Coffee, sounds, equations and dogs.
Sometimes woodworking and science outreach.
I studied physics at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (bachelor’s degree), International Center of Theoretical Physics (postgraduate diploma in high energy, cosmology and astroparticle physics) and Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (PhD in astroparticle physics).
The (quantum) universe is a challenging and beautiful endeavor. As realized by Galileo, the only language at our disposal to conceive concrete ideas of the universe is: mathematics.
Another pleasing language is music. Since fundamental physics and music share some mathematical equations, my academic education has been a delight. Check the interview Rodrigo de Leon Ardon: In harmony with physics and music.
It is difficult to continue this path in my home country Guatemala. This is my «real-life» challenge. Fortunately, regardless your location in the globe, one always find people and some institutions that are in tuned with this ideas. This may seem logical for the ones who live in societies that have successfully incorporated science at all levels of research and industry. For the ones that share the same circumstances as mine, you understand the difficult details.
Guatemala is a beautiful piece of land (like the rest of earth). I enjoy it with my dogs.
Coffee, sounds, equations and my dogs in Guatemala.
If you are interested in my research papers you can check the pre-prints here. During my PhD, I made an interview to some collagueges of distinct nationalities with the purpose of learning about their early education in science. You can read about it here and the video is
I also interviewed the most significant theoretical physicist that Guatemala has produced so far. His name is Fernando Quevedo. I met him and Elisa (his wife) and share with them many wonderful experiences. Fernando, at that time, was the director of the International Center of Theoretical Physics. Now and then, I watch the interview (as an expectator) for inspiration. The title is Art and Science: a duality. The video is
I also recorded Fernando talking about the subject of duality in physics. The video is
Enough about physics, we need sounds.
I am not a professional musician. But I received formal/informal musical education. I enjoy recording musical layers (you see, not a real musician). My «artist» name is Lachonoise or Horacio Lua (sometimes Lacho optical noise). You can listen some of my «recordings» here.
Many years ago, I worked Kim Munsamy in her winning documentary Bones Don’t Lie and Don’t Forget. My contribution was the soundtrack and the short-film is
Physics and music. Still the primordial seed for surviving (sometimes living) in Guatemala.
RodrigodLA 