Living Museum of Scientists
The ‘Red Carpet’ at the entrance to Quest Middle School was filled with famous scientists, paparazzi and autograph seekers Thursday night. The first annual “Living Museum of Scientists” started with a flourish as the white stretch limousine pulled up and opened its doors for the arriving scientists.
“I think that the Living Museum is a unique opportunity to teach people about famous scientists,” said Madison Stovall who won an award for her presentation on Rachel Carson. Carson is best known for discovering the long term effects of the misuse of synthetic chemical pesticides on the environment.
Each student wrote a research paper on their scientist and then assembled costumes and dressed as their scientist.
Scientist arrived by limousine and were interviewed by the media. Autograph seekers lined the ‘red carpet’ and greeted the attendees.
“It has been a wonderful experience learning about famous scientists and the teachers who supported me with my project made it even nicer,” commented Rebecca Daigle, who gave an award winning presentation on Virginia Apgar. Apgar is best known as the developer of the Apgar test, a method of assessing the health of newborn babies that has drastically reduced infant mortality over the world.
As parents and guests approached each display they pressed the “blue button” and were transported back in time to the scientist’s laboratory. The student scientist impersonators came to life and gave a presentation on the work of the scientist they portrayed with a live presentation.
Twenty-eight scientists were impersonated including Pythagoras, Descartes, Dumas, Marconi, Salk, Galileo and Da Vinchi.
“While the Living Museum of Scientists was fun it was also interesting. We learned about great men and women of science and why we should celebrate them,” said Elijah Dukes who won an award for his portrayal of Mathieu Orfila. Orfila is known as the founder of the science of toxicology.
