4 ms·

Heinz Wolff has died

123 points by madaxe_again 9y ago

madaxe_again 9y ago
I recall meeting him at a Royal Society Christmas lecture when I was a teen. I was sat in the front row - and he asked for a volunteer. Needless to say, muggins volunteered - to stick his naked hand in a flask of liquid nitrogen, it transpired. And this is how I first experienced the Leidenfrost effect, and understood just how effectively boiling liquids can self-insulate. He was an astoundingly good teacher, and an inspiration, to me, at least.
- hjjiehebebe 9y ago
  That could have gone quite wrong no?
  - keithpeter 9y ago
    Just don't leave your hand in there for too long. And try to avoid any liquid nitrogen droplets getting caught between your shirt cuff and your wrist (cold burns hurt) OA: I shall miss Dr Wolf.
  - madaxe_again 9y ago
    He was very clear about dipping my hand in slowly, and not moving it at all, as that would’ve shaken off the boundary and resulted in frostnip - but this was the 90’s, when getting kids to put their hand in cryo was just one of those things you do.
PaulAJ 9y ago
I once attended a lecture he gave to an international audience. However the Americans in the room complained that they couldn't understand anything he said.
austinjp 9y ago
Very sad news. "The Great Egg Race" was a TV show I often think would lend itself well to revival.
- tomalpha 9y ago
  Hear hear on both counts. Its gentle rivalry and lack of melodrama would be great to see again. It would need a new presenter now of course, and they’d be pretty big shoes to fill.
- zeristor 9y ago
  I fear that that spot is taken by Robowars now. They're not even robots...
4n0m4ly45 9y ago
Lets pray that he is in a better place
mprev 9y ago
For all we have some pretty good science programming in the UK, what with Jim Al-Khalili, Brian Cox, Sky at Night and more, we're missing the Heinz Wolff and Johnny Ball style characters who bring their subjects alive for children. It'd be great to have a science-based equivalent to Horrible Histories.
- LeoPanthera 9y ago
  It's designed for children but Absolute Genius is pretty good. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/absolute-genius-with-dick-and-dom https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/absolute-genius-with-dick-a... (UK only)
- keir-rex 9y ago
  Perhaps not targeted at children specifically but probably child friendly (PG?) I enjoyed the Great War series on YouTube. It is giving a week by week account of the events in WW1 as it happened 100 years ago. I haven’t kept up to date with it as it’s a serious commitment but it is a great concept.
- anfractuosity 9y ago
  I thought Bang Goes The Theory was rather good ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Goes_the_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Goes_the_Theory ) but I guess it's not really necessarily presented in a way for younger children.
- rwmj 9y ago
  For older children or adults, "Everyday Miracles" had only 2 episodes but they were both pretty good. Also the presenter was really doing experiments and going around factories where they make stuff showing exactly how things are made. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fh5tf http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fh5tf
lowbloodsugar 9y ago
Bear to the right!
hutzlibu 9y ago
I did not really know much of him, but enough, that this sentence "A Jewish refugee, Wolff moved to the UK from Berlin at the age of 11 on the day World War Two broke out in September 1939" annoyed me very much. F____ stupid Nazis. By wanting to make Germany great again, they destroyed so much of it ...
gusfoo 9y ago
That's rather sad. I was one of the children that he inspired with his remarkable works. I shall off to Youtube to re-watch some.
peterclary 9y ago
A very sad loss, and it's a great shame that we didn’t get more of The Great Egg Race. I met him briefly while working as an assistant at Space School at Brunel University one year.
timthorn 9y ago
A number of episodes of The Great Egg Race are available on the BBC Archive: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/ Wonderful stuff. RIP. Oh - he was a contestant an episode of on The Adventure Game, which is now available on DVD. Stands up very well to the test of time.
Lio 9y ago
This is very sad news. I loved seeing Heinz Wolff on TV as a child for two reasons. First, like Johnny Ball, it was great to see a quirky, odd shaped personality on TV instead of the usual slick drama school, artsy or journalist types. For a nerdy kid like me Heinz was a wonderfully fun roll model. Second, Heinz was German. In a country where sections of the media* still go on about the Second World War at every political dealing with modern Germany, Heinz was a well known “nice German”. People like Heinz Wolff, Bauhaus and Kraftwerk made me a deutschophile. The irony that he came to England from Germany as a Jewish refugee is not lost on me. *(My family lost my grandfather and two others fighting but it’s ridiculous how the tabloids still blame current generations of Germans for the past whilst pushing their own dodgy agendas).

