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The Late D.O. Wyble's Rules for Introductory Physics Students
Professor D.O.
Wyble (1916-1989) taught at Michigan Technological University when Dr. Phil
was in graduate school there and supervised his first days as a Teaching
Assistant and I learned a lot from the man. He always taught his physics
students that there were three things they had to learn in any study of
Physics. He served in the U.S. Navy and earned a Ph.D. in Geology from Penn
State University, and had something to do with the development of a new type of
well-logging machine. He won the 1968 Distinguished Teaching Award and the 1959
Faculty Research Award at MTU. (If you think that this isn't a big deal,
consider that it took until June of 2000 before another MTU faculty member won
both the Teaching and Research Awards at MTU.)
D.O. always maintained that his name really was "D.O.", that his
mother didn't give him a name. This caused problems when he was in the Navy,
because while the Navy can deal with someone who has no middle name (they are
"issued" the middle name NMI which stands for No Middle Initial),
they had no policy to deal with someone who didn't have a first name. So of
course they issued him one and his Navy records should be listed under Donald
O. Wyble.
The Three Rules:
- You Can't Push on a Rope
- F = m a
- Physics Is Not A Spectator Sport
Last Update: 12 February 2007 Monday.