astronomy

Harold Craighead

Harold Craighead is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Harold Craighead rather than just read about it. In short: Harold G. Craighead (born September 21, 1952) is an American professor of applied and engineering physics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he holds the title of Charles W.

Key takeaways

Harold Craighead belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Harold Craighead to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Harold Craighead from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harold G. Craighead (born September 21, 1952) is an American professor of applied and engineering physics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he holds the title of Charles W. Lake Professor of Engineering.

Education and career Harold G. Craighead received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics, with High Honors, from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1974. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1980. His thesis work involved an experimental study of the optical properties and solar energy applications of metal particle composites. From 1979 until 1984 he was a Member of Technical Staff in the Device Physics Research Department at Bell Laboratories. In 1984 he joined Bellcore, where he formed and managed the Quantum Structures research group. Craighead joined the faculty of Cornell University as a professor in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics in 1989. From 1989 until 1995 he was Director of the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell. Craighead was Director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1998 to 2000 and the founding Director of the Nanobiotechnology Center from 2000 to 2001. He served as Interim Dean of the College of Engineering from 2001 to 2002 after which he returned to the Nanobiotechnology Center as co-director. He has been a pioneer in nanofabrication methods and the application of engineered nanosystems for research and device applications. Throughout his career he has contributed to numerous scientific journals with over 280 published papers. Craighead's recent research activity includes the use of nanofabricated devices for biological applications. His research continues to involve the study and development of new methods for nanostructure formation, integrated fluidic/optical devices, nanoelectromechanical systems and single molecule analysis. Craighead was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2004, "[f]or his significant advances in experimental studies of the physical properties and utilization of nanoscale materials and structures." In February 2007, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. According to the academy, Craighead, director of Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center, was selected for "contributions to the fabrication and exploitation of nanostructures for electronic, optical, mechanical and biological applications." He has been a pioneer in nanofabrication methods and using nanostructures as tools in biological research. His research group has created devices that can detect and identify single bacteria and viruses, nanoscale gas sensors and nanofluidic devices that can separate, count and analyze individual DNA molecules.

Stretching the Boundaries of Nanofabricated Devices

Lightest Biological Object Weighed Harold Craighead and research assistant Rob Ilic have their research featured in the 2006 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. In its Science and Technology section, the book cites the "Lightest Object Weighed:" a mass of 6.3 attograms. An attogram is one-thousandth of a femtogram, which is one-thousandth of a picogram, which is one-thousandth of a nanogram, which is a billionth of a gram. The entry is based on research reported in the Journal of Applied Physics in April 2004 (and profiled in the April 15, 2004, Cornell Chronicle), in which the researchers used changes in the vibration of a nanoscale oscillator to detect the mass of a single E-coli bacterium.

Smallest Guitar The world's smallest guitar (the nanoguitar) came from the lab of Harold Craighead in 1997, and was created by Dustin Carr. Years later, a fancier nanoguitar was fabricated, and played using laser drive.

Smallest Nanobowl Trophy Benjamin Cipriany and Philip Waggoner, research assistants in the Craighead group created the world's smallest Nanobowl trophy in 2007. This is to support the American Physical Society's Physics Central Nanobowl Video Contest, whereby high school students submit video entries that demonstrate some aspect of physics in football. The nanotrophy award and prize money were awarded on Super Bowl Sunday to students at Rochester Adams High School in Michigan.

Professional titles Charles W. Lake Professor of Engineering Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics previously Director of The Nanobiotechnology Center, Cornell University previously Director of Center for Cancer Microenvironment and Metastasis, Cornell University

References

External links Craighead Research Group website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harold Craighead

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harold Craighead claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Harold Craighead before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Harold Craighead ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Harold Craighead

In research: Harold Craighead appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Harold Craighead in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Harold Craighead is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, Cornell University College of Engineering faculty, Cornell University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harold Craighead outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Harold Craighead in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Harold Craighead means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Harold Craighead out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Harold Craighead in simple terms?

Harold G. Craighead (born September 21, 1952) is an American professor of applied and engineering physics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he holds the title of Charles W.

Why does Harold Craighead matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Harold Craighead?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Harold Craighead.