January 31, 2007

Thursday Night Football Physics Is Coming to Denver

The American Physical Society invites the public to a free lecture in Denver on the physics of football, Thursday, March 8 at 7:00 PM in the Adam's Mark Hotel.

College Park, MD — What do Jason Elam, John Elway and Mile High Stadium have in common? They all help physicist Tim Gay illustrate the science behind the bone-crunching hits, soaring field goals and awe-inspiring passes of the great American sport of football.

In a free public lecture in Denver on March 8, 2007 Professor Gay will discuss the physics that allowed Elam to tie the record for the longest field goal in professional football (63 yards) and made Elway’s arm one of the most potent threats the game has ever known.

As a former college football tackle for the Caltech Fighting Beavers, Professor Gay is one of the world’s leading experts on the physics that players deal with in every game, from Newton’s Laws of Motion as they apply to the blocking and tackling of massive linemen, to the graceful arc of a spiraling football, to the intricate timing of the West Coast offense.

From 1999 until 2004, Professor Gay of the University of Nebraska taught the largest physics class in the world – the 78,000 fans that attend the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers home football games in Memorial Stadium. He also wrote the acclaimed book The Physics of Football.

The Physics of Football lecture is one of a series of public events sponsored by the American Physical Society to coincide with the society’s annual meetings. This year’s meeting will be held at the Denver Convention Center March 5-9, with public lecture taking place at the Adam’s Mark Hotel on Thursday March 8 at 7:00 PM.  

About Tim Gay

Professor Gay’s work has been featured on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, front page stories in the Wall Street Journal and the Tuesday Science section of the New York Times, People Magazine, ESPN Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and a variety of other television and radio outlets.

In 2001, Professor Gay was hired by NFL Films to write and appear in a series of 5-minute television segments for their show NFL Blast! - a half-hour program shown in 190 foreign countries to familiarize its audience with the game of American football.  The Football Physics segments on the show feature lectures, demonstrations and interviews with current NFL players.  The segments aired starting in 2002, and ran through 2004.   

In 2005, Professor Gay served as the on-air academic advisor to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in the campy NBC reality show Tommy Lee Goes to College.