Chad Orzel


Chad Orzel is a popular science author, noted for his books How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog which has been translated into 9 languages, and How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog.

Background

Chad was born and raised in central New York state, near Binghamton. After attending Williams College, he spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at Yale University, studying quantum mechanical effects in Bose-Einstein Condensates. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park under Nobel Laureate William Daniel Phillips. He is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College, where he specializes in atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

Writing career

In addition to teaching and doing research at Union, he maintains the physics-oriented blog Uncertain Principles as part of the ScienceBlogs project run by SEED magazine. He published his first book, How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog in 2009. The book and its sequel How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog explain scientific concepts using a fictionalized version of Orzel's dog as an audience surrogate.

Personal life

He lives in Niskayuna, New York with his wife, Kate Nepveu, their two children, and their dog Emmy.

Publications