Coolidge Corner Theatre Brookline, MA
John Huth
Donner Professor of Science, Harvard University
The Wizard of Oz— SoS Jr.: Backyard meteorology
Program Description
If Dorothy Gale had known how to read the weather, could she have avoided her trip over the rainbow? For thousands of years before the rise of modern instruments and computer models, people forecast the weather by watching the sky—and their methods still work today. At this event, Harvard Professor John Huth explores the science of weather and shares some basic observational skills that will help you forecast the weather just by looking out your window!
Recommended age: 6+
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Presented At
Coolidge Corner Theatre Brookline, MA
Film Synopsis
Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home.
When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City to see the Wizard (Frank Morgan), and en route they meet a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) that needs a brain, a Tin Man (Jack Haley) missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) who wants courage. The Wizard asks the group to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) to earn his help. Based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and nominated for six Academy Awards, this icon of American popular culture is notable for its groundbreaking use of Technicolor.
About the Speaker
Professor John Huth works mainly in the field of experimental particle physics. His main interest is in electroweak symmetry breaking and is a member of the ATLAS Collaboration at the European Center for Nuclear Physics (CERN).
The ATLAS Experiment, along with its sister experiment, CMS, discovered the Higgs Boson in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Professor Huth is working on the decay of the Higgs into pairs of bottom quarks, and also on upgrades to the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer.
He is the author of the book The Lost Art of Finding Our Way, which describes techniques and cultures of navigation predating the invention of the nautical chronometer. This book is an outgrowth of his course Primitive Navigation. He also teaches the online course Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather.
Professor Huth is a member of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s Venture Faculty Program. The goal of the program is to foster multidisciplinary studies that cut across the boundaries of traditional academic fields.