Mad Scientist coming to Memorial Library

Mad Science’s Paul Gilmore performs an experiment to a group of children during a past Mad Science presentation. Gilmore will be presenting this year’s Mad Science event at Liberal Memorial Library starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Coordinator Derick Brock said the presentation will be fun for all the participants. Courtesy photoELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times

Children in Liberal will soon have the chance to see a real-life mad scientist thanks to Liberal Memorial Library. 

The Mad Science group will be hosting a presentation at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of the “Libraries ROCK!” summer reading program. 

“Our presentation will be about sound and the science behind it and we’ll be presenting it to roughly 100 day care facilities throughout June and July in Oklahoma and Southwest Kansas,” Mad Science Coordinator Derick Brock said. “What the program will be about is we’ll be exploring how sound works like the difference between high and low as far as the tones work, we’ll show them some activities they can do at home like the singing glasses where glasses are filled with different levels of water to create a pentatonic scale. We’ll also show them how to make a homemade harmonica they can play on. We’re also going to show them examples of different toys they can use around the house to show how sound waves work and then at the end we’ll create a song using everything they were taught. The most exciting part is it’s truly geared toward all ages from kindergarten all the way to older elementary schoolers, really everyone. They’re going to learn a lot but they’ll also have a lot of fun.”

Brock said Tuesday’s presentation will appeal to people of all ages. 

“The audience is going to see music like they’ve never seen it before and learn more about how music works, how you hear the music and especially for parents, they want activities they can do with their children at home and this is a great place to pick up some of them,” Brock said. “A lot of music shows have people with really nice instruments but aren’t sure how to teach it but with the Mad Science presentation, there are things you can take with you and can apply to stuff in your own kitchens like a glass jar or dried rice in a frappuccino bottle or even your closet door. So they’ll learn not only about how sound works but they’ll also be able to have fun and make music.”

And Liberal is not the only stop for Mad Science this summer, Brock said, with other performances that will take place in Hugoton, Sublette, Buffalo, Okla. and Beaver, Okla., among other places. 

“One thing we really like about performing in Liberal is we’re treated about like rock stars because we always put on a great show and we’re just slightly unusual,” Brock said. “Then for the children in the audience to get excited about science, that enthusiasm is so contagious and it makes us even more excited to do our show because we know we’re bringing something they might not otherwise see.”

Overall, Brock said, it will be a good show for those in the audience. 

“The presenter will be Paul Gilmore, aka Professor Watt and he’s worked with us for about four years and is currently a high school science teacher in Oklahoma, and he’s great,” Brock said. “He started working with us in college and enjoyed working with Mad Science so much he’s stayed with us and it’s great having a professional educator working with us in the summer time, and he’s not the only one on our staff.”