Porter W. Johnson
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Room 296 Life Sciences Building
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Porter W. JohnsonProfessor of Physics, Emeritus |
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| BS: | Case Institute of Technology | |
| PhD: | Princeton University | |
| Office: | BCPS Department Room 296 Life Sciences Building |
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| Phone: | (312) 567-5745 Fax: (312) 567-3494 | |
| e-mail: | Porter.Johnson@iit.edu | |
I retired from the faculty of Illinois Institute of Technology in 2008, having been a physics faculty member there continuously since 1969. I remain professionally active, attending colloquia regularly. I am currently developing a textbook for a one semester course in classical mechanics at the graduate level.
I have an avid interest in The Physics of Baseball and have spoken frequently to groups of students and high school teachers on this subject. In addition, I have appeared frequently on radio and television programs, and have provided background information for newspapers. My interest and involvement in this arena continues into retirement.
From 1993 - 2006, I was the co-director of the SMILE [Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement] program at IIT, working with Ken Schug [Professor of Chemistry], Ben Stark [Professor of Biology], and Earl Zwicker [Professor Emeritus of Physics]. The SMILE program operated from 1986 to 2006. Its mission has been to encourage teachers to bring interactive experiences into the classroom to enhance student understanding and appreciation of mathematics and science. There wais an academic year program in which elementary and high school teachers attend bi-weekly meetings, as well as an intensive summer program. The SMILE website is being maintained.
In Summer 2000 I became co-director of the SMART [Science and Mathematics through Application of Relevant Technology] program, in which teachers learn to develop interactive web-based lessons in mathematics and science. This program operated during the summer and the academic year for the period 2000 - 2004. The SMART website is being maintained.
I served as Interim Chair of the newly created Department of Mathematics and Science Education during the 2000-2001 academic year
My research interests in traditional high energy theoretical physics most
recently involved dynamical mass generation in formally massless quantum field
theories. Over the years I have collaborated continually with
Professor David Atkinson
who is a retired faculty member of the
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the State
University of Groningen [Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen], in the
Netherlands.
We recently begin a collaboration on Classical Zeno Balls, an
interdisciplinary subject involving both essential philosophy and classical mechanics.
For details see this manuscript:
"Nonconservation of Energy and Loss of Determinism I: Infinitely Many Colliding Balls"
By clicking on the appropriate item, you may go to these documents:
SMILE:
SMART
Professional
Personal / Hobbies
