Talking Physics with Another Student: Reigniting Imagination

After an eventful sociology class, which delved deep into the understanding of cultures' (subcultures and countercultures) evolutionary growth, I walked towards the library. On my way there, I had noticed the gentleman with the physics book again. Only this time he was sitting by himself. I decided to spark up a conversation with this individual. Wearing a dark red and white horizontally stripped shirt, he introduced himself as Juan soon after my own introduction. Finally! I have placed a name on this intriguing man whom was talking to others about physics with enthusiasm. (In reference to the note: Jan 12 Eavesdropping on Two Students Talking Physics) We sat and spoke about physics for a bit. Briefly covering topics from energy, matter, fluid dynamics, magnetism, and oscillations. About forty minutes into the conversation, Juan asked me what my area of study was. Physics. He was pulled back for a bit. Started talking about how it's such a hard subject to make it an area of study for himself. Upon hearing this, I could not help but ask what his area of study is. Electrical engineering. It clicked to me right then and there. His association to physics is that of a personal perspective towards another separate goal.

There was nothing wrong with this perspective. Our conversation transitioned from physics into life's experiences. Juan was a couple of years older then me. His life struggles allowed me to feel a more warming acceptance into the college. I may have been accepted to study in the college, but it was not up until now had I felt a true acceptance. The choices both Juan and I had made in life have been extreme. We shared our thoughts about our journey to now, and we both agreed that it is definitely a life's experience which reinforces our ability to determine our outlooks in life. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are now. Anyone can be a failure. A good handful of individuals remains in that failure. But people like Juan and myself notices these things. As if there was a calling into realization and the movement of the revealing of the truth. His intentions are to become an engineer and work within the means of engineering systems. Problems laid out on his table. Critically analyzing and solving them electrically.

In comparison to his motives, I could not help but feel alone yet again. He mentioned that people like Isaac Newton had it harder before because there were no laws set. The laws that govern physics had to be thought up and proven. I feel, however, that it is harder today then it was in the past. The biases of science and education holds us into a belief that all of what can be discovered about physics has been discovered. Or at least the important ones. But it is the act of thinking within those means that entraps an individual, if not the society, in thinking within the laws. Imagination drove Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Leonardo Da Vinci, Max Planck, and many more great thinkers into understanding the very nature of our physical sense. The same could be applied now. These facts have been discovered over a period of hundreds of years recently in the history of humanity. Hundreds. Not thousands or perhaps millions of years of humanity's existence. Connecting this all together, there is still a lot more to be learned about Earth, the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe. I have reignited a fire called hope within me on helping humanity understand this and better comprehend the very physical reality of which we live in.

All of this was explained to Juan while he sat in what looked to be confusion. When the entire explanation was finally dictated, he smiled and told me that he had never thought of that. Perhaps I was right he responded. The both of us sat staring at the floor contemplating the words that were just spoken. Then like a child's sudden outburst during a suspenseful movie, I was thanked by Juan. Thanked for allowing me to share my mind and helping him understand a broader aspect of reality. He believes that he can utilize this in electrical engineering. This way of thinking. I can see it in his eyes. It looked like a mother's eyes looking at her new born baby. Amazement. Relief. I can sense by his body language that he himself felt a spark of a thinker's mind.

In life, we should always share ourselves with everyone of whom we come across. Even though one may think it would not make a difference, it could have been that it only takes one individual to help a man become another Albert Einstein. It only takes one. And belief.

-Oliver Bulfango (January 26, 2009)