![]() ![]() Why is it so? - the ground-breaking TV series with the enigmatic Professor Julius Sumner Miller - ran on the ABC from 1963 to 1986. ![]() Massive handwaving, an eloquent American drawl, flashing raised eyebrows (were they singed on Bunsen Burners?) and content matter drawn from the kitchen, the backyard and from nature ensured that his audience would watch as a regularly captivated student as the lively professor asked such questions as "WHICH weighs more - a pint of wet sand or a pint of dry sand?". "Why is it So" you might ask? The reason was quite simple: Professor Julius Sumner Miller was simply intriguing - one would never know what simply household every-day experiment he would dream up next. He set traps to keep people on their toes he would ask members of the audience to verify that a glass was empty and then berate them for not noticing that it was full of air." Each session had a strong element of drama and was punctuated loudly with phrases such as ‘Watch it now! Watch it!’ or ‘He who is not stirred by the beauty of it is already dead!’. Bubbling with infectious enthusiasm not normally associated with the serious scientist, he brought each presentation to life with details of the history of the subject and the origins and meanings of the words used to describe it. I should have said: 'Australian potatoes ain’t worth a damn', and I’d have cornered the potato market!". He later stated "I sat amongst the straws with straws stuck in my hair and ears. The next morning, Miller arrived at his Sydney University laboratory to find one million drinking straws on the floor with a telegram reading "You might find one of these fitting your requirements". ![]() For the first time in his career he could not get this to work, and he loudly exclaimed "Australian straws ain't worth a damn!". A paper straw normally does not have sufficient strength but if one pinches the end, the trapped air acts as a piston, easily piercing the potato. In an improvised physics demonstration, he attempted to drive a drinking straw through a raw potato. Miller's first television appearance in Australia was on Bob Sanders People in 1963. If you would like to be reminded what he was like, here is a (1 minute 34 second - 4.07 MB) video to bring back memories: I liked this: He definitely was a one-of-a-kind individual. Who remembers this guy: Professor Julius Sumner Miller? ![]()
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