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MIPtalk - conversations with the world's most interesting people.
conversations with the world's most interesting people.
Episode 4 – Thomas Humphrey – The Hands-On Movement
Photo by Amy Snyder
To illustrate the reaction that visitors often have when they visit San Francisco’s Exploratorium where he works as the Senior Scientist, Thomas Humphrey tells the story of two 16-year-old Goth girls who came to the museum with major attitude and posturing that betrayed their lack of interest in the surroundings. As soon as they saw a particular exhibit that caught their attention their facade dropped instantly. Suddenly they were like little kids, caught up in the wonder of scientific discovery and how “cool” everything was.
Humphrey explains that when you give people respect by saying “this is an interesting thing but we’re not going to tell you what you have to do with it…part of what you’re gonna do is figure it out for yourself” it permeates throughout everything that happens in the building. For him it’s what makes the job worthwhile (and if they exhibit their enthralled by is one that you created it’s even a little better).
To learn more about Thomas Humphrey (you can find his bio here), the history of the Exploratorium and Psychics 101 check out the latest episode of MIPtalk.
For additional reference we’ve included links to some of the people, places and things discussed in this episode:
Exploratorium
Bernard Maybeck
Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Panama Canal Opening
Presidio of San Francisco
US Highway 101
Frank Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer
The Manhattan Project
American Communist Party
Joseph McCarthy
HUAC
Pagosa Springs
F=MA
Hands on Movement
Milwaukee Public Museum
Association of Science and Technology Centers
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Echo Tube
Sonotube
Listening Vessels
Parabolic Microphone
Synchrotron Particle Accelerator
Proton
Neutron
Electron
Particle Physics
1 E-6 S
Bubble Chamber
Theoretical Physics
Enrico Fermi
W and Z Bosons
Large Hadron Collider
Cosmic Ray Particles
Black Hole
Ultra High Energy Cosmic RaySPS
CERN
Higgs Boson
Peter Higgs
Higgs Mechanism
E=MC²
14 TeV
Quantum Mechanics
Planck’s Constant
The Physics of iPhone
The Big Bang
Absolute Zero
T=0
Low Temperature Physics/Cryogenics
The Big Crunch
Accelerating Universe
Center of the Universe
Large Scale Structure
11 Dimensional Universe
Worm Hole
2nd Wednesdays
The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose
Pythagorean Theorem
Dancing With the Stars
Flatpicking
Doc Watson
Richard Feynman
David Rawlings
Pandora on iPhone
Gillian Welch
SeeqPod
2 Comments
[...] The Hands-On Movement [...]
[...] Curtain American Revolution Prague, Two Years After by KC Cole Victory Navasky Alan J. Friedman Thomas Humphrey The Exploratorium: A Participatory Museum Philip Morrison Robert R. Wilson Uranium Isotopes Radio [...]