Seven years old

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At the beginning of this last episode of the Johns Hopkins Science Review, John H. Fisher, superintendent of public instruction for Baltimore City, presents Lynn Poole with a citation from the National Citizens' Committee on Educational Television. Mr. Poole points out that in 1948, when this series began, there were only 22 television stations and 250,000 receiving sets nationwide. Now, in 1955, there are 423 stations and 36 million television sets. He spends the remainder of the program thanking the people who made it possible: the scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions who took a chance on being on television and who revealed their new discoveries, such as Dr. Arthur Parpart's vidicon camera; the teachers who included in their lesson plans the show's demonstrations of complex subjects, such as an atomic chain reaction represented by 100 mousetraps; industry, one of which credited the show with duct system design inspiration; foreign countries, such as England, France, and Canada, where many new scientific developments are taking place.

Five years in review

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This 200th show reviews the five years this series has been on television. Dr. Franco Rasetti recreates one experiment from the first show, which was filmed in a Johns Hopkins classroom: the spontaneous break-up of a radioactive element as evidenced by a Geiger counter's response. Dr. Ralph Witt, of the plastics lab, shows how plastics are made and molded by replicating the same plastic resin he made on the program five years ago. He explains how glass fibers can now be woven into fabric and covered with plastic resin to make a strong laminate. Lynn Poole then pages through album photos to recall other programs: John Lehman, the university glassblower; Dr. Donald H. Andrews freezing the atom; medical artists; warnings on sunburn; "Fear," the first program (10/3/50) for the Dumont Network; Dr. Russell Morgan unveiling the x-ray fluoroscope; human engineering; Dr. Arthur Parpart demonstrating the new microscope combined with a television screen; films of the earth taken by a camera 70,000 feet above the earth. P. Stewart McCauley pays tribute to the Johns Hopkins Science Review and its staff, guests, and viewers, especially Lynn Poole. Ken Carter, general manager of television station WAAM in Baltimore presents a gift of a lamp decorated with pictures from the show to Mr. Poole, who read many congratulatory telegrams on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Johns Hopkins Science Review.