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Who are the best stats (inferential stats), math (linear algebra, calculus), and physics instructors in the world?
Hello! Thanks for your question about the best stats, math and physics professors in the world. The short version is that after a review of relevant information we concluded that online presence generally is the best indicator in today's world of those teachers who are at the top of their game. Based largely upon that criteria, we have identified three instructors in math, three in statistics and three in physics whom we feel are the best English-speaking instructors in the world. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS
We began this research by looking for rankings of teachers in these disciplines. However, there is a dearth of any credible global rankings (the rankings that we did find are local in nature). We therefore looked at awards available in each of the three fields and then concentrated on methods of evaluating the instructors. We ultimately concluded that potential candidates should be considered at the top of their respective fields based upon their abilities to communicate their knowledge to their students. The most knowledgeable instructor in the world would not be particularly effective if he or she is not able to impart that knowledge to the students in a manner that motivates the students to strive to learn even more. That being the case, an evaluation of their online presence would logically be the best judge of their effectiveness as teachers. Even a cursory review of the individuals that we have identified reveals their abilities to engage students and to impart their knowledge in a manner that is easy to understand.
I have divided our findings into the three categories that you provided, beginning with math. Given the interconnected nature of math and statistics we found a significant amount of overlap among the instructors in these fields, i.e. some taught both mathematics and statistics. Therefore, while I have separated the three disciplines, you will find that some of the mathematics teachers also teach statistics and vice versa.
A. MATH
1. PATRICK JMT
This teacher is currently a professor at Austin Community College. He previously taught at Vanderbilt University and the University of Louisville. In total, he has taught mathematics for approximately 8 years and tutored for over 15. Two things make him stand out. First, a review of the main page of his website reveals that he is selfless in wanting to impart his knowledge to anyone seeking to learn about math. He has literally hundreds of free video tutorials in the fields of algebra, basic arithmetic, calculus, discrete math, linear algebra, probability, statistics and trigonometry. Second, he has a tremendous following on YouTube. As of this writing the count is 683,153.
2. BRANDON LEONARD
Brandon Leonard is a mathematics professor at Merced College in Merced, CA., where he teaches algebra and calculus. He is highly ranked by his students - fully 100% stated that, if given the opportunity, they would take his courses again. His teaching abilities are evident from the posted reviews, where we learn that, among other things, students from other universities watch his videos to gain an understanding of their respective subjects. He is popular on YouTube, where he has at least 175,430 followers. He has posted full length courses on his YouTube channel.
3. BRIAN MCLOGAN
Mr. Logan is a high school teacher in Jacksonville, Florida. He describes himself as having been a poor mathematics student growing up and, recognizing this, he decided to focus on math so that he could help others understand the subject. He has an active blog on which he discusses various mathematics issues, including the issue of whether or not math students should be tested (he maintains that testing should continue). He has approximately 33,822 YouTube followers and his YouTube channel offers hundreds of free lessons. He is also affiliated with Udemy, where his courses are offered for minimal fees.
B. STATISTICS
1. ROB TARROU
This statistics professor is from St. Petersburg, Florida. He has taught mathematics at St. Petersburg High School since 1996. He has a B.S. in math education from the University of South Florida. While he began his career teaching (he says that he has taught over 3,000 kids), his students persuaded him to develop an online presence. When he decided to pursue that avenue, he found that he could reach more students. His YouTube channel receives over 500,000 views each month and he has approximately 142,597 subscribers. Like PatrickJMT, Mr. Tarrou has his own website where he posts free links to his lessons on statistics.
2. DR. NICOLA WARD
Dr. Nicola Ward, or Dr. Nic, as she is known to her students, is from the United Kingdom. She has taught statistics at the University of Canterbury "for over twenty years." Dr. Nic is a pioneer in developing courses with the objective of making statistics easier to understand for her, and others' students. She also presents courses in statistics to people in other endeavors to help them gain a better understanding of their own professions. She has her own blog and approximately 30,0152 YouTube followers.
3. BRANDON FOLTZ
Brandon Foltz is a highly rated statistics professor at Indiana University Bloomington. His students describe him as being "laid-back and fun," while at the same time being a fair grader. He is known outside of Indiana, however. The University of Pittsburgh recommends his YouTube videos to its students and notes that he has a master's in education and is driven to share his knowledge. He has a strong YouTube presence with 93,795 followers. The channel has over 30 videos with hours of instruction.
C. PHYSICS
1. HENRY REICH
Henry Reich has a bachelor's degree in both physics and math (Grinnell College), as well as a master's degree in theoretical physics (jointly from the "University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics"). In addition, he hosts two YouTube channels - MinutePhysics (where he has 99 videos) and MinuteEarth (which has hundreds of videos). They have 3,828,199 and 1,525,022 followers respectively. He was named by Huffington Post as having one of the top YouTube channels in the field of science and he is featured on its website. He has also been featured on PBS.
2. DIANNA COWERN AND SOPHIA CHEN
I have included these two physicists together, because they have jointly created an online presence with the online channel called, Physics Girl.
Dianna Cowern attended MIT and then conducted post-baccalaureate research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. After graduating from MIT, she also worked at General Electric as a software engineer and then decided to move back to her physics background. She then created the YouTube channel Physics Girl where she has 639,431 followers. Ms. Cowern describes Physics Girl as " a resource for teachers, a source of entertainment for physics nerds, and a way to share a passion for physics while advocating for women in STEM." She is a role model for Stem education and devoted to including more women in the fields of physics and chemistry.
Sophia Chen is freelance writer and a writer for Physics Girl and an alumnus from the University of Arizona. She holds a master's degree in physics from that university and has studied air pollution in China.
3. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, is universally known for his enthusiasm for educating the public, both students and the public at large, in the field of physics. He earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from Harvard and a doctorate degree in astrophysics from Columbia University. He has taught physics at multiple institutions, including Princeton University. He has worked at the Hayden Planetarium.
Dr. Tyson has an extensive online presence, as well as a media presence on shows such as NOVA ScienceNow and COSMOS: A Space-Time Odyssey. He has countless appearances that are shown on YouTube, as well as his own YouTube productions that have millions of views.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, among the many instructors of math, statistics and physics worldwide there are some who do stand out in their fields as being people who are among the best at what they do. After focusing on those with an online presence we have identified 3 in each of the requested disciplines, each instructor is known for his or her ability to connect with students in a way that furthers the student's ability to understand the subject being taught.
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