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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1966)
It Piairoefarflyiririi It takes ingenuity, skill in electronics and a flair for the dramatic, but you "don't have to be an astronomist to run a planetarium" according to the man who is responsible for entertaining thousands of visi tors each year at the Univer sity of Nebraska's Ralph Mueller Planetarium. Aided by his staff of four part-time employees, Allan Griesemer plans the six year ly shows at the Planetarium, writes the scripts, handles the complicated visual and audio equipment, narrates lectures and in his spare time designs and builds much of the ac cessory material needed to conduct the shows. New Summer Shows Each sky show in the plan etarium runs approximately two months and may be de signed around basic astron omy, current events or myth ology. The scripts run ap proximately 45 minutes and are written by Griesemer and Ms staff. A new summer sky show, entitled "Nebraska Nights," READY TO FIRE. A rocket seta prepared to be fired Into flight. t L, ONE MORE CHECK. launching of an Astron Sky T began last week. The show depicts the night sky of the Great Plains and includes visual experiences of meteor showers and the northern lights (Aurora Borealis). Spe cial emphasis is being given to the recent success of the Surveyor space craft in ex ploring the moon. Daily Shows Shows are held daily Mon day, Tuesday, Friday, at 2:45 p.m. during the summer months; at 2:30 and 3:45 Saturdays, Sundays and holi days; and at 2:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thurs day. An innovation in the eve ning show according to Griese mer, will be a star gazing party following the evening show in the planetarium. The star gazing party will be held only during the summer months and only when the sky is clear he indicated. Although the number of people seeing the show varies from season to season, the 1964 attendance was 29.000 said Griesemer, and 25,000 people viewed the sky show in 1965. The 1966 season would probably be a record year with 1,800 visitors recorded by May. Spring Tours May and April are usually Teachers LPr Afeek Last week could have been termed a week in space for the 55 elementary teachers at tending the summer seminar on aerospace education. At first, the week began as any other week during the summer session class routine. Beginning Thursday the aerospace program began to intensify until by Friday it was nearly 1,000 feet in space. Home-made Rockets decorated with polka dots, stripes, or catch ing names soared into the sky Friday from home-made launching pads. The rockets, called Astron Sky Hooks, were 15 inch models made by the elementary teachers as a lab assignment. The Astron Sky Hooks used solid fuel and required a 12 volt charge which was ob tained from automobile bat teries. Concerned With Safety "We're concerned with safe ty," R. Bruce Reski, a lecturer with the NASA Spacemobile, said. "Often children want to know how to build rockets, and, here they are right along with their parents." Many of the teachers had brought their children to watch the show. A complete model set-up was designed by the seminar group. Tracing teams and re covery teams followed the flights of the soaring rockets from the launch site at Sea crest Field to a near-by corn field. Two prominent aerospace lecturers prompted the sac cesses of the following day's launching. Thursday, Harold P. Pluimer, Regional Director for Aerospace Education with the U.S. Air Force; and Dr. John Furbay, lecturer for Trans World Airlines, empha ' at. i' " t xH tiS, nr .,'1 if - :: Mrs. Doris Rojeskl and Richard Racke recheck the Hook. Needs the busiest months with the spring tours from surround ing schools boosting the at tendance to an average of 2,500 weekly. The 1966 at tendance for those two months was higher than in previous years with 6,000 persons, mostly school children, at tending the shows each month. Although the planetarium has a formal arrangement only with the Lincoln Public Schools which arranges tours for approximately 1,000 Lin coln eighth graders each se mester, the planetarium is one of the favorite field trip stops for many students in schools surrounding Lincoln. An estimated half of the year ly audience is school children according to Griesemer. Projection Machine The word "planetarium" ac Wednesday, July 6, 1966 Dud sized that "education is our first line of defense." Pluimer, in discussing the progress of space said, "Man's flight through life is guided by the power of his knowledge. We are now in volved in the second Renais sance of man with a second awakening. We have been teaching our children to learn to remember and now we are teaching them to understand." He aided that what is call ed the