Donald Spector

Professor of Physics

Chair, Department of Physics

Coordinator, Engineering Program

2005-2010 Philip J. Moorad '28 and Margaret N. Moorad Professor of Science

Department of Physics, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456 USA

Eaton Hall 108, x3594

I am proud to support the Alexander Zabusky Fund.

Instead of reading this web page, you can instead look at a visual summary of my professional life -- on a really nicely done web page that our communications office prepared. If you want to contact me, just send a note to [ s p e c t o r (at) h w s . e d u ] . You can also find out how to contact me via the HWS Physics Department.
If you want general information about our Engineering Program, you should consult HWS engineering joint degree programs; for specific information on course requirements for the Columbia program, you should read HWS Courses to meet Columbia engineering prerequisites.
Short Bio
 Scientific and Popular Presentations
 Anacapa Society
Courses
 Research
 Additional Info

Short Bio
A.B. magna cum laude, Harvard University (1981, Physics; Phi Beta Kappa)
A.M., Harvard University (1983, Physics)
Ph.D., Harvard University (1986, Physics)
      Thesis: Consequences of Supersymmetry
      Adivsor: Howard Georgi
Summer Researcher, IBM Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights (1982)
Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer, Cornell University (1986-1988)
NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Utrecht (1988-1989)
Professor, Physics Department, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (1989-present)
      Currently, I am chair of the Physics Department and coordinator of the Engineering Program at HWS.

Lectures and Presentations
I have a range of lectures, technical and popular, that I am happy to give. Some samples:

The Anacapa Society
I am one of the founding members of the Anacapa Society, a society dedicated to the support of theoretical physics research at primarily undergraduate institutions. If you want to learn more about this society or about theoretical physics at undergraduate colleges, check out the website of the Anacapa Society. You can find out where our name comes from, how to join, and lots of other information.

Courses
I am currently teaching Physics 160, an introductory course on optics, electricity, and magnetism.
Next fall, I will be teaching Physics 160 again, as well a First-Year Seminar, entitled Time Travel and Multiple Universes. This course looks at some of the exotic ideas of physics, and tries to understand not only the ideas themselves, but how scientists reach these ideas, what the implications are for such ideas philosophically, and how the larger human world interacts and intersects with the world of physics.

Over the years, I have taught many courses at HWS. The full list is Physics through Star Trek, Classical and Quantum Information and Computing, Astronomy, Modern Physics, Mathematical Methods, Symbolic Computing, Optics, Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Thermal Physics, Introductory Physics I (Mechanics and Waves), Introductory Physics II (Optics and Electromagnetism), and Contemporary Inquiries in Physics (advanced topics in theoretical physics, including symmetries, field theory, KdV equation, non-linear systems, supersymmetric quantum mechanics, and Monte Carlo methods), along with two first-year seminars, Reflecting Science (how science actually gets done, the intersection of science and the arts, explores the implications of science for public policy and of public policy for science) and Chaos, Black Holes, and Time Travel (exotic ideas of physcs, both established and speculative, and a consideration of the impact of these ideas not just in science but in the arts, philosophy, politics, and society).

Research
My research interests in theoretical physics have focused largely on supersymmetry. Currently, I am interested in supersymmetric quantum mechanics with a central charge, which provides a window into BPS and duality in new contexts, and in number theoretic approaches to the Hagedorn temperature. I am also currently working on a more thorough analysis of entropy in reversible computation. Other areas of interest of mine include Q-balls, exactly solvable systems, shape invariance, magnetic monopoles and other topological solitons, anyons, sigma models, exact results in supersymmetric field theories, p-adic string theories, the connections between supersymmetry and mathematics, and partial supersymmetry. I am especially interested in the application of supersymmetry to non-supersymmetric models. Additionally, I have supervised student research on such topics as time-dependent quantum mechanics and simulated annealing.

Outside physics, my research covers many cross-discplinary areas. I am investigating the use of ideas from physics to provide analytical tools to understand evolution and extinction, obstacles to efficiency in economic markets, and the principles underlying computational complexity classes. I have also developed a systems analysis of weapons of mass destruction and an interpretation of Waiting for Godot that is based on the tension between the Copenhagen and Many Worlds Interpretations of quantum mechanics. Currently, I am engaged in a project on entropy generation by computers and the limits to computational efficiency.

Additional Information
Here are some selected links about a few of the other things that I've done:

Go to the Physics Department Home Page or head to the HWS home page.
This page was last modified August 24, 2011, in case you're keeping track.