Rhett Allain is an American associate professor of physics at

Southeastern Louisiana University Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it becam ...

and the author of the

Wired magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online magazine, online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquar ...

science blog Dot Physics. He received his Ph.D. from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

in 2001 and works in the field of

physics education research Physics education research (PER) is a form of discipline-based education research specifically related to the study of the teaching and learning of physics, often with the aim of improving the effectiveness of student learning. Approximately ...

. In his blog, Dot Physics, Allain discusses physical concepts, answers questions related to physics and math, and debunks questionable physical claims. Many of his posts are supported by experiments, calculations, and models. Recently, he has analyzed the physics behind the '' Angry Birds Space'' video game and behind a now-debunked video which purported to show a man flying with home-made wings. He has also criticized television shows, including ''

Fight Science ''Fight Science'' is a television program shown on the National Geographic Channel in which scientists and martial arts masters work together to analyze the world's fighting techniques, to compare the disciplines and to find out which one has the ...

'', that perform poorly controlled experiments which are presented as scientific. In 2008 Allain rejected the concept of sailing dead downwind faster than the wind as a violation of conservation laws, stating that "this is the same situation as people trying to make energy from nothing". When the concept was demonstrated to work in practice by the Blackbird in 2010, Allain didn't offer further explanations and merely noted: "If it works, does it matter what I say?" In 2011 Rhett became the science advisor for the Discovery Channel show ''Mythbusters'' and continues to work on it today with the new ''Mythbusters''. He is also a technical consultant for the CBS show ''MacGyver''. Rhett Allain is also a host on Southeastern's KSLU Radio with his show "STEM Science Radio", which Allain says is , "...redundant because science appears twice, but I didn't come up with the name."

Personal

Allain describes himself as "a slacker by night." His favorite saying is "I like to take things apart, but I can't always put them back together." Allain has been married for 22 years and has 4 children.

References

External links

Dot Physics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allain, Rhett Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American physicists Living people Science bloggers North Carolina State University alumni Southeastern Louisiana University faculty Benedictine University alumni Wired (magazine) people