Edwin F. Taylor is an American physicist known for his contributions to the

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely re ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. Taylor was editor of the

American Journal of Physics The ''American Journal of Physics'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics. The editor-in-chief is Beth Parks of Colgate University."Current Fre ...

, and is author of several introductory books to physics. In 1998 he was awarded the

Oersted Medal The Oersted Medal recognizes notable contributions to the teaching of physics. Established in 1936, it is awarded by the American Association of Physics Teachers. The award is named for Hans Christian Ørsted. It is the Association's most prestig ...

for his contributions to the teaching of physics.

Biography

Edwin Floriman Taylor was born in 1931 in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of the ...

and was the son of Lloyd William Taylor, chairman of the

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

physics department from 1924-1948, and Esther Bliss Taylor. Taylor completed an A.B. degree at

in 1953 and obtained first a master (1954) and later a Ph.D. (1958) in physics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where his advisor was

Nicolaas Bloembergen Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a p ...

. After employment at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

as an assistant professor of physics, Taylor moved to the Education Research Center at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where Taylor he remained for 25 years, first as a Visiting Associate Professor and later as a Senior Research Scientist."Edwin F. Taylor awarded the Oersted medal" in The Physics Teacher 36, 133 (1998); doi: 10.1119/1.879981 After retiring from MIT in 1991, Taylor went on to positions first at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and then at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. He served as editor of the

from 1973 to 1978.

Research and Teaching

Taylor’s primary research interests are in the field of physics education. One of his areas of activity was curriculum development: he was part of the team gathered by

Jerrold Zacharias Jerrold Reinach Zacharias (January 23, 1905 – July 16, 1986) was an American physicist and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an education reformer. His scientific work was in the area of nuclear physics ...

to develop a new undergraduate physics course at MIT, was a member of the steering committee of the Introductory University Physics Project (IUPP) for several years, and was involved in developing high school physics curricula at Boston University. Through his physics text books, Taylor became known to a wider academic audience. During a Junior Faculty Sabbatical at Wesleyan University, which Taylor spent at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, he collaborated with the relativist

John Archibald Wheeler John Archibald Wheeler (July 9, 1911April 13, 2008) was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr in e ...

on an introductory text on

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws o ...

, which began with Wheeler's relativity lectures to an honors physics freshman class, which Taylor transcribed, and evolved into an intense collaboration that resulted in the book ''Spacetime Physics'', published in 1965. Taylor and Wheeler later resumed their collaboration to produce an introduction to

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics ...

, published in 2000 as ''Exploring Black Holes''. The book presents fundamental ideas from the theory, using no more than basic differential and integral calculus. Specific aspects of relativity are explored in "project" chapters interspersed throughout the main text. Together with the British physicist and physics educator

Anthony French Anthony Philip French (November 19, 1920 – February 3, 2017) was a British professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was born in Brighton, England. French was a graduate of Cambridge University, receiving his ...

, Taylor wrote the undergraduate text book ''An Introduction to Quantum Physics'', first published in 1979. Taylor was also a pioneer in using both computers in general and the internet in particular as teaching tools. To this end, he co-developed software designed to help students understand the geometry and the effects of special relativity,E. F. Taylor: "Space‐time software: Computer graphics utilities in special relativity" in American Journal of Physics 57, 508 (1989); doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.15985 and taught an early online course offered by

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

. In 1998, Taylor received the Oersted Medal from the "For his profound contributions to the pedagogy of relativity and quantum mechanics, his service to the physics community as editor of the American Journal of Physics, and his pioneering efforts in the development of software for relativity, quantum mechanics, and Internet teaching." A full, free download of the second edition of Taylor and Wheeler's special relativity text is available a
spacetimephysics.org
A second edition of the general relativity text was prepared with Edmund Bertschinger, and is available only in online form for full and free download a
exploringblackholes.org

Bibliography

* Edwin F. Taylor, ''Introductory Mechanics''. John Wiley & Sons Inc (1963). * Edwin F. Taylor, ''Notes on Introductory Relativity'' (1963). * Edwin F. Taylor and

, ''Spacetime Physics'', New York, W. H. Freeman and Co., Second edition (1992). Full and free download available a
spacetimephysics.org
* Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler, ''Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity'', Addison Wesley Longman (2000)
Full and free download available at exploringblackholes.org
* Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler, ''Scouting black holes: Exploring general relativity with calculus'' * Edwin F. Taylor, ''Desmystifying Quantum Mechanics''. * Anthony P. French and Edwin F. Taylor, ''An Introduction to Quantum Physics'' (MIT Introductory Physics Series, 1979). * Edwin F. Taylor, ''Go critical: A retrospective study of the MIT Education Research Center, 1960-1973''.

References

External links

Taylor's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Edwin F 21st-century American physicists Living people Harvard University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty 1931 births