Adventures In Research

There were many radio shows designed to entertain, and a few that endeavored to teach while entertaining. Adventures In Research was one of those that had the goal of teaching the sciences to both young and old and to make it interesting.

Adventures In Research began broadcasting in the early 1940s and ended its run during the 1950s. Paul Shannon was the host of the show and it was sponsored by Westinghouse and Phillip Thomas, a Westinghouse physicist, wrote the scripts for the show. During its 15-minute time slot, the show featured inventions, inventors and technology that was new and exciting.

The show began with a question and answer format, but eventually evolved into science and technology teaching sessions that were interesting and fun to listen to. Each topic was historically and scientifically accurate and the audience enjoyed hearing about such topics as the atomic bomb.

Informative and entertaining, the show began with the lead: “Learn! Investigate! Instruct! Urging new generations to Carry forward the work of progress for humanity… Listen to the voice of science!”

The show brought about a new interest in science and the dramatized versions of the show were very entertaining to both young and old in the audience. Some of the inventions featured by the show were the automobile, machine gun, typewriters and penicillin.

We have 27 episodes of the series to add to RUSC over the coming weeks. Some intriguing episodes of Adventures in Research to watch out for are:

• Piece of Silk
• The King of Ice
• Dirty Hands
• Mariah Coventry
• George Westinghouse
• The Immigrant Inventor

Adventures in Research was a forerunner of other educational radio shows that became popular during the 1940s and continue to bring entertaining and educational messages in today’s new world of computers and the Internet.

Happy listening my friends,