Dr. Posin's Giants; 23; Robert Hutchings Goddard
- Series
- Dr. Posin's Giants
- Episode Number
- 23
- Episode
- Robert Hutchings Goddard
- Producing Organization
- WTTW (Television station : Chicago, Ill.)
- Contributing Organization
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/512-c24qj78r3z
- NOLA Code
- DPGT
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- Description
- Episode Description
- Rockets are very much in the news today Dr. Posin devotes this program to a brief discussion of how rockets work, and to a man who did a great deal of work in this field. He zooms past the achievements of the Chinese (who invented fireworks and pyrotechnic rockets) and the imaginations of Jules Verne, and lands solidly into the life and career of Robert Hutchings Goddard. Goddard came originally from New England, but his fellow townsmen were so alarmed by his experiments that they forced him to leave. He went to New Mexico where he carried out an unusual and, at times, dangerous series of tests that led to solid propellants for rockets, and to such rockets as the German V-2 and our own World War II and post-war rockets. Goddard derived a formula to express the ultimate velocity of rockets and postulated the construction of multi-stage rockers that are now being developed. Dr. Posins explanations are clear, and include a warning to amateur rocketeers to confine their work to theory. Propellants for rockets can be dangerous things, he points out, even in the hands of the most experienced technicians. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- "If I have seen further than others, it is only because I have stood on the shoulders of giants who have come before me." This quote from Sir Isaac Newton illustrates Dr. Dan Q. Posin's view of science and its cumulative nature. With the aid of sketches, photographs, blackboard chalk-talks, and a cat named Minerva, Dr. Posin discusses thirteen masters of science from Archimedes to James Clark Maxwell (who predicted the existence of electric magnetic waves). The informal lecture demonstrations are designed to create a greater awareness and appreciation of some of the great achievements in mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Although Dr. Posin's approach is frequently humorous, his aim is serious: to contribute to a better understanding of the nature and worth of science with particular emphasis on the modern applications of ancient theories and discoveries. This series was produced by WTTW, Chicago. Dr. Dan Q. Posin, professor of physics at De Paul University, is well known to Chicago television audiences for his madcap approach to science, his vivid gestures, the sound effects he employs and his highly entertaining explanations of such concepts and phenomena as relativity and nuclear fission. Dr. Posin received his doctorate from the University of California, has done research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology radiation laboratory and at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, and has taught at the University of Panama, North Dakota State College, and the University of Montana. He is the author of eight books, three in Spanish. His latest, Dr. Posin's Giants -- Men of Science (based on this series), has just been published by Row, Peterson & Company, Evanston, Illinois. Viewers will find the book a helpful adjunct to the series. When Dr. Posin isnt teaching, writing books, or preparing for or performing on television, he can often be found in his studying standing on his head or walking on his hands These activities, he says, "give me a new perspective on the world." The fifty-one year old professor has retained the strength and agility of his high school days in San Francisco, where he played baseball, captained the basketball team, and was a city marble champ. His somewhat whimsical approach to the teaching of science is based on the very serious belief that it is vital for American youth to become deeply interested in science if our country is to keep up in the "brains race." His middle initial, incidentally, is another bit whimsy. Although his name appears as Dan Q. Posin in every listing from scholarly journals to the telephone directory, the Q doesn't stand for anything. He added it in high school, he says, "because when you say Dan Q. rapidly it sounds like 'dankue.'" In 1959, 1960, and 1961, Dr. Posin received the Emmy award as best educator from the Chicago Chapter of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Dr. Posin's Universe, a series that ran on WTTW, also won an Emmy from the Chicago Chapter in 1961 as the best public service or educational program. This series, Dr. Posin's Giants, consists of 27 half-hour episodes which were originally recorded on kinescope. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Broadcast Date
- 1962-00-00
- Asset type
- Episode
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Director: Hull, Thomas
Director: McPharlin, Jim
Host: Posin, Dan Q.
Producer: Ellingwood, Lloyd
Producing Organization: WTTW (Television station : Chicago, Ill.)
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2058746-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 2 inch videotape: Quad
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2058746-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 1 inch videotape: SMPTE Type C
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2058746-3 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2058746-4 (MAVIS Item ID)
Generation: Master
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2058746-5 (MAVIS Item ID)
Generation: Copy: Access
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Dr. Posin's Giants; 23; Robert Hutchings Goddard,” 1962-00-00, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 26, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-c24qj78r3z.
- MLA: “Dr. Posin's Giants; 23; Robert Hutchings Goddard.” 1962-00-00. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 26, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-c24qj78r3z>.
- APA: Dr. Posin's Giants; 23; Robert Hutchings Goddard. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-c24qj78r3z