Derek Muller Recognized by the American Association of Physics Teachers as 2016 Recipient of the Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Derek Muller will receive the 2016 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award presented by The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) at the 2016 AAPT Winter Meeting on January 11, 2016. The award will be presented at a Ceremonial Session at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans hotel. Muller is recognized with the award for outstanding contributions to physics and effectively communicating those contributions to physics educators. His topic for the lecture is "Why some confusion is good - Evidence for how to make learners think".

Muller, a physics educator and science communicator, filmmaker, and television personality is best known for creating the YouTube channel Veritasium, which has received over 200 million views on YouTube.

A native of Australia, raised in Canada, he graduated with a B.Sc in Engineering Physics from Queen's University in Ontario. Then he attended the University of Sydney where he completed his Ph.D. in Physics Education Research in 2008 with a thesis, "Designing Effective Multimedia for Physics Education." He began putting his research into practice with his Veritasium YouTube channel in 2011. This quickly led to joining the team of Catalyst, Australia's premiere science TV programme. He has also been featured on the BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and he recently presented a two-part documentary on PBS entitled Uranium: Twisting the Dragon's Tail.

Regarding his selection for this award Muller said, "I am honored to be recognized by the AAPT and delighted to have the opportunity to speak to the talented and dedicated physics educators at the Winter Meeting."

Additional notable awardees are Michael Faleski, Karl Mamola, Marina Milner-Bolotin, Gay Stewart, and David Weaver for 2016 Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT. John W. Belcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the 2016 Hans Christian Oersted Medal. View all AAPT Award Listings.

Registration for the 2016 AAPT Winter Meeting is available on site. For more information on registering visit the AAPT Winter Meeting website.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160104/319037

SOURCE American Association of Physics Teachers