Archive for January 7th, 2009

Young Scientists Exhibition

Grandad January 7th, 2009

I see the Young Scientists has opened its doors for another year.

Believe it or not, I was an entrant once.  Only once.  Never again.

In those days it was the Aer Lingus Young Scientists Exhibition, and it was held in the Rotunda Room of the Mansion House.

I can’t remember what year it was.  It was either the very first one in ‘64 or it may have been the following year.  How things have changed.

I see young Tommy has made another bid for stardom, and has an entry in.

What struck me was his comment that he had to get his presentation back from the printers!  What?  Printers?  In my day, we scribbled our notes in copybooks, tore out the pages and thumbtacked them onto the cubicle.  Next thing, entrants will be hiring PR experts, decorators and makeup artists?

In my day, we muddled through.  There was a sense of adventure and a pioneering spirit.  Not for us the glamour of a flashy computer display.  Not for us the concept of a video presentation.  We threw things together and hoped they worked when the judges came around.  Meccano, string and sticky tape were the order of the day.

I had a damned good entry.

“An exploration of the theory that there is more than one way to skin a cat [with live demonstrations]”

It didn’t win, but I got a certificate and a court summons.

I showed a lot of promise even in those days.