Up for auction a VERY RARE "The Absent-Minded Professor" Hubert Alyea Signed 3X5 Card.

ES-558

Hubert

Newcombe Alyea (October

10, 1903 – October 19, 1996) was an American professor of chemistry at Princeton University. His

explosive chemistry demonstrations earned him the nickname "Dr.

Boom." He was famous around the world for his "zany, eccentric"

public lectures on science, which "were as much performance as professorship."

Alyea served as inspiration for the title character in the 1961 film The Absent-Minded

Professor. In 1984, Alyea received the Joseph Priestley award. The New York Times described his Princeton lectures as

follows: “Dr. Alyea had a genius for bringing science to life in the classroom.

With his 'armchair chemistry', he endowed chemical principles with the drama

and verve of a sound-and-light show, which now and then burned his suits beyond

repair. His hands flew above test tubes and Bunsen burners. Amid explosions and

swishing clouds of carbon dioxide he explained the mysteries of chemistry with

contagious enthusiasm”. According

to Time Magazine, he

“lectured with an animated, dynamic style that drew enthusiastic audiences of

all ages”. “Grimacing with fiendish delight”, Life Magazine reported at the

time, “he sets off explosions, shoots water pistols and sprays his audience

with carbon dioxide in the course of 32 harrowing experiments dramatizing

complicated theory”. A shortened version of the lecture was featured

on a 1955 NBC TV series, “Princeton '55: An Exploration into Education through

Television”. It won an Emmy. Alyea also was well known for a lecture he gave

frequently about the nature of scientific discovery. After his retirement,

Alyea continued to deliver lectures at Princeton reunions. His memoir, My

Life as a Chemist, was published in 1991. Alyea

died at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey, on

October 22, 1996, at the age of 93.