Alejandro Jenkins facts for kids

Alejandro Jenkins was born on October 17, 1979, in San José, Costa Rica. He is a scientist from Costa Rica who studies theoretical physics. This means he uses math and ideas to understand how the universe works.

Today, he is a professor at the University of Costa Rica. He is also part of Costa Rica's National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Jenkins has explored how tiny particles behave and how the universe began. He also studies things that move by themselves and how energy works at a very small level.

Education and Career

Dr. Jenkins started his studies at the University of Costa Rica in 1997. He first focused on mathematics. Later, he went to Harvard University in the United States. In 2001, he earned degrees in both physics and mathematics from Harvard.

He then continued his studies at Caltech. In 2006, he earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics. His research there was about particle physics and cosmology, which is the study of the universe's origin and future. He worked with Professor Mark B. Wise on ideas that go beyond the basic model of how particles work. Some of his early work looked at ideas like dark energy, which is a mysterious force that makes the universe expand faster.

After finishing his Ph.D., Dr. Jenkins worked as a researcher at Caltech in 2006. He then moved to the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics from 2006 to 2009. From 2009 to 2012, he was at Florida State University. In 2013, he returned to the University of Costa Rica as a physics professor. Two years later, in 2015, he was chosen to be a member of Costa Rica's National Academy of Sciences.

Research Discoveries

Dr. Jenkins has done important research in several areas of physics. He explores big questions about the universe and how tiny things work.

How the Universe Supports Life

One interesting area of his research is about why the universe seems just right for life to exist.

The Anthropic Principle

The Anthropic principle is an idea in physics. It suggests that the universe we see must be able to support life. This is because if it couldn't, we wouldn't be here to observe it! Scientists noticed that the rules of nature and its basic numbers (like how strong gravity is) seem perfectly set for life. If these numbers were even a little different, life as we know it might not exist.

Dr. Jenkins's Ideas

To test this idea, Dr. Jenkins worked with other scientists, Robert Jaffe and Itamar Kimchi. They used computer models to change the "mass" (or weight) of tiny particles called quarks. Quarks are the building blocks of protons and neutrons, which make up atoms.

They wanted to see how changing quark masses would affect whether stable forms of carbon and hydrogen could form. These elements are super important for organic chemistry, which is the chemistry of life. They found that even in universes with very different quark masses, life could still develop. Sometimes, if our usual carbon wasn't stable, other stable forms of carbon could appear.

This work by Dr. Jaffe, Dr. Jenkins, and Kimchi was featured in Physics magazine. Dr. Jenkins also wrote an article for Scientific American magazine in 2010 with another physicist, Gilad Perez. He even talked about his work on the TV show Through the Wormhole in 2015.

Self-Oscillation and Energy

Dr. Jenkins also studies things that can move or vibrate by themselves. These are called self-oscillators. In 2013, he wrote a big review about the physics of these systems for Physics Reports magazine.

He has also worked with other scientists to understand non-equilibrium thermodynamics. This is about how energy moves and changes in systems that are not perfectly balanced. He applies these ideas to things like solar cells, which turn sunlight into electricity. He also studies the triboelectric effect, which is how static electricity is created when two materials rub together.

With another scientist, Elizabeth von Hauff, he has also created a new model. This model helps explain how electrical charge is moved around inside batteries.

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