You are here: Home → SEAS Directory → Paul Horowitz
Document Actions

Paul Horowitz

Faculty
  • Professor of Physics and of Electrical Engineering

Professor

Paul Horowitz

Contact Information

Office: Lyman 225
Email: horowitz [ AT ] physics [ DOT ] harvard [ DOT ] edu
Office Phone: (617) 495-3265
Office Fax: (617) 496-5144
Lab Room: Lyman Laboratory 135
Lab Phone: (617) 495-3037
Assistant: Carol Davis
Email: davis [ AT ] physics [ DOT ] harvard [ DOT ] edu

Websites

Education

  1. A.B., 1965, Physics, Harvard University
  2. Ph.D., 1970, Physics, Harvard University

Research Areas

  1. Electrical Engineering: Circuits and VLSI
  2. Electrical Engineering: Instrumentation and Imaging

Research Profile

Paul Horowitz's research group is currently focused on several problems in experimental astrophysics-the search for intentional microwave transmissions from extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations (SETI), a search for highly redshifted neutral hydrogen condensations (with colleagues at MIT), and optical interferometry (with the IOTA collaboration).

The latest incarnation of the group's evolving SETI effort consists of a 3-beam, 250- million-channel radiofrequency Fourier spectrum analyzer performing an all-sky transit survey at the university's 84-foot radiotelescope. At the Arecibo Observatory his group designed and installed several spectrometers, collaborating in a parasitic transit survey for 21-cm radiation from galactic protoclusters in the redshift regime of z=5-6 (at 250 MHz), and in pulsar searches and observations. Astronomical interferometry is a developing art form; at IOTA his group is building rapid path-modulation systems to enhance data rates by some two orders of magnitude.

The group's development of custom instrumentation continues earlier researches in scanning microscopies (x-ray, proton), studies of the E. Coli rotary engine, and optical studies of pulsars.

Horowitz's interests include contemporary electronic circuit design and diverse topics in technology and national security. An idea for landmine detection, which emerged during a summer study on humanitarian demining, is currently being developed into a fieldable acoustic system for mine detection.