Abstract: Lynn Poole discusses reading comprehension and speed and how bad habits such as moving ones mouth while reading can be eliminated He also shows a regressive reader who lacks concentration and doesnt trust her comprehension An ophthalmograph which records every eye movement on film is demonstrated along with the eye graphs of efficient and poor readers A film prepared by W G Perry Jr and C P Whitlock of Harvard University simulates a reading clinics tachistoscope developed by Samuel Renshaw to improve a students precision of vision length of time focused on a word and number of words in eye fixation and peripheral vision Dr Milton S Eisenhower president of Johns Hopkins University points out that the objective of all college courses is to increase reading writing listening and speaking skills However in 1955 only 17 of all U S adults were regularly reading books and there was a disparity between reading levels and chronological ages
Date Published: 1956-12-02
Abstract: The program opens with film clips of the effects of the bombing of Hiroshima Dr Donald Andrews chemistry professor at Johns Hopkins University says that man has learned how to harness and control the atoms energy in such projects as atomic submarines and power plants but we can not yet harness or control hydrogen the newest source of nuclear power To do that machines need to supplement mans brain offering automatic control or cybernetics Examples of this include analog machines that regulate single functions like James Watts fly ball governor to control steam to the engine demonstrated in animated film thermostats that work on a feedback loop servoengines that correct the course of a ship and automated pilots on planes Dr Andrews then demonstrates thermodynamics which studies the relations between heat and motion and shows visible and audible evidence of a gas using dry ice He defines entropy as the degree of randomness in a situation expressed by probabilities Claude Shannon was the first person to see the parallel between entropy and the theory of information which makes possible more complex automatic control devices Selfregulating machines still need human monitoring but digital information machines or computers can handle more complex situations such as reacting to emergencies A filmed narrative describes IBMs Model 705 equipment and statistics Dr Andrews says that computers will become the instruments of overall control Cartoons show the statistics promises and fears of mechanization in business industry and government concluding that by 1965 the United States with a population of 190000000 will require a 50 increase in production Dr Andrews also predicts that in the future automatic control machines will make possible automatically steered cars continuous television with an onrequest program selector for shows in full color and 3D interplanetary transportation within 100 years and modification of conditions on other planets by robots for colonization of space The program concludes with a brief film of the launching of an artificial earth satellite placed in orbit by a threestage rocket as Americas contribution to the 195758 International Geophysical Year
Date Published: 1957-01-06
Abstract: Lynn Poole contrasts the expressions in war paintings by Richard Eurich and Jose Orozco and notes that a picture is an artists way of representing his experiences and reactions to an event Dr William A McDonald assistant director of the Baltimore Museum of Art explains the artists creative process He compares naturalism vs emotional reaction to a subject by comparing two paintings of cats Artists may distort form color or size to emphasize qualities that are important Both artists and sculptors use horizontal lines to express serenity and diagonal or curved lines for movement as exemplified in the dance movements of a Kirchner painting and a Matisse sculpture Dr McDonald discusses the heavy black lines borrowed from stained glass making in Georges Rouaults The Crucifixion and the swirling lines in Vincent Van Goghs Starry Night an example of expressionism The German expressionists were influenced by the abstract art of Africa and used lines to evoke inner feelings Displayed examples of this school include a Pechstein woodcut a Kathe Kollwitz drawing a Heckel selfportrait and Miros happier painting Summer Dr McDonald explains the use of distortion in El Grecos Laokoon and Pablo Picassos Guernica which he compares with Orozcos Dive Bomber and Tank shown in the opening of the program
Date Published: 1957-10-13
Abstract: Thomas Schmid of the Johns Hopkins University Press displays some of the presss recently published books such as Soranus Gynecology the first English translation of this ancient Greek medicine book and Operations Research for Management offering operations researchers solutions to such problems as traffic jams The Presss director Harold Ingle displays a map of the forty university presses in America and notes that Johns Hopkins University Press established in 1878 is the oldest continuously publishing one It is the responsibility of these presses to advance scholarly research and diffuse knowledge and to that end the Press produces books by scholars for scholars books by scholars for intelligent laymen and scholarly journals Mr Ingle shows examples of each Additional featured examples include Symposium on the Chemical Basis of Heredity Truxtun of the Constellation Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power and Ten Centuries of Spanish Poetry an anthology in both Spanish and English Editor John Kyle describes the acquisition and appraisal of manuscripts such as Professional Public Relations and Political Power by Dr Stanley Kelley Jr who discusses his inspiration for the book Dr Malcolm Moos talks about the process of editing A Carnival of Buncombe a collection of 69 articles written by HL Mencken for the Baltimore Evening Sun between 1920 and 1936
Date Published: 1957-02-03
