Lynn Poole
| Lynn Poole | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lynn D. Poole August 11, 1910 Eagle Grove, Iowa, USA |
| Died | April 14, 1969 Los AngelesA |
| Alma mater | Western Reserve University |
| Occupation | Writer, television personality, public relations officer |
| Employer | The Johns Hopkins University |
| Spouse(s) | Gray Johnson Poole |
Lynn Poole (August 11, 1910 – April 14, 1969) was the creator and host of an early U.S. science television program, The Johns Hopkins Science Review (1948–1955), and the author of more than 20 popular science books. In 2002, Patrick Lucanio and Gary Coville wrote that "In retrospect, Lynn Poole created one of those unique series that allowed television to fulfill its idealized mission as both an educational and an entertainment medium." The "pioneering program" made Poole a "surprise star". Marcel LaFollette argues that contemporary science television such as NOVA and the Discovery Channel are derived from the innovations of Poole and others.
Poole was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa. He received his bachelor's degree from Western Reserve University in 1936, and a master's degree in 1937. In 1938 he joined the staff of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where he directed the education department. In 1941 he married Gray Johnson, then working as a journalist at The Evening Sun. Following service during World War II as a public relations officer for the VII Bomber Command, in 1946 he joined Johns Hopkins University as its first director of public relations.
Poole began producing the weekly, live television program The Johns Hopkins Science Review in 1948. Poole was not educated as a scientist, but he nonetheless wrote most of the programs, and acted as its on-air host and interviewer. As LaFollete describes it, he was a "new phenotype" and "created the persona of the scientist's facile promoter and authoritative interpreter." Each week's half-hour show typically introduced one or more guests, often from the Johns Hopkins faculty and staff. The guest might show how a scientific apparatus such an electron microscope or an oscilloscope worked, or would briefly explain scientific ideas to the viewers. In the December 5, 1950 episode, the live broadcast of a fluoroscope screen was used by doctors in New York and Chicago to diagnose the injuries to a machinist in the hospital in Baltimore. This show demonstrated the medical possibilities both of the fluoroscope and of television itself. In the April 21, 1952 episode, a scientist drank a solution containing the radioactive isotope of iodine, and then followed its progress in his own body with a Geiger counter. Poole occasionally did demonstrations himself, such as eating a grasshopper on live television. The guests included national figures like rocket scientist Wernher von Braun (October 20, 1952). Some shows served as conduits for public information, as in the show of April 3, 1951 on biological warfare, which featured Norman Kiefer of the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
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