Retirement Tributefor Wolfgang Christian

Herman Brown Professor of Physics

Delivered by Professor and Chair of Physics Mario Belloni at the academic year’s closing faculty meeting, May 5, 2016

Wolfgang was born in Salzburg, Austria to a father who was an engineer and a mother who was a chemist.At age 4, Wolfgang and his family relocated to New York as part of Operation Paperclip, eventually settling in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Wolfgang’s interest in all things mechanical led to him attaining his pilot’s license in high school, and then to pursuing physics degrees at North Carolina State University.His graduate studies were interrupted by the draft, and after about one year of service in the Signal Corps, he resumed graduate school.

Also spicing up Wolfgang’s graduate school years was his motorcycle and automobile racing. Wolfgang raced motocross, reaching sponsorship status and a ranking of 4 in the state.In one race, a newspaper account states that Wolfgang “within 20 feet of the checkered flag, figured he had a win and throttled off slightly,” allowing another rider to finish “half a bike ahead.” This was likely the last time Wolfgang was caught “easing off the throttle.”In addition to racing motocross, he raced automobiles including the Mid-Ohio 6-hour Race where he led until losing a wheel; and races at Daytona and at Charlotte, the latter being a NASCAR-affiliated race.

After receiving his Ph.D. he was on the faculty of Mercyhurst College, where he met his future wife, Barbara.He then taught at Allegheny College and at Earlham College. While at Earlham he married Barbara and met Ralph Levering.

In 1983, Wolfgang came to Davidson College with his original research interest in laser spectroscopy and his original neckwear, of the long variety.He built a CO2 laser and students over the years were warned about the CO2 laser’s “Wire of Death.”Many students, after graduation, have confided that this was actually, “The Wire of Extreme Pain” having survived touching it. Wolfgang’s neckwear was not so lucky when his tie got caught in his homemade optical beam “chopper” that was devoid of the safely features one might expect from an instrument with sharp, rapidly rotating fan blades. Wolfgang’s bow tie soon followed as a safer alternative.

During this time, Wolfgang and Merl Schuh in Chemistry obtained external funding to establish the laser laboratory which still exists as the focal point of laser spectroscopy in the Physics Department.

Wolfgang achieved the rank of associate professor in 1986 and professor in 1993 and began to explore the role of “microcomputers” in teaching physics. In 1988 Wolfgang attended the first “Conference on Computers in Physics Instruction” organized by John Risley which led to Wolfgang creating and teaching Davidson’s first Computational Physics course. An NSF grant established the Davidson Physics Computation Center, funded a computational physics conference at Davidson, and led to Wolfgang’s first book of simulations, “Waves and Optics,” which was co-authored by two Davidson College physics majors.

Soon after Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, Wolfgang installed the college’s first computer network in the Dana Science Building and created the College’s first Web server and the college’s first Web page. In 1995, the WebPhysics Project was started by Wolfgang and GregorNovak which would lead to the pedagogy called Just-in-Time Teaching and the Java Applets for Physics known as Physlets. In 1996 Wolfgang created the Doppler Effect Physlet, and within three years, an additional 40 Physlets were created by Wolfgang and his students. These simulations were then converted into interactive curricular materials that appeared in several books. In 2006, Wolfgang created the Open Source Physics Project and Web Site whose code library became the core of the computational physics textbook, An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods, and led to the Tracker video analysis program and EJS, the program that creates Java and JavaScript programs.

Wolfgang was appointed Brown Professor of Physics in 2002 and served as Physics Department Chair from 2011-2015. Over his career Wolfgang is the author or co-author of 2,000 simulations, nine books in five languages, and has secured over two million dollars in funding.

Wolfgang’s professional recognitions and service are too many to mention, but two stand out. Wolfgang was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society “For his…significant contributions to the use of computers in…physics education” and he received the AAAS Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) Award.

Perhaps the most recognizable feature of Wolfgang, following only the bow tie and beard, is the unique way he turns a phrase. We have come to know “the Wire of Death” and “onesie-twosie,” among other phrases.We have also come to know that “low-hanging fruit,” is preferable to “low-hanging fire.” I regret not having enough time to describe in detail Wolfgang’s unique way of explaining Dirac notation to his students.

A former student stated that, “Dr. Christian challenges and inspires me to this day. I often ask myself: ‘What would Wolfgang do?’.” Yet another student recalled that, “In response to my ceaseless concern for environmental issues, he hopped up from his office chair and reached for a few books that did in fact change my life.”

Over the years, Wolfgang and Barbara have taken care of nin foster children; have two adopted children; and one child the old fashioned way.

As he “eases off the throttle” into retirement, let’s hope he rekindles some of his safer hobbies such as woodworking and photography.

Wolfgang, on behalf of your former students, the Physics Department, and the Davidson faculty, thank you for all you have done to improve physics education and your service to Davidson.