Sheridan Simon Introduction

An Introduction to Sheridan A. Simon: His Life and Work

Above all, Sheridan Simon was a teacher. The son of teachers and the eldest of five children, Sheridan demonstrated early on that rare combination of qualities that define a first rate teacher, as well as a first rate person: brightness of mind and a nurturing spirit. Combined with an extraordinary wit and a dedication to high intellectual standards, these qualities made Sheridan a deeply loved and much admired professor at Guilford College.

His scope of learning was no less than the universe itself. His teaching profoundly touched us all.

Born in a Buffalo, New York, snowstorm in late April, 1947, Sheridan grew up longing to travel to the stars. At the age of five, he announced that he wanted to be an astrophysicist-an aspiration in which he never wavered, despite his ever-increasing facility for sharing his knowledge with others. He was graduated from Amherst High School in Buffalo, and from the University of Rochester, where he took degrees in Astrophysics (B.S., 1969), Physics (M.A, 1971), and Physics and Astronomy (Ph.D., 1978). His doctoral dissertation, "Development of a Two-Dimensional, Eulerian Stellar Evolution Code," in which he created differentially rotating stars (aka "bageloids") was the product of hundreds of computer programs, many named for the complete succession of Anglo-Saxon, Plantagenet, and English rulers.

While his colleagues pursued careers in research, Sheridan chose to follow his love of teaching and became a faculty member at Guilford College in 1974. In 1976, and again in 1987, he was named recipient of the Guilford College Board of Visitors' Excellence in Teaching Award. In 1989, he achieved national recognition for his teaching as Bronze Medalist in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Professor of the Year Program. With his students as co-researchers and co-authors, he published articles based on his doctoral research in such prestigious journals as the Astrophysical Journal   and the American journal of Physics. He also secured numerous grants, including one from the National Science Foundation which established the Tri-College Observatory in Alamance County, North Carolina. He helped to create the Guilford College Honors Program. In 1993, he was named Jefferson-Pilot Professor of Physics.

Sheridan was one of the first college educators to foresee the utility of computer software packages in helping students master basic science concepts. He wrote and published several such packages, including Unprintable Physics, The Physics Disk, The Astronomy Disk, and the Biology Disk. At the same time, lie wrote science fiction stories (some published under a variety of pseudonyms) and five novels. He brought all three areas of expertise--astrophysics, computers and science fiction writing--together to serve as a consultant to other science fiction writers, helping them to create scientifically valid alternate worlds, and using his own computer to produce color images of his fantastic worlds. He created over one hundred planets for dozens of appreciative writers. Hugo Award winner Lawrence Watt-Evans dedicated his science fiction novel, Nightside City (1989), to Sheridan. For young adults, Sheridan published a biography, Stephen Hawking: Unlocking the universe (1991).

Sheridan's dedication to, and his love of, teaching was clearly evident in his decision to remain in the classroom during his final months. He died 76 hours after his last class.