Bronx High School of Science - Observatory Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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in one of the finest classes of its kind in the country. Included in the yearis work were original research projects inspired by the teacher, Dr. Edward Frankel, and three and one-half lunchless weeks, inspired by a well-used, formaldehyded frog. Junior descended to the second floor to explore the chemistry department, which this year offered three elective subjects. The first one he saw was Mr. Cherryis course in Advanced General Chemistry. His students were busily sweeping up ill-fated pieces of glass tubing with which they had been attempting to construct wash bottles. Once they overcame this hurdle, the students studied various aspects of physical, colloidal, organic, and food chemistry on an advanced level. Walking into an adjacent laboratory, our explorer was greeted by several worried- looking students holding reagent bottles. Some seemed quite discouraged, their solutions apparently contained nonexistent chemicals! Their course in Analytical Chemistry, taught by Dr. Joseph Harwell, consisted of the study of theory and labora- tory practice of qualitative analysis. Junior crossed over to the College Chemistry room, where Mr. Richard Siegel was teaching a group of twenty students, selected for their high scholastic averages and abilities in chemistry, the rudiments of spoken English. Their course was remark- ably complete, covering the Hrst-year college course and a course in qualitative analysis. On the first floor Zacherly entered what appeared to be a glorified garage, in which a few boys were engaged in the exploration of the inside of an automobile. This, of course, was Automotive Physics, from which the boys finally emerged experts on every phase of auto mechanics. Next door was the Radio Physics laboratory, Junior did not linger there since he was oppressed by the silence accompanying two dozen boys making elaborate slide-rule calculations. Fifteen brave individuals, carefully chosen by the department, were observed in the College Physics class taught by Mr. Herman Gewirtz. This was an advanced general physics course, for which many of the boys received placement in college. Do you know what effect Newton7s laws had on civilization? Or donlt you care? Well, our Junior next witnessed a class in the History and Development of Science, in which this and similar topics were discussed. Our explorer next moved to the math department, which this year offered a va.riety of elective subjects. Une of these was Math 87, covering advanced algebra and solid geometry, and including as one of its less popular features a Regents examina- tion. Math 81, called a umodernw course in Twelfth Year Mathematics, included funda- mentals of symbolic logic fsome snoggles are lukesl, group and set theory, function theory, and an introduction to calculus and analytic geometry. Math 9, a course for selected stu- dents, covered first-year calculus and analytic geometry. College Math, taught by Mrs. Henrietta Mazen, was an advanced placement course for the best qualified students. These godlike creatures appeared unconcerned with lower MIS if : ' - '

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SIENHCPR IHLIEQ II TIMES ANN SARNEY When in the course of the school year it becomes necessary for programs to be arranged, the Science Junior is faced with a weighty problem: that of choosing his elective subjects. This choice is made especially diliicult by a conHict between two emotions. One of these concerns the need to take courses suitable as college prepara- tion. The other is related to another need: that of satisfying the ever-present urge to get away with the least possible work. An interested Junior might appeal to the Guidance Department for help and find his first alternative supportedg he might ask a Senior and be promptly advised to base his choice on the second. Let us suppose that this year one such Junior, whom we shall call Zacherly fto avoid resemblance to Scienceites living or deadj, was at this point confused enough to want to see the elective classes for him- self, he might have attempted to make a tour of the building for that purpose. As a typically confused Scienceite, our student started his inspection in a far corner of the third Hoor. He first observed what he found to be a class in Blood anal Urine Analysis. Amid the clash of test tubes and the clatter of pipettes fat 351.00 apiecel, he noticed a brave student ana- lyzing his own blood under a microscope, only to discover he was so anemic he could not possibly be alive. Our Junior, less hardy than most, .retreated to a corner of f A the room where he was greeted by other squeamish souls waiting for the tea to come to a boil. fTea, did you say? - An editorial attempt at discretionj Next, in the Home Technology laboratory, Zacherly saw several girls surveying their latest creations-popoversl He was told that they also engaged in such mundane activities as the study of textiles and nutrition, but after a taste of one popover, he did not care. On his way to the laboratory, Zack met two dozen or so noisy characters armed with butterfly nets, cigar boxes, and the like. These lucky few, members of a Field Biology class, often escaped at midday for field trips to the wide and fertile fields of Van Cortlandt Park. There they observed the various species of Hora and fauna in their natural habitats. In the course of the year the class also visited such places as the Bronx Zoo and a genetics laboratory at the Museum of Natural History. The College Biology class was next on our student's itinerary. While the specially-selected students munched birthday cake and potato sticks, they took part 27

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forms of mathematics, the use of calculus made up for their apparent inability to add and subtract. Math ll, or Mathematics of Science, known familiarly as The Computer Thing, was next on Zaeherly's agenda. ln this cou.rse students applied mathematical principles to the solution of everyday, household problems, such as the computation of an eclipse and the programming of an IBM 650 computer. An apparently unique feature of the course was that its teachers often disagreed on the answers to particular problems. Our student made a tour of the Azlvaneecl Art rooms, viewing the newest master- pieces of the students, and then visited a class in Advanced llfleclzanical Drawing, in which budding young architects were presented with the formidable problem of designing a house. Junior left, then, for a visit to the English department, where he viewed Dr. Isabel Gordon's class in College English. Students fortunate enough to gain admission to this class became lj Expert typists, as a result of practice on numerous research papers, and Qi aware of the dramatic irony and poetic symbolism involved in the way Hamlet, Job, Electra, and Antigone ate their respective breakfasts. Next Zack saw a class in World Literature, taught by Mr. Max Nadel. Here students exhibiting special interest in the great books of the world received an inten- sive course with stress on that subject. Supplementing this, other topics were included in the curriculum to stimulate the students' collective imagination, these included such erudite subjects as spelling and grammar. Our student, by that time thoroughly exhausted, finally flopped into a chair in the Guidance Office, determined to repeat third-year French and elementary chemistry during his Senior year. mo Sago cience oe:5n,f Hear the deep-throated roar of the mighty engines! See the sparks Hy from the metal as the motors whirl faster and faster! Smell the choking exhaust fumes as the engines develop the final burst of power! Where are you? Not in the Automotive Physics shop, that's for sure. Because of an unfortunate one year delay in transporting lab equipment to the new building, the lab is barren of such essentials as wheels, a body, and screwdrivers. Let it not be said, however, that paltry supplies ever deter.red Mr. Heitner and his faithful band of juvenile delinquents from investigating the greasy world of the automobile. In the course of the year, the students in Mr. Heitnerls class have discovered many fascinating and obscure facts. For instance, did you know that 9319 of all cars that get stuck do so on the Whitestone Bridge? That's just one gem from a veritable greasepit of information to be discovered in room 123. Perhaps the most enjoyable and profitable lesson in Auto Physics was the one in which Mr. Heitner showed his students how to start a car without a key, or, as the trade calls it, Hjump the sparkf, During the three weeks following that lesson, twenty-six cars were reported stolen in the Bronx Science area alone. Who says science doesnit pay? I EFF GREENFIELD 29