Douglas Warrick is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

at the

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

department of

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

, specializing in the study of functional/ecological

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

, and the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of vertebrate flight, working with many bird species, including

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

s and

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

Career

Born in Nebraska, Warrick worked for a biological consulting firm from 1987 to 1992, including work on the

Exxon Valdez oil spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill was a major environmental disaster that occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. The spill occurred when ''Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Be ...

. Today he continues to participate in studies of seabird mortality from oil spills. From 1999 to 2001 he was an assistant professor in biology at

Minot State University Minot State University (MSU or MiSU) is a public university in Minot, North Dakota, United States. Founded in 1913 as a normal school, MSU evolved into a university in 1987 and is currently the state's third-largest, offering undergraduate and ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. Since 2004 he has been at

where his primary focus has been on

s and

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

Hovering hummingbirds

In 2005, Warrick led a research study into the hummingbird's ability to hover in flight. Working with trained

rufous hummingbird The rufous hummingbird (''Selasphorus rufus'') is a small hummingbird, about long with a long, straight and slender bill. These birds are known for their extraordinary flight skills, flying during their migratory transits. It is one of nine s ...

s (''Selasphorus rufus'') that hovered over a feeding syringe filled with

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

solution, Warrick and his research team employed digital particle imaging velocimetry to capture the bird's wing movements on film, which enabled the discovery that the hummingbird's hovering is achieved primarily because of its wing's downstroke (which accounts for 75% of its lift) rather than its upstroke (which makes up the additional 25% of the lift). This was counter to the conventional wisdom which was that the lift was provided 50:50 by the up and down strokes as with hawk moths. Warrick's research was published in ''Nature'', a leading

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

, and his research conclusions were widely reported in the international media such as ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'', the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

news wire, and the United States

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

Inspiration for art

Warrick et al.'s ''Nature'' (2005) article inspired Jennifer MacMillan and Bradley Eros to create their own "experiment" - investigating the "cross-pollination of scientific visualization and poetic document". Their art work added "star studies, satellite recordings, subaquatic and botanical investigations, liquid crystals, visual music performance generated from the scientific instrument, high speed motion studies, a discussion of subatomic physics, and readings of the 10 most beautiful experiments of science."

Selected publications

* Douglas R. Warrick, Bret W. Tobalske, Donald R. Powers (2009) Lift production in the hovering hummingbird, ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

B: Biological Sciences'', Vol. 276, No. 1674. (7 November), pp. 3747–3752. * Bret W. Tobalske, Jason W. D. Hearn and Douglas R. Warrick (2009) Aerodynamics of intermittent bounds in flying birds, ''Experiments in Fluids'' Volume 46, Number 5 / May, 2009 * Douglas R. Warrick, Bret W. Tobalske & Donald R. Powers (2005) Aerodynamics of the hovering hummingbird, ''Nature'' 435, 1094-1097 23 June * K. P. Dial, A. A. Biewener, B. W. Tobalske & D. R. Warrick (1997) Mechanical power output of bird flight, ''Nature'' 390, 67-70 6 November

References

External links

Douglas R. Warrick
faculty page at Oregon State University {{DEFAULTSORT:Warrick, Douglas American biophysicists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Minot State University faculty Oregon State University faculty University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni University of Montana alumni University of Oregon alumni