11 June 2004

Wandering the web with Ralph Coppola

Forrest M. Mims III

Ralph Coppola, author of the popular "Wanderings" column in The Citizen Scientist. Click image to enlarge.

Ralph Coppola is one of the most productive and regular contributors to The Citizen Scientist and its predecessor, The E-Bulletin.

"Wanderings," his regular column, is one of our most popular features. This issue carries his 70th installment of "Wanderings."

As regular readers know, "Wanderings" is by far the best periodic survey on the Web of amateur and student science topics and resources the Web has to offer. It's impossible to just scan or browse through Ralph's column. No matter where your interests lie, you will be attracted to at least some of the sites that Ralph highlights in each column.

You can think of Ralph's column as an electronic version of a library that you just can't walk past without stopping for a visit. Before you reach the end of the first aisle, one of his topics will grab your attention. Let this happen a few times, and you'll be back for more visits to "Wanderings."

Ralph reports that his interest in science began in earnest when his uncle gave him a Ford Model "T" spark coil. After he tired of burning paper with the arc produced by the coil, he learned how to use it as an old-fashioned, Marconio-sytle radio transmitter.

Before joining the Canadian Coast Guard, Ralph worked in the wood pulp and paper industry and in ship building and repair. In 1978, the Coast Guard promoted him to Maintenance Supervisor with the responsibilities of maintaining ship board radar and navigation aids systems. Since 1997, he has been part of an engineering team that supervises the implementation of the Canadian Coast Guard's precision Differential Global Position System (DGPS).

Ralph and his wife, Gail, have been caring for their foster son, Maguel, for 15 months. He came to them when he was only 9 days old.

The Citizen Scientist is honored to have such a prolific contributor as Ralph Coppola. If you have not yet visited his column in this issue, be sure to stop by. As usual, Ralph has turned up an amazing array of topics, and some are sure to interest you.

If do-it-yourself metal casting is not your thing, then maybe you will be interested in a jet engine simulation program, an automated telescope, or how to produce random noise with a computer sound card. Or maybe you will want to find out about code breaking during World War Two, free software and a plotting routine for making 3D plots of functions.

I would write more about this week's "Wanderings," but there isn't time. I just spotted a link to a site on monopole magnets that Ralph included. This I've got to see!