Dr. Yury Deshko
Dr. Yury Deshko is a physics researcher, educator, and writer. More than twenty years of research across academia and industry, from gravitation and spectroscopy to silicon photonics, alongside years of teaching physics to highly motivated students.
He is the author of Special Relativity: For Inquiring Minds (Springer, 2022), the primary text of the Lyceum's Special Relativity course, and of Tensors for Inquiring Minds (Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2025).
I love working with curiosity-driven, inquiring and studious minds. I strive to inspire passion for deeper learning and exploration of connections between various concepts. In my students I focus on developing an “attitude of mind and spirit of analysis” of a confident and responsible researcher.
Researcher
More than twenty years of research experience in both academic and industrial settings, across a diverse set of fields of physics: gravitation, spectroscopy, electronic transport in novel materials, and silicon photonics. His doctoral research at the CUNY Graduate Center was in experimental spectroscopy and diamond photonics. He was a research associate at the City College of New York before joining the semiconductor industry as a photonics engineer.
His hands-on experience covers:
- Physical modeling and numerical simulation
- Electro-optical device design
- Fabrication-related work
- Experimental characterization and data analysis
- Production testing
Educator
Alongside research, Dr. Deshko has been teaching and developing advanced physics courses for highly motivated students from across the globe. He has taught physics at specialized lyceums and at the college and high school levels.
For a number of years he taught Special Relativity and Quantum Physics in the summer programs associated with Johns Hopkins University (Center for Talented Youth) and Columbia University (Pre-College Program).
Both are selective summer programs for academically talented teenagers. CTY identifies students through above-grade-level testing and runs its residential courses for grades 5 through 12. Columbia's Pre-College admissions look for academically exceptional students with a spirit of intellectual curiosity.
At the Society of Teen Scientists he teaches the Physics Lyceum Modern Physics electives.
Writer
Both of his books grew out of his teaching and pedagogical research. His writing is, essentially, a continuation of his in-class work: it builds clear, helpful pathways to difficult and abstract scientific concepts.
Research Guide
Dr. Deshko works from the conviction that teenagers with genuine curiosity are capable of engaging with remarkably sophisticated ideas when they are given intellectual respect, appropriate guidance, and the freedom to think independently. His role is not simply to give them answers, but to help them acquire the tools and the confidence to find answers of their own.