Yet another Nobel
Check out Kevin's post
go MIT!
-------- EDIT --------
Just got back from “2004 Nobel Colloquium by FRANK WILCZEK, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics.” Twas cool. Will steal pictures and articles from the MIT News office when they're up :P
------- EDIT ---------
MIT News Office article
Professor Wilczek's Colloquium was so cool, and this is coming from someone who understood perhaps one tenth of it! He delivered his talk in 26-100, which, interestingly enough, is where I had my very first lecture at MIT -- 8.01: Physics I. The room was PACKED. When Wilczek took the stage, he joked, “From the size of the audience in this room, I'm guessing most people here don't know much about QCD.” He started out with a cartoon history of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and ended with the importance and applications of his and other discoveries. Throughout the presentation, Wilczek made little nerdy quips and behaved so modestly - such a class act!
My friend Adam, who is double majoring in math and physics, emailed Professor Wilczek at the end of last semester (when Adam was a freshman), and told him he wanted to chat about some physics topics. Wilczek scheduled a lunch with him, and for more than an hour, he and Adam just basically hung out and talked about stuff. Granted, Wilczek is probably receiving a few more invitations for lunch lately, but this just goes to show how MIT professors are truly available for their students.
Our friend Alex, who's also majoring in physics, contacted Professor Wilczek about the class 8.09: Classical Mechanics. Alex, who also was a freshman at the time, told Wilczek that he had some thoughts on a better way to restructure the class, and Wilczek actually worked with him throughout the semester on making the class better.
I don't even know Professor Wilczek, but I'm really impressed and inspired by his availability and dedication to, and respect for, students. (I think I tried to squish too much into that sentence.) He's not some famous scientist working in an ivory tower, but instead a genuine teacher who is committed to working with other physicists, no matter their age. Awesome. I love this school.
Now onto the other side of the coin.... haha j/k. But yeah, I'll just paste this story for the sake of contrast :P
“I may never live this down.
So xing kevin and I really craved bowling, so friday night we decide to go bowling. We don't know of any places so xing and I google "bowling in boston, MA". It gives us a nice fatty list of bowling places. we find this place near harvard square called Bowl and Board. So we decide to get dinner at harvard square and then walk to the bowling place. So after dinner, we walk, and oh look! we see a sign that says "Bowl and Board" only.... it's not a bowling alley, but a store that sells BOWLS, and BOARDS, and PLATES, and KNIFES, and FORKS and OMGGGGGG. Xing, we are never going to live that one down. We got ice cream instead.”