Mark Kennedy and Warren Smith
Author: Gaylene Opal-Deitering, LSA Student Academic Affairs
Photographer: Esther Eppele, Department of Psychology
Gadgets and gizmos, baubles and bits, lenses, globes and toy cars abounded as I entered the inner sanctum of Warren Smith and Mark Kennedy, who are the creative geniuses behind all of the demonstrations that are so important to the Physics lectures. These are just a few of the tools that they use to render complicated physics theories into understandable real world lessons.
Warren Smith (left) and Mark Kennedy (right)
After I was cheerfully greeted in the lecture hall at Dennison, Warren and Mark (who was sporting a tee shirt that declared “Pħysics is Phun”) gave me a guided tour of their supply closets and work/storage area. Crisco and Kentucky bluegrass seed, vinegar and metal filings, beakers and balloons, a modified exercise bike, various gyroscopes and other things that spin and tip and explode and conduct electricity filled numerous tidy shelves. It was a mad scientist’s wonderland!
Warren is a U of M alum who has been working here since 1986. Prior to that he spent time in the Air Force in cryptographic communications, and also did a stint in industry learning machining and electronics. Mark, who joined the team 7 years ago, retired from 25 years of teaching high school Physics, Math, Astronomy, and Reading, and he also did time in industry. All of this experience has given them the skills to create and assemble the components needed for each experiment. They then teach the professor how to assemble and use the experiment for maximum effect. Although they have had different jobs over the years, both of them love what they do here in the Physics demonstration lab. In fact they had to really think hard when asked what they would do when they retired. Mark has already retired from one career, and Warren actually laughed at the question. It doesn’t seem as if either of them really wants to do anything other than this. It’s not just a job; it’s a creative and exciting journey.
Their task is clear: prepare upwards of 30 interesting demonstrations each day to clearly and simply illustrate the basic principles of physics. But it seems that their personal mission goes far beyond. They want students to get fired up while learning how the world works. They use common everyday items alongside scientific instruments to create thrilling sensory displays that explore and explain the physics of sound, electricity, motion, magnetism and more. The excitement they feel seems to radiate into the work of their hands. They even give up 18 Saturdays during the fall and winter terms to put on the “Saturday Morning Physics” lectures which are free and open to the public. I was very impressed with how excited both Warren and Mark are about the outreach programs the Physics Department is involved in. With a twinkle in his eye Warren even treated me to a few demonstrations, and let me play for a moment with a water hammer. Then there was the “Killer Capacitor”. Designed and built in-house, it is one of their favorites. It illustrates magnetic power, electrical influence, and so much more. Watching an empty Coke can being blown into two pieces using only a magnetic field is pretty impressive.
This is the kind of career fulfillment that we all hope to achieve someday. To touch the lives of students, to have the respect and admiration of one’s peers, and to make a positive impact on the world at large are lofty goals that Warren and Mark seem to have achieved. Even as a person who can barely add two numbers together I was convinced, Physics IS phun!
