The Loomis Confessions: Angela Kou
These interview questions are inspired by the “confession album,” a Victorian parlor game. It later became known as the Proust questionnaire after French writer Marcel Proust’s thoughtful and witty answers were discovered and published in the French literary journal Les Cahiers du Mois in 1924. We have named our “album” for Wheeler Loomis, Illinois Physics department head from 1929 to 1957. Loomis is revered for having hired the highest caliber early-career scientists and for diligently nurturing them, expanding the department’s research program and elevating it to world-class status, while putting special emphasis on good teaching. The collaborative, open-door “Urbana style of physics” emerged under Wheeler’s supportive and strategic leadership.
The Loomis Confessions: ANGELA KOU
If you couldn’t be a physicist, what career would you choose?
When I was younger, I wanted to have a new job every day (not realizing that every job requires a level of expertise not gained in a day). Probably the closest option to that would be working as a documentary photographer, where I would get to do lots of different projects in different situations.
What is your favorite place?
New York, the South Island of New Zealand, and Lander, Wyoming.
What is the greatest scientific blunder in history?
I don’t think we need to look for great blunders; little scientific blunders can have big consequences.
Who is/are your favorite artist(s) in any medium—painters, composers, authors, filmmakers?
Artists: Bruce Nauman, Robert Frank, Iris van Herpen
Musicians: Max Richter, GoGo Penguin, Billie Eilish
Authors: Ted Chiang, Amor Towles, N.K. Jemisin
Theater: Ivo van Hove, Third Rail Projects
Who is/are your favorite hero(es) in life or in fiction?
Addie LaRue from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry. All of the women in House of Spirits.
Who is/are the villain(s) you love to hate?
I’m too lazy to hate anyone.
What is your idea of happiness?
Lying on an empty, sandy beach in front of a clear blue ocean with only the sound of ocean waves. In daily life, learning something new and tasty food.
What is your idea of misery?
Being cold.
What quality do you most admire in others?
Creativity. Equanimity.
What scientific question do you hope will be answered in your lifetime?
Related to my work, how to build a quantum computer. More generally, how does consciousness arise.