My fifth grader was asked to do a two page research paper on a well-known inventor for his science class. The name he came home with was Henry Simpson.
After 15 minutes on the web, I figured there must have been a mistake -- they couldn't have meant we should study a Portuguese economist/banker, a British artist from the early part of this century, or "The Queen's Veterinary" who was found drowned in August of 1900.
Matt went back to the teacher to tell her we couldn't find anything, but she must have been busy because she passed him off saying, "A lot of kids are having that problem." The next day I went to school with Matt to see which of these non-inventers they wanted us to cover, and found out the name was Henry Sampson ("a" not "i").
So, we "Googled" this guy. At least we could see he was an inventor -- he invented the cell phone. . . Wait a minute -- one website credits him with the cell phone and another says it was Martin Cooper with Motorola. It turns out there is quite a divide, with most websites falling cleanly on either side. The situation is compounded because Henry Sampson is Black. Some web sites even have running dialogs that, but for their venue, would be quite bloody as people bash out their frustrations about racial bigotry, preferential treatment, and who really created the most important inventions of our time. I was surprised at how many myths have just made their way into mainstream culture and probably will never be debunked!
Suddenly this was more than a fifth grade report. It was a learning experience in the veracity of the web, how easily information can be misconstrued and and then disseminated, and also how to dig out difficult facts for research. I think it was more than either Matthew or I bargained for!
Let me tell you a bit about Mr. Sampson, just a little bit because this isn't Matt's report. (But beware! You should probably verify EVERYTHING I say, because my info has come largely from that ubiquitous and sometimes deleterious web.) Sampson is a brilliant nuclear physicist who has contributed much in the field of propellants for heavy rocket motors. He has held very high-level positions with space test programs and as a head chemical engineer with the US Navy.
I found three patents under his name, but my time is limited, so there may be more. Two deal with rockets and the last is the one that probably started the whole cell phone debacle in the first place -- he co-invented the "gamma-electric cell" with a man named George H. Miley. (Now, why is it that nowhere on the web could I find anyone crediting Miley with the invention of the cell phone? Ask me about that personally, and I will tell you all about my theories on that one. Interesting phenomena are lurking about here!)
Because I needed to know for certain whether or not Sampson had anything to do with the cell phone, I pulled up the gamma electric cell patent and skim-read it. Just so you know, I was a history major in college, and although I minored in math, I did not take physics, let alone study nuclear physics. So, I understood only the basics of the patent, after multiple readings, and nothing I read led me to believe that the gamma electric cell had even the remotest connection to cellular phone technology. So, much of the info we were gleaning for the report was false, and we needed to dig deeper for our research.
Now, Matthew is supposed to do the aforementioned report, but he is also supposed to dress up like the inventor and give a presentation next week -- with props! Sorry chum, but there is not enough info available for a fifth grader (let alone his mother) to glean for a two page paper and such a presentation that will captivate other fifth graders. After describing the basics of the gamma electric cell to Matt, I asked him to summarize it for his paper, and he looked at me all glassy-eyed. So, I figured we would need to extrapolate, and we began researching everything around Sampson. What a project!
Interestingly, he is most well-known for his historical research and published books about African-Americans in the film industry. From my limited understanding, he is the preeminent authority in the world for that research. Now that is something cool!
Yesterday Matt and I finished his rough draft. According to the rubric sent home as a guide for the final paper, we would have gotten a "C" -- we couldn't fill the required two double-spaced pages on an inventor who really did patent some neat things but who is so little known that he didn't have easily accessible published facts about much of his life.
So I went to school again today to figure it out what we should do. Our next research options were periodicals in university libraries or purchasing Sampson's books on film to see if the back flap gave any more biographical information on the man-- not quite what I would expect Matt's teachers to expect of him. I caught up with the science teachers, and it was as I had light-heartedly expected -- the teacher giving out the assignments had mistakenly thought that Sampson developed the cell phone, initial searches confirmed the fact, and surely that topic would be something of interest to fifth graders. That crazy web again! It has really made me wonder what Sampson thinks about it all -- does he know that fifth graders nationwide are giving reports about his gamma cell that led cell phone technology to advance to its now present speed of communication? What a hoot! How could I name my own inventions to become equally famous?
Today we will begin a new strategy for this report, again. But, I must admit my mind has been greatly enlarged the past few days, and my brain has had quite a lot of new material on which to chew. So, even though at times I have been extremely frustrated, kudos to the science teachers for unwittingly giving me a great ride.
