Phenomena such as the conversion of electromagnetic radiation into useful energy, the transport of pollutants, and the erosion of land and beaches can all be characterized with the laws of physics. The sun transfers energy to the earth via electromagneti c waves, whereupon it is absorbed in the atmosphere, in the oceans, and in the land. In addition to being responsible for all life on earth, the sun's energy is primarily responsible for the wind and the ocean's currents, which themselves consist of the motion of molecules obeying the fundamental laws of conservation of energy and momentum in a rotating coordinate system, acting under the influence of gravity.

By striving to understand the environment in a scientific manner, we can predict how certain activities will affect our environment, and we can hopefully choose the best course of action. This is where politics comes in, but nonetheless, physicists play the primary role of discerning the environmental problems and offering the solutions. It's by physics that we can explore, monitor, and above all understand the world we live in, and man's effect on it, both on a local and a global scale.

The purpose of this page is to acquaint you with the fundamentals of environmental physics, and also to describe some of the modern-day environmental research which is taking place. My personal interests are in renewable forms of energy, from hydroelectr ic power to solar power. My research into point contact solar cells lead me into my current dissertation project, the design of an artificial retina which is powered by point-contact photovoltaic cells.