From Woody's Couch

Our Playbook on OSU History

Month: November 2012 (page 1 of 2)

Not so long ago, in an OSU engineering lab nearby…

What do you get when you combine 20 years of research, $5 million, and a Star Wars Imperial all-terrain vehicle? Ohio State’s Adaptive Suspension Vehicle (ASV), nicknamed the “Walker.”   Developed by electrical engineer Robert McGhee and mechanical engineer Kenneth Waldron, along with a 60-member team of students and technical assistants, the ‘Walker’ was developed under a research contract from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA).

Robert McGhee with the “Walker”, 1985

The ASV was 17 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 10.5 feet high, and had six legs to support its three-ton aluminum body.  It was designed to carry cargo for industrial and military applications over rough, mountainous, icy or muddy terrain, and was capable of crossing 9-foot-wide ditches or 7-foot-high walls.  A forward mounted radar system scanned the terrain ahead, and fed that data, along with instructions from the operator’s joystick, into the 16 onboard computers that coordinated and controlled the ASV’s legs. From there, the computers moved each leg individually across its individual axes of motion (up and down, forward and back, and closer or farther from the ASV’s body).

According to press clippings here at the Archives, McGhee, the developer, had long held an interest in the relationship between living creatures and machines, and the inspiration for the ASV came from the legs of a horse named Teddy he had bought for his daughter’s 10th birthday. Much of what McGhee learned from his time as an engineer and from Teddy went into the design of the ASV.

Research testing, 1986

After difficulties with cold-weather tests, DARPA began to lose interest in the ASV.  After failing to win a competition for an autonomous rover for NASA, Ohio State later began exploring the vehicle’s use in the logging industry. Unfortunately, that’s where the paper trail ends here at the Archives. If anyone knows the rest of the story, give us a shout!

Trimmings from the delicious OSU-Michigan rivalry

Michigan game action (from left to right), 1928, 1932, 1952

For more than 100 years OSU has been playing the University of Michigan in football, and from that long rivalry, the Archives has accumulated a lot of stories, from the mundane to the unexpected to the downright dangerous.

#1 – Contract, 1928

First the mundane: Click on the first image and you’ll see how the contracts outlining how gate receipts would be distributed looked in the old days. We particularly love the clause that starts: “THAT the Football teams representing the above named institutions shall play a game of football…” Well, what else were they going to play – water polo? But these things must be specific in order to be legally enforceable, we suppose. Can you imagine how such a contract might read today?

Now for the unexpected: Some of the game preparations by the coaches that were very ordinary for the time, would seem downright bizarre now. Today’s example is in a 1950 letter, (#2 on right), from then-OSU Coach Wes Fesler to then-University of Michigan Coach Bennie Oosterbaan, a letter that seemed quite lighthearted, considering it concerned the biggest game of what would be Fesler’s last season with the Buckeyes.

#2 – Letter, 1950

In any case, in the letter, Fesler describes the color of each article of clothing the OSU players will be wearing at the game. You might ask, why in the world would he do that? Remember that in 1950, television was relatively new, and programs were still broadcast exclusively in black and white. So each team’s uniform combinations had to contrast sufficiently enough with the other team’s for the home audience to be able to tell which team was doing what on the field.

And now, for the dangerous: We all know the rivalry between The Ohio State University and “That State Up North” can become heated, but in 1926 the rivalry took a backseat to a dangerous incident in the stands. During the November 13 game, a defective pyrotechnic bomb was shot off by the military department. The shot was supposed to explode in the air and reveal a flag with Ohio State’s emblem; instead, it fell into temporary bleachers. Three people were seriously injured and remained in the hospital for an extended period of time, while several others experienced minor burns to their skin and clothing. The University reimbursed each spectator for his or her clothing and medical expenses, totaling more than $12,000.

The Stadium is shown here during the 1926 Michigan game. The temporary bleachers are in the foreground of the photo.

