Jearl Walker | |
---|---|
Born | 1945 (age 78–79) Pensacola, Florida, U.S. |
Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Maryland |
Known for | The Amateur Scientist column The Flying Circus of Physics |
Awards | Outstanding Teaching Award (Cleveland State University College of Science) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | Cleveland State University |
Jearl Dalton Walker (born 1945 in Pensacola, Florida) is a physicist noted for his book The Flying Circus of Physics , first published in 1975; the second edition was published in June 2006. He teaches physics at Cleveland State University. [1]
Walker has also revised and edited the textbook Fundamentals of Physics with David Halliday and Robert Resnick. [2]
Walker is a well-known popularizer of physics, and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . [3] Walker is known for his physics demonstrations, which have included sticking his hand in molten lead, walking barefoot over hot coals, lying on a bed of nails, and pouring freezing-cold liquid nitrogen in his mouth to demonstrate various principles of physics. Such demonstrations are included in his PBS series, Kinetic Karnival, [4] produced by WVIZ in Cleveland, Ohio.
Walker was born in Pensacola, Florida, and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas.[ citation needed ] He graduated with a degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1973.
Walker authored The Amateur Scientist column in Scientific American magazine from 1978 to 1988. [5] [6] During the latter part of this period, he had been the Chairman of the Physics Department at Cleveland State University. He appeared regularly around this time on the long-running CBC radio science program Quirks and Quarks . [7]
From 1981 to 1982 he hosted The Kinetic Karnival of Jearl Walker, a six-episode series for PBS syndication in the US. In each 30-minute program he performed humorous demonstrations before a live audience. The show was distributed to schools as a teaching aide.
He is the first recipient, in 2005, of the Outstanding Teaching Award from Cleveland State University's College of Science. The College's Faculty Affairs Committee selected Walker as the first honoree based on his contributions to science education over the last 30 years. [8] The award was thereafter named "The Jearl Walker Outstanding Teaching Award" in his honor. [8]
Brian Randolph Greene is an American physicist. Greene was a physics professor at Cornell University from 1990–1995, and has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996 and chairman of the World Science Festival since co-founding it in 2008. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds. He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point.
"The Amateur Scientist" was a column in the Scientific American, and was the definitive "how-to" resource for citizen-scientists for over 72 years (1928–2001), making it the longest running column in Scientific American's history. The column was regarded for revealing the brass-tacks secrets of research and showing home-based experimenters how to make original discoveries using only inexpensive materials. Since its début in 1928, "The Amateur Scientist" was a primary resource for science fair projects. It also inspired amateur experimenters, launched careers in science, and enjoyed a place of honor in classrooms and school libraries all over the world.
The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker, is a book that poses 740 questions concerned with everyday physics. The emphasis is strongly on phenomena that might be encountered in one's daily life. The questions are interspersed with 38 "short stories" about related material.
Firewalking is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones. It has been practiced by many people and cultures in many parts of the world, with the earliest known reference dating from Iron Age India c. 1200 BCE. It is often used as a rite of passage, as a test of strength and courage, and in religion as a test of faith.
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WVIZ is a PBS member television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Ideastream Public Media alongside classical music station WCLV and co-managed with Kent State University–owned WKSU, the NPR member for both Cleveland and Akron. The three stations share studio facilities at the Idea Center on Playhouse Square in Downtown Cleveland; WVIZ's transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio.
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Robert Resnick was a physics educator and author of physics textbooks.
Fundamentals of Physics is a calculus-based physics textbook by David Halliday, Robert Resnick, and Jearl Walker. The textbook is currently in its 12th edition.
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