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Dear Dr. Carlson,
Congratulations on the launch of LABRats. On reading the first
lesson, I liked and was impressed with how the basic concepts
of science were presented very concretely, but the experiment
was largely open ended. I'd be interested to learn what kinds
of responses you receive from the kids. [...] (BTW,
I have submitted the launch of LABRats as a story to Slashdot,
in the hope that extra publicity (if it is posted) will get
even more kids signed up to read the newsletters.)
I've found two articles which, if you haven't already come
across them, may be of interest to you and other citizen scientists.
The first is a study called "Science learning through Scouting:
an understudied context for informal science education." It's
not a large or very rigorous study, but from comparisons with
the examples of science activities done with Cub Scouts in
Britain, LABRats will constitute orders of magnitude of improvement,
at least as far as science education goes. The second is a
report by the British think tank Demos on "The Pro-Am Revolution"
on how lots of people are rising to the quasi-professional
level in their hobbies. The influence of amateur astronomers
these days is a key example throughout the report.
I've enjoyed the Amateur Scientist Classics columns in The
Citizen Scientist. The article on electrostatics piqued
my interest. I would be interested in hearing more about how
that subject factored into the scientific revolution and the
Enlightenment, as you mentioned in the article. I also enjoyed
your profile of Schwinger in the article on algae. Telling
it like it is helps us see scientists as real people who have
emotions and can act for good or ill, sometimes because of
weakness of character and sometimes due to mistreatment by
others. Maybe Schwinger would (or could still!) have taught
us all many more things if he had been treated more kindly,
maybe not. At any rate, first hand accounts and real evidence
are much better than the demonizing or hagiography that often
creeps into profiles of scientists.
Thank you for sharing your observations and experiences with
us.
Sincerely,
Joe Geddes
Graduate Student
Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics
The Pennsylvania State University
http://www.personal.psu.edu/jbg136
To the Editor,
In the 3 September 2004 article about Hugo
Gernsback (Hugo
Gernsback: The Man who Invented the Future by Michael
Banks), his children are mentioned. Just to clarify:
Children with Rose Harvey: Madelon Gernsback (sister to Harvey)
daughter of Rose Harvey. Currently age 95. Sharp as a tack
by the way.
Harvey Gernsback (deceased). Children with Dorothy Kantrowitz:
Bernice (deceased at age 3 from a traffic accident), Bertina
and Jocelyn. Both alive and well.
No issue with Mary.
Bertina is my mother.
Incidentally, the articles were quite well-done,
comprehensive and detailed. I am certain that my grandfather
would be delighted with your organization's work of inspiring,
supporting and encouraging the spirit of scientific inquiry
wherever it dwells. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
N. S. Baer
New York, NY
Forrest Mims and Kevin Kilty,
Wow! Real science, real discourse and real skeptical inquiry about
climate - and it seems to only be happening in an amateur
science forum!
This is very much in keeping with the
best in the history of Amateur Science. For that reason, it
is obvious that there is much to be gained in the search for
scientific truth within an amateur forum. (Is the amateur
realm the only place with complete scientific freedom?)
I hope that many other topics will come into this arena.
Thank-you for your efforts to make this possible!
Sincerely,
Rev. Tim Kraemer
Dear Readers,
I enclose hotlinks for those who want to
build the projects I previously described in the SAS E-Bulletin:
(1) www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-04-19/features/features.html
(2)
www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-08-09/features/features.html
(3) www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-10-25/features2/features.html
(4)
www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-11-22/features2/features.html
(5)
www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2002-12-13/features2/features.html
(6)
www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2003-05-16/features2/body.html
There was a previous web site, but it was
updated to this site. The new site is http://home.comcast.net/~andrew.g.miller/Eagle/
The URL is case sensitive, so be sure to capitalize the E
in Eagle. This web site has schematics and board layouts for
the www.sas.org sites above.
You might want to try my web site at http://www.msnusers.com/103pennywhistler.
You won't find it in any search engine. It's too new for that.
Paste it in your address bar instead.
As for the circuit boards, many companies
can make circuit boards for a fee. One is Atlas Circuits Company
(PO Box 892, Lincolnton, NC 28092; phone 704-735-3943). You
can e-mail them at atlas@conninc.com.
When you get on the SAS.org web home page,
type in the GOOGLE slot my name (Craig Kendrick Sellen), and
you will get other links to other sites.
Craig Kendrick Sellen
Carbondale PA 18407
Forrest,
In the 17 December 2005 article in The Citizen Scientist
(The
end of a long day measuring the sun and sky by Forrest
M. Mims III) the link to our data is wrong.
The correct address is http://uvb.nrel.colostate.edu/UVB/jsp/uvb_climate_network.jsp
Becky Olson
UVB Coordination Office
NREL/Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
Thanks, Becky. We have corrected the error. Editor.
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