The Nature of Matter: Understanding the Physical World

David W. Ball is a Professor of Chemistry at Cleveland State University in Ohio. He received his bachelor's degree from Baylor University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University. After performing post-doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California, he joined Cleveland State as an Assistant Professor, rising to the rank of Professor in 2002 and becoming Chair of the Chemistry Department in 2012. Dr. Ball teaches entry-level chemistry as well as physical chemistry in the undergraduate and graduate programs. His research interests include computational chemistry, particularly new high-energy materials and small-molecule-protein interactions. He has over 200 publications, equally split between research and educational studies. His various books include general chemistry at the introductory level, chemistry for allied health professions, and science and engineering chemistry. His widely used textbook on physical chemistry has been translated into Spanish and Japanese. Dr. Ball has received accolades for his teaching at the department, college, and university levels, and he recently served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dr. Ball is active in his profession organization, the American Chemical Society. In his spare time, he does woodworking and takes weekly horseback-riding lessons.