Maxwell, Einstein, and Their Impossibilities

In 1871, James Clerk Maxwell proposed a thought experiment, and in 1907, Albert Einstein made a prediction. Both men concluded that the experimental realizations would be impossible. In this talk Prof. Raizen will describe his recent work that relates to this history, and show how it has enabled new methods for controlling matter with light.

Prof. Mark G. Raizen

Mark Raizen was born in New York City where generations of his family resided since the 1840’s. While he comes from a long line of medical doctors, dating back to the Civil War, Mark’s life took a different path. Like his mother, aunt, and uncle, Mark attended The Walden School on the Upper West Side, until his family moved to Israel. He graduated from De Shalit High School in Rehovot, and received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Tel-Aviv University. He continued his graduate education at The University of Texas at Austin, under the guidance of Steven Weinberg (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979) and Jeff Kimble (Caltech). Mark completed his Ph.D. in 1989, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Time and Frequency Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In 1991, Mark returned to Austin and The University of Texas, where he became an assistant professor of physics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1996 and full professor in 2000. Mark now holds the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair in Physics, and his work has been recognized by numerous prizes and awards. Mark and his wife, Alicia, reside in Austin and San Antonio (though not simultaneously, as a Schrödinger cat state). Both are advocates for historical preservation and animal rights, and share a love for New York and the Upper West Side.