American Physical Society

Charles Falco - Professor

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Job Info

Employer:
University of Arizona

Employer Home Page:
http://www.arizona.edu

Position Type:
Education
Research
Product Development
Analyst

Job skills:
Complex problem solving
Synthesizing information
Mathematical skills
Lab or instrumentation skills
Knowledge of physics principles
Data analysis
Team work

Charles Falco's Job:
Falco works developing new film materials for a variety of purposes using a process called molecular beam epitaxy. He heats metals to the point where they start to vaporize. When they start to condense,  they form new materials with new properties that can be useful for,  say,  computer memory chips.

My Previous Jobs:
In 2000,  Falco assisted in making a breakthrough in the field of art history. David Hockney,  a British painter,  suspected that renaissance painters used lenses to help them with large portraits. After reading about Hockney's research in the New Yorker,  Falco contacted Hockney. The two have studied hundreds of paintings and determined that,  not only did the artists use lenses,  they were able to calculate the sizes and properties of these lenses,  200 years before science started working with optics. "Every art historian who has seen our evidence has left convinced, " says Falco.

Career Facts

Employer Type:
School/Academia

Current Location:
Tuscon, AZ

Physics Degree:
Doctorate

Educational Information

BS from the University of California Irvine
MS from the University of California Irvine
Ph.D.  from the University of California Irvine


http://www.optics.arizona.edu/faculty/Resumes/Falco.htm

More about Charles Falco

Charles Falco's other interests:
For Falco,  motorcycles are a passion. He first rode on a motorcycle when he was nine,  and was hooked. He bought his first motorcycle when he was 15½ (and later crashed it when he was 15¾). He now owns fifteen motorcycles and over 3000 books on the topic. He is such an enthusiast on the topic that when the Guggenheim Museum in New York City,  one of the world's premier art museums,  wished to do an exhibit on the motor cycle,  they contacted Falco. The exhibit has since moved to Chicago and Bilbao,  Spain. Falco goes to these sites and gives talks on the art and science behind the motorcycle.

Charles Falco's home page:
http://www.optics.arizona.edu/ssd/staff.html

Direct link to Charles Falco's profile:
http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/people/falco.cfm

Charles Falco

Biography:

Charles Falco grew up in Iowa,  but half way through his childhood moved to southern California. He earned his Bachelor's and Doctorate from the University of California in Irvine.