physics

Michael Poirier

Michael Poirier is a physics 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 Michael Poirier rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Guy Poirier is a professor and biophysicist at Ohio State University where he is a faculty member in both the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Education Poirier attended Truman State University where he earned a BS in physics in 1995.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Michael Guy Poirier is a professor and biophysicist at Ohio State University where he is a faculty member in both the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Education Poirier attended Truman State University where he earned a BS in physics in 1995. He earned a PhD in physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002. His PhD advisor was John F. Marko and his dissertation is entitled "Micromechanical Biochemical Studies of Mitotic Chromosome Elasticity and Structure" In 2006 he was hired as an assistant faculty member at Ohio State University. In 2012 he was promoted to associate faculty and in 2016 he became a full professor at Ohio State University.

Publications Poirier is author and co-author of publications in biophysics. His most cited paper is "Post-Translational Modifications of Histones That Influence Nucleosome Dynamics" which he co-authored with Gregory D. Bowman. Another publication is "Basic helix-loop-helix pioneer factors interact with the histone octamer to invade nucleosomes and generate nucleosome-depleted regions".

Awards and honors In 2020, Poirier won the Lumley Interdisciplinary Research Award from the Ohio State University college of engineering. In 2024, he was elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Poirier

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Poirier claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Michael Poirier 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 Michael Poirier 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 Michael Poirier

In research: Michael Poirier appears in physics 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 Michael Poirier 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: Michael Poirier is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American physicists, Biophysicists, Fellows of the American Physical Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Poirier 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 Michael Poirier in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Poirier 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 Michael Poirier out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Poirier in simple terms?

Michael Guy Poirier is a professor and biophysicist at Ohio State University where he is a faculty member in both the Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Education Poirier attended Truman State University where he earned a BS in physics in 1995.

Why does Michael Poirier matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Michael Poirier?

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 Michael Poirier.