Moonlighting. It doesn’t have the bad rap it used to. Today people find ways to make a living and make a life.
Moonlighting is our series about the radically interdisciplinary lives of Lehigh alumni who are successful in two professional areas, and where a secondary “job” is primarily fun and fulfilling.
In this edition, we meet a physics professor who is also a professional magician.
Philip La Porta ’07G ’11G
Physics
Physics
A love of physics seems to require what La Porta calls a pigheaded determination, the kind that has had him in a lab for years, turning on a laser, studying its data, seeing it doesn’t align with predictions, turning off the laser, and starting it all again. Many times.
That iterative process appeals to him as does seeing physics theories in everyday life. It’s what prompted La Porta to enter as an undergraduate at a college with a physics major on his mind. Soon he landed at Lehigh for his master’s and doctoral degrees.
Time at Lehigh
He was surrounded by wonderful teachers and mentors. Ivan Biaggio, professor of physics, served as his inspiration in research into nonlinear optics. “He could explain complicated concepts in approachable ways,” says La Porta. This is where he learned to bang his head against the wall by doing multiple runs and various iterations of experiments every day with the belief that he could get usable data and push the boundaries of science.
La Porta also honed his teaching chops as a teaching assistant for Jerome Licini, associate professor of physics. Gary DeLeo, professor emeritus, also shaped La Porta thanks in part to his enthusiastic science communications.
While working in the physics department, La Porta also was jumping on the stage at the Fun House, a local watering hole, for its open mic nights to wow the crowd with magic.
Finding Magic
He grew up in the age of magical great David Copperfield, but La Porta didn’t really care for him. Years later as an undergraduate, La Porta was in class and captivated by a senior (and soon a friend), Joe Weinberg, who was doing magic with two rubber bands. That soon led him to a course in the theatre department taught by Lawrence Hass called the Theory and Art of Magic. Guest magicians came to the class to lecture and perform. While the names of the performers were not ones most lay people would know, they were the ones who invented illusions made popular by magicians like Copperfield and David Blaine.
In that course, La Porta realized that magic was not about the props; it was about creating shared meaning. He remembers traveling to Atlantic City to watch Eugene Burger, one of the finest close-up magicians to ever perform. La Porta was mesmerized as Burger, lit by a single candle, talked about betrayal and connections while burning and reassembling a single piece of thread. The connection Burger made with the audience amplified the emotion of a fairly simple illusion.
That became La Porta’s goal: pulling an audience in. He silenced the crowd at the Fun House, Wildflower Cafe, and Late Night Lehigh with his tricks. He wondered if he could do the same with his teaching.
Teaching
He saw the formula as similar between the stage and the lectern. He wanted to connect with his audience, keep it engaged and motivated, follow a script, not fumble, and make it look good.
La Porta clearly found a winning formula. He won the Teaching Assistant Award at Lehigh. Upon graduation he taught part time at Princeton where he won the Excellence in Teaching Award. At Rowan University where he is a tenured lecturer, he has twice been selected for the senior class’s last lecture, an event for the entire campus and voted on by the university. He has delivered a lecture at an American Association of Physics Teachers conference on his approach in the classroom and provided teacher training techniques at a colloquium and several professional development workshops offered through Rowan. Beyond physics, he also has taught a class on magic at his undergraduate alma mater — the very same course he took.
Intersection of Magic and Physics
The intersection of these passions is clear for La Porta. “Both physics and magic work to understand the laws of the universe in order to manipulate those laws and push boundaries,” he says. “Both ask what is physically possible and then venture into unexplored territories.”
He can’t imagine one without the other. “Both have opened doors, individually and together, for me,” he says.
He recognizes that both magic and physics have power that can be used for good or evil: Magic can bring humor and awe or dupe lots of people, while physics has helped bring products to life, like GPS and iPhones, and has taken lives through weapons.
Beyond Both
La Porta is not just a two-trick pony. He does many things well, having created and published two cocktail recipes, earned a high brown belt in mixed martial arts, served as a referee at roller derby matches, and accepted the position of adviser to the Intro to Dungeons and Dragons Club at Rowan. Despite his accomplishments, he extolls the real talents of his spouse, a professional costume designer who works with clients like the Rockettes. Their love has remained intact because he has never tried to saw her in half.
