February 24, 1994
University of Nebraska
◄ SPORTS
Rocked, Shocked
Jayhawks
Nebraska explodes to a 24-point
halftime lead and holds on to beat
lOth-rated Kansas 96-87 before a
raucous sell-out crowd at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Page 8
Thursday
27/11
Today, mostly
cloudy with a
chance of light
snow.
Vol. 93 No. 111
Damon Lee/DN
Ted Jorgensen, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy, displays the matched set of irons he
developed while researching his book, “The Physics of Golf. Jorgensen said the identical weight of the
clubs helped golfers achieve a more consistent swing.
Professor blinds golfers with science
By Cami Walker
Staff Reporter
It took physics to build the atomic
bomb, to create the steam engine and
to invent the telephone.
But not everyone knows that it takes
physics to play gol f. Many professional gol f
ers don’t even know it, a retired physics
professor said.
Fault for this lack of knowledge docs not
lie with the pros, the professor said. In fact,
no one is at fault. The subject has never been
studied intently, until now.
Ted Jorgensen, a University of Nebraska
Lincoln professoremeritus, is trying to show
golfers with his new book, “The Physics of
Golf,” that the game is a lot more than just
swinging a club.
‘‘If you get a hold of a book about how to
play golf,” Jorgensen said, “it teaches you a
style of swing rather than giving the would
be golfer an understanding of what he’s
trying to do. Learning the physics that apply
to the swing teaches them this.”
Twenty-five years of the 88-year-old
Jorgensen’s life have been spent researching
the subject.
He’s been plugging complicated math
formulas into computers and reading about
golf all these years just because he is interest
ed in the game, he said.
Jorgensen started golfing 34 years ago,
when he married his second wife, Dorothy.
He said he began learning too late in life
to become a good golfer.
He wouldn’t disclose his handicap, but it
has increased with age, he said with a smile.
“Being a really good golfer is like being a
good violinist. You have to start when you’re
5 years old and practice, practice, practice—
which I didn’t have time for. Also, that
wasn’t what I was after.”
Jorgensen said he became interested in
the theoretical aspects of the game and began
to look at golf as a problem in physics.
“I looked upon the swing of a golf club as
a double pendulum (the club is one, the
golfer’s arms the other), and about 25 years
ago I wrote the differential equations de
scribing the motion of the pendulum.”
When more advanced computers came
out, he was able to solve those equations to
give a complete description of his pendulum
model of the swing.
He compared his model with a strobo
scopic photograph he took ofagolfer’s swing.
He used reflecting tape, which he put at
points on the club and the golfer’s head, to
take the picture at night in his back yard.
This picture is on the cover of the 155
page paperback that has been published by
the American Institute of Physics.
The computer told Jorgensen many things
See GOLF on 6
State officials: Smith will adapt easily
By Angie Brumcow
Senior Reporter
Californian Dennis Smith will be trans
planted easily onto Midwestern soil,
state officials said.
Sen. Scott Moore of Seward said although he
had reservations at first about a Californian
leading higher education in Nebraska, his wor
ries were soon eased.
“His roots arc fully planted in the Midwest,”
he said.
Smith, former executive vice chancellor at
the UniversityofCalifomia-Irvine, will become
University of Nebraska president on March 1.
Moore said Smith’s background in Indiana
and at Purdue University led the senator to
believe Smith would adapt easily to Nebraska.
“He understands M id west cul lure very well,”
Moore said. “He seems to be a Midwesterner at
heart.”
Gov. Ben Nelson said hedidn’t think Smith’s
out-of-state status would make it hard for him to
take the lead of the NU system.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a detriment,”
he said. “Nebraskans are welcoming to those
from outside the state.”
Rather, Nelson said, Smith’s experience at
Irvine probably would help him in Nebraska.
In California, Smith was part of a large
statewide university system,
Nelson said. That experience
will allow him to effectively
guide Nebraska’s
multicampus, systcm.Nelson
said.
Moore, chairman of the
PRP^nnmfll Nebraska Legislature’s Ap
w■y*l«^«wMlitpropriations Committee,
TRANSITION agreed that Smith’s Irvine
experience would be helpful
when it came to the budget.
