Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-L] Physics prof strips down to underwear to teach QM



What an embarrassment. I haven't a clue what the guy was trying to
accomplish by such idiotic tomfoolery, but I'm embarrassed for
Columbia and embarrassed for the fool.

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 3:41 PM, Strickert, Rick
<rstrickert@signaturescience.com> wrote:
"required of all freshmen at Columbia" "lectures on cutting edge research" " kids who would never have exposure even to... wave-particle duality." "simply to preface the excitement and confusion of qm by doing something exciting and confusing" "The man's pedigree and research speak for themselves" "he could wipe the floor with you, and well, most researchers in particle physics" "The 'controversy' over this is idiotic."

Well, that certainly explains a few things... but not about quantum mechanics.

"the kids who were sitting in that lecture will remember the basic features of quantum mechanics better than anything else they've learned in the course"

Or at least they'll remember QM has something to do with taking off one's pants, displaying one's underwear and blindfolding stuffed animals.

When my daughter attended MIT, a similar idiotic stunt was tried in one lecture class. The Dean of Students made the professor and the Chairman of the Department apologize to every student in the class.


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX



-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@phys-l.org] On Behalf Of David Marx
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 3:31 PM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Physics prof strips down to underwear to teach QM

One of the respondants to the article on the website named MUPPAL appropriately wrote:

This article makes no effort to describe the nature of the class or the professor's credentials. This stunt was pulled in a class called Frontiers of Science, a one-semester science class required of all freshmen at Columbia. Its content consists of lectures on cutting edge research in fields like physics, neuroscience, earth science, etc. Every semester, one of the topics is quantum mechanics. And the lecturer gets approximately 1.5 hours (not 1) to lecture. As I said, it's taught to ALL freshmen. So that's film studies majors, economics majors, biology majors, English majors, etc., ie. kids who would never have exposure even to the canonical features of qm like the uncertainty principle or the wave-particle duality. If you're not studying quantum mechanics rigorously, which I'm assuming a majority of the commenters on this article haven't, then the conclusions of the theory are quite unintuitive as they arise from more complex mathematics than simple addition and subtraction. The p
rofessor's stunt was simply to preface the excitement and confusion of qm by doing something exciting and confusing (and also because it's a lecture series that most freshmen skip because it's frankly quite boring).

As for Emlyn Hughes, there are probably few people better qualified to discuss quantum mechanics.
The man's pedigree and research speak for themselves, so before any of you choose to insult this man, understand that he could wipe the floor with you, and well, most researchers in particle physics.

The "controversy" over this is idiotic. But I'd be willing to bet the kids who were sitting in that lecture will remember the basic features of quantum mechanics better than anything else they've learned in the course. In which case, Professor Hughes did his job and did it well.



On 19 Feb 2013 at 13:49, Strickert, Rick wrote:

"Columbia [University] professor strips down to underwear in bizarre lesson to help baffled students learn quantum mechanics"
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/video-prof-strips-bizarre-les
son-article-1.1267461#ixzz2LJlqqm6g

"'In order to learn quantum mechanics, you have to strip to your raw, erase all the garbage from your brain, and start over again,' Prof. Emlyn Hughes said. Against a backdrop of 9/11 and Holocaust images, he remained in a fetal position as two people dressed as ninjas blindfolded stuffed animals."

Is this some new technique for teaching about subatomic particles? I wonder what Prof. Hughes has in mind when he decides to teach his students the Bra-ket notation in QM.

More seriously, what could be learned from a CAT scan of Prof. Hughes' brain, or a review of any recent changes in medications.


Rick Strickert
Austin, TX

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2639/6116 - Release Date:
02/19/13



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l



--
Todd K. Pedlar
Associate Professor of Physics
Luther College, Decorah, IA
todd.pedlar@luther.edu
or pedlto01@luther.edu