ESP Biography



NATHAN BENJAMIN, MIT senior




Major: 8

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: 2013

Picture of Nathan Benjamin

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I'm a senior MIT studying physics. Sweet!



Past Classes

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

M7113: Three-Sentence Proofs in Spark! 2013 (Mar. 16, 2013)
Do you enjoy math, but don't like getting bogged down in tedious algebra? Do you like beautiful results, but hate formal proofs that give no intuition? In this class, we will pose a bunch of problems and give short, sweet solutions that explain why, rather than proving how.


X7122: And Now for Something Completely Different in Spark! 2013 (Mar. 16, 2013)
They say you should learn something new everyday. Well, we'll teach you fifteen! In this class, we will talk briefly about a topic for three minutes, and then switch to a new one. Because life's short -- you gotta move fast!


S6537: Spacetime and Black Holes and More! in Splash! 2012 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2012)
Have you ever wondered what a black hole is? What does it mean for spacetime to be curved? Is time travel possible in our current universe? If yes, this course is for you! We start with basic Newtonian Gravity, and move on to build intuition behind Einstein's General Relativity.


X5261: Rock Paper Scissors: Real Professional Strategies. in Splash! 2011 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2011)
A serious class on Rock paper scissors strategy. Illuminating such techniques such as the Avalanche, the Bueracrat, the Crescendo and Decrescendo and of course Edwards Gambit.


W5328: Rock Paper Scissors Tournament in Splash! 2011 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2011)
A chance to display your new found techniques and achieve glory. Will you play the Scrapbook, Death and Taxes or perhaps the powerful Fistful of Dollars! Come play in our tournament in your spare time.


S4551: Applications of NMR to Biochemistry in Spark! 2011 (Mar. 12, 2011)
Biochemists study proteins and other macromolecules on very small scales. How do they do this? With a very powerful technique called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), we can watch the movements of the proteins, and learn a lot about their dynamics and structure! Although class will focus mainly on the applications of NMR, we'll talk about the physics a little as well.


X3999: Introduction to Dominion in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
"I throne room a throne room and play two bridges!" Come and learn to play (or just play) the great card/board game Dominion. Dominion is a strategic deck-building card game that is fun, addicting, and awesome! Players of all skill welcome.


X4001: Advanced Theoretical Dominion in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
So you know how to play Dominion -- want to study some theory? Learn about the Persian Offense, the Gardens Gambit, and the Defensive Duke. And then try some of these theoretical calculations in practice! All skills welcome.


S3341: Lagrangian mechanics: Because Newton is so yesterday in Spark! 2010 (Mar. 13, 2010)
So you know all about classical mechanics, right -- you know about Newton's laws, conservation of momentum, energy, angular momentum.. all that jazz. After taking a calculus-based mechanics class, did you still wonder if there was anything more? Well, in some sense there isn't -- the only thing "fundamental" thing we have is $$F=dp/dt$$. But we can approach mechanics in a more formal, theoretical, and much awesomer way with something called Lagrangian mechanics. From this, you can derive Newton's laws from more fundamental principles!


S3342: Pick Your Poison: An Intro to Spectroscopy in Spark! 2010 (Mar. 13, 2010)
I give you three unlabeled glasses: one containing water, one containing cranberry juice, and one containing a colorless poison. How do you tell (without drinking!) which is which? Well the cranberry juice is easy; just look at the color. But how about the other two? Turns out we can use light to help us, in a way quite similar to just observing color. Come to this class to find out how!


S3057: Pick Your Poison: An Intro to Spectroscopy in Splash! 2009 (Nov. 21 - 22, 2009)
I give you three unlabeled glasses: one containing water, one containing cranberry juice, and one containing a colorless poison. How do you tell (without drinking!) which is which? Well the cranberry juice is easy; just look at the color. But how about the other two? Turns out we can use light to help us, in a way quite similar to just observing color. Come to this class to find out how!