![]() ![]() In 1966 questions from his show with an answer to the previous day’s question were published as "Millergrams" for " The Australian" newspaper. Often he would then add "hands up those who don’t care". Before each demonstration he would usually ask for a show of hands to indicate which of several results they expected. A common ploy would be to hold up an empty glass and ask guests to confirm it was empty.then chide them for not noticing it was full of air. Shows would be liberally sprinkled with phrases such as "He who is not stirred by the beauty of it is already dead!" and he also liked to trick the audience. Miller's on-air popularity was due to an enthusiasm not normally associated with serious science. Why cloud the charm of a Chladni plate with a Bessel function?" If I had done what they wanted my programs would be as dull as their classes! I knew my purpose well and clear: to show how Nature behaves without cluttering its beauty with abtruse mathematics. They charged me with being superficial and trivial. The academics were a special triumph for me. "My first TV series on demonstrations in physics - titled"Why Is It So" were now seen and heard over the land. ![]() My name is Julius Sumner Miller, and physics is my business." He introduced each episode with the line: "How do you do, ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls. " Why Is It So?" (his eventual stock phrase), was broadcast from 1963 to 1986 and became an instant hit, the 1960s program became "Demonstrations in Physics" (also called "Science Demonstrations" when it was aired on American Public television). Due to budget contraints the offer was withdrawn but later an agreement was reached for Sumner Miller to host his own science based TV series. When asked how much money he wanted he replied he never asked, he listened to an offer then "multiplied it by a factor between two and ten". Shortly after, he was offered a job presenting science for ABC television. 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, Sumner 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 it to work and loudly exclaimed "Australian straws ain’t worth a damn". A paper straw does not have the strength but if you pinch the end, the trapped air acts as a piston, easily piercing the Potato. In an improvised physics demonstration he attempted to drive a straw through a raw potato. Sumner Miller's first television appearance in Australia was on "Bob Sanders People" in 1963. ![]() He is best known in Canada for his "mad professor" work on the 1971 TV series " The Hilarious House of Frightenstein". Miller appeared on a semi-regular basis, performing physics experiments, on Steve Allen's late night TV show in Hollywood, syndicated by Westinghouse. College in Torrance, California, to maximum student enrollments due to his great popularity.įrom 1962 to 1964, he was Disney's "Professor Wonderful" on new introductions, filmed at Disneyland, to the syndicated reruns of " The Mickey Mouse Club". He was to go on to the Physics Department of the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (1949-1951) and the Physics Department at El Camino College, California (1952-1974).įrom 1963 to 1986 he was the visiting lecturer for the Physics Department of the University of Sydney and from 1965 to 1985, the US Air Force Academy.Ī student of Albert Einstein and lifelong friend, Fact|date=April 2008 he was instantly recognizable by his casual hair and horn-rimmed spectacles. In 1937 he obtained employment in the Physics Department of Dillard University, a private, black liberal arts college in New Orleans. Sumner Miller graduated with a Master in Physics from Boston University in 1933 but due to the Depression worked as a servant for the next two years during which time he married Alice Brown they were to have no children, but he was to go on to reach millions of children through his popular science programs. His Lithuanian mother spoke 12 languages, Fact|date=April 2008 and his father was Latvian. Sumner Miller was born in Billerica, Massachusetts the youngest of nine children. ![]() He is best known for his work on children's television programs. Professor Julius Sumner Miller ( – April 14, 1987), was an American science popularizer. ![]()
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