W. Rory Coker

Professor

Mailing address:
Physics Department
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station, C1600
Austin, Texas 78712-1081

Office: PMA 8.312
Voice: (512) 471-5194 (not recommended!)
Fax: (512) 471-9637 (not recommended!)
Email: Coker's physics dept. mail, Coker's other mail (viewable on his phone)

Office Hours:  Tue 3 to 4 PM, in PMA 8.312, on days when there is a Pizza Seminar. Thur, 2 - 3 PM, every week.

Home Page of the UT Department of Physics. | Poor student performance in physics at UT in 1917 was about the same as it is today!



Courses:

Fall 2013
Phy 341 Pseudoscience!
(this course is being revived in Fall 2023)
Unique#: 59170 MWF, 2-3 PM Pai 2.48
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 59410 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Spring 2014
Phy 302K General Physics 1 Unique#: 58215 MWF, 9 - 10 AM Pai 2.48
Phy396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 59410 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Summer 2014
Phy n302L General Physics 2 Unique#: 91834 Weekdays 11:30 AM to 1 PM Pai 4.42
Fall 2014
Phy 302K General Physics 1 Unique#: 57420 MWF, 2 - 3 PM Pai 2.48
Ph 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 58400 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Spring 2015
Phy 303L Engineering Physics 2
Unique#: 56275-90 MWF, 11 - 12 noon
Pai 4.42
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3) Unique#: 56945 MWF, 2 - 3 PM
Pai 2.48
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57105 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Summer 2015
Phy n317K General  Physics with calculus 1
Unique#: 90170 Weekdays 11:30 AM to 1 PM Pai 2.48
Fall 2015
Phy 302L General Physics 2
Unique#: 54905 or 54910 MWF, 1 - 2, or 2 - 3 PM Pai 4.42
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 55855 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Spring 2016
Phy 302L General Physics 2
Unique#: 54980 MWF, 1 - 2 PM Pai 4.42
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56145   
Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Fall 2016
Phy 302K General Physics 1
Unique#: 55530 MWF, 2 - 3 PM
Pai 2.48
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56500
Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 7.104
Spring 2017
Phy 317L General Physics with calculus 2
Unique#: 56710 MWF, 12 - 1 PM Pai 4.42
Phy 302L General Physics 2
Unique#: 55965
MWF, 2 - 3 PM Pai 4.42
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57100
Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 6.104
Fall 2017
Phy 317K General Physics with calculus 1
Unique#: 56185
TuTh 2 - 3:30 PM
Pai 2.48
Phy 362L
Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 56395
MWF, 1 - 2 PM RLM 7.104
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56565
Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 5.104
Spring 2018
Phy 317L General Physics with calculus 2
Unique#: 56000
MWF 12 - 1 PM
Pai 4.42
Phy 396T
Pizza Seminar
Fall 2018
Phy 303L Engineering Physics 2
Unique#: 55740 - 55 MWF, 1 - 2 pm
Pai 4.42
Phy 302L General Physics 2
Unique#: 55480 MWF, 2 - 3 PM
Pai 4.42
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56380 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM RLM 5.104
Spring 2019
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 55590 MWF, 12 - 1 PM
PMA 5.104
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 55750 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM PMA 7.104
Fall 2019
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 55165 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM PMA 7.104
Spring 2020
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 55220 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM PMA 6.104
Fall 2020
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 55860, 55864 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM Zoom
Spring 2021
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57355 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM Zoom
Fall 2021
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57615 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM Zoom
Spring 2022
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 56000 MWF, 1 - 2 PM
PMA 5.104
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56155 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM Zoom
Fall 2022
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 57440 Tue-Thur 5 - 6:30 PM
PMA 5.114
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57585 Mon, 5 - 6:30 PM PMA 4.102 or Zoom
Spring 2023
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#:  57150 Tue, 5 - 6:30 PM  PMA 6.104 or Zoom
Fall 2023
Phy 341 Pseudoscience!
Unique#: 57679 MWF 2 - 3 PM
Pai 2.48
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 57725 MWF 10-11 AM
PMA 7.104
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 57905 Tue 5 - 6:30 PM
PMA 6.104
Spring 2024
Phy 355
Modern Physics
Unique#: 56080 MWF 12 - 1 PM
PMA 5.104
Phy 362L Subatomic Physics (Quantum 3)
Unique#: 56090 MWF 1 - 2 PM
PMA 5.120
Phy 396T Pizza Seminar Unique#: 56265 Tue 5 - 6:30 PM
PMA 6.104

Research

Only two cutting-edge US experimental facilities for research in nuclear physics currently exist. One is the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. The other is the Continuous Beam Electron Accelerator (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory. Several members of the Nuclear group at The University of Texas at Austin are involved in current experiments at RHIC, as well as at the LHC in Europe.  A brand new facility, which just began operation in May 2022, is the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

Revival of a tradition from 2014, the Optical Illusion of the Week! Click here to view and ponder it.  Fun facts: the Coker is a unit used in the oil processing industry. East Coker is a small village in England. It's also the title of a poem by T. S. Elliot. There is a Coker University in South Carolina. Coker is a very tiny town in the state of Alabama.


Some students who received a Ph. D. under my supervision:

Sung Ho Salk, formerly director of the theoretical physics program at Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea; later visiting professor at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study. See also...

Jim Lynch, formerly chairman of the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, now Senior Scientist and recent award winner. Check out Lynch's new book here. Lynch was just recently appointed editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Lanny Ray, senior research scientist with the Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics group at the University of Texas at Austin.

Can you find Coker in this 1967 photo?  Coker is the ONLY person shown in the photo who is still active on the faculty.  All others are dead or long retired. Well, OK, can you find Coker in this faculty group photo from 2010? 

A History of the Center for Nuclear Studies (1960 - 1975).

A biography of my long-time friend and collaborator Taro Tamura, written by me, with contributions from other friends and colleagues.

Other Interests

Physics professors get crackpot e-mails many times per week.  [The more famous the professor, the more he or she gets.]  Here's a nice analysis of what such e-mails consist of, and why physicists ignore them.  Here is a physicist who even made a little money answering questions from crackpots.

Science and Pseudoscience
One of my lifelong interests has been the popularization of science in general and physics in particular, as well as an emphasis on the firm distinctions between science and pseudoscience. Here are some links related to the latter topic.

Now then, about books...


Last updated Aug. 2023