physics

Tom Baehr-Jones

Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones rather than just read about it. In short: Tom Baehr-Jones (born January 15, 1980, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American physicist who has made contributions in the field of Nanophotonics. His findings have been published in Nature, Science, Nature Photonics, Nature Materials, the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, and Optics Express, among many others.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Tom Baehr-Jones (born January 15, 1980, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American physicist who has made contributions in the field of Nanophotonics. His findings have been published in Nature, Science, Nature Photonics, Nature Materials, the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, and Optics Express, among many others. Baehr-Jones is a co-founder of Luxtera, Inc. He later joined Prof. Michael Hochberg's group at the University of Washington, and was also a co-founder of Elenion. He later joined Luminous Computing as a senior fellow, and is presently VP of Photonics at Luminous Computing.

References

External links Biography at the University of Washington. List of Publications.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tom Baehr-Jones

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones

In research: Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones 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: Tom Baehr-Jones is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980 births, 21st-century American physicists, American nanotechnologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Tom Baehr-Jones in simple terms?

Why does Tom Baehr-Jones 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 Tom Baehr-Jones?

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 Tom Baehr-Jones.