123 points by madaxe_again 9y ago

I recall meeting him at a Royal Society Christmas lecture when I was a teen. I was sat in the front row - and he asked for a volunteer. Needless to say, muggins volunteered - to stick his naked hand in a flask of liquid nitrogen, it transpired. And this is how I first experienced the Leidenfrost effect, and understood just how effectively boiling liquids can self-insulate. He was an astoundingly good teacher, and an inspiration, to me, at least.

hjjiehebebe 9y ago
That could have gone quite wrong no?
- keithpeter 9y ago
  Just don't leave your hand in there for too long. And try to avoid any liquid nitrogen droplets getting caught between your shirt cuff and your wrist (cold burns hurt) OA: I shall miss Dr Wolf.
- madaxe_again 9y ago
  He was very clear about dipping my hand in slowly, and not moving it at all, as that would’ve shaken off the boundary and resulted in frostnip - but this was the 90’s, when getting kids to put their hand in cryo was just one of those things you do.

PaulAJ 9y ago

I once attended a lecture he gave to an international audience. However the Americans in the room complained that they couldn't understand anything he said.

austinjp 9y ago

Very sad news. "The Great Egg Race" was a TV show I often think would lend itself well to revival.

tomalpha 9y ago
Hear hear on both counts. Its gentle rivalry and lack of melodrama would be great to see again. It would need a new presenter now of course, and they’d be pretty big shoes to fill.
zeristor 9y ago
I fear that that spot is taken by Robowars now. They're not even robots...

4n0m4ly45 9y ago

Lets pray that he is in a better place

mprev 9y ago

For all we have some pretty good science programming in the UK, what with Jim Al-Khalili, Brian Cox, Sky at Night and more, we're missing the Heinz Wolff and Johnny Ball style characters who bring their subjects alive for children. It'd be great to have a science-based equivalent to Horrible Histories.

LeoPanthera 9y ago
It's designed for children but Absolute Genius is pretty good. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/absolute-genius-with-dick-and-dom https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/absolute-genius-with-dick-a... (UK only)
keir-rex 9y ago
Perhaps not targeted at children specifically but probably child friendly (PG?) I enjoyed the Great War series on YouTube. It is giving a week by week account of the events in WW1 as it happened 100 years ago. I haven’t kept up to date with it as it’s a serious commitment but it is a great concept.
anfractuosity 9y ago
I thought Bang Goes The Theory was rather good ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Goes_the_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Goes_the_Theory ) but I guess it's not really necessarily presented in a way for younger children.
rwmj 9y ago
For older children or adults, "Everyday Miracles" had only 2 episodes but they were both pretty good. Also the presenter was really doing experiments and going around factories where they make stuff showing exactly how things are made. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fh5tf http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fh5tf

lowbloodsugar 9y ago

Bear to the right!

hutzlibu 9y ago

I did not really know much of him, but enough, that this sentence "A Jewish refugee, Wolff moved to the UK from Berlin at the age of 11 on the day World War Two broke out in September 1939" annoyed me very much. F____ stupid Nazis. By wanting to make Germany great again, they destroyed so much of it ...

gusfoo 9y ago

That's rather sad. I was one of the children that he inspired with his remarkable works. I shall off to Youtube to re-watch some.

peterclary 9y ago

A very sad loss, and it's a great shame that we didn’t get more of The Great Egg Race. I met him briefly while working as an assistant at Space School at Brunel University one year.

timthorn 9y ago

A number of episodes of The Great Egg Race are available on the BBC Archive: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/great_egg_race/ Wonderful stuff. RIP. Oh - he was a contestant an episode of on The Adventure Game, which is now available on DVD. Stands up very well to the test of time.

Lio 9y ago

This is very sad news. I loved seeing Heinz Wolff on TV as a child for two reasons. First, like Johnny Ball, it was great to see a quirky, odd shaped personality on TV instead of the usual slick drama school, artsy or journalist types. For a nerdy kid like me Heinz was a wonderfully fun roll model. Second, Heinz was German. In a country where sections of the media* still go on about the Second World War at every political dealing with modern Germany, Heinz was a well known “nice German”. People like Heinz Wolff, Bauhaus and Kraftwerk made me a deutschophile. The irony that he came to England from Germany as a Jewish refugee is not lost on me. *(My family lost my grandfather and two others fighting but it’s ridiculous how the tabloids still blame current generations of Germans for the past whilst pushing their own dodgy agendas).