PDF (V. 85:2, September 30, 1983)

THE Still CALIFORNIA Spinning? VOLUME 85 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1983 NUMBER 2 A Mechanical Filming 160 Techers hired at $1.25 per hour by Ken Whang The front of the lecture hall greatest reaction to comments Even before fall registra was given a disproportionate on the student houses. He also tion, a Caltech lecture hall was number of women, perhaps, to kept attention by discussing the filled by students when, last disguise the audience as one progress of the production and Sunday afternoon, 160 Techers from a more "normal" college advertising the science writing gathered in- 201 E. Bridge for . than Caltech. In the first two course which has assisted in, the filming of lecture segments rows, there were actually only script writing for the series. of The Mechanical Universe, a dozen or so Techers: the rest The filming went fairly Caltech's physics course for were students from other local smoothly, but many partici television with former Ph 1 lec schools whose attentive heads pants were surprised by the turer, David Goodstein. At the and shoulders are the fore-. amount of time that was asked scheduled starting time of 1 ground for many of of them. After nearly three pm, the students posing as Goodstein's lecture shots. hours of filming, Goodstein students appeared to be ready Sunday's filming session was on his third shirt and many for a lecture to begin. was the last of the lecture students were losing their pa- The lecture hall, home of shooting for The Mechanical tience. freshman physics for many Universe. Scenes involving only "Yawn," said Karen Con years, looked quite the same as Goodstein and a small part of' die, "this is slightly more in usual except for' some tem the lecture audience were teresting than sitting around porary paneling on the front finished during the summer. twiddling my thumbs," walls and a track set up behind The filming on Sunday re Sherry Smith added, the front counter for the televi quired a full lecture hall listen "they're not paying us enough sion camera dolly. Also new in ing and taking notes, reacting and they ran out of food too the physics classroom were to Goodstein's humor, and early," referring to a bribe of phrases from the television , entering and exiting the class five dollar bookstore cer world. Mark Rothschild, the room. Each program of the tificates and a two hour supply associate producer, used a 26'-part series will begin and of cookies. - bullhorn to tell participants to end in the lecture hall, swit But otherwise, it was "nice "settle in" and "stand by." . ching to real life and computer for about the first hour," said The first forty minutes of animated examples during the Bob Bolender. the session was devoted to program. The Mechanical Universe is minor seating· rearrangements In the audience reaction being produced by The Cor in the lecture audience. Each . shots, participants were in poration for Community Col The Mechanical Universe audience participant held up a sign with structed by signs to produce a lege Television. The corpora reaction shots were filmed last Sunday his assigned number, then "chuckle," "big laugh," "big tion is currently working on responded to requests like, "84, groan," or "little groan." one other project, a series on afternoon. Above, looking down from the come on down here to the Goodstein, attempted some computers titled The New audience. Below, looking back. front row." jokes of his own, receiving the Literacy. Liepmann AppOinted ond of the most notable con~ Dr. Hans W. Liepmann has tributors to modern aviation. been appointed the first During the 1940s, he and his Theodore von Karman Pro students at Cal tech studied fessor of Aeronautics at the questions of boundary layer California Institute of flow stability and transition, Technology. The professorship turbulent shear flow, and tran was endowed by aerospace and sonic flow and shock waves, other corporations, founda that helped to lay the ground tions, and individuals-many work for high speed flight. of whom were friends, col His pioneering work in air leagl,Jes, or former students of craft buffeting in 1947 led a Theodore von Karman, who is field of investigators, as did 'his recognized as having con work in rarefied gas flow, tributed more to the fun magneto hydrodynamics and damental understanding of at plasma physics during the photos by Karyn Betzen mospheric and space flight 1950s. Research in turbulent than any other person of our mixing during the 1970s is· age. Dr. T. F. Walkowicz, leading to the evolution of rhe Fantasticks to be Presented president, National Aviation & more efficient combustion in Technology Corporation, was engines and to the development ' chairman of the committee that of a new generation of high Now, from the people who daughter have fallen in love. manipulations and each