RPI Professors
Name at least 2 professors who do astrophysics research
Dr. Zheng, Dr. Newburg, Dr. Robles, Dr. Martin. Dr. Georg
Carl Sagan
The physicist known as one of the founders of quantum mechanics (hint, he likes cats!)
Who is Erwin Schrodinger?
What is the sport Dr. Persans used to do?
Gymnastics
The 2025 Physics Nobel Prize research
What is quantum tunneling?
This physics professor completed their bachelors and PhD at RPI, and now teaches here
Who is Dr. Martin?
"If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics."
Richard Feynman
Given two years to live when he was 21 as a result of being diagnosed with ALS, this physicist lived for another fifty-five years and did groundbreaking research on black holes
Who is Stephen Hawking?
How long has Dr. Persans been at RPI?
Almost 40
What does LASER stand for?
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
This physics professor completed their undergraduate degrees in France
Who is Dr. Wertz?
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
Marie Curie
Groundbreaking American mathematician, born in 1918, whose critical calculations of orbital mechanics were vital to the early U.S. spaceflight program at NASA in the 1960s
Who is Katherine Johnson?
What is the only class that Dr. Persans passed his first semester of college?
German
The only person to have ever won the Nobel Prize twice (bonus points if you know the research!)
Marie Curie - for physics (spontaneous radiation) and chemistry (radioactivity)
This physics professor owns a 75 gallon fish tank and 19 fish
Who is Dr. Martin?
“The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
The creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor and a member of the Manhattan Project. (Hint, he likes aliens!)
Who is Enrico Fermi?
What instrument does Dr. Persans play?
Trumpet
This planet was discovered using pure math, not observation
What is Neptune?
This physics professor always brings their dogs to the physics picnic (this year they brought Cannoli and Churro!)
Who is Dr. Brown?
"Physics is the only real science. The rest are just stamp collecting."
Ernest Rutherford
Physical chemist whose x-ray diffraction studies provided crucial clues to the structure of DNA, produced the famous "Photo 51" that showed DNA's double helix
Who is Rosalind Franklin?
What does Dr. Persans' wife bake every week for his students?
Brownies
If you were to fall into a black hole, the intense gravity would stretch you into a long, thin shape, a process known as .......
Spaghettification!