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Cornell (far right) with electronics class at entrance
to Physics Building at the University of Zimbabwe.
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After being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to lecture in Ghana,
universities in that country were closed by government order to
quell student unrest. Negotiations opened to see if a funded physicist
would be welcome elsewhere in English-speaking Africa. Four countries
responded affirmative, and in March 1989, David Cornell and his
wife, Linda, arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, to live and teach at
the University of Zimbabwe.
The physics faculty at the University of Zimbabwe were starved
for personnel, having only seven people to fill eleven positions.
Thus the Fulbrighter was drafted to teach laboratory to a section
of first year students, electronics to 30 second-year physics
majors and astronomy to 20 third-year physics majors.
These assignments were spread out over two 10-week academic periods,
so what may seem like a heavy load was actually a mental luxury
for Cornell, who comes from teaching in a small liberal arts college.
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Cornell's astronomy student demonstrates telescope on
Open Day at the University. Physics Building is behind trees
in the background.
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Teaching in the African environment taught Cornell many useful
and life-changing lessons. First, he found the African university
students were able and motivated, at least as strong as students
at his home institution.
Second, he learned that it is possible to teach a course where
obtaining texts is a real problem. In Zimbabwe it was impossible
to expect each student to have the same text; instead several
different texts were on hand in varying quantities. They were
shared among the class. The Fulbright allowance for books enabled
Cornell to import 17 of the required 20 texts for the smaller
astronomy class.
Third, learning the stars in the southern hemisphere changed
Cornell's view of the sky forever. The southern stars have a variety
which equals or exceeds that of the northern ones, and it helps
to know them when teaching students with an international focus.
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Cornell (left) with eletronics students at amateur radio
station display on Open Day at the University.
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Since returning from Zimbabwe, Cornell's interest in technology
and physics has taken new directions, which was influenced partly
by his Fulbright teaching experience. His continuing interest
in electronics helped him to initiate a Solar Car project at Principia
College. Enlarging upon his groundwork, The Principia Solar Team
placed seventh among 30 in the American Solar Challenge of 2001.
Equally important for this budding senior citizen has been the
finding of a new career in astronomy. In 1998, Cornell oversaw
the installation of a 16-inch reflector telescope with state-of-the
art technology. He has been chasing asteroids ever since, and
he could scarcely be happier, because the work is not only fun,
but stimulated by the knowledge that the world is being helped
by the data he collects upon every visit to the Observatory.
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