We’re getting very
excited about the arrival of Prof Catalina Curceanu to deliver the 2016 Women
in Physics lectures. She’ll be kicking
off the tour of the 8th August in Tasmania and talking in each state
and territory during her stay. Check out
when she is speaking in your state on the AIP events calendar.
To get to know our
2016 lecturer a bit more, we’ve asked her a few questions about her life and
work:
Q:What inspired you to become a physicist?
A: I was born in Transilvania
(Romania), close to the Dracula’s castle. During holidays I visited my
grandmother, who lived in the Medias town, in a house far from the city centre,
rather isolated and without electricity. This was exciting for me as a child –
we had light from gas-lamps, from the Moon and from… the stars! I was amazed by
the stars and by the immensity of space since I was a little child and used to
wonder how they work; why they are so bright? How far are they and “what’s
life” over there? Physics is the perfect instrument to answers these questions
and to discover the amazing Universe. This is what inspired me as a child and
still does as a physicist. Of course, meanwhile I learned many things, I got
fascinated also by other inspiring items, but the wonder of the night-sky is still
genuine and the thrill the same as when I was 7!
Q: Who would you say your Physics hero is?
A: I do not have a hero, but I
admire many physicists. Newton, Einstein and Feynman are on the top of the
list, together with Nicola Cabibbo, Adam Riess and John Bell.
Heroes are those physicists who
are facing extremely difficult conditions and even threats, in many countries,
to do their work ad to contribute to the understanding of Nature, using
science.
Q: What do you think has been the most exciting
discovery of the last 10 years?
A: The detection of the
gravitational waves emitted by collapsing black holes. This is the beginning of
a new era: the gravitational waves astronomy and, since I was inspired by
stars, I see it as a new opportunity to uncover the mysteries of the Universe.
Why not, even to get an insight into the fascinating Black Holes. Moreover, the
technology developed to measure these gravitational waves is amazing: LIGO
measured stretches and squeezes of its arms by less than a thousandth the width
of a proton! This is for me extremely exciting also because I am leading a team
of scientists in the framework of the SIDDHARTA-2 collaboration aiming to study
at the DAΦNE collider in Frascati processes involving the “strange” quark which
might help understanding the inner structure (the heart) of neutron stars.
Since binaries of neutron stars are emitting gravitational waves, it is expected
they will be soon measured by gravitational antennae. So one can bridge the
particle world with the gravity and learn more in both fields! The future will
certainly be exciting.
Q: In your research you take on the 'big
challenges' in physics - how do you approach such large and difficult
questions?
A: Big challenges in physics
should not scare us! I am working both in the field of particle and nuclear
physics (see the question before and the research to understand the neutron
stars) and in quantum mechanics – foundational issues, investigating
fascinating physics items. In this last case I am leading a group of
researchers crazy enough to try to discover “impossible atoms” (violating the
Pauli Exclusion Principle) and modifications of the “standard quantum
mechanics” (which has to do with the famous Schrodinger’s cat). In order to do
this I proposed projects in various frameworks and won two important awards,
one from the John Templeton Foundation and the other from the Foundational
Question Institute, allowing to me and my team to pursue the research. Big
challenges and questions are all around us – and even inside us, one only needs
to carefully look and be curious. In the future I would love to be able to
extend the items which I investigate to the “matter with life, matter with
consciousness”.
Q: One question you ask in your lectures is 'Quo
Vadis the Universe' - where do you think the Universe is going?
A: I do not know – that’s the
reason for which I need the “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. Fantastic
book! Being serious, the Universe is expanding, with an accelerated expansion,
the reason of which being assigned to the “dark energy”. We need to understand
what dark sectors (matter and energy) in the Universe are made of to be able to
dare answering the question. This might happen in the coming 10 years! But we
also need to better understand the intimate structure of space and time, which
has also to do with the quantum gravity (if any).
Q: Based on your experiences do you have any advice
for aspiring young scientists?
A: Be curious! Explore the world
and don’t be ashamed or shy to ask questions – there are no stupid questions
(while stupid answers might sometimes happen). Be yourself and never give up.
When failures happen (and they do happen), learn the lesson and go on. Follow
your dreams, only they can bring you far. And, of course, study!
I would like to close with a
poetry written by Feynman (The Value of Science, 1955) :
There are the rushing waves
mountains of molecules
each stupidly minding its own business
trillions apart
yet forming white surf in unison
Ages on ages
before any eyes could see
year after year
thunderously pounding the shore as now.
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet
with no life to entertain.
Never at rest
tortured by energy
wasted prodigiously by the Sun
poured into space.
A mite makes the sea roar.
Deep in the sea
all molecules repeat
the patterns of one another
till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves
and a new dance starts.
Growing in size and complexity
living things
masses of atoms
DNA, protein
dancing a pattern ever more intricate.
Out of the cradle
onto dry land
here it is
standing:
atoms with consciousness;
matter with curiosity.
Stands at the sea,
wonders at wondering: I
a universe of atoms
an atom in the Universe.
