COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M's physics department has become a social media sensation.
Their videos have accumulated more than 500,000,000 views thanks in large part to the unbridled energy of Professor Tatiana Erukhimova, who conducts physics shows to kids as part of the university's outreach efforts.
Erukhimova is a force of nature. Children are thrilled whether she's demonstrating the effects of liquid nitrogen or vacuum pumps on marshmallows. The show uses everything from toilet paper to balloon animals in an effort to inspire the next generation of physicists.
Erukhimova has been doing it since 2007 and the acts have helped recruit new Aggies.
"Some students who were here in middle school, I see them in my class," Erukhimova said.
Her energy, joy and knowledge are infectious. The university's physics channel has more subscribers (nearly 2 million) than the athletics channel.
“Yeah, isn’t that crazy, that physics has more subscribers than Texas A&M athletics?” she said.
It's hard not to be excited once you see all these super cool experiments. And it hasn't just generated all that social media excitement. It leads to dollars and cents as well.
Distinguished professor of physics Ed Fry began the shows at a hugely popular annual physics festival. Both have helped with endowments and gifts.
"I think about 65 million or something like that," Frye said.
Erukhimova averages 50 shows a year and they're done on A&M's campus. Undergraduate students build her models and help her performance.