Hanno Essén

Universitetslektor, Department of Mechanics, KTH
Docent, Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University


I am senior lecturer (associate professor) at the Department of Mechanics, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden. Former Director of undergraduate studies (studierektor) 1990-2012 and former chairman of the Swedish Skeptics (Föreningen Vetenskap och Folkbildning, VoF).

Bild på några styrelsemedlemmar i VoF. Hanno längst till höger.


Course information and pedagogics:
SG2150, Rigid Body Dynamics (formerly: Analytical Mechanics)
Kandidatarbete i Mekanik
Mekanik I, gamla tentor med lösningar mm
Mekanik II, gamla tentor med lösningar mm
Manuscripts: History of mechanics, Celestial or Space mechanics, and Motion in accelerated reference frames (pdfs)


Grading and Administration:
Om betyg och komplettering på SG1102, SG1109, SG1113, SG1130, SG1131, SG1140
Om betyg, komplettering och ECTS-betyg, på 5C1107 (S2)
Mekaniks evalveringsregler,

Research and professional:

I have done research in many different areas over the years and remain fairly unspecialized. A main theme in recent year has been the role of magnetic interaction energy in plasmas and superconductivity. I am interested in all areas of science but a main theme has been to improve the clarity and conceptual simplicity of our understanding of some areas of physics and theoretical chemistry. Here is a list of topics:
Theoretical chemistry: The Born-Oppenheimer separation, Vibration-Rotation coupling, Electronic structure theory, Hund's rules, The Thomas-Fermi approximation, the Periodic table.
General relativity: Scalar gauge theory of GR, Curvature, Kaluza-Klein ideas.
Classical mechanics: Non-holonomic dynamics, Angular velocity, Rotation of non-rigid systems, Separability.
Electromagnetic theory: The nature of magnetism, The Darwin Hamiltonian with applications to plasmas and superconductivity. See link below!
Pedagogical and popular accounts of physics.

For further information, see links:
Vita
Lists of Publications (publikationslistor)
Superconductivity, Plasmas and the Darwin Hamiltonian
Evclid: a geometric calculator and editor mainly intended for work with molecular geometries, with Guide (pdf).

Non-professional stuff:
Dikter (Poems)
Alan Turing du var inte ensam - Homosexualitet i vetenskapshistorien (essä 2012, reviderad och utökad januari 2013)

You can reach me by e-mail at: hanno@mech.kth.se