Early Life
Adam Waksman was born on
August 25th in the year
1987 in the small,
suburban town of
Pleasantville in
Westchester County,
New York.
He lived his entire childhood and first 18 years of his life in
Pleasantville, living with his father, Richard, mother, Susan, and older brother, Jeff.
He attended the
public school district of
Byram Hills in the neighboring
hamlet of
Armonk in the town of
North Castle.
Occupation
Waksman is currently a part
student, part
writer and part
researcher (as of
summer 2006).
He is a full time student at
Columbia University in
Morningside Heights in
Manhattan,
New York, where he is a
Sophomore in the graduating class of
2009.
Research
Waksman works in the
Pupin Laboratories on
Columbia University campus in
<br>the
Astrophysics department.
He is working there as a
computer programmer,
<br>writing and editing
C code to
simulate galactic radiative transfer.
<br>The image on the left shows a simple,
disk shaped
galaxy that
emits<br>a single
wavelength of light with an
exponential distribution in a
clumpy<br>
dust environment.
The first image (furthest left) is the way it looks after
<br>
scattering has occurred, whereas the second image (from the left) shows only the
<br>
intense parts of the
galaxy.
Further information on Waksman's research, as well
<br>as the all of the
research going on in the
Columbia University astrophysics<br>department can be found on the department's
website.
<br>His
research will continue into the
fall and can be
<br>expected for
publication in
2007.
Publications
Waksman is in the process of being
published for the first time by
Columbia University affiliates.
His essay,
Virgil's Vagabond: Rage and its Roots at the Heart of Humanity is being
published in a
journal of
undergraduate literature.
This and further
literature can be found at his
Columbia website.
The full version of his
essay is also available
here.
Virgil's Vagabond: Rage and its Roots at the Heart of Humanity
Waksman's
essay takes a
critical look at
Virgil's epic,
The Aeneid, arguably the most important piece of
fiction to come out of the
Roman Empire from one of its greatest
writers.
Summary
In the
essay, Waksman analyzing the main character of
Virgil's Aeneid,
Aeneas, questioning is
heroic nature.
By one common interpretation of
The Aeneid,
Aeneas is a
classic epic hero who represents
Rome's glory in a
propagandistic fashion.
Waksman argues that the
portrait of
Aeneas is more subtle and that
Aeneas is implicated as a villain throughout the
epic.
Inspirations and Related Authors
Richard Feynman Milan Kundera* The Unbearable Lightness of Being* Slowness* Immortality Paul Levinson* The Plot To Save Socrates Isaac Asimov* Foundation Achille Varzi The Wachowski Brothers* The Matrix Trilogy* V For Vendetta John Stuart Mills* On Liberty Leonard RosenbandExternal Links
The Columbia Astrophysics Department Waksman's Columbia Website* Essay: Virgil's Vagabond
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