top of page


.jpg)
Welcome to my blog!
​
I'm a Professor of Physics at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jul 29, 2023
Texting Quantum
This post continues looking at the current interest in quantum physics. In an era which has declared the importance of training a...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jul 21, 2023
The Mindbending Art of M. C. Escher
Art and science have had connections since a long time. The Platonic solids played a central role in the thinking of scientists from...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jul 14, 2023
Quantum Computers: State of Play
This post addresses the ongoing buzz about quantum computers. In 2012 John Preskill at CalTech coined the term quantum supremacy, which...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jul 7, 2023
Bhabha: Science, Administration and Art
Homi Jehangir Bhabha was a physicist who made important contributions at the international (there are processes and equations named after...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jun 30, 2023
Imaging all the People*
(When I started writing this blog I was determined not to miss posting weekly, except in the event of nuclear war. Unfortunately, I had...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jun 16, 2023
Probing the Pudding
This post is about proof - an object usually found in the pudding - and its importance. The word 'proof' comes from the Latin 'probare',...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jun 9, 2023
A Physicist thinks About Biology
When I was young I had problems with biology. It started with the fact that my memory was not very capacious. As a result, I was not good...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Jun 2, 2023
Pure versus Applied: John von Neumann
Scientists often make a distinction between working in pure (more interesting than useful) versus applied (more useful than interesting)...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
May 26, 2023
What Makes the World Go Around
To a physicist, the literal answer to the question 'what makes the world go around?' is - angular momentum! Angular momentum is the...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
May 20, 2023
Cosmic Concerns
This is a post to read in case you do not already have enough to worry about in your own life, including, but not limited to, what AI...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
May 13, 2023
Laser: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
This post is about the laser - the same one that's in your pointer. The laser was invented on May 16, 1960, so its anniversary is this...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
May 6, 2023
Black Hole Survival Kit
A black hole is an object whose gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape it. Black holes are in the news a lot these days....
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Apr 29, 2023
Physicists who were awarded the Chemistry Nobel
This is a small and quaint group that has piqued my interest for some time. Of course, it is not a total surprise when a physicist is...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Apr 22, 2023
The Laws of Levitation
Levitation may be defined as the state of countering gravity without making physical contact with the surroundings. It is a phenomenon...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Apr 15, 2023
The End of Physics
The end of physics has been predicted several times. For example, Max Planck was famously advised (by one Prof. Jolly, who was quite...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Apr 8, 2023
A Post on the Postdoctoral Years
In my almost twenty five years in American academia, I have only heard of one case (all assertions in this post will refer to my field,...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Apr 2, 2023
Graduate School in Physics
This post refers to a substantial and often critical phase in the life an academic physicist - graduate school (I am referring to a PhD)....
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Mar 26, 2023
The Same Only Different: The Role and Reach of Analogies in Physics
Analogies form an important part of human thought. They seem to be an evolutionary mechanism which leverage previous experience in the...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Mar 18, 2023
Quantum Physics: Impressions and Facts
Quantum physics is on a lot of peoples' minds these days. It is of course, one of the two theories that have resisted integration into a...
Mishkat Bhattacharya
Mar 12, 2023
What makes a Good Theoretical Physicist?
The answer to this question, of course depends on what one means by 'good'. I will choose a low bar for this qualification - let 'good'...
RECENT POSTS
bottom of page