Andrew Rex

Andy Rex received his undergraduate degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1977 and his PhD in physics from the University of Virginia in 1982. He has taught at the University of Puget Sound since 1982. He has taught most of the courses in the physics curriculum and a few in other areas, including the Honors Program and Science, Technology, and Society (STS). Andy’s main research interests are in the foundations of thermodynamics, where he has published a number of articles and two books. He has also published a number of college-level textbooks and, in 2014, a book Commonly Asked Questions in Physics that’s intended to introduce physics to a wider audience of those curious about nature. In 2017 he published Finn’s Thermal Physics, Third Edition, a textbook in upper-level thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.

Current Interests

• Maxwell’s Demon and the Physics of Information
• Integrating Physics and Calculus
• Modern Physics textbook (Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers)
• Physics of Baseball

Some Recent Publications

• Finn’s Thermal Physics (Fourth Edition), Andrew Rex, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis (Boca Raton, FL), 2024.
• Essential College Physics (Second Edition), Andrew Rex and Richard Wolfson, Cognella Academic Publishing (San Diego, CA), Volumes 1 and 2, 2021.
• Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Fifth Edition), Andrew Rex, Stephen T. Thornton, and Carol Hood, Cengage Learning (Boston, MA), 2021.
• Finn’s Thermal Dynamics, Third edition, Andrew Rex, CRC Press 2017.
• Commonly Asked Questions in Physics, Andrew Rex, CRC Press, 2014.
• Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Andrew Rex and Stephen T. Thornton (Fourth Edition), Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning (Boston, MA), 2013
• Essential College Physics, Andrew Rex and Richard Wolfson, Pearson Addison Wesley (San Francisco), 2010
• Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Third Edition), Andrew Rex and Stephen T. Thornton, Thompson Brooks/Cole (Pacific Grove, CA), 2006.
• Maxwell’s Demon: Entropy, Classical and Quantum Information, Computing, Harvey S. Leff and Andrew F. Rex, Institute of Physics (Bristol), 2003.
• Integrated Physics and Calculus (Volume 1 and Volume 2), Andrew Rex and Martin Jackson, Addison Wesley Longman (San Francisco), 2000.
• Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Second Edition, Andrew Rex and Stephen T. Thornton, Saunders College Publishing (Philadelphia), 2000.
• "Maxwell’s Demon and the Culture of Entropy," Harvey S. Leff and Andrew F. Rex, Physics Essays 10, 125-149 (1997).
• "Entropy of Measurement and Erasure: Szilard’s Membrane Model Revisited," Harvey S. Leff and Andrew F. Rex, Am. J. Phys. 63, 994-1000 (1994).
• "Entropy and Information for an Automated Maxwell’s Demon," Andy Rex and Ross Larsen, PhysComp ’92, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 93-101 (1993).