(Note: This page is rather out of date, please click on the "Recent News" image to really see the History of the site.)

The site is starting to get a bit of interest, so when I get an 'award' I'll post the various gifs on this page also (after a brief stint on the front page). I'm still hoping to get that "Shocked Site Of The Day" award :) This list may not be complete...(the web "moves" so quickly!). I've started putting the dates of the awards near the graphics, just so I can remember a few of these details).

March, 1998.
	Site of the Day: April 4th, 1998.
Here is the review the site got when Yahoo chose this site as a "Site of the Week" for March 9, 1998. You cross the line and tumble into a shocking world of science gone mad. Raman Pfaff, mild-mannered scientist, has trapped, untangled, and illustrated the laws of physics. His creation: Explore Science -- a shockwave-laden experience of sights, sounds, and interaction with scientific theory. Observe harmonic motion, mouse genetics, and the physics of golf. Abandon, if you dare, the world of two-dimensional textbook illustrations, and enter Raman Pfaff's interactive world. Reality begins to swirl, dance, and coalesce...

Brief History

I started constructing this site in my spare time while trying to finish my thesis at Michigan State University. I had played with Macromedia Director a bit in 1994-95, and near the end of 1995 I heard about the development of the Shockwave technology. I decided during Christmas break (Dec. '95) to learn "lingo" and put some nifty stuff on the web. The first module I ever made using lingo was the inclined plane (which was finally updated in '97!). I look at that one and can never stop myself from laughing. I was just so amazed to be able to do virtual experiments on the web.

At the end of 1996 I earned my Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab and have now taken a 2 year teaching position at the University of Michigan (I'm currently trying to finish making simulations for the intro labs that are taught here). I've had a great time here at UM, but will be starting as an Asst. Professor in Physics Education at the University of New Haven in the fall of 1998. I have recently (Spring '98) been working on some interactive material (on CD-ROM) for an upcoming edition of a well known physics textbook (the same one I used at the start of my physics career - and still use almost every day!).

This site was recently featured as one of the Exploratorium's Top Ten sites of the month (Oct. '97) and it got a great review :)

The site was also featured on Macromedia's Shockwave CD entitled "the Main Attraction," which showcased some of the outstanding shockwave on the web. I must say that seeing my work on the same CD as big names like Kodak, MCI, Chevron, Columbia Pictures, etc., "shocked" me just a bit :-). The site was also featured on a Classroom Connect CD which is supposed to help teachers learn that the Internet can be easily used in the classroom. Sandia National Lab ranked the site as one of the top twenty science sites for teachers. AOL chose the site as a Members Choice Multimedia Site of the Week. I don't always find out about such things until people send me e-mail messages (thanks to those that do!), so if you have the site listed somewhere - let me know :)

My teaching (and writing my thesis before that) leaves me with little spare time, and thus the site is never as "pretty" as it could be (at least in my mind). However, I'll try to keep upgrading this site and adding further "labs" when I find time. If there is anything in particular you would like to see here, let me know and I'll see what I can do!