John Klauder is a professor in both the physics and mathematics departments here at UF and has distinguished himself in both fields not limited to his publications. Dr. Klauder also possesses an eclectic appreciation of the arts. As a teacher he is enthusiastic about helping students learn to recognize the beauty of math and physics.

UPNews: How long have you been here at the University of Florida and where are you coming from? John Klauder: 20 years. I was in New Jersey at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratory where I was a research department head for 9 years.

UP: How do you like the environment here at UF? Is it vastly different?

JK: I lived in a congested part of New Jersey that was dominated by New York, and I do not miss the snow. I like teaching and I enjoy my work that branches out in physics and math.

UP: What are you currently working on?

JK: One topic that I am working on is quantum gravity, which is a very, very difficult problem for which I am taking a different approach to solve. I am also working with the Air Force dealing with RADAR. I am also interested in quantum field theory.

UP: Are you currently teaching any courses and what will you be teaching in the coming semesters?

JK: I teach every semester. I taught PHY 2048 in the fall with a graduate math course and now I am continuing with the 2nd part of the graduate math course this spring.

UP: How did you come about an interest in physics?

JK: In high school, I wanted to study architecture and I did well in my physics classes. My father was an ‘efficiency engineer’, although trained as a chemical engineer and saw that the physicists had the more interesting problems. He said that I was going to go to study physics and in those days you did what your father said to do, so I enrolled in the universitys physics program. There, the program placed an emphasis on engineering with physics so instead of taking liberal arts courses for my electives, I took engineering classes. Quite recently, I audited an art appreciation course here at UF and enjoy that immensely.

UP: What are some of your favorite artists?

JK: I like Van Gogh, I like Picasso, I like the Native American artist Amado Peña, Jr., among others.

UP: How did your interest in physics develop?

JK: I started work at Bell Labs with a bachelor’s degree and did RADAR where I saw that people with Ph.D.’s had the most interesting problems. After a few years, I went back to graduate school at Princeton where I was surrounded by famous physicists and exciting work.

UP: What do you look forward to the most in physics?

JK: Making progress and occasionally solving insoluble problems. I have found other ways to solve problems which would be impossible to do with conventional techniques of quantization. In a way, I have unscrewed the inscrutable.

UP: Do you have any advice for physics students and for those interested in physics?

JK: Learn more math than you think you need to know. Do not be afraid to go beyond the standard and think beyond the box.