# ESP Biography

## CHRISTOPHER HILLENBRAND, MIT sophomore studying chemistry and physics

Major: 5

College/Employer: MIT

Not Available.

## Past Classes

(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

M13263: Nonstandard analysis and the hyperreal numbers in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)
Do priggish mathematicians shame you for writing down "handwavy" expressions like $$dy=f'(x)\, dx$$ ? Say no more. With the hyperreal numbers, you can use infinitesimals to do your calculus just like Newton and Leibniz in the days of yore. Warning: there will be numbers $$\circledcirc>0$$ smaller than any positive real and $$\omega$$ bigger than any positive integer.

M13264: kick people's a$$es at pool in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019) after this class, you'll beat all your friends at pool (as long as you bring your protractor) M13016: how to ??? profit: game theory in Spark 2019 (Mar. 16 - 17, 2019) 1. take our class 2. learn to solve games, say the magic word (maximinimaximinimize) 3. ??? 4. profit M12207: All about symmetry in Spark 2018 (Mar. 17 - 18, 2018) Symmetry shows up everywhere in nature! Flowers and starfish have rotational symmetry; people have bilateral symmetry (kinda). Cubes and icosahedra seem to have lots of symmetry, and spheres have even more. What other kinds of symmetry are there, and where can they be found? S11794: Intro to Lagrangian mechanics in Splash 2017 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2017) Doing physics problems with$$\mathbf{F}=m\mathbf{a}$$and free-body diagrams can get gnarly very quickly, and some problems are just too gross to do that way. Example: can you tell me how a double pendulum moves? There is a far cleaner method to do classical mechanics, and it comes from the fact that objects move along trajectories that minimize* a quantity called the action which can be computed from the trajectory. This fact actually determines the trajectory and lets you find it with much less work than$$\mathbf{F}=m\mathbf{a}$$. If you like notation, then take this class because you'll learn what$$\frac{\partial L}{\partial q_i} - \frac{d}{dt}\frac{\partial L}{\partial \dot{q_i}} = 0$$means by the end. *actually extremize, but close enough S11795: Hardware store chemistry in Splash 2017 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2017) Ever buy a chemistry set and been disappointed by the conspicuous absence of anything interesting? Don't be sad, a lot of chemistry is possible with stuff you can get without being a large company or school. A ton of fascinating knowledge has become obscure because it's not cutting-edge. We'll tour the periodic table and tell stories about modern scientists who were amateur chemists. Disclaimer: Don't do these things at home; they're unsafe. Ask your chemistry teacher to do it with you in school. S11796: Molecular orbital theory in Splash 2017 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2017) Solving the Dirac equation is hard. Solving the multi-electron Schrödinger equation is hard. Hell, solving the single-electron Schrödinger equation is too hard to do in your head. So we cheat and lie and fabricate stuff to make it easier to understand how molecules work. 1. Electrons don't talk to each other. 2. Hilbert space is a lot tinier because wavefunctions are LCAOs. 3. Who the hell cares about spin-orbit or nuclear motion? This is our chemists' dogma. Come learn how to fight with it! S11504: Fundamentals of chemistry without all the cr*p: the structure of matter in HSSP Summer 2017 (Jul. 09, 2017) We'll cover core concepts of chemistry with emphasis on the physical (primarily quantum-mechanical) basis of chemical properties. I'm not going to teach you a hundred wrong models of the atom as is done in many high school courses. Stoichiometry, chemical thermodynamics, and equilibria will also be skipped. Even the more experienced students will have plenty to learn and think about. Topics: * Electronic structure of atoms using elementary quantum mechanics: the hydrogen atom,$$i \hbar \frac{d}{dt} \Psi(t) = \hat{H} \Psi(t)$$, orbitals (!)$$\\$$* Polyelectronic atoms (can we still use orbitals?), Slater's rules, periodic trends, ionization energy and electronegativity$$\\$$* Understanding electrons in molecules with MO theory: the covalent bond$$\\$$* Rationalizing molecular geometry$$\\$$* Explaining reactivity, Brønsted and Lewis acidity and basicity$$\\$$If we have enough time, we might also do: * Crystalline materials, bonding in solid state$$\\$$* Molecular symmetry and vibrational/electronic spectroscopy$$\\ * Tour of the periodic table in your home and in the lab.

S10617: Hardware store chemistry in Splash 2016 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2016)
Ever buy a chemistry set and been disappointed by the conspicuous absence of anything interesting? Take this class and find out what chemical reactions can be done with only items from retail chains (answer: a worrisome number). You'll also hear tales of past makeshift chemistry masters. Disclaimer: Please do not actually do these things at home. If you go to your chemistry teacher with a thorough proposal for an experiment, you can probably convince him/her to help you with it.

S9856: Hardware Store Chemistry in Splash 2015 (Nov. 21 - 22, 2015)
Ever buy a chemistry set and been disappointed by the conspicuous absence of anything interesting? Take this class and find out what chemical reactions can be done with only items from retail chains (answer: a worrisome number). You'll also hear tales of past makeshift chemistry masters. Disclaimer: please do not actually do these things at home. If you go to your chemistry teacher with a thorough proposal for an experiment, you can probably convince him/her to help you with it.