Skip to content ↓

Scene at MIT: Serene summer sunset on the Charles

Postdoc Tianyi Han, a condensed-matter physicist and shutterbug, captures a tranquil river view in front of the Great Dome.
Photo of the MIT Great Dome from the vantagepoint of the Charles River, lit up with a sunset behind it and very still waters of the Charles in front of it
Credits:
Photo: Tianyi Han

“I took this picture from the opposite side of the Charles River in a clear Friday evening. I used a tripod and a 70-300mm telescope lens with long time exposure to capture the amazing glow of the sunset and the reflection on the river. It’s lucky that I can seize this moment of our campus, since I’ve noticed that the surface of the river is ever changing every day. When it is cloudy or windy, it’s relatively hard to get a tranquil and clear surface for the beautiful reflections of sunset and lights from the Great Dome.

I am a postdoc in experimental condensed-matter physics. Currently I am studying the fascinating electrical and optical properties of two-dimensional quantum materials, such as graphene. Having been here at MIT for over two years, I am always enjoying the challenges in research and also the life on campus.

I love taking pictures during my leisure time. I feel that the moment I press the shutter is like freezing a slice of time from the flow. Scenes along the Charles River are among my favorites. I love the sense of seasons changing when I observe the river freezing, the trees blossoming, the full moon rising, etc. To me, the days doing research at MIT and the pictures taken here are an invaluable treasure of my life.”

—Tianyi Han, postdoc in the Department of Physics

Have a creative photo of campus life you'd like to share? Submit it to Scene at MIT.

Related Links

Related Topics

Related Articles

More MIT News

Globular blue and white orbs "examining" single-stranded RNA products and marking them with green checks or red x's

Why are some bacterial genes high in purines?

In certain species of bacteria, the answer lies in shielding RNA transcripts from a quality-control factor called Rho. Understanding the requirements for expressible sequences is critical for expression engineering of therapeutic agents.

Read full story

Rich Nielsen, Volha Charnysh, Kevin Dorst, and Emily Richmond Pollock seated at a table, talking

Building a scholarly community

The SHASS Faculty Fellows Program, administered by the MIT Human Insight Collaborative, is fostering new research projects and creating space for supportive and interdisciplinary discussion.

Read full story