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个人简介
Robin’s first teaching assignment was the large first-year course for physics majors and life science students. He was so popular and engaging as a lecturer that students often commented that he should teach others how to teach. He produced his own course notes, assembled them in paperback form, and sold them to the students as early as 1966. By 1970, along with Jim King, he developed the notes into a textbook, which Prentice-Hall published as Mechanics, Waves and Thermal Physics. The text eventually saw wide adoption in Canada and around the world. A (contractually required) companion volume The Electromagnetic Interaction was published in 1973.
During the 1960s, the Department expanded greatly, moving into its present building in 1967. Undergraduate student enrolment grew to 3000 and the faculty complement more than doubled from 26 in 1960 to over 60 by 1970, including those appointed to the new satellite campuses of Scarborough and Erindale. In late 1968, Professor Welsh stepped down as Chair after six years. The new Chair, Jim Daniels, appointed two Associate Chairs, one to oversee graduate studies and the other undergraduate studies. The 33-year-old Robin accepted the latter position. This was a challenging time for the University partly because of the large increase in enrolment. In addition, by 1969, pressure from Ontario’s Education Minister Bill Davis led the University to revamp undergraduate studies, doing away with the three-year general programs and the highly prestigious and demanding four-year honours programs in Arts and Science, including MPC. Robin was tasked with helping to develop the “new programs” in physics, with students given more choice in course selection through specialist and major programs. These reforms largely remain with us today. (Interestingly, the prestigious four-year Engineering Science program continues to exist to the present day and maintains connections to the Physics Department, especially through its various specialty options.)
Shortly after becoming Chair in 1974, Robin suggested to the faculty that a second-year course in quantum mechanics (QM) be offered. QM had never been taught below the third-year level. Many physicists felt that second-year students didn’t have a strong enough foundation to handle QM concepts, even though chemistry professors at U of T, including future Nobel Prize winner John Polanyi, were already teaching first-year students how to solve Schroedinger’s differential equation for the hydrogen atom! The Physics faculty finally came onside provided that Robin or Nathan Isgur, another inspiring young instructor, taught the course. Robin took up the challenge and once again developed his notes into a softcover text. He hoped to develop this into a textbook but increasing administrative duties overtook that ambition and Nathan eventually took over the course.
During the 1960s, the Department expanded greatly, moving into its present building in 1967. Undergraduate student enrolment grew to 3000 and the faculty complement more than doubled from 26 in 1960 to over 60 by 1970, including those appointed to the new satellite campuses of Scarborough and Erindale. In late 1968, Professor Welsh stepped down as Chair after six years. The new Chair, Jim Daniels, appointed two Associate Chairs, one to oversee graduate studies and the other undergraduate studies. The 33-year-old Robin accepted the latter position. This was a challenging time for the University partly because of the large increase in enrolment. In addition, by 1969, pressure from Ontario’s Education Minister Bill Davis led the University to revamp undergraduate studies, doing away with the three-year general programs and the highly prestigious and demanding four-year honours programs in Arts and Science, including MPC. Robin was tasked with helping to develop the “new programs” in physics, with students given more choice in course selection through specialist and major programs. These reforms largely remain with us today. (Interestingly, the prestigious four-year Engineering Science program continues to exist to the present day and maintains connections to the Physics Department, especially through its various specialty options.)
Shortly after becoming Chair in 1974, Robin suggested to the faculty that a second-year course in quantum mechanics (QM) be offered. QM had never been taught below the third-year level. Many physicists felt that second-year students didn’t have a strong enough foundation to handle QM concepts, even though chemistry professors at U of T, including future Nobel Prize winner John Polanyi, were already teaching first-year students how to solve Schroedinger’s differential equation for the hydrogen atom! The Physics faculty finally came onside provided that Robin or Nathan Isgur, another inspiring young instructor, taught the course. Robin took up the challenge and once again developed his notes into a softcover text. He hoped to develop this into a textbook but increasing administrative duties overtook that ambition and Nathan eventually took over the course.
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