Rezy the Indonesian idol of note

Maggie Tiojakin, Contributor/Boston

Last Saturday, thousands of cheering fans supported Joy Tobing, 24, as she was crowned this year's Indonesian Idol. Hers is the success story every aspiring teenager wants to realize: sudden stardom.

So Joy won. Big deal.

Take this into consideration, instead: "If the moon is a synchronous satellite of the Earth, then the law of conservation of total angular momentum necessarily implies that the total mechanical energy of the system consisting of the earth and the moon is determined entirely by their distance of separation," wrote Rezy Pradipta at the second Asian Physics Olympiad (AphO) 2001 in Taiwan.

He was 18.

Rezy Pradipta, now 21, who won a gold medal at the Asian Physics Olympiad (AphO) in 2001, did not get half of the publicity Joy got. Yet, he brought Indonesia's name just that much higher on the global scale of scientific achievements. And, no, it did not happen overnight.

Born in Jakarta on May 15, 1983, the only child of Rizal Basri, head of the technical cooperation bureau at the State Secretariat in Jakarta, and Agustine Basri, a psychology professor at the University of Indonesia, Rezy appears like the boy next door.

On this particular afternoon, he wore a blue-striped shirt with short sleeves and a pair of khakis. Tall and lanky, he walked with his back erect and his shoulders straight. He carried a book -- Radio Waves in the Ionosphere by K.G. Budden -- under one arm.

It was 3 p.m., and he had taken the afternoon off from the Plasma Science and Fusion Center laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he works full time during the summer as an undergraduate researcher.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Rezy had spent some time in Puerto Rico with his research team to monitor natural radio emissions from distant galaxies, as well as examine the ionosphere (part of the atmosphere) by using the world's largest radar at the Observatorio de Arecibo, which was featured in the movie Contact with Jodie Foster.

"It was very cool," he said. "That's why I got this book, so I can learn more about it." He pointed to the huge volume of Budden's work.

Growing up, Rezy liked to solve mathematical equations. As a teenager, he would actively participate in mathematical competitions at school. There was one moment, however, that signified his interest in the laws of physics.

"I used to take public transportation to go to school," said Rezy, "and there was this day when I was riding a becak (three wheeled pedicab), and I threw a pebble onto the ground."

Surprisingly, he saw that the pebble didn't rest on the ground, and instead, it followed the direction of vehicle from which it was thrown.

"I tried to calculate the possibility of its landing by using mathematical methods, but I realized it was impossible," said Rezy. Soon, he discovered Isaac Newton's theory of gravity.

As a first year student at SMU Taruna Nusantara senior high school, Rezy found materials in physics that were written for college-level students. One of them was a book of problems compiled by one of Indonesia's top physicists, Yohanes Surya, who had put together the Indonesian Physics Olympiad Team (TOFI) only a decade earlier.

"I saw that one of (TOFI) alumni had gone to SMU Taruna Nusantara," said Rezy, his face beaming with delight. "And I remember thinking to myself, 'Hey, I can do this.'"

So, he did. For the next two years, Rezy spent most of his time solving problems and boiling ideas on alternative solutions in physics. And in 2000, he joined tens of contestants from all over the nation who were eager to be accepted by TOFI.

But, that year, toward the final selection, Rezy ranked lower than expected and didn't qualify to be part of the team that was going to be sent to compete in the first AphO competition.

"That was a little upsetting," said Rezy, "but I knew I wasn't going to stop there."

By the following semester, entering his senior year at high school, he gave the competition another shot, and he ranked brilliantly within the top ten candidates.

What came next was a whole month of intensive training at the University of Pelita Harapan campus site in Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, after which Rezy and seven other students arrived in Taipei as Indonesian representatives at AphO 2001.

"(The experience) was surreal," said Rezy, reminiscing his 10- day visit to Taipei three years ago, where he competed against teams, including from China, Vietnam and India.

He admitted he had not expected to win anything at the competition, let alone a gold medal. "I guess they really liked my answers," he shrugged, referring to the bonus award he received for providing the Most Creative Answer.

The biggest prize, however, was a full-scholarship he had received from MIT. Most TOFI alumni have been accepted to various universities all over the world, such as Nanyang Technology University in Singapore and Tokyo University in Japan. Rezy couldn't be happier with his choice to go to MIT.

On adapting to the Western curriculum, Rezy professed no dilemma. "The workload is insane," he said, "but it's doable."

Asked about his future plans after MIT, Rezy warily answered he would like to get his doctorate degree in the U.S. -- if possible. But, eventually, he would go back to Indonesia and dedicate his knowledge for the country.

"There's a lot you can do as a scientist in Indonesia, so I'm not worried," he said, quickly doing away with perception that his homeland is not a constructive place for scientists to grow.

His face may not appear on magazine covers regularly, but at the age of 21, Rezy is the sort of boy-next-door-turned-genius we often overlook.

Having accomplished what most of his peers could only dream of achieving, Rezy remains the modest, hardworking, soft-spoken young man at heart. Now, that's an idol worth cheering for.