RELAXING IN THE WARM WATER, Dr. Jim Wheeler ponders the vast, cosmic questions of our universe. His body does the familiar work of swimming laps, while his mind is free to reflect on things like the direction of time being determined by motion. Stars and mountains are also frequent backdrops for these musings; and he says that walking his dog “provides an excellent opportunity for mulling over whatever the current puzzle is, while drinking in the grandness of it all.”

“Many fellow students comment on my proficiency in mathematics. My little secret is Dr. Wheeler's training. To this day, I never just look at a mathematical result handed to me by someone else and accept it — I always start thinking about how I could derive it on my own.”
—Andy Spencer

As an acclaimed scientific researcher, who can both challenge and inspire his students, Wheeler is one of USU's most valuable treasures. Some of his students even change their lives through work on his groundbreaking research. “Jim Wheeler is one of the most inspiring professors imaginable,” writes undergraduate Joseph Slansky. “He guides his students into the thick of theoretical physics with a mathematician's rigor and a kid–in–a–candy–shop sense of excitement.”

Pizza, laughter and midnight discussions about physics stand out in Juan Trujillo's mind when he thinks of Wheeler. A Ph.D student, Trujillo frequently helps the professor and other graduate students grade piles of tests late into the night. “Dr. Wheeler is usually kind enough to buy us pizza or take us to the Aggie Marketplace until we get kicked out of the building.”

Many physicists work in laboratories with expensive equipment, but Wheeler uses pure mathematics for his research. This is an advantage in many ways, including the fact that “Theory is portable—I can take it to conferences, classrooms, and the internet,” Wheeler says.

It's a common sight in the Science Engineering Research building to see Wheeler bounding from one room to another throughout the day, covering every inch of whiteboard with gleeful spurts of equations. To the comprehending mind, the numbers flow together beautifully to form a symbol–based representation of our universe. Wheeler's enthusiasm is vibrant and physical, his conversation punctuated by excited grins. “Physics is important,” he says, “because it has everything to do with our deepest understanding of our world and how it works.”

Although some students appreciate it more than others, Wheeler is famous for how scrupulously he explains the way math relates to any concept. Jamie Tomlinson, though not officially Wheeler's student, knows him by reputation and seeks him out when she has questions about theoretical physics. She observes that, “Rather than just telling you the formula, he has you derive it yourself from basic physics principles—most professors just want you to know the equations.”

Andy Spencer '05 '06, a student who has worked with Wheeler on much of his research, writes, “Many fellow students comment on my proficiency in mathematics. My little secret is Dr. Wheeler's training. To this day, I never just look at a mathematical result handed to me by someone else and accept it—I always start thinking about how I could derive it on my own.”

Wheeler's legendary patience, humor, and excitement are the sugar that helps the medicine of theoretical physics go down. Those who are eager to delve deeper into this field are drawn to working with him even if they do not start out as his students. Such was the case with Lara Anderson '03 '05MS, who became a Rhodes Scholar under his mentoring. Anderson, probably one of the brightest minds USU has ever seen, sought Wheeler out in her freshman year to ask him a question. When she walked in, he was working on the blackboard with a graduate student. Pointing to his calculation, he asked her jokingly, “Hey, would you like to work on this?” Her enthusiastic “Yes!” was the beginning of their work together.

“It was a huge and generous investment of his time, but fortunately for us both, it turned out really well! I was willing to work very hard and use the opportunity he gave me. I loved learning about the beautiful and complex mathematical and physical models that describe our world.”
—Lara Anderson

Although Anderson had none of the usual training, which requires several years, Wheeler immediately recognized her genius. He spent four hours every day for one summer teaching her everything she would need to know to start working with him on his research. “It was a huge and generous investment of his time,” writes Anderson, “but fortunately for us both, it turned out really well! I was willing to work very hard and use the opportunity he gave me. I loved learning about the beautiful and complex mathematical and physical models that describe our world.”

Even those students for whom physics is a passion are required to put in an enormous amount of work in order to attain their goals. They are thrilled by the journey and deeply appreciate the life–long gifts Wheeler extends to them. “Studying with Dr. Wheeler is both humbling and exhilarating,” writes Slansky.

To see students light up with enthusiasm, then take what they have learned and soar to new heights is the ultimate reward for Wheeler. “I like watching students think—to see their eyes calculating and thinking.” Wheeler grins as he thinks about it: “Seeing the satisfaction of a student wrestling with a problem and then getting it—that's just fun!”

Students also welcome Wheeler's beliefs about tests: “A test should be a learning experience, a time for problem solving. I will always help my students during a test if they are having trouble…it's not about grades—it's about acquiring knowledge and using it to understand the world we're in.” Wheeler's insatiable curiosity about our world has led him to publish over 30 scientific papers—research that has given other scientists a new understanding of classical and quantum systems, and even of time itself. His work on quantum mechanics has been especially influential. “It is the desire to know where everything comes from that leads people like him to not only ask questions, but to also find the answers…it has been these questions that often lead to research topics,” observes Trujillo.

And Wheeler's newest research is flat out astonishing—in fact, he may have solved a major scientific mystery. Since the time of Einstein, there have been two theories that describe the workings of our universe: general relativity and quantum theory, both so well tested in the scientific world that they are largely taken for granted.

General relativity, which predicts such mind–bending effects as black holes and the Big Bang model of the universe, also predicts effects near Earth that have been carefully measured. These include the bending of the path of light as it passes the sun and the slowing of clocks near Earth. The best known application of general relativity is for the GPS system, which must take into account the effect of gravity on the rate of clocks. Our best clocks can now easily measure the subtle effects of general relativity.

Quantum theory, with its accurate description of atoms and fundamental particles, has widespread applications. Without quantum mechanics, we would not have lasers, ultra–precise clocks, or computer circuitry. Quantum mechanics even contributes to the well–being of our environment in the form of LED light sources, in which tiny amounts of power can be used to emit photons (quantized light) very efficiently.