“A Problem in Dynamics.” By James Clerk Maxwell. Read by Charles D. Brown II
Dr. Charles D. Brown II is an experimental quantum physicist and champion for people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM. Charles earned his B.S. with honors in physics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and his Ph.D. in physics at Yale University. He is now a postdoctoral scholar and Ford Foundation fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he is a member of the Ultracold Atomic Physics Group, where he investigates ultracold atoms trapped in optical lattices, which offers a potential avenue to study a rich variety of many-body quantum physics phenomena. Additionally, Charles has a long history of empowering students - spanning the elementary through graduate levels - to pursue their STEM interests. Charles also advocates for the general interests of underrepresented people in STEM. In the summer of 2020, Charles wrote a piece for Physics Today about Black underrepresentation in physics, which has been widely read and has sparked important conversations regarding necessary changes in many physics departments around the nation, and beyond.