Scientific Revolution is exerting the greatest change on man since the Agri cultural Revolution. The ex plosion of scientific knowledge has been doubling every 15 years for the past 300 years, he said. "What is far more impor tant is what you as teachers teach these little children to take with them," he con cluded. "For every child there is born there is n e w hope for the universe." Furbay elaborated upon the "wonderful age in which we live" by saying that teachers must "teach and educate the children to be discriminat ing." "People who are afraid of the world have not seen enough of it," he stressed. New Countries Furbay indicated that the "greatest single thing that is happening to our world is the emergence of new countries." He explained that, like the U.S., the emerging nations are going through three stages: The first stage is an imita tion of what civilized man is doing. The second stage is an as similation where the emerg- 1 J , , jrogenyilfy. tually designates the machine which projects simulated stars onto an inverted cup shaped ceiling called the dome or sky, although in pop ular usage the word has also come to designate the view ing room as well as the ma chine. Series Of Lights "The machine," said Gries emer, "is simple in princi ple." It consists of a series of lights produced by a single bulb which projects light through several tubular de vices, punctured so that light shining through on the dome will fall in the exact position of the star or constellation desired. A control panel op erated by the lecturer con trols the different stars and constellations as well as the pace ing nations begin a selection process in which they screen what they want to borrow from civilized nations. Creative Burst Furbay described the third stage as a creative burst. "Emerging people have their creative bursts in a field which nobody else has en tered." This new field, Furbay pre dicted, would be the develop ment of human relations. The lecturer, which was the first of the World News and Views topic series, was pre ceded by an Aerospace lunch eon. Speaking at the luncheon was Col. William H. Bowers, professor of Aerospace Studies at NU. Special guests were Dr. Stephen Watkins, super intendent of schools, and Mrs. Phil Sorenson. Professors Boost Staff About 85 visiting professors from universities and public schools across the nation bol ster the University of Nebras ka's summer staff of 386 fac ulty members, according to Frank E. Sorenson, director of summer sessions. Besides filling staff vacan cies, these professors bring an enrichment to both the student and the department, he said. Greater Breadth "It is the policy of the Uni versity to bring to campus each summer the most out standing teachers from other campuses in order to expose students to a greater breadth of views and information than would be available from our local staff," Sorenson stated. (Con't.PageZCoI.1) inside . . . Morrill Hall Page 3 NU's Morrill Hall Museum ranks top among the nation's natural sciences exhibits and experimentations. Centennial Raft Page 2 Nebraska Navy's first ship prepares for its initial launch ing with a crew of three Uni versity students. International Center . . Page 4 NU receives funds for an experimental wheat produc tion center. KNEE-DEEP IN rocket landing. audio-visual portions of the show, he said. The viewing room is a cir cular room with seating ar ranged around the centrally located planetarium. Viewers gaze upward at the darkened dome just as if they were gaz ing at a night sky. Employees Even with 11 scheduled shows and additional group or private shows Greisemer said only four employees are needed to staff the plan etarium. Two of these, includ ing Griesemer, are full-time employees, the other two work part-time. Surprisingly, none of the staff are astronomists. Gries emer, a part-time graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences is studying ge ology; Mrs. Delivee Wright, The Summer Nebraskan Mario C. Meimaroglou " V-a if ' r IX i Educational Views To Be Discussed National views of education al research will be the topic of the Educational Psychology forum being held tomorrow afternoon. Leading discussions for the forum which is open to the general public will be Dr. Robert H. Beezer, a research psychologist with the U.S. Of fice of Education. Research Psychologist As research psychologist, Beezer assists professors of psychology, s o c i ology, and education in colleges and uni versities throughout the na tion in planning research in the behavioral sciences. Much of Beezer's discus sion will involve the views of Students Bound For Kansas City Maybe you can please ev eryone all of the time. At least everyone who goes on the summer weekend trip to Kansas City, Mo., can en joy himself the