william h. bassichis is an american physicist. he has been a physics professor at texas a&m university since 1970. he is the author of a series of undergraduate physics textbooks titled "don't panic", which is used by some universities across north america. before teaching at texas a&m, bassichis has done research at the weizmann institute of science, the centre d'études nucléaires de saclay, and the lawrence livermore laboratory. he has also taught at mit.