Sunday, June 19, 2022
By:
As always, this week was amazing. To begin with the setting that I am writing this post in: I'm currently sitting outside of the cafeteria at ACP! Whenever I am in-person at work, I tend to alternate between my standing-desk, the library, and the tables outside of the cafeteria. I have a pretty fantastic system going on, and tend to focus best by changing my environment and having some time outside like this.
In terms of work, I am continuing to love my job! I finished up creating a first and second grade-level teaching guide on Katherine Clerk Maxwell and her contribution to science this week, and worked on a draft to submit a Physics Today article about her! I have been going through *a LOT* of James Clerk Maxwell's papers, personal letters, post cards, etc to try to find out more about his wife's life and involvement in research. This week I have also been in contact with a number of different archives, researchers, and professors around the world to try to find more information—even just talking to some of these people has also been a privilege! The task of going through all of the documents that I have amassed is interesting, as I now know a lot about their social circle and personal lives, but it has also been pretty unfulfilling to find out that there really is no more information on Katherine (I was really holding out hope that I would uncover more about her, or be able to find her personal letters, but it does not seem to exist).
The teaching guide focuses on color-mixing, based around Katherine and James' research on color vision. They specifically looked at color combinations using prisms, experimenting with color and light with physics (though there had been lots of previous research on color before, the maxwell's were the first to take their particular mathematical approach). They used a spinning wheel to study how combining different amounts of red, green, and blue (rather than the primary red, yellow, blue) would result in creating almost any color. This is particularly interesting where using colored lights (as opposed to colored paper) of red, green, and blue as the three combine to create white light. The Maxwells did a lot of research revolving around the physics of color and how we perceive its combinations, specifically researching in regard to color-blindness.
Since my teaching guide is for young kids, it cannot quite cover the scope of the Maxwell's work. Instead, it focuses on laying the foundation of what primary and secondary colors are and demonstrating that green, red, and blue mix to make white. The guide includes a hands-on demonstration using colored cellophane on top of flashlights, so the kids can experiment with combining colors. A part of the lesson also involves a makeshift color wheel, like James and Katherine used in their experiments, so that kids can see first-hand what Katherine Clerk Maxwell saw!
At work, all of us interns have also been recording short 2-second clips of ourselves for a 'Full House' theme outreach project. This will be posted by Janessa on the Society of Physics Student's TikTok page, and here is a sneak-peak with Lucy:
Outside of work, my 21st birthday was on Monday and Div's 21st was the following day! We went out to happy hour at Quigleys to celebrate, where we seem to have become regulars. Since Monday, some of us have been back to Quigley's three times since we can't seem to turn down the happy hour special of $5 tater tots. If there is ever a future intern reading this blog post that is also staying at New Amsterdam Hall, I would highly recommend going there! It is a fantastic place that is only two blocks away and the prices are not too bad for the city. Thank you so much to the other interns for taking me out—I am truly thankful that everyone is as wonderful and kind as they are :)
After work this week, we have been enjoying relaxing with the interns, watching movies, and eating cheesecake. We watched Dr. Strange and had some game nights this week, which has been a wonderful way to continue getting to know each other and spend time doing something while saving money.
My best friend from home also visited this past weekend! Her work paid for her to fly out and stay in a hotel near the White House, so we have been able to see each other every day this weekend. She came out with all of the interns on Friday (to Quigleys of course), coming with us to one of Brad Conrad's recommended spots in the city. It was an absolute blast for me to be able to combine my closest childhood friend with my new DC intern friends.
On Saturday, Jack Hehn was kind enough to take all of the interns to the National Orchestral Institute and Festival! We all dressed up and went to the University of Maryland to watch the performance. The soloists and orchestra were captivating, truly making the rest of us feel untalented. It is always incredible to be able to watch someone pursuing their passion and demonstrating their expertise as they did. This also comes with a huge thank-you to Jack for taking us! For context, Jack is volunteering as the AAPT Senior Fellow at ACP, and has been absolutely wonderful to frequently have lunch with at work.
On Sunday, a couple of us went to the weekly farmers market at Dupont circle. Though I frequent all of the farmers markets in the city (there is at least two every day), the weekly Sunday event has to be my favorite. It is widespread, with any options of produce to pastries to homemade soaps. A few of the interns got 'breakfast' of spicy chicken empanadas and we very much enjoyed being able to walk around in 70 degree weather rather than melting (for context, I went out for a run yesterday without checking the weather and ended up in 98 degree heat with extra humidity... it did not work out for me).
The coming week is going to be quite a long one, with lots of fun and lots of work planned... see you next week!
-Dory (Janessa or Ben's post may explain the name)
Emma Goulet