birth_place birth_date known_for residence article_title name
pensacola , florida 1945 the flying circus of physics cleveland , ohio jearl walker
 jearl walker
jearl walker

jearl walker -lrb- born 1945 in pensacola , florida -rrb- is a physicist noted for his book `` flying circus of physics '' , first published in 1975 ; the second edition was published in june 2006 .
he teaches physics at cleveland state university .
walker has also revised and edited the textbook `` fundamentals of physics '' with david halliday and robert resnick .
walker is a well known popularizer of physics , and appeared several times on `` the tonight show starring johnny carson '' .
walker is known for his physics demonstrations , which have included sticking his hand in molten lead , walking barefoot over hot coals , lying on a bed of nails , and pouring freezing-cold liquid nitrogen in his mouth to demonstrate various principles of physics .
such demonstrations are included in his pbs series , `` kinetic karnival '' , produced by wviz in cleveland , ohio .
walker authored the amateur scientist column in `` scientific american '' magazine from 1978 to 1988 .
during the latter part of this period , he had been the chairman of the physics department at cleveland state university .
he appeared regularly around this time on the long-running cbc radio science program `` quirks and quarks '' .
he is the first recipient of the outstanding teaching award from cleveland state 's college of science .
the college 's faculty affairs committee selected walker as the first honoree based on his contributions to science education over the last 30 years .
in future years , the award will be named `` the jearl walker outstanding teaching award '' .
the award was presented in a ceremony on april 29 , 2005 .
walker was born in pensacola , florida and grew up in fort worth , texas .
he graduated with a degree in physics from the massachusetts institute of technology in 1967 .
he received his ph.d. from the university of maryland in 1973 .
