Fall — 2004

Nicole Lingner

Physics

“I’m gonna be at one of those huge neutron-proton accelerators watching those subatomic particles fly at each other and figuring out what the basic building blocks of the universe are.”

When last seen, Nicole Lingner was rushing into the library—up to her elbows in mayonnaise dripped from a hastily gobbled sandwich between classes. But it wasn’t the speed at which she moved that singled her out for this profile. It was the pink hair. Some people just know how to carry it off. “No, I wasn’t born with it!” she says with a laugh. But there’s much more than just Day-Glo hair that makes Nicole a very singular woman indeed.

“I’m studying physics and philosophy because, hello?, what else is there? Physical reality and thought. I’m into quantum mechanics and, just now, string theory,” says the young woman who hails from the Hamburg-Bremen region of northern Germany. “And studying physics brings you close to the ideas of Asian philosophy as well. If you look at scientific method or theory, you begin to realize how very philosophical the entire universe is.” Planning to transfer to Caltech or another engineering school in the area, Nicole reports feeling very prepared by the work she’s done at SMC. “I really like Christine Holmgren, who’s my teacher for Philosophy of Science, because she’s really on top of things. And my heart goes out to Alan Hong, who I study math with. Some people think he’s too difficult,” says Nicole. “But if you stick with him, you could go another two semesters without opening a book, because he’s already covered it all.”

Nicole adds that, “I’m not gonna transfer anytime soon because every semester there are about five classes that I’ve gotta take just for the fun of it! I mean, the teachers here are really into doing what they do, and they give you a very broad view of what’s going on in the world. I’d just have to say that SMC has gone a long way in changing my world view.”

Back