other. sought funds to endow the energy chemical lasers. His ~ brought you last spring's highly We discover, though,that the They go their separate ways in chair. research in boundary layer acclaimed musical Brigadoon, father's feud is a ruse, arranged to the world, where they learn "It is fitting that Dr. Liep: flows is making important con Caltech proudly presents the only so that the children would that all is not as sweet and sim mann, who now heads the tributions to a new generation fall production of The Fan fall in love, since children will ple as they had imagined. Graduate Aeronautical of more fuel-efficient aircraft. tasticks. The Fantasticks, a act only contrary to their The secret of the play's Laboratories at Caltech Liepmann is well known as joyous celebration of love and parent's wishes. The other longevity lies in its ability to (GALCIT) which von Karman an excellent teacher and for his life, is the world's longest run characters include EI Gallo the communicate the intangible initially guided to world influence on graduate students ning musical of all time, still narrator, and his accomplices, realities of lost love and in preeminence, has been ap who have studied with him and going strong at the Sullivan a moth-eaten actor, and an In nocence with magical music pointed to the professorship moved on into influential roles Theatre in New York, with dian who is very good at death and great wit. named in honor of this in industry and the academic close to 10,000 performances. scenes. Dr. Don Caldwell, head of renowned aeronautics pioneer," world. Eight of his first nine Featured songs in this At the fathers' bidding, EI Caltech's Men's Glee Club, will said Caltech President Marvin students are members of the musical are some great Gallo and his cohorts stage an again direct with his wife Wen L. Goldberger. National Academy of favorites such as "Try to elaborate kidnapping of the dy serving as music director. Liepmann, formerly the Engineering, and two, of the Remember (the Kind of girl, so that the boy will be The cast consists of two Charles Lee Powell Professor National Academy of Sciences. September)", "Soon It's Gonna able to rescue and subsequently Cal tech staff (Susan Cave as of Fluid Mechanics and Ther He has been named by students Rain", and "They Were You". marry her. The couple, Luisa and Pat Houseworth as modynamics, is one of the of Caltech as one of the In The plot concerns two however, discovers the plan the mime), two Caltech outstanding researchers in the stitut~'s most- outstanding feuding fathers whose son and and rejects their fathers' continued on page 4 world in fluid mechanics - and continued on page 4 2 -- THE CALIFORNIA TECH / FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1983 t editorial==~1 About that "Open Letter" In the presentation of an important issue, style is often as im A New Opti.on? portant as content. This was demonstrated last Tuesday morning when, outside of the term's first freshman physics lecture, an "Open Letter to Freshman" criticizing current Rotation policies was distributed. Freshman displays The letter, signed by Behzad Sadeghi, had a public message in his choice.· its three, typeset pages, but the message was clouded over by so many extraneous personal opinions that few had the patience to read it. In addition, the letter was directed quite specifically to freshmen, freshmen who had hardly begun -rotation week. Author Sadeghi alienated some of the upperclass audience im mediately by addressing the letter to freshmen, as though up perclassmen were corrupted and unsaveable. Within the letter he noted that "many upperclassmen unthinkingly follow any ritual photo by Praveen Astnana branded as a 'house tradition.' " He later omitted the qualifying of distributing on Monday of "many," asserting that "Freshmen are subjected to pressures Rotation Week outweighed designed to indoctrinate them into accepting this system by up To Change Rotation these arguments, and that his perclassmen who were themselves indoctrinated during their ideas were so important that Freshman year." He tried to explain in the letter "why we have "If and rational restrictions placed hundreds of upperclassmen who are infuriated" by "what goes on The House system at rea11 y h e means myse Caltech is not perfect, neither some of my friends." The IHC upon our community no longer in the houses," assuming, of course, that this "why" clause is un and MOSH Chris Brennan urg- applied to him. questionably true. I think that many upperclassmen not only is Rotation necessarily. It is doubtful that any procedure ed him to delay publication un- Intelligent discussion re disagreed with these statements, but were also rather offended by til after Rotation Week, citing: quires not only logical this judgement of their characters.

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