About Me, Andrew Larkoski

I am a theoretical particle physicist whose research focuses on studying and answering questions about the fundamental building blocks of matter. I earned my Ph.D. from Stanford University, held research appointments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, taught for several years at Reed College, and since 2021 have been a sort of journeyman physicist, taking up one-year research positions at SLAC National Accelerator Lab and UCLA. I have published more than 70 papers in academic journals and two undergraduate textbooks, on elementary particle physics and quantum mechanics, and started this blog on a whim as I realized I have numerous physics stories to share.

What is this blog?

This is a very different sort of blog than the many, many others out there by physicists. I will introduce or discuss physical concepts very rarely and instead devote space to vignettes of life as a physicist, the day-to-day, especially as it relates to world travel and communication with and amongst other physicists. Posts will be a couple paragraphs or so each, providing but the briefest glimpse into any number of my own experiences that come with the job. Some will be written in the moment, comments or perspectives while actively at a conference or seated at my desk staring at either a blank pad of paper or computer screen. Others will be excerpts from longer essays on any number of past trips, from attending a summer school in Corsica, France, to being at CERN when the Higgs boson discovery was announced there in 2012, or to visiting Arecibo telescope before it collapsed and was destroyed.