Physics Department

David J. Griffiths

Emeritus Professor of Physics
Knowlton Laboratory of Physics 26
(503) 777-7252
griffith@reed.edu

Education

• Ph. D. Physics 1970 Harvard University
• M. A. Physics 1966 Harvard University
• B. A. Physics 1964 Harvard University

Dissertation

• "Covariant Approach to Massless Field Theory in the Radiation Gauge" (advisor: Sidney Coleman)

Post-Doctoral positions

• 1970-72 University of Utah
• 1972-74 University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Employment

• 1974 Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
• 1974-77 Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
• 1977-78 Trinity College, Hartford, CT
• 1978-2009 Reed College, Portland, OR
• 2001-02 On leave at Mt. Holyoke, UMass (fall); Amherst, Smith (spring).
• 2007 (spring) Visiting Professor, Stanford University.

Research interests

• Classical Electrodynamics
• Quantum Mechanics
• Elementary Particle Theory

Selected recent student thesis titles

• 2016, Naomi Gendler, “Dark Matter Corrections to the Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Muon”
• 2013, Christina Porter, “Der Kugelblitz! Laboratory Ball Lightning via Electrical Arcing through Silicon”
• 2009, Robin Bjorkquist, "Hidden Momentum"
• 2006, Kevin Connolly, "Quantum Mechanics of the Electric Dipole Potential"
• 2004, Moira Gresham, "Two-Dimensional Radial Laplacian Growth"

Selected recent publications

• “A catalog of hidden momenta,” Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A376, 20180043 (2018).
• “The fields of a charged particle in hyperbolic motion” (with J. Franklin), American Journal of Physics 82, 755 (2014).
• “Charge on luminous bodies resembling natural ball lightning produced via electrical arcs through lump silicon” (with C. Porter, G. Miley, and E. Sánchez), Physical Review E 90, 063102 (2014).
• “Mansuripur’s paradox” (with V. Hnizdo), Am. J. Phys. 81, 570 (2013).
• “Electromagnetic Momentum,” Am. J. Phys. 80, 7 (2012).
• “Hidden momentum, field momentum, and electromagnetic impulse” (with D. Babson, S. Reynolds, and R. Bjorkquist), Am. J. Phys. 77, 826 (2009).

Books

"Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd ed.", Addison Wesley, 1999.

• Errata
  • ED3a, August 20, 2009.
  • ED3b, January 16, 2013.
  • ED3ISMa, September 1, 2004.
  • ED3ISMb, September 15, 2009
  • ED3ISMc, January 16, 2013.

"Introduction to Electrodynamics, 4th ed.", Pearson, 2013.

• Errata
  • ED4a, August 1, 2014.
  • ED4ISMa, August 1, 2014.
  • ED4b, December 1, 2015.
  • ED4ISMb, December 1, 2015.

“Introduction to Electrodynamics, 4th ed.”, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

• Errata
  • ED4c, August 20, 2018.
  • ED4d, January 14, 2020.
  • Corrections to the ISM are incorporated into the current electronic version.
• Is Current a Vector?

"Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed.", Addison Wesley, 2004.

• Errata
  • QM2a, September 14, 2009.
  • QM2b, January 18, 2013.
  • QM2c, August 1, 2014.
  • QM2ISM, August 1, 2014.
  • QM2d, December 1, 2015.
  • QM2ISMb, December 1, 2015.

“Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 3rd ed.” (with Darrell Schroeter), Cambridge University Press, 2018.

• Errata
  
  • QM3ErrA , January 15, 2019.
  • QM3ErrB, May 31, 2019.
  • QM3ErrC, January 14, 2020.
  • QM3ErrD, June 8, 2020.
  • QM3ErrE, October 26, 2023.
  • Corrections to the ISM are incorporated into the current electronic version.

"Introduction to Elementary Particles, 2nd ed.", Wiley-VCH, 2008.

• Errata
  • EP2a, September 17, 2009.
  • EP2b, January 21, 2013.
  • EP2c, March 19, 2014.
  • EP2d, January 31, 2020.
  • Corrections to the ISM have been incorporated into the current electronic version.

"Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Physics", Cambridge, 2013.

• Errata
  • Rev1, September 4, 2013.

Professional activities

• Committee of Examiners, Graduate Record Examination in Physics (1994-2000).
• Book Review Editor, American Journal of Physics (1996-2003).
• Editorial Board, Physical Review E (1998-2004).
• Editorial Advisory Board, American Journal of Physics (2005-2007).
• Consulting Editor, American Journal of Physics (2008-).

Script r

• To create script-r in TeX: