John Beck
(408) 855-5233
[email protected]
Office Location: SCI 117
Dr.. Beck was a Solar Astronomer at Stanford University for 25 years. He served as the assistant director of the Wilcox Solar Observatory as well as EPO Scientist. A EPO Scientist, Dr. Beck developed a number of educational products and wrote a chapter of a popular Astronomy Textbook. His research focused on convective motions in the outer layers of the Sun and measurements of the Sun's differential rotation.
He assisted in the instrument design for the HMI instrument aboard the SDO spacecraft; his work on instrumentation resulted in his taking a Visiting Scientist position at UCLA to support upgrading the spectrograph for the 150-foot tower Solar Telescope.
Dr. Beck left research to teach undergrads motivated by a concern by the low science literacy in the United States. His fears were born out during the lock-down days of the pandemic when media were awash in rumors and conspiracy theories regarding the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Science is imperfect - after all humans do science - however it is the best tool we have to separate fact from fallacy.
Education
- PhD, Astronomy, UCLA
- Master's in Physics, CSUN
- Bachelor's in Physics, UCLA
Courses Taught
- Astro 1
- Astro 3
- Astro 4
- Physics 10
- Physics 4A
- Physics 4C