I Don’t Think This is How You Learn Physics, Professor

By JIMMIE BISE JR
Published: February 19, 2013 | 2 Comments

I don’t have words to describe this pre-lecture “presentation” by Columbia University professor Emlyn Hughes.

Video at the page link: I Don’t Think This is How You Learn Physics, Professor - Liberty News

If his aim was to frighten and confuse his students, well, mission definitely accomplished.

Students’ reaction turned from laughter and amused surprised to concern, according to comments heard on the video.

“What the f**k is happening,” one female student asked. “Is this real life? … How does this relate to anything?”

Eventually, the film ended and the professor began his lecture. But when he first grabbed his microphone, at least one student mistook it for a gun, saying with concern: “He has a gun, he has a gun.”

The bizarre episode lasted less than ten minutes. The Vimeo clip included the very first part of Hughes’ lecture, in which he told students that “in order to learn quantum mechanics, you have to strip to your raw, erase all the garbage from your brain and start over again. … Everything you do in your everyday life is totally opposite of what you are going to learn in quantum mechanics.”

Actually, that’s horrible advice. If you go into quantum physics with a cleanly-wiped brain, you’ll learn exactly nothing. Professor Hughes is a goofball, or at least chose a particularly goofball way to introduce his students to an inherently fascinating branch of science.

I Don’t Think This is How You Learn Physics, Professor - Liberty News