Wolfson, Richard

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WOLFSON, Richard

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1965-67; Swarthmore College, B.A., 1969; University of Michigan, M.S., 1971; Dartmouth College, Ph.D., 1976.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Physics, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, cyclotron engineer, 1969-70; Kearsarge Regional High School, North Sutton, NH, science teacher, 1971-73; Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, professor of physics, 1971—, Ellis Professorship of Liberal Arts, 1992, Benjamin F, Wissler Professor of Physics, 2000. National Center for Atmospheric Research, affiliated, 1980-81, visiting scientist, 1986-87; St. Andrew's University, Fife, Scotland, visiting scientist, 1993; Stanford University, Stanford, CA, visiting scientist, 1998-99.

MEMBER:

American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1969; Kent fellowship, Danforth Foundation, 1975; Perkins Teaching Award, Middlebury College, 1994.

WRITINGS:

(With Jay M. Pasachoff) Physics, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1987, revised as Physics: Extended with Modern Physics, Scott, Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1990.

Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1991.

(With Jay M. Pasachoff) Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1995, revised as Physics, with Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, HarperCollinsCollege (New York, NY), 1995.

Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Nonscientists (video and audio course), Teaching Company (Chantilly, VA), 1999.

Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified, W. W. Norton (New York, NY), 2003.

Physics in Your Life (video course), Teaching Company (Chantilly, VA), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Physics professor Richard Wolfson has produced highly readable explanations of some of the most complex scientific theories. In Physics, an introductory textbook coauthored with Jay M. Pasachoff, Wolfson provides an overview of electromagnetic waves, the forces inside an atom, relativity theory, and the other great discoveries of physicists and cosmologists. "The key to this book's strength and appeal is the clear and engaging writing style. When reading Physics you get the feeling that the authors are talking to you and are concerned about your learning. They seem to have anticipated many of the usual stumbling blocks encountered by beginning physics students and taken special care to help the student avoid these pitfalls," concluded high school teacher Chris Chiaverina writing in the Physics Teacher. Similarly, reviewers Amy Kolan and James Cederberg, writing in the American Journal of Physics, found that "Wolfson and Pasachoff's excellent presentation of fundamental material is the rule, rather than the exception, throughout their text.… The physics is clear and well-presented in a standard organization. The text is extremely readable and enjoyable. The diagrams are well conceived and helpful. The problems at the end of each chapter span a wide range of difficulty levels. While many authors meet these standards, Wolfson and Pasachoff exceed them."

Wolfson again provides a welcome interpretation of physics for the nonphysicist in Nuclear Choices: A Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Technology. While the issues of nuclear power and nuclear warfare are highly charged politically, Wolfson focuses on the science that will give citizens the background they should have to make proper choices. "Wolfson has a deadpan but comprehensive approach that begins by describing the rudiments of atomic physics, including radiation and radioactivity, before moving on to longer sections on nuclear power and nuclear waste.… Although the book's tone is neutral, the author is careful to convey the appalling complexity of nuclear issues," according to New Scientist contributor Martin Ince. Wilson covers the dangers of nuclear power plants, including Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the problem of nuclear waste, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as the science of the Strategic Defense Initiative. He also discusses the use of nuclear physics in medicine and food processing. "Certainly the clearest and most even-handed treatment available of nuclear technology," concluded Choice reviewer R. B. McKee.

More recently, Wolfson has brought his explanatory skills to one of the greatest theorists of them all, Albert Einstein. In Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified Wolfson lays out for the general reader the theories that have done so much to shape modern physics, including the theory of relativity and the paradoxes of time and space that flow from it, in addition to providing a handy history of pre-Einstein physics. "Wolfson's economy and his handiness with hip, offbeat examples make this slim book a mind-bendingly satisfying read," concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer. As aScience News contributor noted, "Wolfson proves that you don't have to be an Einstein to understand his great ideas."