Ronald Brown
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, 1968
- M.S., University of California, Riverside
- B.S., University of California, Riverside
Research Interests
- Solid State Physics
About
If you'd like to find out more information please contact me using my email address.
Thoughts on Science and Education
- "Great Ideas that have Changed our Worldview" - Science is ultimately about ideas - and some of those ideas have changed the way we view our universe.
- "Truth" - We claim to teach the Truth - but, in fact, we parcel out the truth in tiny increments.
- "Science at the University" The role of science at the university includes, of course, both teaching the principles and methods of the discipline and participating in the scientific enterprise, but also articulating what is current - making the most sophisiticated new ideas in science accessible.
- "The Nature of Solids". An introduction to the study of solid state physics.
- "Demonstrating Magnetic Levitation AND Persistent Currents" Levitating a small magnet above a superconducting disk has become a standard demonstration of the Meissner effect. But with a simple extension of the demo, one can also show the persistent current associated with zero resistance.
- "What Would Happen If You Dropped a Magnet Down a Superconducting Tube?" A question posed to Richard Feynman in 1987, the discussion that followed, and the physics behind his exuberant "Of course!" when the answer was revealed.
- "Soccerballs and Superfluids" The 1996 Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics as grand discoveries in condensed matter.
- "Five Short Stories On Teaching" Personal vignettes about teaching -including my only two encounters with Richard Feynman.
- "October 4,1957" A personal reminiscence about one of the defining moments in science education in this half century.
- "Some Thoughts on Educational Quality"The role of the university.
- "On Studying and Doing Science" Science as a puzzle.
- "How the Universe Works" Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics.
- Some Thoughts on Science and Education
This collection of thoughts – quotations and original essays (including most of those listed above) – generally about science and physics in particular and about education and my own thoughts about those two endeavors.
Musing/Observations on Golf
- Hidden Gems - Golf Courses in British Columbia
- "Moment of Inertia in Golf Club Design" An overview of the concept and application to golf club design.
- "My Life in Golf - Thoughts and Recollections" A brief history of my involvement in golf - the game and how it has changed.
- "Holes in One - and near misses" The odds of making a hole in one.
- "Swing Thoughts" Working on your golf swing - visualization and developing procedural memory.
Personal Reflections
- "On Caregiving for Adults with Brain Disease - Our Story" What I learned about caregiving during my wife's twenty month battle with cancer.
- "Leslie's Journey" A story of life, courage, and grace as she fought an aggressively malignant glioblastoma multiforme.
- "Five Years" A story about life - reflections on the last five years. How I have dealt with the loss of my wife.
- The Canadian Rockies