Prize Recipient

Andrew Peterson
Morehouse College

Background:

My name is Andrew Peterson and I am from Bastrop, Texas. I currently attend Morehouse College located in Atlanta, Georgia. Unlike many of my fellow undergraduate physicists, I am not “smart”, nor have I ever been. Thus, mastering the many complex ideas presented by the discipline of physics has been a taxing struggle, but one which I have dearly enjoyed. I chose physics as my major because it has always offered me an enticing and rewarding challenge. The vast realm of physics encompasses numerous topics which cannot simply be read and understood, but must be pondered, reviewed, and recited. The study of physics provides (and demands) endless progress, for there is always more to uncover and understand about our world and how it functions. Many of the world’s innovatively engineered solutions begin first with the breakthrough discoveries made by insightful physicists.  Were it not for Planck, de Broglie, Schrodinger, and others who contributed to the development of quantum mechanics, the advancement of technology would have come to an abrupt halt in the 1920s due to the limitations of classical physics and its outdated approach. The airplane, the cell phone, the MP3 player, the computer: all inventions which began first with the findings of inquisitive physicists and were later developed by ingenious engineers who utilized the discoveries of the former. I thus hope to one day join that class of revolutionary minds who have helped pave the way for society to advance in its understanding and stewardship of the world.