David Jeffrey Griffiths(born December 5, 1942) is an Americanphysicistand educator. He was on the faculty ofReed Collegefrom 1978 through 2009, becoming theHoward VollumProfessor of Science before his retirement. He wrote three highly regarded textbooks forundergraduatephysics students.
David J. Griffiths | |
|---|---|
 Griffiths in 2014 | |
| Born | 5 December 1942 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Known for | Undergraduate textbooks |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Particle physics Electromagnetism |
| Institutions | Reed College |
| Thesis | Covariant Approach to Massless Field Theory in the Radiation Gauge (1970) |
| Doctoral advisor | Sidney Coleman |
| Signature | |
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Early life and education
editGriffiths was born inArlington, Virginia,the son of Winifred Mary (née Jeffrey) and Gordon Griffiths.[1][2]Both his parents were faculty members at theUniversity of Washington,his father in the history department[3]and his mother in the zoology department.[2]
Griffiths is a graduate ofThe Putney Schooland was trained atHarvard University(B.A.,1964;M.A.,1966;Ph.D.,1970). His doctoral work,CovariantApproach to Massless Field Theory in the Radiation Gaugeon theoreticalparticle physics,[4]was supervised bySidney Coleman.
Career
editGriffiths is principally known as the author of three highly regarded textbooks forundergraduatephysics students:Introduction to Elementary Particles(published in 1987, second edition published 2008),Introduction to Quantum Mechanics(published in 1995, third edition published 2018), andIntroduction to Electrodynamics(published in 1981, fifth edition published in 2024).
Awards, honors
editGriffiths was the recipient of the 1997Robert A. Millikan awardreserved for "those who have made outstanding scholarly contributions to physics education".[5][6]
In 2009 Griffiths was named a Fellow of theAmerican Physical Society,cited "For advancing the upper level physics curriculum through the writing of leading textbooks and through his contributions to theAmerican Journal of Physicsin many editorial roles and as an author. "[7]
Books
edit- Griffiths, David J.(2023).Introduction to Electrodynamics(5th ed.).Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/9781009397735.ISBN978-1-009-39775-9.
- Griffiths, David J.;Schroeter, Darrell F. (2018).Introduction to Quantum Mechanics(Third ed.).Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-18963-8.
- Griffiths, David J.(2012).Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Physics.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-60217-5.[8]
The most recent edition of each book is generally regarded as a standard undergraduate text.[9]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^"Virginia, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1901-1938".ancestry.1937.RetrievedMay 15,2023.
- ^ab"Mary Griffiths Scientist, Teacher, Activist".The Olympian.February 4, 2007. p. 18.RetrievedMay 15,2023.
- ^"Gordon Griffiths papers - Archives West".archiveswest.orbiscascade.org.RetrievedMay 16,2023.
- ^Griffiths, David Jeffrey (January 1, 1970).Covariant Approach to Massless Field Theory in the Radiation Gauge(PhD thesis). Harvard University.Bibcode:1970PhDT.........6G.
- ^Griffiths, David (December 1997)."Millikan Lecture 1997: Is there a text in this class?".American Journal of Physics.65(12): 1141–1143.Bibcode:1997AmJPh..65.1141G.doi:10.1119/1.18777.
- ^List of Robert A. Millikan Award Winners at the American Association of Physics Teachers website
- ^"APS Fellow Archive".aps.org.RetrievedMay 15,2023.
- ^Abernathy, William (September 2013)."Review ofRevolutions in Twentieth-Century Physicsby David Griffiths ".Reed Magazine.92(3).
- ^"Notes from the Outside Special: Meet David J. Griffiths"(PDF).The Dilated Times: The newsletter of the Drew University Society of Physics Students.Vol. 13, no. 2. Spring 2003. pp. 4–5. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on December 2, 2020.
External links
edit- Griffiths's web page
- AIP Oral History Interview
- Lecture: The charge distribution on a conductor
- "... could teach physics to gerbils."
- David Griffithsat theMathematics Genealogy Project
- David Griffiths Lecture, Techfest 2012, IIT Bombay - YouTube