About
Peter James Lu (陸述義) received his AB summa cum laude in physics (2000) from Princeton University, and AM (2002) and PhD (2008) in physics from Harvard University. He is presently a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Physics and in the J. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University; his main focus is on the physics of attractive colloids and the integration of high-performance imaging and analysis techniques. He has conducted a series of experiments aboard the International Space Station, examining phase separation of colloid mixtures in the absence of gravity. He has also published his discoveries of modern quasicrystal geometry in medieval Islamic architectural tilings; the first precision compound machines, from ancient China; the first use of diamond, in prehistoric China; and the first quasicrystalline mineral found in nature.