hoffmang@lafayette.edu
Professor Emeritus of Physics
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
My science fiction books are available on amazon.com:
Waiting for Fireworks focusses on the merger of the Milky Way with Andromeda (and a lot more astronomy)
Big City Living concerns galaxy evolution in a giant cluster of galaxies
A Mind, Emerging details the efforts of university researchers to produce an AI to operate and to replicate a factory
The Astral Menace explores what would be necessary for a civilization to survive a nearby supernova
Partita tells the story of population exchanges among three populated moons in orbit about the Galactic Center, investigating the synergy between science fiction and music along the way
The Universe by Day and by Night paints a vivid portrait of the internal and professional life of an astronomer in the not-too-distant future
Reminiscences presents the life of a political prisoner in a series of flashbacks as he falls to his death in a black hole
Quartet uses the structure of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 130 to tell the story of a desperate band of aliens fleeing a doomed world by riding the jet from the black hole at the center of the Galaxy
Galactic Explorer The never-named protagonist examines astronomical phenomena throughout the Milky Way up close with the help of some friends, without violating any laws of physics
Teaching:
Courses in Astronomy and Physics of Music for non-scientists
Fundamental physics (calculus-based) for scientists and engineers
Advanced physics courses of many kinds
First Year Seminar: Uses and Abuses of Science in Science Fiction
Research interests:
Extragalactic radio astronomy using Arecibo Observatory (National Astronomy & Ionosphere Center, Puerto Rico) and the Very Large Array (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, New Mexico)
Neutral hydrogen 21cm spectral line studies of spiral and irregular galaxies
Participant in the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey, and the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team
Writing of science fiction with significant science content