entire time. The schedule for the July 16-17 venture includes a tour of the Harry S. Truman Library-, and attendance of the Broadway play "Bye Bye, Bir die" at the open air Starlite Theatre, and the Kansas City Athletics-Boston Red Sox base ball game Sunday afternoon. Something for everyone. Mr. Dave Vounkin, manager of the East Campus Union and organizer of the excur sion, said 1:30 p.m. July 11 is the deadline. Any Univer sity student who wishes to go should sign up in the Union Program Office (Room 136). The cost of the trip is $21. This covers round trip trans portation plus all other expen ses except meals, Yowikin said. Participants will return to Lincoln after the Sunday afternoon game. CORN. A recovery team stands Pranmafoc the other full time employee, holds a degree in zoology and is currently working part time toward a doctorate in education. Part-time employee, Bryan McCarty, is an undergraduate studying pre-law and Ernest Bedell, a graduate student in the music department, also has another job as director of music at a Lincoln church. Self-Supporting The Ralph Mueller Plane tarium is named for the late Ralph Mueller who provided funds for the original equip ment and viewing room, but Griesemer said that there were no funds allocated to run the planetarium, to buy new equipment or enlarge facili ties. The planetarium, he said, was supposed to be self-sup A visiting professor from Greece is adding an interna tional dimension to courses and seminars in economics at the University of Nebraska this summer. Dr. Mario C. Meimaroglou. professor of business econom ics at the Athens graduate School of Economics and Com mercial Science in Greece, is serving as a visiting professor of economics under a Ful bright travel grant. Public Lectures In addition to teaching the Office of Education in the area of educational research. Prior to his joining the Of fice of Education, he con ducted research in Europe and the Far East, as well as in the United States, for Co lumbia University, and the American Institutes for Re search. Beezer has taught psycho logy at the Ohio State Univer sity, Gecrge Washington Uni versity, and the University of. Virginia in Arlington, where he currently teaches. Grant Support Dr. Royce R. Ronning. chairman of the department of Educational Psychology and Measurements, explained that the department encour ages all researchers inter ested in obtaining contract supper, from the Office of Education to attend the forum. Visitor Tea Iks On itiF M tap' , ' f - ' TIH.miIh- IT 1 a- , - , ,." ' t M J Sc. SUCCESS! A successfully launched rocket rests in landing position with parachute open. in a near-by cornfield prepare Skill porting. A fee of 50 cents is charged for each adult and 25 cents for children. The 100-seat auditorium is frequently filled to capacity and Griesemer said on oc casion they had, by adding chairs, seated up to 150 view ers in the room. "Fortunately," he said, "it's air-conditioned." Enlargement Discussion He indicated that there had been some discussion of en larging the planetarium's 31 foot dome to 40 feet in diame ter and perhaps the purchase of a larger machine would be possible in the future. Funds for this, he indicated, would not be available unless some provision should be made af ter the final probating of the will of the late Mr. Mueller. No. 4 recce courses and conducting sem inars in the department of economics, he presented the first two public lectures on Greece this month. No Stranger No stranger in America, this is Meimaroglou's second trip to America. He also be came well acquainted with Dr. Wallace Petersen, chairman of the University's Economics department, who lectured for one year at the Athens School of Economics. A firm advocate of interna tional exchange of ideas. Mei marcglcu feels that Ameri cans should put more empha sis on studying the economics of various European countries including Russia, to achieve better understanding. Aid Communication He feels that peoples of the world should learn more than their native tongue, not only to aid communication on trips to foreign countries but to gain understanding by read ing materials prepared by other countries. Ha already has heard of one well-known Nebraskan, former Governor Dwight Gris world. who directed the U.S. Aid program in Greece follow ing World War II. Meimaro glou says that the Greeks to aay are mindful cf the efforts by the U.S. in their behalf and realize that their economic health today had its roots in U.S. programs. Meimaroglou reports that he and his family have found it easy to adjust to American life and have found people in Lincoln very friendly and helpful. The Meimarcglous have a daughter, Maria, 8, who is enjoying life in Lincoln. t. recover successful jf C' i . r i'f i f ft 't.
