"I know that I am mortal and the creature of a day;
but when I search out the massed wheeling circles of the stars,
my feet no longer touch the earth, but, side by side with Zeus
himself, I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods."

Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 90-168 AD).

Dr. Robin Jordan graduated from the University of Sheffield, England in 1967 with B.Sc and Ph.D degrees in Physics, Subsequently, he spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University. In January 1970 he joined the University of Birmingham, England as a Faculty member, first in the Centre for Materials Science and later in the Physics Department. He joined FAU as a Professor of Physics in December 1989.

Dr. Jordan is a highly successful and internationally-known researcher and has authored numerous scientific papers. His research has been directed towards understanding the properties of metals and alloys and has received support from the NSF and NATO. He was selected as the "Researcher of the Year" at FAU for 1997-98. He is also interested in Physics Education and in particular in "active-learning" and introducing methods to improve conceptual understanding of physics. He has published several articles in "The Physics Teacher", a journal dedicated to Physics Education. His most recent publication concerns faculty perceptions of ethical issues related to plagiarism and "Turnitin".

In the classroom Dr. Jordan is a dynamic and enthusiastic lecturer with an engaging style that appeals to students at all levels. In 1994 he was selected by the student body as the "Distinguished Teacher of the Year" for 1993-94. He received his Award at the Honors Convocation and gave the Convocation Address, entitled "OK, so tell me about physics!", in which he described some personal observations on the subject. In 1999 he received an "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award". In January 2003 he was selected as one of the "Master Teachers" in the College of Science at Florida Atlantic University. He is a frequent speaker to local societies and groups giving talks on the History and Philosophy of Science and on scientific misconceptions. He has given several courses of lectures to the Life Long Learning Society at FAU on "The Science of Everyday Life"; his most recent lecture courses were "Eight Famous Feuds in Science", "A walk through the cosmos: from the Big Bang to ... extra-terrestrials?", "Disputes in Science", "Questions you wish you'd asked your science teacher", "Famous scientists and their less well-known books", "Six more questions you wish you'd asked your science teacher", "Tell me about the lives and scientific achievements of ... " and "The important discoveries of some less well-known scientists".

Dr. Jordan retired from Florida Atlantic University in August 2009 but continues to maintain very close ties with the Department. In December 2009 he was awarded the rank of Emeritus Professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.


Dr. Jordan's Ph.D supervisor at Sheffield was Professor Eric Lee (shown alongside). In November 2010 Dr. Jordan and about 10 former graduate students from Professor Lee's group met for a reunion in Winchester, England. Professor Lee's students share a distinguished Ph.D lineage:

Eric Lee was a student of L.F. Bates ...

who was a student of Lord Rutherford ...

who was a student of Sir J.J. Thomson ...

who was a student of Lord Rayleigh ...