Webinar: Lyceum Society December 2021 Meeting

Social Chat and Announcements: 11:30 am to 11:45 am

Preliminary Presentation: 11:45 am to 12:30 pm

Speaker: David Haas

Topic: The Two Inventors Who Make Airline Travel Safe

Mandatory physical security screening for all airline passengers became law in the United States of America on January 5, 1973. Walk-through metal detectors and low-dose X-ray scanners made this possible.  Two Philips engineers invented the first low-dose X-ray, called the Saferay, in 1968. What motivated the two engineers to invent it? This presentation tells you the story.  Fifty years later, we see that this screening process is successful and has made aviation safe from most skyjackings, criminal threats and terrorists.

Furthermore, security “Access Control Screening” at facilities, events and perimeters frequently requires physical security screening of all individuals. I am sure you know this from personal experience! (See the recent article, “The Two Inventors who made Airline Travel Safe” (May 10, 2021, Lemelson Center, Smithsonian Institution https://invention.si.edu/two-inventors-who-made-airline-travel-safer).

CV: David Haas received his BA in Physics and PhD in Biophysics in protein crystallography and molecular biology at the State University of NY at Buffalo.  For the next five years, he performed basic research in protein crystallography at several institutions in Europe, Israel and the United States.  In 1970, he joined Philips Electronic Instruments in Mt Vernon NY as Principal Scientist for X-ray systems, working on analytical instruments and designing some of the first airport security X-ray systems that were used worldwide during the 1970s.  Conceiving the idea of a self-expiring security ID (Visitor badge), David and his wife, Sandra, formed Temtec Inc. which developed and manufactured high-tech visitor and temporary IDs for more than 20 years under the brand name TEMPbadge.  Temtec Inc. was sold to Brady Worldwide Corporation in 2002.  David & Sandra Haas have more than 100 patents to their credit as well as many technical and scientific publications.

Dr. Haas has published a book by ASIS International entitled:  “Personal Identification – Its Modern Development and Security Implications".  It reviews the history and reasons for modern personal identification documents such as Passports, National Identity Cards, etc.  Dr. Haas has also published a monograph on the development of Electronic Security Screening for Aviation Passenger Screening between 1968-1973

Main Presentation: 12:30 pm to 2:15 pm

Speaker: Henry Kaminer

Topic: How to Speak to an Alien

Outline: This presentation should leave you with more questions than answers. I touch on the question of extraterrestrial life—how do you know it if you see it? I touch on the nature of intelligence and its relation to communication, and on the how evolution creates intelligent life. My ideas have also evolved. The most recent influences are from these authors: Peter Godfrey-Smith (Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness), Sy Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness), M. Mitchel Waldrop (Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos), Dr. Roger White (Complexity and Chaos), and Lisa Feldman Barrett (How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain). I urge you to explore these sources, which I found fascinating.

CV:  I was born in the Bronx in 1934 and have spent most of my life in the greater New York area. I was fascinated by science as a child and am very grateful for my education at Bronx High School of Science. I graduated from The City College of New York and was on my way toward a career in biochemistry, but my interest turned more towards medicine. My medical degree is from NYU College of Medicine. My interest shifted from research to clinical activity. All aspects of medicine are intriguing, but I was drawn to the subject that was most mysterious, which I understood least. This was psychiatry, the intersection of mind and body. I have devoted much time to teaching medical students and residents. I worked with patients suffering from psychosomatic and neurological issues. They still interest me. My academic appointments were at NYU Medical School and Rutgers Medical School. My current title is Grandpa.