Ranger Me
Ranger Me

About Me

William Fenton
Instructor in Physics and Astronomy
The Hotchkiss School
PO Box 800
Lakeville, CT 06039
Phone: (860) 435-3625
email: wfenton@hotchkiss.org


Milky Way Over Bryce
Milky Way Over Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

Courses I am teaching 2014-2015

  • Science 250 (Foundations in Physics and Chemistry)
  • Physics 441 (Astronomy)
  • Science 462 (Introduction to Robotics)
  • Physics 581/582 (AP Physics C)
  • My class schedule

    PHET Projectile Motion Simulation

    Useful and Fun Links

    PHET - Interactive Physics Simulations
    Sky View Cafe - Online Planetarium Software
    Stellarium - Free Desktop Planetarium Software
    APOD - Astronomy Picture of the Day
    What's New by Bob Park
    Slashdot - News for nerds, stuff that matters
    XKCD - A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language

    Professional Interests

    astronomy, thermal physics, computational physics, robotics
    Mabel and Stella

    Personal Interests

    woodworking, guitar, volleyball, Stella and Mabel

    Publications

    [1] William Fenton. Measure the Speed of Sound with an iPhone
    Presented at the AAPT Winter Meeting 2015, San Diego, CA.
    [2] William Fenton. Technology in the Classroom: It's the Little Things
    Workshop presented at the Hotchkiss EdTech Expo, Lakeville, CT., March 2011.
    [ Workshop Notes ]
    [3] William Fenton. A Simple, Novel Method for Measuring the Speed of Sound with iMovie.
    Poster presented at AcademiX 2009, Cambridge, MA., March 2009.
    [ Poster PDF (13.1 MB) ]
    [4] J. R. Thorstensen, W. H. Fenton, and C. J. Taylor. Spectroscopy of Seven Cataclysmic Variables with Periods above 5 Hours. PASP, 116:300-310, April 2004.
    [ bib ]
    [5] J. R. Thorstensen and W. H. Fenton. Five Dwarf Novae with Orbital Periods below Two Hours. PASP, 115:37-42, January 2003.
    [ bib ]
    [6] J. Patterson, W. H. Fenton, J. R. Thorstensen, D. A. Harvey, D. R. Skillman, R. E. Fried, B. Monard, D. O'Donoghue, E. Beshore, B. Martin, P. Niarchos, T. Vanmunster, J. Foote, G. Bolt, R. Rea, L. M. Cook, N. Butterworth, and M. Wood. Superhumps in Cataclysmic Binaries. XXIII. V442 Ophiuchi and RX J1643.7+3402. PASP, 114:1364-1381, December 2002.
    [ bib ]
    [7] J. R. Thorstensen, W. H. Fenton, J. Patterson, J. Kemp, J. Halpern, and I. Baraffe. QZ Serpentis: A Dwarf Nova with a 2 Hour Orbital Period and an Anomalously Hot, Bright Secondary Star. PASP, 114:1117-1123, October 2002.
    [ bib ]
    [8] J. R. Thorstensen, W. H. Fenton, J. O. Patterson, J. Kemp, T. Krajci, and I. Baraffe. 1RXS J232953.9+062814: A Dwarf Nova with a 64 Minute Orbital Period and a Conspicuous Secondary Star. Astrophysical Journal, Letters, 567:L49-L52, March 2002.
    [ bib ]
    [9] J. R. Thorstensen and W. H. Fenton. RX J15542+2721: An Apparently Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable with a 2.53 Hour Orbital Period. PASP, 114:74-82, January 2002.
    [ bib ]
    [10] C. Tappert, J. R. Thorstensen, W. H. Fenton, N. Bennert, L. Schmidtobreick, and A. Bianchini. The cataclysmic variable CW 1045+525: A secondary-dominated dwarf nova? Astronomy and Astrophysics, 380:533-543, December 2001.
    [ bib ]
    [11] B. Chaboyer, W. H. Fenton, J. E. Nelan, D. J. Patnaude, and F. E. Simon. Heavy-Element Diffusion in Metal-poor Stars. Astrophysical Journal, 562:521-527, November 2001.
    [ bib ]