In establishing the format and approach to the production of
The Mechanical Universe, a number of problems were met and solved.
Perhaps the most difficult was putting together a team of academic and
production people capable of handling material at the very high level the
project demanded. The team that was assembled was extraordinary. Not only did
they represent the highest order of intellectual, technical, and production
talent, they had also learned to work together with a remarkable spirit of
mutual admiration, respect, and cooperation.
David Goodstein,
Creator, Host and
Project Director, is Vice Provost and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
at Caltech, where he teaches, writes, and conducts scientific research. He is
the author of more than 100 scientific works and is co-author of the recent
book Feynman's Lost Lecture.
Dr. Goodstein is a popular
lecturer and is often called upon as an informal ombudsman on the topics of
educational video production and the importance of providing high-quality
instructional materials in the scientific education of today's students. Despite
his myriad duties and responsibilities, Dr. Goodstein nevertheless thinks of
himself primarily as a teacher.
Richard Olenick,
Associate
Project Director, is Professor of Physics at the University of Dallas. He
received his doctorate in elementary particle physics from Purdue University.
His primary research interests are magnetic cooperative systems and
multidimensional universes. As a Visiting Associate at Caltech, he served as
Associate Project Director of The Mechanical Universe, and is the
primary author of the introductory textbooks that accompany the course.
Dr. Olenick has appeared on public radio and cable television; his articles have
been published in The American Journal of Physics, The European Journal of
Physics, and The Journal of Applied Physics. He is currently the
Principal Investigator of the Comprehensive Conceptual Curriculum for Physics
(C3P) project based at the University of Dallas.
Tom Apostol,
Academic Content, brought 40 years of teaching experience and preeminence in the
field of mathematics to The Mechanical Universe project. The Utah-born
educator received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in
1948, and taught at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
before coming to Caltech, where he is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and
Director of Project MATHEMATICS!, a series of computer animated
videotapes on basic topics in high school mathematics.
Dr. Apostol is
the author of several highly regarded textbooks: Mathematical Analysis;
Calculus, Volumes I and II; Introduction to Analytic Number Theory and Modular
Functions and Dirichlet Series in Number Theory. He is a member of the
Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society.
Steven Frautschi, Academic Content,
has had an international career as a physicist and educator, from Kyoto
University, Japan, to the University of Paris in Orsay, with stops at the
University of California at Berkeley and Cornell University, prior to his
becoming a member of the Caltech faculty. As Executive Officer for Physics and
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, Dr. Frautschi's research
concentration has included Regge poles, bootstrap theory, and cosmology. He is
the author of Regge Poles and S-Matrix Theory, published in 1963.
Dr. Frautschi's major role in
The Mechanical Universe project was the preparation of the textbook for
science and engineering majors. In preparation for this task, he taught the
Caltech freshman physics course and field-tested a draft of the text during the
fall quarter 1983.
Jim Blinn,
a pioneer in computer animation and scientific visualization, has been actively
involved in computer graphics for the past 20 years. He attended the University
of Michigan for undergraduate work and then received a Ph.D. from the University
of Utah in 1978. He then joined the staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of
Caltech, producing animations depicting various space missions to Jupiter,
Saturn and Uranus.
After designing and executing over 8 hours of
original computer animation for The Mechanical Universe, Dr. Blinn
subsequently turned his talents to Project MATHEMATICS! Dr. Blinn has
received numerous accolades for his contributions to computer graphics,
including a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship and the ACM Siggraph Life
Achievement Award. He is currently a member of the Microsoft Research Graphics
Group at Microsoft, Inc. and continues to publish his award-winning computer
graphics column in the
IEEE Journal of Computer Graphics.
Dave A. Campbell, (deceased),
Academic Consultant, was Chairman of the Physics and Astronomy Department at
Saddleback Community College, where he taught physics, mathematics, astronomy,
science fiction, and interdisciplinary studies. He was primarily interested in
improving undergraduate education through the use of interdisciplinary courses.
Dave authored the Mechanical Universe Scene Selector (MUSS) database search
software for The Mechanical Universe and was instrumental in the
production of the IBM-funded Lorentz Transformation Interactive Videodisc
project.
Judith Goodstein,
Academic Consultant, serves as Registrar, University Archivist and Faculty
Associate in History at Caltech. Judith has written numerous articles, papers
and books, including a history of Caltech entitled Millikan's School and
is co-author of the recent book Feynman's Lost Lecture. She has
written and lectured extensively on physical-science studies ranging from the
origins of modern chemistry to the history of Italian science under fascism to
the rise of applied mathematics in America.
Don Delson, Project Manager, was
recruited by David Goodstein in June 1982 to investigate the possibility of
videotaping Caltech physics lectures for television. The result of his
investigation became the first glimmerings of a greater task - the development
of The Mechanical Universe. Mr. Delson worked closely with the various
organizations and individuals involved in the project, overseeing the different
aspects of producing the series. He was also responsible for the production of
the CAV laserdisc version of The Mechanical Universe and assisted in the
launch of the Project MATHEMATICS! series.