Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Certainty Is Wild And Weaving: Analyzing The Clouds Of Venus, Grace Sanger-Johnson

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Supposed detection of phosphine as a biosigature in the clouds of Venus has resulted in a flurry of interest in studying the potential habitability of Venus and other Venus-like exoplanets. However, there are still many unanswered questions about the planet's atmosphere. In this senior project, use spectroscopy to better understand the molecular composition and atmospheric dynamics of Venus. To do this, I analyzed partly-processed spectra from a previously unstudied infrared wavelength obtained at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in July 2021. I developed multiple systems of analysis to extract information from the partly processed data and understand the consequences of this …

Dimentia: Footnotes Of Time, Zachary Hait

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Time from the physicist's perspective is not inclusive of our lived experience of time; time from the philosopher's perspective is not mathematically engaged, in fact Henri Bergson asserted explicitly that time could not be mathematically engaged whatsoever. What follows is a mathematical engagement of time that is inclusive of our lived experiences, requiring the tools of storytelling.

What Causes Black Holes To Spin?, Mac B. Selesnick

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Black holes are recently at the cutting edge of cosmological and astrophysical research. Both experiment and theory are leading to surprising conclusions on the physical properties of black holes and their affects on space and time. In this project, I set out to explore the origin and mechanics of a black hole's spin, that is, its internal angular momentum. What causes a black hole to spin in the first place is rich and nuanced. In order to make this project accessible and focused I explore the process of a minor merger, a collision between two black holes, one large and …

The Invisible Sun: Building A Radio Interferometer Telescope, Isobel Curtin

Senior Projects Spring 2019

When we think of astronomy, we often associate the word implicitly with observing astronomical bodies with our own eyes, or from a signal collected in the visible light range. However, there is more information we can collect from these bodies when observing them using other kinds of light, unseen to the naked eye. Radio astronomy is an important tool in an astronomer’s toolkit, and can help us image hidden parts of the universe. Recently, radio astronomy was used to directly image a black hole in the center of a nearby galaxy for the first time!

This projects aims to further …

Understanding, Designing And Building A Hydroelectric Generator, Nicholas Weare Shenberger

Senior Projects Spring 2018

When you hear the word hydropower you automatically jump to using water in order to create power or electricity. However, delving deeper and trying to understand the technology involved in it becomes quite a lot more complicated. To try to comprehend some of the knowledge of how to convert the power of water into electricity, I decided to design and build my own hydroelectric generator. I took the time to research and discover more about the process of building a generator and the specific pieces that come together in order to build one specifically powered by water. After my research, …

Competing Theories Of Pitch Perception: Frequency And Time Domain Analysis, Nowell Thacher Stoddard

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Pitch perception is a phenomenon that has been the subject of much debate within the psychoacoustics community. It is at once a psychological, physiological and mathematical issue that has divided scientists for the last 200 years. My project aims to investigate the benefits and shortcomings of both the place theory and time theory approaches. This is done first by a model consistent with the long-standing focus on the frequency domain, and then by expanding to a more modern approach that functions in the time domain.

Time And The Physical Universe, Norman E. Ramsey

DSLS 1989-1990

(This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1989-1990).

Norman F. Ramsey is the Higgins Professor ofPhysics at Harvard University. He has been a Harvard faculty member since 1947. Norman Ramsey received his A.B. and M.A. from Columbia University and degrees from Cambridge University. In1940 he received aPh.D. from Columbia University for molecular beam studies of rotational magnetic moments of molecules. He was awarded an Sc.D. by Cambridge University in1954 and by Oxford University in1973, as well as honorary D.Sc.'s from Case-Western Reserve University, Middlebury College, and Rockefeller University. After periods at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, …

Frontiers Of Material Research, Mildred S. Dresselhaus

DSLS 1989-1990

(This information was taken from the Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series Program 1989-1990).

Dr. Dresselhaus is currently Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was formerly the holder of the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Chair in Electrical Engineering and in Physics at MIT. She is also affiliated with the Center for materials and Engineering, and with the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory at MIT where some of the experimental work of her group is carried out. Dr. Dresselhaus holds professorships in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Physics.

Dr. Dresselhaus was born in Brooklyn …