is part of our cultural heritage."

Silverman also points out that, like other fields of study in the liberal arts, a physics education teaches critical thinking that can be used in virtually any situation. "We need to make choices in the world," he says. "It’s important to have the reasoning skills to make judgments about what is conceivable and what is outlandish."