June 2019 Issue,
Volume 87, No. 6
2018 Millikan Medal Award Lecture: Breaking out of the physics silo
According to his autobiography, Robert Millikan became a physics teacher when his Greek professor at Oberlin College asked him to teach a preparatory class in physics at the college. I'm sure this was not an easy transition for Millikan but the world is better off for him having been obliged to venture into unfamiliar territory. Most of us would prefer to stay within our comfort zone, especially in the classroom. But sometimes we decide (or are forced, kicking and screaming) to try something new that can make us flourish as teachers. Millikan had good advice for anyone faced with a new challenge: "All right, said I, you will have to take the consequences, but I will try and see what I can do with it." In this presentation I will offer some suggestions, grounded in fortuitous events that have caused me to grow as a teacher, for ways to take risks, leave the physics silo and learn new things. Your teaching will be better for it.
Guest Editorial
On building a research lab, not starting one by Ashley R. Carter. DOI: 10.1119/1.5100108.
Awards
2018 Millikan Medal Award Lecture: Breaking out of the physics silo by Kyle Forinash. DOI: 10.1119/1.5096623.
Papers
Resource Letter TEP-1: Resources for Teaching Environmental Physics by Kyle Forinash, and Barbara Whitten. DOI: 10.1119/1.5094745.
Gravity-driven fluid oscillations in a drinking straw by Ryan P. Smith, and Eric H. Matlis. DOI: 10.1119/1.5095945.
Superconductivity, broken gauge symmetry, and the Higgs mechanism by Nicholas R. Poniatowski. DOI: 10.1119/1.5093291.
The sliding ladder problem revisited in phase space by Sebastian Glane, and Wolfgang H. Müller. DOI: /10.1119/1.5096278.
Axial component of the magnetic field produced by a straight solenoid: Application of the solid angle concept by Fulin Zuo. DOI: 10.1119/1.5100945.
Orbits through polytropes by Amalia Gjerløv, and W. Dean Pesnell. DOI: 10.1119/1.5093295.
Computational Physics
Computing the effective permittivity of composite materials using a finite difference method by Genevieve Godec, and Karen Livesey. DOI: 10.1119/1.5102146.
Apparatus and Demonstration Notes
Assembling a magnetometer for measuring the magnetic propertiesof iron oxide microparticles in the classroom laboratory by Jefferson F. D. F. Araújo, João M. B. Pereira, and Antônio C. Bruno. DOI: 10.1119/1.5100944.
Advanced Topics
Electromagnetic surface wave propagation in a metallic wire and the Lambert W function by J. Ricardo G. Mendonça. DOI: 10.1119/1.5100943.
Book Reviews
Thrust Into Space: Official 50th Anniversary Reissue by Michael Allison. DOI: 10.1119/1.5095061
BOOKS RECEIVED
American Journal of Physics 87, 487 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5100130.
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