American composer Phillip Glass’ 1970s minimalist opera “Einstein on the Beach” is loosely based on the famed physicist’s life. Neither Einstein nor the opera is very easy to understand – it’s not exactly chopsticks and Mr. Wizard.

Fortunately, Greater Bangor radio listeners and physics students at the University of Maine in Orono have an excellent person not only to make sense of, but to reveal connections between the two. Namely, UMaine physics professor and radio DJ Michael Wittmann.

Wittmann hosts “Das Internationale Elektron,” a weekly show featuring mostly 20th century classical music, found 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays on the campus radio station, WMEB 91.9 FM. The 34-year-old research scientist has a gift for making the most “difficult” music accessible with his unpretentious, slightly nerdy radio personality and his obvious love of the genre. He dives right in and introduces his listeners to contemporary American composers such as Steve Reich or Terry Riley.

By turns serene and chaotic, Wittmann one morning may play “Celestial Excursions,” the latest experimental opera from distinguished American composer Robert Ashley, in which voices “chase” one another, spinning out a story in a highly choreographed ensemble vocal performance. Then he’ll play a half-hour of drone music or tape loops, such as musician and composer William Basinski’s four-disc magnum opus “The Disintegration Loops.”

The DJ will forgive you if you tune in to “Das Internationale” and think that the music sounds like television static or your car’s broken fan belt. While some may be turned off and promptly flip the dial, many other listeners become fans of the one-of-a-kind program.

“A woman called up to ask me what was playing – it was Robert Ashley,” Wittmann said. “She gushed, ‘I grew up listening to this kind of music! I got my dad to tune in over the Web every week. I love this!'”

When he’s not listening to his iPod, or cueing up pieces in the on-air studio, Wittmann is immersed in his work at the Physics Education Research Laboratory on campus. His focus is how people actually learn physics. His doctoral dissertation at the University of Maryland was about how students grasp certain concepts such as the physics of mechanical waves (waves of sound, or of water) and effective ways to teach rather than simply lecturing to them.

Whether it’s students or listeners, Wittmann aims to share his love and knowledge of music and physics.

“In both science and music, I like the flow of things,” the physicist said. “There is a progression, a movement from one place to the next. You have to combine different paths, listen to different ideas flowing into your attention. You take ideas as they come to you and build them into what you already have, and it’s all done very formally and precisely.”