| From Dan Heim, dan@heimhenge.com I didn't know Phil Morrison
personally, and never once met the man, but I feel like he was a
good friend. He visited my classroom twice each year via videotape
in the classic PBS series "The Ring of Truth." From 1987
to 1999, when I retired from teaching physics, I used two of these
videos in my class: "Looking" and "Change."
I didn't use many videos, but these two were an important part of
the course (Harvard Project Physics) that emphasized the human connection
in science. Phil was a great teacher, and the theme of this video
series (An Inquiry into How We Know what We Know) meshed well with
my lesson plan. Plus, the students loved his style. Back in 1989
one of my students, Matt Velazquez, made it into MIT. I sent him
the liner from my favorite tape (Change) and asked him to tell Phil
that I was one of his long-time fans and would be honored if he
autographed the liner. Matt said he'd try, but that "Professor
Morrison is a pretty busy guy and not easy to track down."
A few months later he finally succeeded. I don't know what I was
expecting Phil would write, but I figured it would be something
profound and related to teaching. The image shows what I got. From
that year forward, every time I ran the tape, I proudly displayed
my autographed liner. Of course, I had to explain to my students,
who knew I was happily married, that Phil's comment was a joke and
I'd never even been to Rio. I think most of them believed me. || next>> |
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