2007 Holiday Lecture at Harvard University

Squishy, Gooey, Stretchy: The Science of Making Pizza
A Holiday Lecture for Children and Their Parents

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Morning Lecture: 10:00–11:00 a.m.
Afternoon Lecture: 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Harvard Science Center, Lecture Hall B

 

Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen . . . some of the ingredients of pizza?

How do you make pizza? Why does pizza crust have holes? How does cheese form from milk? How do you break down food into the fuel your body needs?

Join us at the 2007 Harvard Holiday Science Lecture as we observe, touch, taste, and explore some of your favorite foods. Kids, families, students, teachers and the curious are welcome!
You’ll discover the physics, chemistry and biology of cheese and bread, look at them under a microscope, taste the cheese we make (yum!), and learn about digestion (yuck!). Using live experiments and interactive demonstrations with children from the audience, we will investigate the wonders of pizza. Come and be a scientist with us!

This interactive presentation, given by Amy Rowat, Daniel Rosenberg and Howard Stone, is based on a famous set of lectures first given to children a century ago by the great scientist Michael Faraday.

 

Flyer, Map, and Registration will be available soon.

Sponsored by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), the Cambridge-Harvard GK12 Program, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University

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Past Holiday Lectures:

 

Since December, 2002, the Harvard MRSEC and NSEC sponsored holiday lectures given by Professor Howard Stone and colleagues. Modeled on a famous set of presentations first given to children a century ago as part of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in London, the lectures highlight science in an engaging and fun forum geared for children aged 10 and up. Experiments, audience participation, and highlights from current research bring science to the community in an event which is free and open to the public.

December 2006: Science by Candlelight

April 2006: Encore Einstein Lecture

December 2005: It's Elementary, My Dear Einstein: A Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Einstein's Miraculous Year

December 2004: A Playground of Polymers

December, 2003: A Peek at Printing: From Papyrus to Electronic Paper

Experiments and demonstrations highlight the properties of paper and ink that make printing possible, and which further led to ideas for “paper” of the future.

• 2003 Flyer in pdf format.
• 2003 Program in pdf format

Paper Facts

• The average American uses about 749 pounds of paper and paper products each year.
• About two-thirds of the raw material used to make paper in the U.S. comes from recovered paper that is recycled, and the wood debris left from lumber manufacturing.
• Toilet paper in roll form was introduced in America in 1871.
• Paper towels were accidentally invented in 1907 when a run of bathroom tissue came out too thick on the paper machine.
• In 1666, in England, cotton and linen were prohibited from being used for burial shrouds in order to make them available for papermaking.

For more interesting facts about paper, please visit www.tappi.org/paperu

Presented by:
Prof. Howard Stone
Daniel Rosenberg
Cynthia Balloch ('05)

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2002 lecture: Scratching the Science of Surfaces
Saturday, December 14, 2002

Experiments in a tour of the forces associated with the surfaces that separate liquids and gases, and liquids and solids.

• 2002 Flyer in pdf format.
• 2002 Program in pdf format

 

Presented by:
Prof. Howard Stone
Meghan Walbran (RET ‘02)
Prof. Dudley Herschbach
Daniel Rosenberg
Nils Sorensen
William Meikle (the Living Ben Franklin)
Robert Graham

Sponsored by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University.