‘Physics of Taekwon-Do’ Tour a Great Success
Grandmaster Robert J Howard and his son Master Robert G Howard, from Ireland, have just completed a very successful tour of Ireland giving public lectures on the ‘Physics of Taekwon-Do’. The duo were invited by Ireland’s Institute of Physics to give the lecture series as part of its promotion of physics to school children.
Master Howard (PhD) is a physics lecturer in the Dublin Institute of Technology and is well known for using his Taekwon-Do skills to help explain the laws of physics to his students. ‘Newton’s laws, velocity, momentum, force and acceleration are all physics concepts that we use in Taekwon-Do, and breaking wooden boards and tiles is a great way of getting the ideas across to the physics students’ says Master Howard.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) asked Master Howard if he would give his lecture to school children to help get them interested in studying physics. The tour was part of the annual Tyndall lecture series which the IoP promotes and saw Grandmaster Howard and Master Howard give nine public lectures to over 2000 students in seven colleges and universities around the country. The tour took two weeks and the Taekwon-Do experts covered 1,581 kilometeres, broke 30 pieces of timber and 160 tiles.
‘The audiences were fantastic’ said Grandmaster Howard (President of the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association), ‘They were in awe of what they were seeing, and both the physics and ITF Taekwon-Do were well promoted’ he added.
The lecture consisted of Master Howard explaining the forces required to break timber and tiles and then applying the theory in practice by breaking the materials. He explained how the founder GenChoi includes an explanation of the physics behind the theory of power in his 15 volume encyclopedia on Taekwon-Do.
Grandmaster Howard did the grand finale and showed at 75 years of age he still has his Taekwon-Do power. Every time he broke suspended tiles with a knife-hand strike the audience erupted into loud applause. At the end of every lecture the students and teachers were queuing up to get their photos taken with Grandmaster Howard and Master Howard. It was great to see so many students of Taekwon-Do and other martial arts as well as members of non-ITF Taekwon-Do groups all came down to shake their hands and say how much they enjoyed the lectures. There was great media interest in the talks too, and they were reported in Irish newspapers, radio and TV.
Grandmaster Robert J. Howard is president of the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association and has been practicing Taekwon-Do since 1968. Master Robert G Howard is an international umpire and has been practicing Taekwon-Do since 1979. He also holds a PhD in physics and lectures physics at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Both Grandmaster and Master Howard teach Taekwon-Do classes for adults and children in Cabra and the Navan Road, Dublin 7.
