RIP Edward "Joe" Redish (1942 - 2024), Physics Education

[robphy]

https://www.umdphysics.umd.edu/about-us/news/department-news/1968-redish-2.html

Edward F. “Joe” Redish, a nuclear theorist who became a globally recognized expert in physics education research, died on August 24, 2024 at age 82.

Upon earning his Ph.D. at MIT in 1968, Redish came to UMD on a fellowship in nuclear theory. He was hired as an assistant professor in 1970, continuing his work on the theory of reactions and the quantum few-body problem.

Over the next dozen years, technological advances made computers vastly more accessible, and Redish recognized their enormous potential for students grappling with difficult concepts and calculations. Intending to develop useful tools, he accepted the position of department chair in 1982, and quickly launched the Maryland University Project in Physics and Educational Technology (M.U.P.P.E.T.). Among the results was M.U.P.P.E.T. Utilities, a software package with applications for graphing, simple animations and data management that allowed students to use computing for complex physics problems.

M.U.P.P.E.T. inspired broad interest in incorporating computing into physics instruction. The experience also heightened Redish’s interest in physics education. In 1992, he took a sabbatical at the University of Washington with Dr. Lillian McDermott, a leader in the field, and upon his return launched the Maryland Physics Education Research Group.

Since its creation, the UMD PERG has graduated dozens of physics Ph.Ds. and trained several postdocs. Graduates include many tenured physics faculty, two American Physical Society (APS) fellows, and a president of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

https://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/Edward-F-Joe-Redish.cfm

---

Teaching Physics With the Physics Suite
https://www.physics.umd.edu/~redish/Book/

Univ. of Maryland - Physics Education Research Group
https://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/
http://umdperg.pbworks.com/w/page/10511199/Joe Redish

Physics Tree (Edward F Redish)
https://academictree.org/physics/tree.php?pid=167135

---

Rethinking Physics for the Life Science Students | Edward F. Redish UMD 2020/12/02
https://capture.udel.edu/media/Rethinking+Physics+for+the+Life+Science+Students+|+Edward+F.+Redish+UMD+2020+12+02/1_ackv6uwg#t=03:05
Redish starts at about 3m00s into the video.


The Physics Alive Podcast [with Brad Moser]
(Episode #7: 40 Years of Physics Education Research with Joe Redish)
https://physicsalive.com/joe/

UPDATE

• AIP Oral Histories: Joe Redish (11/11/2020)
  https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/44988

Google Scholar: Joe (E. F.) Redish
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_ZergnkAAAAJ&hl=en

https://arxiv.org/a/redish_e_1.html
"Using math in physics" (series 1-7) was recently published in The Physics Teacher ( https://pubs.aip.org/aapt/pte )

Making Sense of the Legendre Transform
R. K. P. Zia (Virginia Tech), Edward F. Redish (U Maryland), Susan R. McKay (U. Maine)
https://arxiv.org/abs/0806.1147 ( Am. J. Phys. 77, 614–622 (2009) - https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3119512 )

---

I met and chatted with "Joe" several times at various AAPT meetings.
He was quite spirited, full of enthusiasm.
He was interested in my visualization of tensors a while back
and, more recently, in my desmos visualizations for introductory physics.
I was planning to somehow contribute these desmos visualizations to his NEXUS project ( https://www.compadre.org/nexusph/ ).
I was hoping to re-connect with Joe at the recent AAPT Summer meeting [in Boston] in July
since he was going to give a talk on his "Using math in physics"
( https://aapt-wm.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/67/sessiongallery/3030 ).
While I enjoyed his talk, I was a little disappointed that he did it remotely via Zoom. But now I understand why.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Sorry to hear this news! Sad, you couldn't have a final chat with him before he passed.