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Science 2008

Physics and teaching in Mérida

A thesis with Gianfranco Spavieri, three teaching appointments at Universidad de Los Andes and a research collaboration that continued beyond the degree.

Arturo Sánchez Pineda1 min readPublished record

A physics thesis at ULA

I defended my undergraduate physics thesis at Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida in 2008, under the supervision of Gianfranco Spavieri. Its title was El momento electromagnético en la física moderna. My work with Spavieri examined electromagnetic momentum and related questions in electromagnetic theory.

Three teaching appointments

I held three separate, overlapping teaching appointments at ULA. My teaching covered mathematics and physics laboratories, with students from the Faculties of Engineering, Humanities and Science.

Exhibit 2TimelineFilled points are my milestones; hollow points are the context they sit in

Teaching at ULA, Mérida

  1. 2004–2010Physics laboratory teaching assistantJune 2004–February 2010 · Faculties of Engineering and Science.Source
  2. 2009–2010Mathematics lecturerMarch 2009–March 2010 · Department of Calculus, Faculty of Engineering.Source
  3. 2009–2010Basic mathematics teaching assistantMay 2009–March 2010 · Faculty of Humanities.Source

Research beyond the thesis

Our joint publications began before the thesis, with a 2006 paper on open currents and a magnetic model of light. The 2008 and 2009 papers developed the electromagnetic-momentum work, including Aharonov–Bohm effects and limits on photon mass.

The collaboration continued in 2018 and 2019 with studies of relativity, clock synchronisation and light propagation in the Sagnac effect. The references below include seven journal items across 2006–2019; one is our 2018 reply to a comment on the preceding paper.

Exhibit 1DiagramRead left to right

Learn, teach, publish

Learn, teach, publishLearnTeachPublish2008 · thesisElectromagnetic momentum in modern physicsSupervisorGianfranco SpavieriFieldelectromagnetic momentum and relativity2004 to 2010Physics laboratory teaching assistant2009 to 2010Mathematics lecturerStudentsEngineering, Humanities, Science2006Open currents and a magnetic model of light2008 to 2009Aharonov–Bohm effects, photon mass limits2018 to 2019Clock synchronisation, the Sagnac effectA degree that was also a first job: university lecturer at 21.Seven journal items with the same co-author across thirteen years.Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela.

A physics degree in Mérida was three things at once: a thesis on electromagnetic momentum, three overlapping teaching appointments, and a research collaboration that outlasted the degree by a decade.

Exhibit 3ResourcesOpen the thing itself, not a description of it

The thesis record and the publications

Sources & further reading

  1. Teaching appointments at ULA · CV, June 2016
  2. Undergraduate thesis · earlier personal biography
  3. Gianfranco Spavieri: undergraduate thesis supervision
  4. Crucial Test of Relativity Theory: Open Currents and Magnetic Model of Light · 2006
  5. Electromagnetic momentum in frontiers of modern physics · 2008
  6. Momento electromagnético, efectos cuánticos y la masa del fotón · 2009
  7. Thought experiment discriminating special relativity from preferred frame theories · 2018
  8. Reply to Comment on ‘Thought Experiment discriminating special relativity from preferred frame theories’ · 2018
  9. Testing Absolute vs Relative Simultaneity with the Spin-orbit Interaction and the Sagnac Effect · 2019
  10. Light propagation and local speed in the linear Sagnac effect · 2019
  11. La Web de la Salud, 2025: the book at my grandparents’ house, the two degrees at ULA and the work that followed

Archive

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2008–2009Science

HELEN Fellowship · LPNHE, Paris

From Mérida to LPNHE in Paris: a ten-month HELEN fellowship, ATLAS reconstruction research and a European–Latin American scientific network.