Making Starships and Stargates

Dr. James F. Woodward is a professor of history emeritus and adjunct professor of physics at California State University Fullerton.

Jim earned bachelor's and master's degrees in physics at Middlebury College and New York University (respectively) in the 1960s. From his undergraduate days, his chief interest was in gravitation. For his Ph.D., he changed to the history of science, writing a dissertation on the history of attempts to deal with the problem of "action-at-a-distance" in gravity theory from the 17th to the early 20th centuries (Ph.D., University of Denver, 1972).

On completion of his graduate studies, Jim took a teaching job in the history of science at California State University Fullerton (CSUF), where he has been ever since. Shortly after his arrival at CSUF, he established friendships with colleagues in the Physics Department who helped him set up a small-scale, table-top experimental research program doing offbeat experiments related to gravitation - experiments which continue to this day. In 1980, the faculty of the Physics Department elected Jim to an adjunct professorship in the department in recognition of his ongoing research.