David P. Murdock (1954 - 2013)
Professor of Physics, Tennessee Tech University (1989 - 2013)
This website is dedicated to the resources created by Dr. David Murdock during 25 years teaching physics classes at
Tennessee
Technological University in Cookeville,
Tennessee.
Dave was a much loved professor with a quirky (to say the least) sense of humor, a love of music and the community, and most of all, physics. His dedication to teaching was truly unmatched, and he could often be found in his office until midnight or later, with his door open, happy to take questions from all students on any subject. Links to these resources can be found below.
Dave passed away suddenly at his home on Thursday, May 23, 2013.
He worked tirelessly to create the resources on this webpage,
and would light up as he told colleagues, students, and friends
about the emails he would receive from all over the globe thanking
him for his clear and humorous approach to such challenging subjects.
This website is now maintained by one of his former students,
with the knowledge that Dave would have wanted his work to stay
active and current. Please send any and all feedback to
kdlong@wisc.edu.
In His Own Words:
I grew up in
Pico Rivera, California, which is about 15 miles East of Los
Angeles.
My education took me through some interesting places as I went from
Experimental
Chemical Physics to
Experimental Nuclear Physics to
Theoretical
Nuclear Physics. I attended:
after which I did two years of post-doctoral work at the Nuclear
Theory Center of IUCF, at Indiana University.
In 1989, I came to TTU.
I spend my summers at
Indiana University in Bloomington. My research work has been in
intermediate-energy nuclear theory, but lately has been in the area of
electron motion in two dimensions ("quantum wires"). For details, see:
I love doing physics; I decided to make theoretical physics my
career because I enjoy
applied mathematics and am intrigued by the idea that it can be used
to predict the detailed behavior of the objects in the world around
us, from the carts rolling on tracks
in our Phys 2111 labs down to
the electrons in atoms and the quarks and gluons inside the nucleon.
It is fun and challenging to try to understand the laws which
tell us how the
universe works and to try to impart some of the beauty and
utility of this subject to students. No foolin'.
Dave would have never wanted a cent for this work, but he would have
loved to see more and more students pursuing a degree in physics.
If you find this website useful, consider making a small donation
to the David Murdock Memorial Scholarship, established in his memory
to support junior and senior physics majors at TTU.
If you would like to contribute go to:
https://www.tntech.edu/univadv/giving/online-giving.php
If giving online, when asked to enter a 'Designation' select 'Other' and then enter 'David Murdock Scholarship' in the text box
