Assistant Professor, Physics
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Balents Assistant Professor, Physics |
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Theoretical physicist Leon Balents read “lots of English literature” as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but found the pull of physics too compelling to resist. He majored in that subject, and in mathematics, and went on to earn his master’s and Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University. He credits his father, an engineer with a fondness for physics, for helping to spark his own intense interest in the field. His work includes nanotechnology, contemplating how the spin and charge of electrons act together to produce magnetism in nanotubes. Someday, he says, nanotubes may become the wires in futuristic “spintronics” technology, using electronic magnetism instead of charge for computing. Teaching is fun for Balents. He compares it to opening a window on a view the student has never seen before. He finds that it rekindles his own enthusiasm for the “beautiful ideas” of physics. |