Eugene Hecht

Eugene Hecht (born 2 December 1938 in New York City) is an American physicist and author of a standard work in optics.

Hecht studied at New York University (B.S. in E.P. 1960), Rutgers University (M. Sc. 1963), Adelphi University (Ph.D. 1967). During his graduate study he worked at Radio Corporation of America. He became interested in optics in the 1960s and began writing about it in 1970, e.g., polarization.^[1] Adelphi University hired Hecht to teach and he became professor in 1978 and he retired in 2021.

Hecht challenged the notion of potential energy in 2003.^[2] The elusive nature of a universal definition of energy was argued by Hecht in a letter to the editor of The Physics Teacher in 2004.^[3] Then in 2006 he wrote "There is no really good definition of mass".^[4] He continued with the topic in 2011^[5] and 2016.^[6]

Eugene Hecht is also widely published authority on George E. Ohr and American art pottery as well as a founding member of the American Ceramic Arts Society.

Books

His first textbook on optics was co-authored with Alfred Zajac, a colleague at Adelphi, in 1974^[7] For the second edition of Optics in 1987 Hecht was the sole author.^[8]

Hecht, Eugene; Zajac, Alfred (1974). Optics (1st ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-02835-2. OCLC 899098.
Hecht, Eugene; Zając, Alfred (1987). Optics (2nd ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-11609-X. OCLC 13761389.
Hecht, Eugene (1998). Optics (3rd ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-83887-7. OCLC 35184007.
Hecht, Eugene (2002). Optics (4th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-8566-5. OCLC 47126713.
Hecht, Eugene (2017). Optics (5th ed.). Pearson. ISBN 978-0-13-397722-6. OCLC 938342235.

In 1975 Hecht wrote the text Theory and Problems of Optics for Schaum's Outlines. Brooks/Cole published Physics:Calculus in 1996 in which reviewers "found something intriguing on every page".^[9] Hecht contributed to a celebration^[10] of potter George Ohr after his workshop was consumed in fire.^[11]

References

^ Hecht, Eugene (1970). "Note on an Operational Definition of the Stokes Parameters". American Journal of Physics. 38 (9). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 1156–1158. Bibcode:1970AmJPh..38.1156H. doi:10.1119/1.1976574. ISSN 0002-9505.
^ Hecht, Eugene (2003). "An Historico-Critical Account of Potential Energy: Is PE Really Real?". The Physics Teacher. 41 (8). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 486–493. Bibcode:2003PhTea..41..486H. doi:10.1119/1.1625210. ISSN 0031-921X.
^ Hecht, Eugene (2004). "Energy and Work". The Physics Teacher. 42 (L2). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): L1–L3. Bibcode:2004PhTea..42R...1H. doi:10.1119/1.1787752. ISSN 0031-921X.
^ Hecht, Eugene (2006). "There Is No Really Good Definition of Mass". The Physics Teacher. 44 (1). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 40–45. Bibcode:2006PhTea..44...40H. doi:10.1119/1.2150758. ISSN 0031-921X.
^ Hecht, Eugene (2011). "On Defining Mass". The Physics Teacher. 49 (1). American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT): 40–44. Bibcode:2011PhTea..49...40H. doi:10.1119/1.3527755. ISSN 0031-921X.
^ Hecht, Eugene (2016-09-20). "Relativity, potential energy, and mass". European Journal of Physics. 37 (6). IOP Publishing: 065804. Bibcode:2016EJPh...37f5804H. doi:10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065804. ISSN 0143-0807.
^ Hecht, E.; Zajac, A.; Stavroudis, Orestes (1975). "Optics". Physics Today. 28 (2). AIP Publishing: 54–55. Bibcode:1975PhT....28b..54H. doi:10.1063/1.3068822. ISSN 0031-9228.
^ "Review: Optics, Second edition, Sky & Telescope July 1988
^ Amy J. Kolan & Amy E. Larsen (1997) "An introductory physics text that conveys the author's enthusiasm", Physics Today 50(4) 65 doi:10.1063/1.881732
^ Clark, Garth; Ellison, Robert A.; Hecht, Eugene (1989). The Mad Potter of Biloxi: The Art & Life of George E. Ohr. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0-89659-927-7.
^ Hecht, Eugene (1994). After the Fire: George Ohr, an American genius. Lambertville, NJ: Arts and Crafts Quarterly Press. ISBN 978-0-9637896-9-3.