Malaysian physics in the 1970s

It was wonderful to see an article about physics in Malaysia in the February issue of Physics Today (page 32 ). I taught physics at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), the National University of Malaysia, from 1975 to 1978 as a Peace Corps volunteer with a master’s degree. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

I had many great colleagues in the UKM physics department. Professors Yatim and Lim were particularly memorable. I wish I had a photo of the group like the one of the University of Malaya physics department published in the February feature.

During my time at UKM, I was the first to obtain a grant for a telescope at the school. It was installed on the top of the science building, and many students enjoyed superb views of the Moon, which plays an important role in Islam. I also established an astronomy istilah (glossary) by using an algorithm to translate technical terms from English into Malay, which I learned during Peace Corps training in Kuantan, on the South China Sea. I also taught beginning-level astronomy classes in the language. It was a great experience.

For the more advanced courses—nuclear physics and graduate-level electricity and magnetism—my students knew English much better than I knew Malay, which was helpful. I must say that the students in those courses were fantastic: Each of them always turned the homework in on time and had excellent handwriting. They spoiled me into imagining that being a professor in the US would be similarly easy!

In one fun anecdote from my time teaching at Reed College, a colleague of mine, David Griffiths, could hardly believe that I taught electricity and magnetism—out of John David Jackson’s Classical Electrodynamics, no less—in Malaysia and in Malay. Who could blame him? But David, himself the author of a popular undergraduate textbook on the subject, was convinced when I showed him my lecture notes.

I am eternally thankful to the US Peace Corps and UKM for three spectacular years in a great part of the world.