Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, November 14, 2005 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Timothy Gay
"Physics of Football"
ABSTRACT -- This talk discusses a series of one-minute physics lectures given to the circa 8 x 104 fans that attend the University of Nebraska home football games. The lecture topics range from gyroscopic motion to ionizing collisions between linebackers and I-backs. The problem of simultaneous edification and amusement of the fan in the stands is considered.
SPEAKER -- Since the fall of 1999, Tim Gay, a Professor of Physics at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, has taught the largest physics class in the world, the 78,000 fans that attend the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers home football games in Memorial Stadium. During a pause in the action, Gay's lessons are shown on the giant television screens at either end of the field. Some of these videos are online at http://physics.unl.edu/outreach/football.html (a non-NASA link). His book, "Football Physics" is published by Rodale. He has also produced television segments for the program "NFL Blast!"
Few are as well qualified to combine physics and football as is Professor Gay. While a student at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he managed the varsity football team, a team that produced at least one Super Bowl winning coach.
He did his undergraduate work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), earning a B.S. in physics and playing tackle on the football team. This team was not known for its winning seasons.
He earned a Ph.D. in experimental atomic physics from the University of Chicago, moving from there to Yale, then to the University of Missouri - Rolla. Since 1993, he has been Professor of Physics at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. His research interests center on particle physics, including electron scattering.
Dr. Gay is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and the Chair-Elect of its Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics.