My father is an engineer, and when I was a boy, he would tell me stories about the stars. He made me wonder about the universe.
He was playing guitar a lot then, too, and I was interested in it. But I didn’t begin really playing until after I left home to attend high school in Singapore.
Sometimes I would get obsessed trying to learn a piece. I would spend hours on it each day. My fingers would hurt; my hands would swell up. But you have to be obsessed to be good at anything. It starts with patience, and patience becomes an obsession with trying to learn a piece or get the answer to a problem.
Mathematics is an elegant way to describe the universe. It’s crazy that we can actually predict how it behaves. You do it with such efficiency because there are logical rules—follow them and you will get to the answer.
I approach music from almost the opposite perspective. I love romantic music.
In theoretical physics we focus on mathematics, but there is more. It requires a certain amount of intuition.
I need to be working on several things at the same time to remain sane, so I put physics, music, and math together so that I can switch back and forth.
It’s a form of procrastination, I guess!
One of my favorite pieces by Chopin, the Mazurka in B minor, takes you into wonder, and then back to the darkness. It’s like a lesson in life— even in these tough situations you can see something wonderful, and that changes you.
It’s like that when I look at any problem—it can be frustrating, but you keep moving on, step-by-step, until you find a solution, something beautiful, and you take that with you.
Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Quan triple-majored in math, music, and physics, earned distinction on his comprehensive exams, earned the top prizes in physics his junior and senior years, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a standing ovation during his senior recital.
Quan plans to pursue a PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Stony Brook (SUNY). This summer he worked with Wabash Professor Dennis Krause via Skype on a physics problem they began earlier this year (and have now solved!).