Abstract: Lynn Poole points out the countrys increasing need for engineers scientists technicians and researchers Dr John Woodburn assistant director of the Johns Hopkins masters in teaching program offers courses to working teachers wanting an advanced degree He maintains that teachers can interest children in science by exposing them to the phenomena of nature asking questions teaching them to notice things around them and showing them the scientific principles in everyday things To illustrate teacher Jacqueline Wolfe performs a simple experiment and students in her fifth grade class from Woodmore School in Baltimore MD observe hypothesize test tentative hypotheses and verbalize final conclusions Dr Woodburn suggests that other teaching aids such as microscopes telescopes blocks and models also stimulate young minds
Date Published: 1958-04-19
Abstract: This program in the form of a quiz show encourages viewers to use their mind to reason Two Johns Hopkins University engineering freshmen Karvel Rose and Robert Abernethy and two arts and sciences freshmen Michael Kelley and Pudge Ellwood are the contestants Walter Millis Jr is the scorekeeper and Dr Eliezer Naddor Johns Hopkins professor of industrial engineering asks the questions and explains the answers to eight puzzles
Date Published: 1958-11-02
Abstract: Lynn Poole shows a chart of epochs and notes that man didnt appear until the Pleistocene period Dr George Carter department chair and professor of geography at Johns Hopkins University discusses the possibility of a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska across the Bering Strait based on human tools found with mastodon remains Likewise zoologist RG Gilmore has discovered that animals crisscrossed the Bering Strait between ice periods In describing the history of the study of prehistory Dr Carter names WH Holmes and Ales Hrdlicka as men who led the opposition to the previously generally accepted belief in the existence of a glacial age man in America With Willard F Libbys 1951 discovery that all living things contain radioactive carbon remains could be dated challenging previous beliefs From evidence such as stone tools Dr Carter speculates that man entered America about 40000 years ago He creates a timeline based on the degree of skill in making tools the degree of weathering on tools and the date of the existence of the lake where the tools were found Dr Carter also discusses physical geography and carbon14 dating of tools along the southern California coast Using charts and photos he shows how reading California river valley records also yields data about sea level climate and glaciers In the controversial Texas Street site in San Diego Dr Carter claims he has discovered hearths crude stone tools and dart points corresponding to the last interglacial period
Date Published: 1958-04-12
Abstract: Lynn Poole shows photos of a variety of computers from desksize to housesize Dr Robert Rich supervisor of the computer center at Johns Hopkins Universitys Applied Physics Lab explains the workings of an electromechanical punch card accounting system which is an externally programmed device He shows an oversized punch card and photos of keypunch sorting and accounting machines He notes that this process has speed limitations but internally programmed computers have both speed and versatility of input Dr Rich describes the operation of a model of a UNIVAC business computer which he says resembles an IBM 700 or Datamatic 1000 Such a computer is most efficient in routine computations on large numbers of data for such purposes as banking weather forecasting inventory control etc Scientific applications such as missile flight paths require a human programmer to write complex sets of instructions for the computer
Date Published: 1958-05-10
Abstract: Lynn Poole and models Dick Manson and Barbara Casey demonstrate how bones and muscles function with our actions Dr William Montagna professor of biology at Brown University looks at bones from an artistic point of view He displays the lumbar vertebrae of both a whale and a human and notes their structure He contrasts the humerus from the upper arm the scapula from the shoulder and the carpal bones of the wrist Comparing the skulls of a man and a woman Dr Montagna explains the differences The three types of joints he lists are the fused in the skull the hingetype in the elbow and the ball and socket in the shoulder and hip Investigating the interior of bones Dr Montagna shows the frontal sinuses of the head and compares the spongy bone material at each end of a bone to a bridge structure For strength and resiliency bones require both organic and inorganic substance which Dr Montagna demonstrates with bones lacking one or the other A diagram shows how the endosteum and the periosteum balance bone growth Xray films compare the hands of a threeyearold which has cartilage at the end of each bone and a thirtyyearold which has bone in place Dr Montagna concludes that bone is a living tissue as evidenced by its mechanism to repair itself quickly
Date Published: 1957-04-28
Abstract: A biophysicist with the Research Institute for Advanced Studies established by the Martin Company in Baltimore MD Dr Hans Turnit explains the chemical process of photosynthesis and the life cycle of a plant vs that of an animal He also discusses lamella planes and shows a film clip of how materials can be taken from chloroplasts and made into monomolecular films or layers as researched by Nobel Prize winner Irving Langmuir Dr Albert Krall a plant biochemist at the same institute discusses respiration of plants and reports the two problems his research is trying to solve how energy is converted into chemical energy and by which enzymatic steps is energy stored He notes that in 1828 Friedrich Wohler laid the foundation for organic chemistry and in 1896 Eduard Buchner opened the era of biochemistry Now the Calvin Group in California has traced the path of carbon through a plant during photosynthesis showing that sunlight acts on the chlorophyll to make organic compounds Dr Krall shows a mockup model of a chloroplast with grana and a hypothetical model representing the enzymatic reaction during photosynthesis Dr Bessel Kok a plant physiologist with the institute describes a microscopic view of a plant cell A time lapse film by Dr Jan Zurzicky of chloroplasts under differing light intensities shows an example of light saturation Since plants convert onethird of light energy into usable energy photosynthesis from experimental largescale algae farms could be a key source of energy and food in the future
