Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories
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<strong>Tombrello</strong>–59<br />
video of it. Brian was at the board, and Yariv was taking notes. Amnon is capable of listening<br />
to people who know something he wants to know. He was very quiet, and he was taking very<br />
good notes. This kid was telling him something. Very interesting.<br />
Brian won the Apker prize [LeRoy Apker Award, APS, 1998]. He’s an assistant<br />
professor at the University of Pittsburgh now. It’s a curious case of a two-career thing. His<br />
wife, Vicky, is also a <strong>Caltech</strong> undergrad [BS 1998]. She was an economics PhD from MIT when<br />
he got a physics PhD from Harvard. They have to play the game of where can they both go. I<br />
had Vicky’s little brother in Physics 11; I think he’s now down in the University of Texas. Now,<br />
Dario was found by a former Physics 11 student named Dave Bacon [BS physics/literature<br />
1997].<br />
ASPATURIAN: Oh, the “Quantum Pontiff.” He has a blog.<br />
TOMBRELLO: Yes. He and I wrote a paper when he was a freshman that he won the Green prize<br />
for, on the sliding stones at the Racetrack Playa, which gets a lot of attention periodically. Right<br />
now it’s getting a lot of attention again. They ought to instrument the damn rocks, now that they<br />
can do that. That was less plausible when we were studying it twenty years ago.<br />
ASPATURIAN: Is there an equivalent of Physics 11 in any of the other divisions?<br />
TOMBRELLO: No. It’s unique. In many universities they couldn’t do it. I remember someone<br />
commenting once, “Well, you don’t have many students.” I said, “Madame, you want<br />
Chevrolets? I make Formula 1s.” [Laughter.]<br />
ASPATURIAN: Do you ever find yourself saying, though, “Gee, I wish I could teach this course to<br />
a group of biologists or planetary scientists?”<br />
TOMBRELLO: Well, I don’t try to limit what— Some of the kids end up in those fields.<br />
Grayson Chadwick is ending up as a biology major. You’ve heard of Grayson and the potential<br />
solution to HIV, which arose while he was in Physics 11.<br />
ASPATURIAN: Yes, that’s right.<br />
http://resolver.caltech.edu/<strong>Caltech</strong>OH:OH_<strong>Tombrello</strong>_T