Julius Sumner Miller

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Professor Julius Sumner Miller (May 17, 1909 – April 14, 1987), was an American science populariser.

He had studied under Albert Einstein, but is best known for his work on children's television programs.

From 1962 to 1964, he was Disney's "Professor Wonderful" on new introductions, filmed at Disneyland, to the syndicated reruns of The Mickey Mouse Club. He is best known in Canada for his "mad professor" work on the 1971 TV series The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. In Australia he had the hit show, Why Is It So? (his eventual stock phrase), which was broadcast from 1963 to 1986, and the 1960s program Demonstrations in Physics (also called Science Demonstrations when it was aired on American Public television). He introduced each episode of Demonstrations in Physics with the line: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my name is Julius Sumner Miller, and physics is my business."

An Australian newspaper also took questions from his show and made "Millergrams" with them for The Australian newspaper in the 1960s.

Miller was also an occasional guest in the 1970s on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the U.S.

During the 1980s Miller appeared in a famous series of Australian television commercials for Cadbury chocolate, using his stock phrase "Why is it so?", demonstrating a simple scientific principle, and describing how each block of chocolate contained "a glass and a half of full-cream dairy milk". This phrase became so well known that it led to the slang "Cadbury", used to refer to a person who gets drunk easily (i.e. after drinking "a glass and a half" of beer). The ads were sufficiently popular to be played for some years after his death, and since he was demonstrating real principles of physics (albeit briefly) they never damaged his credibility.

Miller died on 14 April, 1987, of leukemia. In 1993 the Australian Science Foundation for Physics established the Julius Sumner Miller Fellowship in his memory. The fellowship is currently held by Karl Kruszelnicki ("Doctor Karl"). His widow, Alice, also created the Julius Sumner Miller Foundation in 1998.

[edit] Books

The Days of My Life: an autobiography"", Macmillan, 1989. ISBN 0-333-50337-6
Why is it so?: the very best Millergrams of Professor Julius Sumner Miller, Australian Red Cross Society, Ringwood, Vic; Penguin Books, 1988
Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, Currey/O'Neil, 1982 ISBN 0-85902-280-3
Why It Is So: Mechanics, Heat & Temperature, Sound and Electricity, ABC books, 1978
Why It Is So: Heat and Temperature, ABC books, 1973.
Why It Is So, ABC books, 1971
Quiz Questions in Physics, Horwitz-Martin, Australia 1967
Millergrams, A Brainteaser Book, Ure Smith, 1966