"Dan-Dan the Science Man"

Halloween, circa 1997

Once upon a time, I was a youth. And an inquisitive youth, at that. I was a bit of a science nut (see above picture). If that's not proof enough, my typical birthday and Christmas list consisted of scientific encyclopedias. My favorite 7th birthday present was a chemistry set, and no matter how many times I combined baking soda and vinegar, the reaction still made me giddy every time. My parents encouraged this scientific wonder and did everything they possibly could to enable me.

I didn't watch a whole lot of TV when I was young, and what I did watch was mainly on PBS. But the 90's had some awesome science shows for kids that really stoked my curiosity and interest. First of which was "Bill Nye the Science Guy". He was always hilarious and the show was designed for the short attention span (which is important, to make science fun for those who would otherwise not take an immediate liking to it). I think the most memorable part of the shows were always the "Did you know that..." segments, followed by "NOW YOU KNOW". Great memories and I occasionally use that voice in conversation to my own embarrassment because nobody else knows what I'm talking about. 

The second show that had a strong influence on my scientific interests was "The Magic School Bus". Ms. Frizzle, a "crazy ginger" grade school science teacher, and her pet chameleon, Liz, took the kids on the best science field trips not possible in the Magic School Bus (not to be confused with the Who's "Magic Bus"). From the bottom of the ocean to the desert and the rain forest, from inside plants to inside the human body, the Magic School bus went everywhere a kid like me wanted to know more about. The adjacent video is the episode of their journey around the solar system. And in finding this video, I just discovered that many of the Magic School Bus episodes are on YouTube. THIS IS AWESOME.

In middle school, my parents got me Stephen Hawking's book, "A Brief History of Time". The book contains chapters on elementary particles, 4 dimensional spacetime, the expansion of the universe, and my two favorite topics: black holes and wormholes. Needless to say, the book was mostly over my head and took me a whole year to finish. But I enjoyed every chapter, and after a substantial amount of highschool physics education, I returned to the book, and retained most of its content (but still with a substantial portion being beyond my comprehension). The above-listed TV shows and this book and prepped me for exactly what I wanted to do for an occupation. I wanted to be a scientist and if possible, a physicist.

Sadly, it was not meant to be. I was not made of the stuff of collegiate physicists and I struggled throughout my college career to make decent grades in my physics classes. I realized during my first semester of junior year at Notre Dame while taking only 12 hours worth of classes, three of them being physics classes, and still having a very difficult time. By that time, I had already taken on philosophy as a second major and was just getting my feet wet, but I was thoroughly enjoying it as a new focus of my academic interests. I enjoy philosophy very much, though sometimes, I feel like physics and science in general was "that old beloved study that got away".

However, recently, I've gotten into the BBC show "Top Gear" which is about cars. I didn't care much for cars when I started watching it last summer on Netflix, but the presenters of the show were so funny, it was hard to pass up. (now I actually do love cars) But one of the presenters, James May, aka Captain Slow, aka the Spaniel, is a bit of a science nerd. He always seemed to be the most knowledgeable of the three about the science behind the different cars and the physics they employ to work. It was to my astonishment and amazement that James May actually hosts other TV programs that focus on science. (thank you, Erich Suellentrop for this!) The show is called "James May's 'Things You Need to Know'" and the three episodes of the first series are on YouTube. And the episode on "Things You Need to Know About the Universe" is posted here in its entirety. Seeing this took me back to my childhood days of watching awesome science television programs that were engaging, fun, and always held my interest. I've come to realize that my love for science, though not collegiate in caliber, still has no shortage of pure wonder and is just as active as when I was a boy.

Special thanks to my mother and father for their encouragement of this passion!