Physics@MIT Journal

Issue: Fall 2007

Message from the Department Head 4

News & Events in Physics 7

New Faculty 18

Faculty Notes 21

In Remembrance 24

Student Honors & Awards 26

Alumni/ae Notes 57

Giving to the Department of Physics 62

Donors 68

Southern Skies and Cosmic Questions
32 How big is the observable universe? What is it made of? Why does space repel itself? Eminent theoretical astrophysicist and new Physics Department Head Ed Bertschinger deftly guides us toward the answers to these 'cosmic questions,' when he takes us along an MIT alumni journey to the twin Magellan telescopes in Chile.
BY EDMUND BERTSCHINGER
 
Viki Weisskopf: Searching for Simplicity in a Complicated World
44 One of the most respected, and beloved, physicists of the 20th century, MIT's Viki Weisskopf was a figure renowned in his own time. Here, award-winning MIT science historian, physics lecturer, and author David Kaiser delves a bit deeper into the facinating story of this physics legend.
BY DAVID KAISER