This collection of poems is shared by their creators to celebrate National Science Week 2018 (11-19 August), its theme of GAME CHANGERS AND CHANGE MAKERS, with aspects of science that have inspired and fascinated.
(Click on the blue “Game Changers” writing below to find out more about the scientists in this poster)
Dr Sukarma Thareja from India began, by reminding us that famous figures, such as Thomas Edison, didn’t necessarily shine when they were at school! Haywood Ho Hei tells us how one of science’s the most impressive theories, Quantum Mechanics, was almost abandoned by its originator (Max Planck), until it was taken on by those around him. Science and discovery can take incredible diligence, focus and hard work, while at other times, it just happens accidentally. And talking of accidents, not all scientific endeavours have been for the greater good. Introducing the South American Cane Toad to Queensland Australia was simply a catastrophe!
An Ode to Stephen Hawking by Rowen
(Woodville High School)
Stephen Hawking, a brilliant mind!
Very clever, successful and kind.
One of our best scientific pioneers
with one of the most glittering careers.
Incredibly gifted throughout his time,
a theoretical physicist in his prime,
he became a role model to many young people,
but sadly one day he was rendered near-feeble.
Diagnosed with motor neuron disease
his health declined in small degrees.
But he didn’t give up, no, he pushed ahead,
although his peers thought he’d soon be dead.
He kept living on, yes, he cheated death
until March 14th when he took his last breath.
His students, and theirs, talk of him in a way,
that connects with us all, every hour, every day.
They say this great man was one-of-a-kind.
Stephen Hawking enshrined that brilliant mind.
Calculators by Georgia
(Whitfield State School)
Those magical math-multiplying machines:
what would we do without them?
We’d sit in a maths test, yawning, so boring
all the way to tomorrow morning!
If doing sums you ever fear,
don’t worry, calculators are here.
But what is inside; what are they really?
A special machine that tells answers clearly.
Now that we’ve got them, what to we do?
Trust them completely – their answers are true.
Lucky Galileo by Imogen
(Whitfield State School)
Renaissance astronomer Galilei
showed that the Earth revolved round the Sun.
Defying the views of the holiest place,
some Catholics wanted him burned at stake.
Instead, he’s imprisoned in home-arrest
where Bubonic Plague wasn’t a pest.
This “Black Death” caused headache, fever and chills
then lymph glands, like boils, began to swell.
Safe from disease, his life was enhanced.
Protected from getting boils in his pants!
Clever Ada by Coby
(Whitfield State School)
Ada Lovelace liked music.
And she was also good at maths.
She wrote a guide, “Flyology”.
She’s a dreamer from the past.
At a ball, she met Charles Babbage
whose incredible machine
was called “The Difference Engine”
and only ran on steam.
This was the first computer that
the world had ever seen
and Ada wrote its programs. She’s
the world’s first Coding Queen!
Meeting E.T. At Cairns Aquarium by Kaya
(Whitfield State School)
This porcupine fish can change personality.
From small, shy and cute, to puffed-up all-angrily.
Oh, E.T. you have such big eyes,
they make it so hard to say goodbye.
I wonder, have you met E.T?
If not, I think you’d better see me!
This porcupine fish melts hearts every day.
A Diodon Globefish and species of ray.
Oh, E.T. you have so much love to share,
In Cairns Aquarium, we can’t help but stare.
If all you go, please say hello.
Oh, E.T. I love you so.
Aqua by Jade
(Whitfield State School)
Aqua is the colour of waves on the ocean
when blue skies and sunshine are passing by.
Aqua is the sound of water crashing.
Its power and strength we can’t deny.
Aqua is the smell of the salty ocean
where sodium chloride will spray and spin.
Aqua is the taste of the briny sea
touching and tingling against my skin.
Superior Saturn by Charlie
(Whitfield State School)
Saturn’s the sixth planet from the Sun
and my favourite in our galaxy.
With its nine astonishing icy rings
that orbit and hang due to gravity.
Titan is Saturn’s largest moon,
found by a Dutch Astronomer
which later led Christiaan Hugens
to become really popular.
According to to Doctor Kevin Baines,
Saturn rains tons of diamonds each year.
It would be fantastic to take some home …
as a special prize souvenir!
Saturn’s name came from Roman mythology;
Titan was named from the Greek.
Those wandering stars we now know as planets
like gods, never lose their mystique.
Beautiful Moon by Moco
(Whitfield State School)
I am the beautiful moon.
Silent, silver, cold.
I’ll stop my orbiting soon
because I’m growing old.
My temperature in Celsius
is minus one-seventy-three.
For humans, that’s the deadliest.
Too hard to live on me!
Cane Toads by Ruby
(Whitfield State School)
I came here in 1935
filled with excitement about my new life.
Dropped off in Gordonvale’s sugar-cane fields
to end all your cane beetle strife.
My tough warty skin oozes poison.
My webbed feet are quite unusual.
But at least being poisonous stops me
from being anyone’s juicy meal!
I quickly adapt to your weather.
Your cyclones don’t really bother me.
Instead I just find a new shelter
and relentlessly grow my family.
In numbers, we grew and we grew and grew.
Reaching the Northern Territory.
And before many scientists really knew,
we’re in W.A. – and not sorry!
All because of a silly mistake
which scientists wish they could reverse.
Let’s hope no one brings in a Mexican snake.
That could make things a whole lot worse!
Max Planck Quantum Mechanics by Haywood Ho Hei
(Victoria Shanghai Academy, Hong Kong)
Thou, in the world of unseen men,
at a time of sunshine and feathered pen.
You, a bright lad, thought beyond what we saw,
for what didn’t exist – would leave all in awe.
When a miniscule item, thought to be at the limit,
there’s still something smaller, leaving no answer.
Days of researching: past all that inhibits
with possible leads to a cure for cancer.
From the width of a one-dimensional string
to the hottest possible Farenheit,
Max Plank discovered what no Earthling could see
and what was there to show the light.
He once thought that all this would be disapproved.
It was only a theory after all.
From what he thought lost, wrong as he’d been,
when about to drop it, others took up the ball.
Haywood has been fascinated by physics since he was very young and loves to dig deeper and deeper into the tiny quantum world, especially about how we can use these discoveries well.
Young Thomas Edison by Sukarma Rani Thareja & Celia Berrell
Childhood illness and ear infections
left young Thomas hard of hearing.
His teacher thought he couldn’t learn
and three months later, sent him home!
Fidgety Thomas was prone to distractions
which didn’t help his early learning.
But once his mother had taught him to read,
Tom devoured books at greatest speed.
Did deafness assist his concentrations?
Did curiosity banish his fearing?
His science experiment on a train
started a fire – Tom’s in trouble again!
An entrepreneur of many inventions
the name of Edison kept appearing.
Batteries, cables, and household light
were just some of Edison’s dreams-come-right.
