Interview-DrJacqRomero-QuantumPhysicist
#172 RFA Interview:
Dr Jacq Romero,
Quantum Scientist from University of the Philippines (UP)
Who Worked at University of Glasgow (UG)
and Now Working at University of Queensland (UQ)
Wins Science Award by L'Orèal and United Nations (UN)
(February 2018)
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Dr Jacq Romero, a world leading quantum physicist who studied at the University of the Philippines (UP), which is considered one of the most prestigious learning institutions in the Philippines, has been internationally recognised with a UN science award whilst working at the University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, Australia. She also previously worked at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, swapping the cold Scottish lands near the Arctic for the warm sub-tropical beaches of Brisbane. Dr Romero was recognised in 2017 as a winner of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science award. The L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) have strived to support and recognise accomplished women researchers around the world. |
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Dr Romero's scientific research at UQ involves investigating the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the quantum of light, also referred to as a photon. Quantum is the Latin word for amount. In modern understanding, quantum means the smallest possible discrete unit of any physical property, such as energy or matter. Quantum came into mainstream scientific usage in 1900, when the |
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famous physicist Max Planck defined it in a presentation to the German Physical Society, which led to the system of Planck units used in quantum physics, as well as being included in the International System of Units (SI) today, such as the Planck length, constant and time. Planck's work in this area won him a Nobel prize.
Just a few years later, fellow Nobel prize winner Albert Einstein, a German-born theoretical physicist published his Special Theory of Relativity (STR) in 1905, and followed it up with his even more famous General Theory of Relativity (GTR) in 1915, considered one of the towering achievements of the 20th century. In 1905, Einstein, with the benefit of Max Planck's work, also defined the law of the photoelectric effect. He described light as composed of discrete quanta, rather than continuous waves, which was a pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory.
Most scientists get to stand of the shoulders of the great work of scientists who come before them. Dr Romero, at UQ, as a quantum physicist gets to stand on the shoulders of the great work of Max Planck and Albert Einstein.
Dr Romero is a proud mother-of-three, and is equally as proud to be able to maintain an entangled family and quantum physics work life balance. She has always been interested by science and her research lies within the spooky scientific area of "entanglement" – that information is shared between particles regardless of how far apart they are. In fact, entanglement within physics made Einstein feel so uncomfortable that he famously called it "Spooky action at a distance." For one of the world's greatest scientists to use the word "spooky" within physics, is, well, indeed quite spooky in itself. Entanglement could also be referred to as quantum teleportation, which may raise images in the minds of some wishful thinking and science fiction fans of a teleportation machine used in the Hollywood blockbuster Star Trek television series and movies.
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During the interview with RFA, Dr Romero describes quantum entanglement. Schrödinger's cat quantum entanglement thought experiment by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 attempts to explain this. However, Dr Romero defines her own description which RFA prefers to focus on and now refers to as the Romero Coloured Ball |
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(Note: Balikbayan refers to a Filipino visiting or returning to the Philippines after a period of living in another country. Thus, the famous Balikbayan Box is a cargo box which Filipinos send back to their homeland family and friends, consequently retaining their social and cultural entanglement to their motherland.) Quantum physics has great use for quantum computing which is set to revolutionise the use of information in the 21st century. Data being transmitted and processed in society today is unprecedented. With the advent of quantum computing, the quantity, speed and the raw simultaneous mathematical computational crunching power will increase by billions of times over. |
Photo: Balikbayan box. What spooky entangled quantum secrets lie within when conducting a Romero Coloured Ball Balikbayan Box thought experiment? |
Dr Romero's work is important to being able to help navigate the fast-evolving world of quantum physics which has so many practical applications in our world today and it's fabulous that a female Filipino physicist working in Australia is able to make her own significant contributions to this tiny quantum scientifically esoteric and spooky world which has giant implications for human civilisation.
Photo: The Quantum physics and applied computing world is a whole new world of discovery. Leah Salonga, considered by many as the Philippines' most famous international singing star, became very popular, among many other achievements, for being an original artist to sing "A Whole New World" for the movie "Aladin", which won an academy award for Best Original Song. One verse from this is: "A whole new world. A new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no. Or where to go. Or say we're only dreaming." These "Whole New World" lyrics have good application for quantum theoretical and applied physics today.