Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories

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