In the last three years, the Legislature has
had to make significant cuts in the NU budget.
California’s universities have had to make
more drastic cuts recently. At Irvine, Smith
dealt with the large cuts by trimming 3 percent
from academic units and cutting a larger per
centage from services and athletics.
“They’ve done some extreme things there/’
Moore said. “It’s my hope the (Nebraska) econ
omy will continue to go up, and we can add
instead of subtract.”
But if cuts are needed, Moore said, Smith has
proven he can do it.
“He seems to have the background and un
Reaction outside the system
► State Sen. Scott Moore of
Seward said Smith's background
in the Midwest, such as Indiana
and Purdue University, would help
Smith adapt quickly to Nebraska.
► Gov. Ben Nelson and Moore
both said they would work closely
with Smith in preparing NU's
budget.
Friday, th« Daily Nobraskan will axptora
how mambara of the HU Board of Movants
vtow Incoming NU praaldant Dennis Smith.
derstanding,” Moore said.
Smith is assuming his new job at just the
right time to deal effectively with the budget.
Moore said. The new president will be in on
preparing the 1995 biennium budget for the NU
system from the beginning, he said.
“Now is a good time of the year to begin,” he
said.
Nelson and Moore said they would work
closely with Smith in preparing the budget.
See OPINIONS on 3
Curtis dean:
Ag college’s
doubt over
By Brian Sharp
Staff Reporter
When the Nebraska College of Tech
nical Agriculture in Curtis was put
back into the NU system, seven years
of uncertainty ended, officials said.
Bill Siminoe, campus director and associate
dean at NCTA, said the move, approved by the
NU Board of Regents last Saturday, would
clarify where the money was coming from and
who was in charge.
But some arc still questioning why the col
lege is even in existence. Sen. Scott Moore of
Seward said the college should not have re
opened.
“We had it closed, and in my opinion the
Legislature should have stood beside the board
(of regents),” he said.
The regents initially closed the college in
1987 as part of a mandated SI .5 million budget
cut. It reopened one year later after the Nebraska
Legislature restored its funding.
Moore said by not supporting the closing,
lawmakers sent the university the message that
budget reductions could be avoided by making
high-profile cuts.
Another cut proposed in 19X/ was the elim
ination of the College of Architecture. That
closing was not approved.
Allan Moeller, assistant vice chancellor of
the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Re
sources, agreed that the university had side
stepped the cut.
“The bottom line is that the state didn’t get
its budget cut, even though the university got
credit for one,” he said.
Moeller said the program had improved
since then, and the college was now a valuable
part of the university.
“The program, at that lime, had not kept up
with the advances that the field required,”
Moeller said. “They just had to upgrade the
overall curriculum.”
Siminoc said during the seven years NCTA
was on its own, all majors were redone and re
equipped.
But Moeller said questions about whether
NCTA would remain open or be permanently
closed had gone unanswered until Saturday.
“I think ... things arc finally going to settle
down,” he said. “They (NCTA) were kind of up
in limbo for a little while.”
The regents will still control NCTA.Siminoe
said, with Irv Omtvcdt, vice chancellor of the
See CURTIS on 7
Police charge
teen in stabbing
From Staff Reports
A teen-ager from Arkansas was charged
Wednesday in the assault ofa Nebraska
football player.
Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey said
Christopher Sewell, 17, had been charged with
second-degree assault and use of a weapon to
commit a felony.
Sewell, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is accused of
brandishing a knife and slabbing freshman
redshirt player Ramone Worthy during a Jan.
30 fight at a Residence Inn motel.
A group of five, including Sewell, attended
a party at the hotel uninvited.
Worthy was stabbed with a 2 1 /2-inch kitch
en knife after he tried to pull another party
crashcroffofjunior receiver Abdul Muhammad.
Sewell, wno was in town vismng relatives,
had not been arrested by Wednesday afternoon,
Lacey said.
A 16-year-old juvenile was arrested earlier
this month in connection to the ease.
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady has said
he doesn’t expect any more arrests to be made
for the incident.