ESP Biography

MAX ZIMET, MIT junior: Math with Computer Science, Physics

Major: 8 (physics), 18C (math with cs)

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: 2014

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I am from Aspen, CO. I like skiing a lot, as well as other sports. I was a policy debater in high school. I play the trombone and the tuba (not too well, though).

I have been into computer science since about 6th grade, when I learned my first programming language. Since then, I've learned a lot of computer languages, built a calculator, and built a few websites.

I also like math and physics. For about one year, I worked on math research (the inverse spectral problem for the ellipse). This year, I am working on understanding high-temperature superconductors using holography (a spin-off of string theory).

Lastly, and most importantly, when I was in 6th grade I had a hamster. I called him Hammy. He (or she?) was awesome, because when I stuck my hand in the cage he (or she?) would crawl around on my hand, whereas when my brother stuck his hand in he (or she?) would bite him. I also had a fat-tailed gecko, whom I named Lumpy.

Here are the classes I have taken/am taking at MIT, in case you want to ask me questions about any of them:

Fall 2010
17.40 - American Foreign Policy
5.111 - Chemistry (do not ask me questions about this)
8.03 - Jiggly stuff (vibrations and waves is the snooty title)
18.100C - Real Analysis

IAP 2011
8.223 - Classical Mechanics II
6.184 - MIT got rid of 6.001 (structure and interpretation of computer programming) because it was too awesome and theoretical, and replaced it with 6.01 which is boring and useful. This class is taught by people obsessed with 6.001 (i.e. they took it as students, then TA'd it, etc.); it's 6.001 crammed into 4 weeks. Awesome.

Spring 2011
8.04 - Quantum Mechanics I
8.044 - Statistical Mechanics I
18.102 - Functional Analysis
18.112 - Complex Analysis
18.504 - Seminar in Logic
21M.301 - Harmony and Counterpoint I
21M.something - MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE)

Fall 2011
8.033 - Relativity
8.05 - Quantum Mechanics II
8.07 - Electromagnetism II
8.231 - Physics of Solids
8.411 - Quantum Computing I
14.12 - Game Theory, with Economic Applications
18.701 - Algebra I

IAP 2012
6.002 in a week
Israel

Spring 2012
8.323 - Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I
8.08 - Statistical Mechanics II
8.371 - Quantum Computing II
17.42 - Causes and Prevention of War
6.004 - How to Build a Computer
8.06 - Quantum Mechanics III

Fall 2012
8.324 - Relativistic Quantum Field Theory II
8.13 - Experimental Physics I
18.404 - Theory of Computation
18.905 - Algebraic Topology
6.845 - Quantum Complexity Theory

Past Classes

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

S6241: Quantum Computing: When 0 and 1 Just Aren't Enough in Splash! 2012 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2012)

The universe is weird. But this weirdness is useful. Come have your mind blown and learn about how we can harness this weirdness to solve problems in ways that seem inexplicably fast. Gain intuition for why quantum mechanics is weird! Learn about computing with bits that aren't just 0 or 1, but somehow both at the same time, and how early versions of these computers have already been built. No prior knowledge of quantum mechanics will be assumed.

S5029: Entropy, and Deriving the Ideal Gas Law: Statistical Mechanics in Splash! 2011 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2011)

Have you seen people walking around MIT with shirts saying $$\frac{PV} {nR}$$ and wondered why that was supposed to equal T? Have you ever wondered why time moves forward; why cold things melt; how we are supposedly running out of energy, despite the fact that scientists tell us that energy is conserved; why engines cannot be perfectly efficient? We will introduce the physical variable entropy and describe some of its many uses in science. One of these will be to derive the famous ideal gas law $$PV=nRT.$$