[SFDXA] Ham Radio Touches Many People

[Irwin Wallace]

This is just an excerpt of a email that was sent to me by a ham family 
member.

"A Nobel Laureate recently spoke about “How to win a Nobel Prize” on 
Sept. 11 at Chestnut Hill College’s 20th anniversary of its Biomedical 
Lecture Series. Dr. Michael S. Brown, 72, who grew up in Elkins Park, 
said an amateur radio operating license obtained at the age of 13, while 
a student at Thomas Williams Junior High School in Wyncote, sparked his 
passion for science.

In an interview with the Local prior to Brown’s presentation, the 
Cheltenham High School graduate said he and a friend used to build their 
equipment from various parts or kits. “I would usually finish around 3 
a.m.,” Brown said. “I would plug it in and blow every fuse in the house. 
My parents were not very happy with this hobby. What made it scientific 
was you had to go back over the entire thing step by step and figure out 
what you had done wrong. And that’s the essence of science because 
experiments never work the first time.”

He said it was a good introduction into science. “I wish we didn’t have 
courses called science with a capital ‘S.’ It’s ridiculous. Science 
isn’t something that is dictated by some text book. There is science in 
cooking. There is science in everything. In fabrics in the clothes we 
are wearing. There is science in every aspect of our lives.”

Irwin, N4IEW