The Joy of Teaching and Writing Conceptual Physics

Abstract

When I began teaching at City College of San Francisco in 1964, I fell in love with a 1960 text-book that addressed non-science students, Physics for the Inquiring Mind, written by British-born physicist Eric M. Rogers, who taught physics at Princeton University and who later won the 1969 Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers. His book was as inspirational as he was and remains a favorite of mine. My request to adopt that book for my physics class was rejected by my department chair, Art Austin, who claimed it was much too bulky and heavy for students to have to haul around. It weighed more than five pounds, with a trim size huge for that time—8 × 11 inches. To further justify its rejection, he also found topics considered important not covered in the book. I would have loved teaching from the Rogers book, but such was not to be.