Faculty Focus: Harald Griesshammer

By Julia Parmley

What holds matter together? How much does the universe weigh? These are some of the questions GW Assistant Professor of Physics Harald Griesshammer hopes to help answer in his research in nuclear physics.

He explains that at the center of each atom is a nucleus that contains 99.9 percent of its mass. The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons, which in turn are made up of even smaller particles. The study of nuclear physics looks at why and how protons and neutrons form the atomic nuclei. For example, very light nuclei in the sun collide and fuse into heavier ones, releasing energy as the light that makes life on Earth possible.

“Theoretical nuclear physics is at the core of our understanding about the universe,” says Dr. Griesshammer. “It has been studied for approximately 70 years, but only in the past decade have we understood the fundamental laws they follow, thanks to new, highly accurate experiments. There are a lot of simple questions we are now confident we can answer, including how what happened immediately after the Big Bang—the giant explosion that formed the universe—determined which elements exist and at what levels in the world around us.”

Why bother with nuclear physics? “There is no immediate, tangible benefit from knowing how much the universe weighs, but the question is part of the fundamental research about why we are,” he says. “Many everyday applications were born out of research considered fundamental at its time. For example, the Internet was created because physicists needed to easily exchange huge amounts of data. And imagine a hospital without nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and radiation therapy—both byproducts of nuclear physics research. Fundamental questions are not useless; they actually touch our very existence.”

In 2007, Dr. Griesshammer received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program, making his the first nuclear theory project selected for a National Science Foundation grant in four years.

Calling theoretical physics a “weird science,” Dr. Griesshammer says a single idea can take years to test. He and his group regularly use supercomputers in their calculations. He calls himself “a small stone in a big research effort,” adding that collaboration between physicists and astronomers will bring answers, for example, on how dense the universe was three minutes after the Big Bang.

Born and raised in Nürnberg, Germany, Dr. Griesshammer studied at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, completed his post-docorate work at the University of Washington in Seattle and the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics in Trento, Italy, and taught in Munich and Nürnberg before beginning his faculty position at GW in May 2006.

Theoretical nuclear physics was not always Dr. Griesshammer’s passion, but it became a natural field of study. “As a child I wanted to be an astronaut, but I had bad eyesight,” he says. “I found I liked theory more than experiment. I was kicked out of a lab once because I accidentally blew up an experiment. My mother said I was always destined to be a theorist.”

At GW, Dr. Griesshammer teaches graduate courses in electrodynamics and mathematical methods. He enjoys engaging his students in debate and working with the 12 other faculty members in the Department of Physics. “My students are very engaged and highly motivated,” he says. “My colleagues and I know every student by name. We are like a family. If someone is sad, we know. If someone is doing well, we know. That’s rare in universities. ”

He and his colleagues have spent the last year revamping the Physics Department’s curriculum to include more skill building and problem solving in the classroom and in assign­ments. In 2008, Dr. Griesshammer and Associate Professor of Physics Allena Opper hosted the 20th National Nuclear Physics Summer School, which brought 70 graduate students from all over the world to GW. “Our department has a great reputation in the physics world, but the competition is not sleeping,” says Dr. Griesshammer. “We plan to add to our strengths in nuclear, astro- and biophysics. The prospect of a new science and engineering building has really invigorated our efforts.”

Dr. Griesshammer is married with two children, ages nine and six. He says his children did not know a word of English when they moved to the United States but are now fluent and enjoying school. In his spare time, Griesshammer reads and plays the piano and harpsichord.

Theorists do not need a lot of equip­ment or money, says Dr. Greisshammer, but they do need a passion for discovery. “For me, the underlying question is why nature looks the way it does, and under­standing what is all around us,” he says. “Like all theorists, at the core of my beliefs, I am an idealist.”

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