And the last item really has nothing to do with the OSU-Michigan game, but it does have to do with Thanksgiving weekend, and both teams were involved:

In 1931 President Hoover thought he would help tackle the unemployment issues of the day by asking colleges and universities to donate their profits to local charities from a football game played on Thanksgiving. According to athletic director Lynn St. John’s papers, the Western Conference schools were not in favor of scheduling charity games. Pressure was placed on the schools, however, and the decision was made to add extra games at the end of the 1931 season. A round-robin game between Chicago, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois was scheduled for Thanksgiving Day at Staff Field in Chicago. The remaining teams played head-to-head on the Saturday after Thanksgiving: Northwestern versus Purdue, Wisconsin versus Michigan, and Ohio State versus Minnesota.

The Buckeyes, unfortunately, lost the game to the Golden Gophers and in doing so, lost a chance at a piece of the Western Conference title. The games did raise more than $137,000 for the unemployed, though, with more than $30,000 donated to the Ohio State Relief Commission.

Read more about the OSU-Michigan rivalry in our web exhibit:

http://library.osu.edu/projects/OSUvsMichigan/index.htm

OSU professor aimed to prove “We are not alone”

J. Allen Hynek, 1954

We are taking a little break from “Fridays filled with Fun Football Facts” to look at the bigger picture – a much bigger picture, according to Josef Allen Hynek, a former OSU professor, whose research inspired the Steven Spielberg film, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Hynek was an astronomer who conducted independent research into Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs. Here’s his story:

Hynek was born on May 1, 1910, in Chicago to Czechoslovakian parents. He went on to attend the University of Chicago; he graduated with honors and was valedictorian of the class of 1931, and then went on to receive his Ph.D. in 1935. He came to Ohio State later that year as an instructor of astronomy, and he later taught in the Department of Physics.

During World War II, Hynek was granted a leave of absence to work at Johns Hopkins University, where he was reported as developing “proximity fuses” in its applied physics laboratory. In November 1950, he was named OSU’s Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. During that appointment, Dr. Hynek continued to teach both astronomy and physics, and to act as Director of the McMillin Observatory on campus. Hynek became well-known for his research with rockets, leading to more time away from campus on government projects. He resigned from Ohio State in January 1960, to take over leadership of Northwestern University’s Department of Astronomy.

Hynek inside OSU’s McMillan Observatory, 1940s

Dr. Hynek went on to pen The UFO Experience, which was published in 1972. In that book, Hynek describes three types of UFO encounters. The first kind is one in which a UFO appears, but leaves no evidence; the second kind is one in which a UFO leaves physical evidence, such as broken branches or burns. The third kind is one in which contact is made. In 1977 Steven Spielberg released his multi-million dollar movie inspired by Dr. Hynek’s book. Hynek was a technical advisor for the movie and made a cameo appearance.  The movie has grossed $300 million worldwide so far.

It seems that all of the publicity surrounding Dr. Hynek’s work ultimately embarrassed Northwestern University administrators, who called for his Center for UFO Studies to be kept entirely separate from the university. Hynek ultimately retired from Northwestern in 1978 and moved to Arizona to continue his work. He passed away in 1986.

Now, while we are on the subject of space and extraterrestrials, did you also know that OSU was also looking for life on other planets? Beginning in 1973, Ohio State’s radio telescope has been scanning for radio emissions from space as part of a project called “Big Ear,” the name of the telescope.

“Big Ear”, 1982

The Big Ear telescope was located on land leased from the Ohio Wesleyan University, near Perkins Observatory in Delaware, and was a joint project between Ohio State and Ohio Wesleyan. At the time, it was the only radio observatory in the world to continuously search for signals from space. The project was ultimately terminated when Ohio Wesleyan sold the land in 1996 to the Delaware Country Club so the club could extend its golf course. As for the big question: Did they hear anything? Scientists said that they did receive some signals. However, E.T. will now have to use another telescope to call for a ride home.

Filed by C.N.

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