Science Study Break: the Physics of Martial Arts

Tuesday, February 10 at 6:00pm

Location: Student Activity Center Auditorium (SAC 1.402)

Speaker: Dr. Jason Thalken

Rumble in the SAC. The first Science Study Break of 2015 gets rowdy with your favorite martial artists from film and TV.

College of Natural Sciences alumus Dr. Jason Thalken (math and physics) discusses the real world — and sometimes unreal — physics of fight scenes in the films of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Ip Man and Batman.

Thalken is in a unique position to talk about the nexus of the two fields: he earned a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Southern California (a B.S. from UT) and has a blackbelt in hapkido, with 20 years of competitive martial arts experience across more than eight distinct martial art styles.

He’s also the author of a forthcoming book on the subject — Fight Like a Physicist — set for release in September by martial arts publisher YMAA.

Thalken works as a quantitative analyst and a predictive modeler since 2006, and has several patents for innovations in financial services. He’s also worked on building his own robot training partner, and has some excellent tips for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

Free pizza (while it lasts) for program attendees.

Presented by the Life Science Library and supported by the University Federal Credit Union