Date Published: 1958-05-24
Abstract: This program details the history and activity of the American whale fishing industry Edouard Stackpole curator and marine historian at Mystic Seaport CT describes the size and characteristics of sperm whales and right whales and how they were hunted killed and processed He shows examples of products made from whale oil in lieu of petroleum and whale bone later replaced by light metals and plastics Photos and films taken aboard the wooden whaleship Charles W Morgan show her last whale hunt in 1921 including a Nantucket sleigh ride The Morgan which made 37 voyages in 80 years was built in 1841 and is now restored at Mystic Seaport Mr Stackpole notes that the last whaler to set sail out of New Bedford was the Wanderer in 1924 but she wrecked fifteen miles out of port
Date Published: 1958-11-30
Abstract: Lynn Poole summarizes the modern concept of foundations for philanthropy Dr Milton S Eisenhower president of Johns Hopkins University reports that there are 7000 private foundations in the U S with assets of over $7 billion He discusses their varied interests noting that this program will focus on a representative foundations private gifts to education Henry T Heald president of the Ford Foundation explains that the purpose of this foundations twenty programs is to advance human welfare Secretary of the Ford Foundation Joseph M McDaniel points out that foundations can be discriminating flexible and can show by example He describes the Ford Foundations funding of both the Woodrow Wilson program for attracting able students into the teaching field and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City Mr McDaniel explains that about 400 applications are funded from the 5000 received annually These are selected because they seem to provide the best solutions to issues that are within the foundations purpose and interests Clarence H Faust president of the Fund for the Advancement of Education of the Ford Foundation describes some of the teacher shortage solutions supported by this fund For example this fund contributes to new school construction and in 1955 it partnered with the Carnegie Foundation to create the National Merit Scholarship Corp to provide scholarships to send more students to college Mr Faust also discusses the Hagerstown Project in Washington County MD where a grant from the Ford Foundation has supplied funds for a fiveyear experiment using closed circuit television for classroom instruction
Date Published: 1958-05-03
Abstract: The program opens with performer Elizabeth Hughes singing the folk song Lord Randall with dulcimer accompaniment Lynn Poole briefly discusses southern Appalachian mountain folk lore and how music records the heritage of the people Virgil Sturgill describes the origins and characteristics of folk songs such as Billy Grimes sung by Ms Hughes The ballad Barbara Allen can be traced to the mid1600s in Scotland with several versions of the tragic fate of the rejected lover evolving over time and continents Mike Seeger sings one version with a fiddle Larry Marxer performs another variant with guitar and Ms Hughes sings still another with dulcimer Mr Sturgill shows the typical instruments played in the Appalachians melodian or autoharp dulcimer banjo guitar harmonica mandolin whistle and fiddle and Seeger plays Black Mt Rag on the latter The performers sing answering back songs such as Billy Boy Bible stories such as Little Moses and songs about local events
Date Published: 1958-05-17
Abstract: This program opens with photos of famous American art museums and comments on their preservation demands Lynn Poole shows an Egyptian bronze statuette that had become disfigured by bronze disease Johns Hopkins chemistry professor Dr Alsoph H Corwin helped to develop a technique to reverse the corrosion on pieces like this and to restore the corroded coffer of the Dead Sea Scrolls John Kirby of Baltimores Walters Art Gallery conservation department briefly describes the Walters collection and the job of the museum conservation staff A film shows the conservation studios equipment and procedures such as the successive steps in relining the canvas of a painting Another film shows how the wax immersion process reinforces and preserves deteriorating wood sculptures Elisabeth Packard also on the Walters staff shows an example of the nineteenth century practice of piecing together unrelated fragments of sculptures and explains how conservators try to recognize and reconstruct the proper form Mr Kirby displays an ivory figurine from Crete whose fragments were reconstituted with gelatin and metal rods Miss Packard discusses how paintings and other artwork are xrayed and the damages repairs alterations and brushwork that are discovered Mr Kirby demonstrates professional cleaning and restoring of a painting Mr Poole shows a painting of Maria Salviatti by Pontormo that was xrayed and restored to reveal a child painted over by the mothers skirt Miss Packard demonstrates retouching a painting to fill in breaks in paint by inpainting as opposed to overpainting which conceals the original paint Mr Kirby concludes by revealing two portraits beneath a painting of a lion presumably by Jericho to illustrate the mysteries conservators must solve
Date Published: 1956-12-09
Abstract: Dr N Bryllion Fagin recounts the life of Poe and the circumstances surrounding his death in Baltimore Poes obsession with death and the transmigration of souls led him to become a precursor to modern mystery writers Dr Fagin analyzes several of Poes short stories indicating pattern weaving Three of Poes lyrical poems are read in part and analyzed The Raven The Bells and Ulalume Dr Fagin also notes Poes reputation as a literary critic
Date Published: 1958-10-26
