The Outside the Research Lab series is a testament to the fact that the physics taught to high school and university students IS used in the real world.
This book explores the physics and technology inherent to a selection of sports which have caught the author's attention and fascination over the years. Outside the Research Lab, Volume 3 is a path to discovering how less commonly watched sports use physics to optimize performance, diagnose injuries, and increase access to more competitors. It covers Olympic and Paralympic fencing, show jumping horses, and arguably the most brutal of motorsports - drag racing. Stunning images throughout the book and clear, understandable writing are supplemented by offset detail boxes which take the physics concepts to higher levels.
Outside the Research Lab, Volume 3 is both for the general interest reader and students in STEM. Lecturers in university physics, materials science, engineering and other sciences will find this an excellent basis for teaching undergraduate students the range of applications for the physics they are learning. There is a vast range of different areas that require expertise in physics...this third volume of Outside the Research Lab shows a few with great detail provided by professionals doing the work.
Holgate, Sharon Ann: - Sharon Ann Holgate has a doctorate in experimental physics from the University of Sussex in the UK, where she was a Visiting Fellow in Physics and Astronomy for nine years, and is a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Physicist. She has worked for eighteen years as a freelance science writer and broadcaster, with broadcast credits including presenting on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4, presenting video podcasts for medical research charity the Myrovlytis Trust and appearing on a 'Boffins Special' of The Weakest Link. Her articles have appeared in Science, Science Careers, New Scientist, The Times Higher Education Supplement, E&T, Flipside, Focus, Physics World, Interactions, Materials World, Modern Astronomer, and Astronomy Now, while her first book The Way Science Works (a children's popular science book co-authored with Robin Kerrod) was shortlisted for the Royal Society Junior Books Prize. She was a contributor to the popular science book 30-Second Quantum Theory, and her undergraduate textbook Understanding Solid State Physics is currently in use as a core text in universities around the world. She has also written careers material, case studies, and press releases for the Institute of Physics and careers material and brochures for The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, and given talks at venues including the Science Museum in London. Dr Holgate was the Institute of Physics Young Professional Physicist of the Year for 2006, won a Merit Award in the 1994 Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer of the Year competition, and was shortlisted for the radio programme category of the Association of British Science Writers' Awards in 2005. Outside of work she collects contemporary ceramics, is a regular visitor to art galleries and museums, and enjoys learning about fashion history and steam locomotives.
