Biography

Hi, my name is David Meltzer. I'm currently a student at Stony Brook University. I just completed my sophomore year. I grew up on Long Island and went to Herricks High School.

I have always been fascinated by the sciences and ever since I was young I knew I wanted to be a scientist. I wanted to understand how the world worked at its most fundamental level. In high school I was introduced to the subject of physics and it was my classes and my high school teachers that convinced me to continue studying physics in college. What first interested me about the subject was how using basic principles and equations we could describe wide phenomena, from everyday occurences to the stranger subjects of modern physics (for example the importance of simple harmonic motion in classical and quantum physics). One text that stood out was a story written by George Gamow about the world of Mr. Tompkins. In the story the character falls asleep and dreams that the the speed of light and Planck's constant are changed to more everyday values, ie c= 10 km/hr. In this world he sees strange things, bicylists getting thinner and billiard balls leaking out of the rack. To me this world seemed incredibly unphysical but in reality it's how things actually are, we just can't see these effects on a day by day basis. It's things like this that makes physics so interesting: how it's surprisingly strange but true and almost always applicable to modern technology.

I joined the Laser Teaching Center this summer as part of a project involving the imaging of a Bose Einstein condensate, a new phase of matter observable when bosons (particles with integer spin) are cooled to ultra cold temperatures and condense to a single energy state. I started this project after contacting Professor Schneble about research work and joining his group, so I'm looking forward to doing some interesting experiments with lasers in the coming weeks at the LTC and at the BEC lab!

During my free I enjoy reading, programming and long distance running. I ran cross counry and track in high school and always enjoy getting the chance to explore new areas in the process.