William Appleby gave a dramatically illustrated talk and a poster about his research into the destruction of the Hindenburg dirigible. Bill's article on his Hindenburg research, and an accompanying editorial, were published in the 17 December 2005 issue of The Citizen Scientist.
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Following the Benjamin Franklin Banquet and Lecture, conference attendees (left to right) Brent Beckett, Forrest Mims, Shawn Carlson, Reggie Smith and Brian Chapel spent an hour at the hotel entrance discussing the life and times of Benjamin Franklin and haze layers over Las Vegas made visible by the narrow beam of a spotlight projected from a hotel.
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Harlan Brothers presented the first lecture of the conference, "Rubbing Shoulders with Newton: A New Look at a Fundamental Constant of Nature." Harlan discussed novel methods for deriving the universal constant e. The new methods provide simpler means for arriving at e than the method proposed by Isaac Newton. Because Harlan commented about the fine appearance of the equations that give e, it seems fitting to show him decked out in one of them.
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Dr. Shawn Carlson, Executive Director of the Society for Amateur Scientists, kept the conference flowing by introducing the speakers and moderating the questions. He also spoke about LABRats, hosted the Benjamin Franklin Banquet and worked closely with Denise Todd and Heather Smith taking care of the many behind-the-scenes matters during the conference. Click image to enlarge.

Cindy Lee Duckert, an engineer, pilot and home school teacher, spoke on "The Future of Science Education in America: How we are going to change it." She emphasized the significance of teaching science to very young children.
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Heather Smith, shown here with her mother, Diane Genetti, is Director of Program Development for LABRats, Society for Amateur Scientists. Heather spoke about the program's objectives and status.
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Dr. Lin Chambers of NASA's Langley Research Center spoke on "Opportunities for Citizen Scientists to Investigate the Earth's Atmosphere." A cloud specialist, Lin spoke about various ways citizen scientists can access and study NASA data. She is responsible for various education initiatives at NASA, including "The CERES S'COOL Project" for observing clouds.
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Denise Todd, Director of Fundraising Development for SAS, kept the conference book table organized.
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Dr. Garry Mahon is a research geneticist with the European Union in Luxemburg. He has a strong statistics background, and he spoke in his wonderful accent about the statistical relationship of "Thrombosis and Cancer."
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Gary Coyne, a professional scientific glass blower and author of "The Laboratory Companion," spoke on "Sodium Migration in Borosilicate Glass at High Temperatures: What are the Ramifications and Benefits?" Gary's presentation included some exceptionally nice photographs.
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