Physics@MIT Journal

Issue: Fall 2003

Message from the Department Head 4

New Faculty 6

Faculty Notes 9

In Remembrance 10

News & Events in Physics 16

Student Honors & Awards 19

Alumni/ae Notes 50

Giving to the Department of Physics 61

Donors 63

The Origin of Mass
24 Eminent theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek guides us with charm and erudition along the pathways of his most recent work on subnuclear forces—the world of quarks and gluons—while crafting an elegant response to one of Nature's essential questions: What is the origin of mass?
BY FRANK WILCZEK
 
Einstein's Mirages
36 Light passing through a galaxy is bent by the gravitational fields, just as light passing through air near the surface of a hot highway is bent by the varying refractive index of the air. Distinguished astrophysicist Paul Schechter tells us how the resulting mirages provide information on the kind and distribution of matter in the galaxy.
BY PAUL L. SCHECHTER
 
Under the Southern Sky
42 Science writer Sorcha McDonagh takes a field trip to see the stars—the stars of the night sky, that is, as seen through the twin Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean Andes.
BY SORCHA McDONAGH
 
An Educational Initiative: VIII-B in Review
48 MIT Physics Professor and Former Physics Associate Department Head Thomas Greytak reviews VIII-B, MIT's flexible Physics Undergraduate Degree Program.
BY THOMAS GREYTAK