Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 90-168 AD).
Dr. Robin Jordan is a Professor in the Physics Department. He
graduated from the University of Sheffield, England in 1967 with B.Sc
and Ph.D degrees in Physics, Subsequently, he spent three
years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University.
In January 1970 he joined the University of Birmingham, England as a Faculty
member, first in the Centre for Materials Science and later in
the Physics Department. He joined FAU in December 1989.
Dr. Jordan is a highly successful and internationally-known researcher and has authored numerous scientific papers. His research has been directed towards understanding the properties of metals and alloys and has received support from the NSF and NATO. He was selected as the "Researcher of the Year" at FAU for 1997-98. He is also interested in Physics Education and in particular in "active-learning" and introducing methods to improve conceptual understanding of physics. He has published several articles in "The Physics Teacher", a journal dedicated to Physics Education. His most recent publication concerns faculty perceptions of ethical issues related to plagiarism and "Turnitin".
In the classroom Dr. Jordan is a dynamic and enthusiastic lecturer with an engaging style that appeals to students at all levels. In 1994 he was selected by the student body as the "Distinguished Teacher of the Year" for 1993-94. He received his Award at the Honors Convocation and gave the Convocation Address, entitled "OK, so tell me about physics!", in which he described some personal observations on the subject. In 1999 he received an "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award". In January 2003 he was selected as one of the "Master Teachers" in the College of Science at Florida Atlantic University. He is a frequent speaker to local societies and groups giving talks on the History and Philosophy of Science and on scientific misconceptions. He has given several courses of lectures to the Life Long Learning Society at FAU on "The Science of Everyday Life"; his most recent lecture courses were "Eight Famous Feuds in Science", "A walk through the cosmos: from the Big Bang to ... extra-terrestrials?" and "Disputes in Science".